&nbsp;&nbsp;John Winsor, Composer: Catalog

Comment

:

Dedicated to Jeanette Winsor.

Program Notes

:

I wrote A Valentine (2007) for use on concerts at Tidewater Community College and the historic Francis Land House in the spring of 2007. Both concerts had romantic themes. It's a short one-movement piece that employs straightforward "audience friendly" melodic material and quartal harmony.

Listen

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A Valentine

Caprice (2003)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet.

Duration

:

2 minutes, 30 seconds.

Premier

:

Tidewater Community College, Portsmouth, VA, April, 2003.

Performers

:

John Winsor.

Recording

:

Greetings from NACUSA CD (NACUSA's first); John Winsor, clarinet.

Publisher

:

Decade Divertimento (Mvt 1)Decade Divertimento (Mvt 2)Decade Divertimento (Mvt 3)Decade Divertimento (Mvt 4)

Program Notes

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Caprice is a short, light encore for unaccompanied clarinet. It maintains a waltz meter throughout. The primary melodic figure resembles a Classical era "rocket" theme, but it is constructed from perfect fourths rather than an arpeggiated triad. It employs stark, clear contrasts - especially between long, slow glissandi and quick tremolandi and gets its rhythmic energy from abrupt dynamic changes and frequent literal repetition.

Listen

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Caprice

Decade Divertimento (1997; rev. 2010)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Cello, Piano.

Duration

:

11 minutes, 10 seconds.

Premier

:

HCE/CFAC Concert, Chesapeake, VA. January, 1998.

Performers

:

John Winsor, Marlene Ford, Robert Ford, Suzanne Schreck, Mary Tanner, Jeanette Winsor.

Commissioned by

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The Hardwick Chamber Ensemble.

Program Notes

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Decade Divertimento was written to commemorate the Hardwick Chamber Ensemble's tenth season. The first and last movements (Fantasy and Rondo) use all six performers. The second (Fugue) is a trio for clarinet, violin, and cello. The third (Waltz) is a trio for horn, trombone, and piano. It has been performed twice: once by the Hardwick Chamber Ensemble in Chesapeake, Virginia and once by members of the Cologne Radio Symphony (now the WDR Symphony) in Cologne, Germany.

Score (PDF)

:

Decade Divertimento

Listen

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Watch

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Decade Divertimento (Mvt 2)Decade Divertimento (Mvt 3)

Final Portraits (1992; rev. 2011)

Instrumentation

:

Violin, Clarinet, Horn, Piano.

Duration

:

14 minutes.

Premier

:

Music in Motion dance performance. Virginia Beach, VA. March 6, 1993 .

Performers

:

Suzanne Schreck, John Winsor, Marlene Ford, Jeanette Winsor.

Commissioned by

:

Music in Motion.

Program Notes

:

Final Portraits is a four-movement work for violin, clarinet, horn, and piano. It was written in fulfillment of a commission by the Music in Motion dance company. The company's artistic director, Darlene Kelly, choreographed it for a program which was based on an environmental theme. Each of the first three movements is intended to represent the character of a particular animal whose survival is threatened by human activity. These include the elephant, the whale, and the eagle, respectively. These three movements are followed by a set of short solos which recall their basic thematic material and which lead directly into the last movement, entitled "The Last Human." In this movement, I tried to depict a sense of loss and of desperation.

Score (PDF)

:

Final Portraits

Listen

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The Last Elephant The Last Whale The Last Eagle The Last Human

Four for Three (1998; rev. 2011)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet, Violin, Cello.

Duration

:

10 minutes, 30 seconds.

Premier

:

SCI Region III Conference, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. October, 1998.

Performers

:

John Winsor, Suzanne Schreck, Mary Tanner.

Program Notes

:

Four for Three is a short work for clarinet, violin, and cello. It has four movements (Prelude, Fugue, March, and Finale). Phrase structure in the piece is fairly conventional. The melodic material is pantonal and quite chromatic. Harmonically, fourths and sevenths are emphasized more than thirds and sixths. The linear aspect of the piece takes precedence over the vertical. It contains a great deal of imitative counterpoint.

