Compendium

Blake Wilkins

General Info

Year: 1994
Duration: 00:11:45
Difficulty: Advanced
Publisher: OU Percussion Press
Commissioner: University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble
Cost: Score and Parts - $60.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player 1: Glockenspiel & Chimes & Timbales & medium Gong & medium Cymbal
Player 2: [[Xylophone, medium cymbal, 3 tuned Gongs & Bass drum
Player 3: Xylophone & Crotales & medium large Gong & Snare Drum & 2 Brake Drums & small Cymbal
Player 4: Vibraphone & 5 Almglocken & large Gong
Player 5: Vibraphone & 5 concert Tom-toms & Chinese Cymbal
Player 6: 4-octave Marimba & temple Blocks
Player 7: 4.3-octave Marimba & large Cymbal
Player 8: 4.3-octave marimba]] & Bongos
Player 9: 4.3-octaveMarimba & 4 Different Pitches Log Drum
Player 10: 5-octave Marimba & 2 Congas
Player 11: 5 Timpani & Glockenspiel & small Gong

Premiere Details

Date: 18 November 1994
Place: Atlanta, Georgia
Event: Percussive Arts Society International Convention
Ensemble: University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble
Conductor: Richard Gipson

Program Notes

At first glance, the eight years that separate Twilight Offering Music and Compendium seem to bear witness to a drastic change in aesthetic orientation for Blake Wilkins: on the surface, the differences between these two pieces are striking. Yet Compendium is not fundamentally that far removed from Twilight Offering Music. They seem more to occupy different points on a continuum. Compendium simply brings to the forefront and provides an enhanced focus on the primary issues that have informed the bulk of Wilkins' compositions to date: a fascination with coherent organic structures; a preoccupation with the interaction of disparate closed-ended processes; the cultivation of virtuosity in the context of ensemble playing; and the generation of unique and compelling sound worlds.

Written between June and September of 1994, Compendium is the result of a commission granted by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble. It began as a significantly different piece bearing the title "17 Essays on Parametric Transmogrification Presented Coetaneously and In a Single Movement." Wilkins quickly discovered, however, that the broad outline of abstract principles he intended the work to embody would have resulted in a composition that rivaled Twilight Offering Music in length. The composer`s central strategy was to isolate the normally integrated parameters of music ú rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, timbre and so forth ú and submit them to various closed-ended transformational processes. The seventeen resulting processes, or "essays," would be of different lengths, starting and ending at different points in the music. Some would last for less than a minute, others would extend through the entirety of the piece. They would overlap and intersect, yet always remain self-contained.

This strategy is also the primary focus of Compendium, which even uses some of the music intended for original. Thus, Compendium is precisely that ú a summary of the principles developed in the 17 Essays, focusing mostly on those processes dealing with rhythmic and melodic transformations. But while derivative of the 17 Essays, Compendium is a substantially different work. "As for the fate of 17 Essays on Parametric Transmogrification," writes the composer, "I am loath not to complete it, lest I might disappoint those who have assured me the title is too good to waste...."

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

Compendium - Percussion Ensemble (11)
Twilight Offering Music - Percussion Ensemble (12)