CONCERTO for WIND ORCHESTRA by COLIN MCPHEE (Canada, 1900-1964)
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[#303] May 12, 2025 1960 | Grade 6 | 10’ – 15’ | Concerto
Premiered by Avanti! Chamber Ensemble
on Nov 30, 2003 in Helsinki Finland
Concerto for Orchestra by Canadian composer Colin McPhee is our Composition of the Week.
Concerto for Orchestra was written for the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Austin Boudreau, after a commission of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Kaufmann.
“McPhee's Concerto for Wind Orchestra consists of three short, related movements: exposition, interlude and transformed restatement of certain material from the first movement. It is a lyric work based on various pentatonic modes native to Java and Bali. Ornamental passages for woodwinds speeding above the slower moving brass in the first and last movements derives from the Balinese gamelan orchestra technique.” Program Notes quoted in “The Musical Quarterly”
The concerto is scored for orchestral winds, including Contrabass, Piano, Harp as well as four percussion parts. It is structured in three movements, I.Tempo giusto; II.Lento and III.Animato.
It has a duration of about 14 minutes. The music is on rental at CF Peters.
Colin McPhee attended the Peabody Conservatory, studying composition and piano. He had further musical studies in Toronto and Paris. McPhee is most remembered for being the first ethnomusicologist in Bali, spending most of the 1930s on the island which culminated in the writing of his book Music in Bali. He formed gamelans in Bali and transcribed Balinese music for Western instruments. Many of his works were influenced by this music. McPhee composed incidental music for plays by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill, received commissions from the Koussevitsky Foundation, the Louisville Orchestra, and the United Nations, and served on the faculty of UCLA.
Other works for winds include:
• Concerto for piano and with wind octet accompaniment (1931)
