George Walker's 'Wind Set'

Synopsis

The catalog of the Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American composer George Walker includes two major pieces for winds: Canvas, written in 2000, is a large-scale work for wind band, percussion, and double bass; and Wind Set, a smaller chamber piece, written the previous year and for just five instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.

In both works, Walker said he set out to do something had hadn’t done before, something new:

“I am trying to think that I am beginning fresh — that it's not something that I have done before … I try to find the kind of beginning, for me the beginning is so crucial, that is unlike something that I have done before … or like something that I might have heard. So the search process is really trying to find those initial notes that will convey the sense of freshness … Beyond that I think that I was able, from my point of view, to maximize the coloristic possibilities of the winds.”

Wind Set was commissioned by the New Jersey Chamber Music Society and received its premiere performance by them in Newark on today’s date in 1999.

Music Played in Today's Program

George Walker (1922-2018): Wind Set; Peggy Schecter, flute; Richard Foley, oboe; William Shadel, clarinet; Leonard Hindell, bassoon; Jerome Ashby, french horn; Summit 274