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"And So the Wind Blew..." by Gene Koshinski
Performed by Gene Koshinski and Benjamin Toth
Recorded LIVE (unedited) in Weber Music Hall on the campus of University of Minnesota Duluth on April 8, 2014
Sound recording by Don Schraufnagel
Program Notes:
And So the Wind Blew... began with the idea of composing for my personal collection of wind chimes (outdoor chimes, not mark trees). After I decided to compose this piece I started thinking about the sound of wind chimes and how the wind is typically the performer of these instruments. I put even more thought into this concept and realized that the wind could perform a "piece" on wind chimes with an infinite amount of variations, day in and day out. Perhaps when the wind is blowing and activating wind chimes hanging on a porch or on a tree in the backyard we do not pay enough attention to the wind's performance. (Just a thought...)
In order to compose the piece I imagined a situation where the wind could have an opportunity to perform on stage with musicians and traditional percussion instruments; each influencing and complementing each other. To facilitate this somewhat unrealistic scenario the vibraphone player must play the wind's part whenever playing the wind chimes. In order to play the role of the wind, the vibraphone player must think carefully about how wind chimes sound in nature and integrate that sound into this piece. There are moments in the piece where different instruments are highlighted; however the wind chimes were always at the focal point from the compositional point of view. This is important to keep in mind.
The piece ends with the melody of the wind chimes floating over the sound of an ocean drum, a representation of the wind blowing out to sea...
-Gene Koshinski