Score (PDF)

:

Four for Three

Listen

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Four for Three (Mvt 1)Four for Three (Mvt 2)Four for Three (Mvt 3)Four for Three (Mvt 4)

Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (2009)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano.

Duration

:

14 minutes, 42 seconds (4'36" + 4'54" + 5'12").

Premier

:

HCE All-Winsor concert. November 5th, 2010.

Program Notes

:

The Quartet opens with a jaunty Copland-esque movement followed by a fairly slow movement with instrumental treatment that resembles Ravel's. The final movement is a set of variations on the theme from the first movement.

Score (PDF)

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Listen

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Watch

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Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano (2011)

Instrumentation

:

Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano.

Duration

:

14 minutes, 42 seconds (4'36" + 4'54" + 5'12").

Program Notes

:

The Quartet opens with a jaunty Copland-esque movement followed by a fairly slow movement with instrumental treatment that resembles Ravel's. The final movement is a set of variations on the theme from the first movement.

Score (PDF)

:

Quartet (Mvt 1)Quartet (Mvt 2)Quartet (Mvt 3)

Listen

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Reflections for Chamber Ensemble (2010)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Cello, Piano.

Duration

:

6 minutes.

Comment

:

Dedicated to my mother, Marilyn "Kitty" Winsor.

Program Notes

:

The title "Reflections" is a double entendre: Its mood is quiet and introspective and it is also based largely on inversions. In some places, even the harmony is constructed from lines that mirror one another.

Score (PDF)

:

Listen

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Rondo (2004)

Instrumentation

:

Horn, Percussion, Strings.

Duration

:

5 minutes, 15 seconds.

Premier

:

VMTA Conference, VCU, Richmond, VA. October 30, 2004.

Performers

:

Marlene Ford, Horn; Dan Knipple, percussion; Leslie Stewart and Susan Whitelock, violins; Randy Fisher, viola; James Herbison, cello; Carroll Bailey, bass.

Commissioned by

:

Virginia Music Teachers Association.

Program Notes

:

In 1999, members of the Cologne Radio Symphony played my Decade Divertimento and Chamber Symphony on their chamber music series. Andrew Joy, their principal horn player, asked me to write something that included horn and percussion. So, I wrote the Rondo to fulfill both the VMTA commission and Andrew's request. Rondo is a little over 5 minutes long. It fits the usual ABACA scheme with a brief coda. It's really a virtuoso showpiece for horn. The horn part has lots of trills, some flutter-tonguing, some large leaps, and some very rapid melodic passages.

Serenade for Strings (2005)

Instrumentation

:

String Quintet or String Orchestra.

Duration

:

9 minutes (2'45" + 3'15" + 3'00").

Recording

:

Masterworks of the New Era, Volume 12; Kiev Philharmonc; Robert Ian Winstin, cond.

Publisher

:

Comment

:

This piece was written with community orchestras in mind.

Program Notes

:

I wrote the Serenade for Strings (2005) with a community string orchestra in mind. It's a three-movement piece a little over 9 minutes long. It's pleasant and "audience friendly." It should be readily within the technical grasp of most amateur community groups and its structure is quite audible. It resembles neoclassical works. The three movements are roughly 2'45", 3'15", and 3'00". The two outer movements form cheery bookends for a slower and more somber middle movement.

Listen

:

Serenade for String Quartet

Serenade for String Quartet (2011)

Instrumentation

:

String Quartet.

Duration

:

9 minutes (2'45" + 3'15" + 3'00").

Comment

:

This piece was written with community orchestras in mind.

Program Notes

:

I wrote the Serenade (2011) with a community ensemble in mind. It's a three-movement piece a little over 9 minutes long. It's pleasant and "audience friendly." It resembles neoclassical works. The three movements are roughly 2'45", 3'15", and 3'00". The two outer movements form cheery bookends for a slower and more somber middle movement. This is a transcription of Serenade for Strings (2005).

