Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra

Item details

• Description +

  • Duration: 27 min.
    
    This concerto was a culmination of my interest in abstract music, orchestral texture and naturally the marimba as a solo instrument. All three movements of the Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra are based on a trio of tetra-chords that form a 12-tone aggregate. This central row and it's resulting canonic harmony form the foundation for the concerto. While still technically challenging, the soloist moves in balance between leading the orchestra and playing an obbligato role. Important to the texture, the glockenspiel player and harpist at times form a trio with the soloist. The music as a whole was sketched and formalized before the solo part was written. This technique allowed me to extract a smaller piece for orchestra alone titled "Inversions" from the material in the first movement. This abridged version was premiered by the OSUNCuyo in Mendoza, Argentina in 2005 under the baton of Marcelo Lehninger.
    
    The first movement while mystical is precisely structured and punctuated by 18 pedal chords in set formation. The second movement is lyrical and closes with the marimba descending in moto perpetuo under a canonic 12-tone rotation in the stings. The third movement draws on my experience as an orchestral section percussionist. The snare drum opens the movement with the standard drum rudiment the Triple Ratamacue. The percussion section then engages in a featured introduction with the soloist and the rest of the orchestra gradually adding to the texture. There is a great deal of interplay between the various section instruments like bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, tam-tam, glockenspiel as well as the timpani. The soloist feeds off the percussion section and vice versa. It was my intention to draw on the great connective spirit of "section" playing that percussionists around the world have experienced.

• Instrumentation +

  • Marimba and Symphony Orchestra
    
    (Material on Hire)

• About the composer +

  • Christopher Swist spends equal time as a percussionist, composer, engineer, writer, and educator. His music education started at age 6 with Buffalo Philharmonic percussionist John Rowland and continued through multiple degrees in performance and composition from SUNY-Buffalo (Jan Williams) and The Hartt School (Ben Toth and Al Lepak). He culminated his unique compositional voice, performance practice, and recording engineering into 2 solo albums: Whitewater of 2001 and Duality of 2013. His third solo album, Equal Simplicity, is being released in 2025.
    
    Christopher’s varied catalog of orchestral, concerti, percussion, chamber and electronic music is published with Alfred Music, Studio 4 Music, Keyboard Percussion Publications, Edition Svitzer, and Bachovich Music. Swist’s latest work is a Double Concerto for Vibraphone and Marimba that he also performs as the vibraphone soloist. His music has been performed by the Grand Rapids Symphony, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, The Louisville Orchestra, American Modern Ensemble, Grupo PIAP, YoungArts, and the United States Military Academy. He also presents recitals as a performer/composer who plays both acoustic and electronic music.
    
    Christopher is a symphonic musician as well, performing in the percussion sections of symphony orchestras in Hartford, New Haven, Springfield, Waterbury, Bridgeport, Ridgefield, and Norwalk. He has been the principal percussionist of the New Britain Symphony Orchestra since 1999 and directs the NBSO’s educational outreach programs and steel pan/percussion fusion ensembles.
    
    Professor Swist is an educator, pedagogue, and administrator. He is Director of Recording Arts at Trinity College in Hartford. He also designed and built EvenFall Studio LLCin New Hampshire, and, is a pro audio writer/reviewer for SonicScoop. Christopher was recently inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame.

• Credits +

  • Front Cover graphics and layout: Ronni Kot Wenzell
    Engraving: Christopher Swist/Johan Svitzer
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copyright © Edition SVITZER
    www.editionsvitzer.com

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