Wayward Variations - a quintet

Here is my most recent piece, Wayward Variations for flute, bassoon, violin, harp and piano. This piece was written for the New Chamber Music class, here at Peabody. I wrote it on a tight schedule, starting late in March and the performance was today! There was supposed to be a second movement, but it wasn't working very well, so I scrapped it.

The two movements are as follows:

1. Dances for the Wanderer - The idea here is that each instrument has their own motif and the movement is structured with sections that develop each motif. Every other motif is constantly reappearing however, which gives it a sense of stasis and sometimes confusion. In addition, one of the first ideas for this piece was that everything would seem random - but still be structured in some way.

3. Passacaglia - This is in standard passacaglia form, with a repeating bassline and varied material above it. Listen for some rhythmic interplay with the theme!

This was recorded from the premiere today, at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD.

JaeHo Jang - flute, Imani Mosely - bassoon, Chen Zhangyi - violin, Jasmine Hogan - harp, Linda Angkassa - piano

https://jshare.johnshopkins.edu/nwerner2/Werner%20-%20Wayward%20Variations%20-%201.%20Dance%20for%20the%20wanderer.mp3

https://jshare.johnshopkins.edu/nwerner2/Werner%20-%20Wayward%20Variations%20-%202.%20Passacaglia.mp3

Enjoy! And as always, all comments are appreciated!

I really enjoyed this piece! The first movementwas very creative.

Thanks Mneme! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Nice job, man! This piece definitely wanders, I think it's cool how you weave in and out of themes--keeps me wondering if it's going to come back (this is all in regard to the first movement). I do think the first movement should have been performed a bit faster, and the third a bit slower, but we've been over this ;)

Great work!!