Score (PDF)

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Listen

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Serenade for Winds (2011)

Instrumentation

:

Woodwind Quintet (fl, ob, cl, hn/ehn, bn).

Duration

:

9 minutes (2'45" + 3'15" + 3'00").

Premier

:

Hampton Roads Woodwind Quintet concert, Unitarian Church of Norfolk, VA. May 15, 2011.

Performers

:

Wayne Hedrick, flute; Harvey Stokes, oboe; Marvin Western, clarinet; Rena Long, English Horn; Stephanie Saunders, bassoon.

Program Notes

:

Serenade for Winds is a three-movement piece a little over 9 minutes long. It's pleasant and "audience friendly." Its structure is quite audible. It resembles neoclassical works. The three movements are roughly 2'45", 3'15", and 3'00". The two outer movements form cheery bookends for a slower and more somber middle movement.

Score (PDF)

:

Serenade for Winds

Listen

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Watch

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Serenade

Sonata (1994)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet, Piano.

Duration

:

11 minutes, 20 seconds.

Premier

:

VMTA Conference, VCU, Richmond, VA. October 29, 1994.

Performers

:

John Winsor, Jeanette Winsor.

Commissioned by

:

Virginia Music Teachers Association.

Program Notes

:

The Sonata for clarinet and piano has three connected movements that are moderate, slow, and fast, respectively. Melodic material is based on short, largely homogeneous groups of major sevenths, major and minor thirds, and perfect fourths. The texture is quite polyphonic and frequently includes canonic imitation. The harmony, which is an outgrowth of melodic activity, generally includes similar intervals. If notes are viewed as members of pitch classes (i.e., if octave displacements are disregarded), melodic patterns in this piece often follow the contour of the chromatic scale.

Score (PDF)

:

Sonata

Listen

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Sonata

The Norwegian Lady (1996)

Instrumentation

:

Soprano, Clarinet, Cello, Piano.

Duration

:

10 minutes.

Premier

:

Music in Motion dance performance, Virginia Beach, VA. March 1, 1997.

Performers

:

Anita Lowry, John Winsor, Mary Tanner, Jeanette Winsor.

Commissioned by

:

Music in Motion.

Program Notes

:

The Norwegian Lady is a programmatic work that recounts the sinking of the Norwegian ship Dictator off the coast of Virginia Beach during a storm on Good Friday, March 27th, 1891. Among the casualties were the wife and son of the ship's captain, Jorgen Jorgensen. According to legend, Jorgensen returned to the site each year to cast rose petals into the water. The title of the piece refers to the ship's figurehead, which was placed on the beach facing out to sea. It has since been replaced by a monument. The piece was written to accompany a Music in Motion dance performance which conveys the story of a lovers' triangle involving the captain, his wife, and the sea.

Score (PDF)

:

The Norwegian Lady

Listen

:

The Norwegian Lady

Watch

:

The Norwegian Lady

Three Preludes (1993)

Instrumentation

:

Piano.

Duration

:

6 minutes.

Premier

:

HCE/CFAC Concert, Chesapeake, VA. November 7, 1993.

Performers

:

Jeanette Winsor.

Publisher

:

Trio (Mvt 1)Trio (Mvt 2)Trio (Mvt 3)

Awards

:

Delius Keyboard Category Award, 1995.

Program Notes

:

I wrote Prelude III in 1975 and called it "Little Piece." But it seemed too short to stand on its own, so, in 1993, I wrote the other two preludes as companions for it. Preludes I and II employ various serial techniques, although they are not strictly 12-tone. The first is moderate in tempo and light in mood. Its emphasis on inversion is established at the outset when a 6-note right hand figure is immediately mirrored in the left. The second is slow and reflective and relies heavily on canonic imitation. The third is quite fast. It opens with a rather insistent tritone figure, shifts to a quiet middle section based on the whole tone scale, and returns to the tritone figure for a "knuckle-busting" finish.

Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (2008)

Instrumentation

:

Clarinet, Cello, and Piano.

Duration

:

8 minutes, 48 seconds (3'16" + 3'14" + 2'18").

