Slalom

SKU: PR.115402600

ISBN 9781491137888. UPC: 680160692576. 11 x 17 inches.

The thrills of downhill skiing inspired Carter Pann’s SLALOM, originally a multi-prize winning orchestral work, and well-loved in the composer’s own wind ensemble scoring. This tone poem flashes through sections including First Run, Open Meadow, Champagne Powder, Straight Down, Tuck, and On One Ski, Gyrating.Pann’s program note explains, The work is performed at a severe tempo throughout, showcasing the wind ensemble’s volatility and endurance. The work is presented as a collection of scenes and events one might come by on the slopes. In this way SLALOM shares its programmatic feature with that of Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony.
Slalomxa0was originally written for orchestra in 1998-99 as a scherzo perpetuo. It was to be a chance to flex my orchestration muscle to a degree I had not yet reached. In 2001 conductor John Lynch was seeking to commission a new work for wind symphony, and we agreed thatxa0Slalomxa0could make an attractive addition to the repertoire. Arranging the piece for wind symphony has proven my most astute compositional act to date.Slalomxa0is a taste of the thrill of downhill skiing. The work is performed at a severe tempo throughout, showcasing the orchestra’s volatility and endurance. The idea for a piece like this came directly out of a wonderful discovery I made several years ago at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, when I embarked on the mountain-base gondola with a cassette player and headphones. At the time I was treating myself to large doses of Shostakovich’sxa0Tenth Symphonyxa0and Rachmaninoff’sxa0Symphonic Dances.xa0The exhilaration of barreling down the Rockies with such music pumping into my ears was overwhelming. After a few years of skiing with some of the greatest repertoire, it occurred to me that I could customize the experience.The work is presented as a collection of scenes and events one might come by on the slopes. The score is peppered with phrase-headings for the different sections such as “First Run”, “Open Meadow, Champagne Powder”, “Straight Down, Tuck” and “On One Ski, Gyrating ” among others. In this way SLALOMxa0shares its programmatic feature with that ofxa0Richard Strauss’xa0Alpine Symphony.xa0The similarities end there, however, forxa0SLALOMxa0lasts ten minutes ... precisely the amount of time I need to get from Storm Peak (the peak of Mt. Werner, Steamboat Springs) to the mountain base, skiing full throttle.