Pulmonary Suite

Pulmonary Suite
for woodwind quintet

Full Orchestra
String Orchestra
Wind Ensemble
Vocal
Chamber
Solo Instrumental

I. Asphyxiation
II. Resuscitation
III. Hyperventilation

This work is my take on the style of so-called minimalist music, focusing on highly repetitive ideas and gradual transformations. Pulmonary Suite is a highly virtuosic work, and its titles reflect the inherent danger of this virtuosity for the performers. The first movement, Asphyxiation, was written in 2004 after I was blown away (pun intended) by the quality of wind players at the Sarasota Music Festival. Premiered at the same festival in 2005, it is breathless and mechanical, with many long lines and stretches of relentlessly repeating notes. It is filled with rhythmic hocketing, with pulsating instruments bouncing around each other rapidly. Resuscitation, also written in 2004, is a slow and very drawn out movement with long and often fairly static lines. The focus is on the rhythms and the colors of the ensemble, with harmonies that very slowly morph from one realm to another. The central portion of the movement is an extended rhythmic canon. The final movement, Hyperventilation, was written in 2012 and is a tour-de-force. Opening with a flutter-tonguing flute gesture, the music bursts into a panicked frenzy, taking the rhythmic hocketing from the first movement to its limit. Repeated-note figures are also back with a vengeance and the music frantically builds in momentum through the very last bar.

Duration: ca. 17'

I. Asphyxiation: Sandy Hughes, flute; Natasha Merchant, oboe; Benjamin Fox, clarinet; Kyle Wilbert, horn; and Dustin Seay, bassoon at the Sarasota Music Festival, June 11, 2005
II. Resuscitation: Santa Monica Symphony Wind Quintet on March 5, 2006
III. Hyperventilation: Ryan Reynolds, bassoon, and students at the University of Michigan on December 8, 2012

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