Premier

:

NACUSA/Mid-Atlantic concert, Ogden Hall, Hampton University, Hampton, VA. February 14, 2010.

Program Notes

:

Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano resembles neoclassical works. It relies heavily on quartal harmony. The first movement is moderately fast. The second is slow and contemplative. The third is very fast and written in a driving 2+2+3 meter.

Score (PDF)

:

Trio

Listen

:

Watch

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Trio

Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (2011)

Instrumentation

:

Violin, Cello, and Piano.

Duration

:

8 minutes, 48 seconds (3'16" + 3'14" + 2'18").

Premier

:

HCE All-Winsor concert. November 5th, 2010.

Program Notes

:

Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano resembles neoclassical works. It relies heavily on quartal harmony. The first movement is moderately fast. The second is slow and contemplative. The third is very fast and written in a driving 2+2+3 meter.

Score (PDF)

:

Trio

Listen

:

Trio (Mvt 1)Trio (Mvt 2)Trio (Mvt 3)

Chamber Symphony (1995; rev. 2010)

Instrumentation

:

Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Piano, Strings.

Duration

:

19 minutes, 15 seconds.

Premier

:

The WDR (West German Radio), Cologne, Germany. September 19, 1999.

Performers

:

Members of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Awards

:

2004 VMTA Commissioned Composer Prize.

Program Notes

:

The Chamber Symphony structurally resembles a traditional symphony. Each movement draws loosely on material from an earlier chamber work (These are the Hardwick Quartet, the Romance, Final Portraits, and the Clarinet Sonata, respectively). It is fairly conservative in style. It employs frequent literal repetitions, strong rhythmic patterns, and fairly constant meters. It is, however, quite chromatic and tonally ambiguous.

Score (PDF)

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Chamber Symphony

Listen

:

Chamber Symphony (Mvt 1)Chamber Symphony (Mvt 2)Chamber Symphony (Mvt 3)Chamber Symphony (Mvt 4)

Pavane for Small Orchestra (2011)

Instrumentation

:

Fl; Ob; Cl; Bn; Hn, Hp; Strings - 8-6-6-4-3.

Duration

:

4 minutes, 54 seconds.

Program Notes

:

Pavane is a short, quiet piece. Although the harmony is quartal, it is somewhat reminiscent of Ravel's music.

Score (PDF)

:

Pavane

Listen

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Pavane

Reverie for Small Orchestra (2010)

Instrumentation

:

Fl+Alto Fl; Ob+Eng Hn; 2 Cl; 2 Bn; 2 Hn; Hp; Pno; Strings - 10-8-6-6-4.

Duration

:

6 minutes, 45 seconds.

Program Notes

:

Reverie is a short, quiet piece. Although the harmony is quartal, it is somewhat reminiscent of Ravel's music.

Score (PDF)

:

Reverie

Listen

:

Reverie

Reflections for Orchestra (2009)

Instrumentation

:

2-1+Eh-2-2, 4-2-2-0, Timp + 1, Strings.

Duration

:

6 minutes.

Comment

:

Dedicated to my mother, Marilyn "Kitty" Winsor.

Program Notes

:

The title "Reflections" is a double entendre: Its mood is quiet and introspective and it is also based largely on inversions. In some places, even the harmony is constructed from lines that mirror one another.

Score (PDF)

:

Listen

:

Serenade for Strings (2005)

Instrumentation

:

String Quintet or String Orchestra.

Duration

:

9 minutes (2'45" + 3'15" + 3'00").

Recording

:

Masterworks of the New Era, Volume 12; Kiev Philharmonc; Robert Ian Winstin, cond.

Publisher

:

Comment

:

This piece was written with community orchestras in mind.

Program Notes

:

I wrote the Serenade for Strings (2005) with a community string orchestra in mind. It's a three-movement piece a little over 9 minutes long. It's pleasant and "audience friendly." It should be readily within the technical grasp of most amateur community groups and its structure is quite audible. It resembles neoclassical works. The three movements are roughly 2'45", 3'15", and 3'00". The two outer movements form cheery bookends for a slower and more somber middle movement.

Listen

: