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John Rimmer  

Octet

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1964
for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and 2 horns

  • Programme Note

    Octet

    Composed in 1964, this wind octet is in three contrasting movements and is scored for the classical combination of pairs of woodwind and horns.
    The work has as its inspiration the classical octets of Mozart and Beethoven although the main compositional influences come from the 1930’s ‘neoclassical’ soundworld of Stravinsky and Copland.

    Octet was first performed at the Cambridge Music School in 1965.

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Edwin Carr  

Quintet

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1966
for piano and string quartet

John Rimmer  

Serenade

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1967
2 flutes, alto flute, bass clarinet, xylophone, vibraphone

  • Programme Note

    Serenade is an early work composed in 1967 not long after I began graduate studies in composition at the University of Toronto. The choice of instruments; two flutes, alto flute, bass clarinet, xylophone and vibraphone was suggested by my teacher John Weinzweig. I found it to be an attractive combination to write for. The two flutes engage in dialogues while the alto flute provides a deep, sonorous extension of their timbres. The bass clarinet’s impressive range of pitch and timbre is exploited. The percussion instruments colour and articulate solo wind melodies and in addition inject dynamic displays into the textures.

    The three movements are contrasted in character. The first is generally slow with an occasional burst of energy. The second is even slower with colourful clusters and long melodic lines. The finale is a lively movement with sudden changes in mood and texture. Overall the work has a light hearted feeling about it in keeping with the idea of a serenade.

    Serenade was first performed by the Contemporary Music Ensemble at the MacMillan Theatre, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto on 15 February 1968 and subsequently performed at a composers symposium at Bennington College, Vermont, USA on 19 March 1968.

    John Rimmer

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