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Work


Heavy Traffic

for contrabassoon and orchestra

Year:  2006   ·  Duration:  12m
Instrumentation:  2*2*2* + solo contrabassoon; 2211; 1 perc., timp., hp; strings (8, 8, 6, 6, 5) | (Perc: marimba, splash cym, susp. cym, sn.dr, clash cym, 2 chinese gongs, 4 toms, tam-tam, whistles)

Year:  2006
Duration:  12m
Instrumentation  2*2*2* + solo contrabassoon...

Composer:   Michael Norris

Films, Audio & Samples

Kenneth Young introduces 'H...

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Michael Norris: Heavy Traff...

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Sample Score

Sample: Pages 1, 11-14 and 49-51

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Borrow/Hire:

To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.

About

The contrabassoon, undoubtedly one of the most strange and wonderful of all modern-day orchestral instruments, is thrust into the limelight in this work—an opportunity it grabs with both hands.

After the opening motoric passage in the strings, the contrabassoon comes flying down the entrance ramp with horn blaring, thereafter engaging in a constant battle for supremacy with the aggressive manoeuvres of the orchestra. In the final chaotic section, for instance, it has to endure the strings' lane-changing (without indicating), the woodwinds' tailgating, and the tuba's road rage while struggling to chart its own course through the orchestra's clogged highways.

Although the way is often blocked by intimidating forces threatening to run it off the road, the contrabassoonist's command of the lowest orchestral register ensures that, in the end, he will be the one sitting in the driver's seat.

– Michael Norris, 2006


Commissioned note

Commissioned by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra


Dedication note

to Hamish McKeich


Performance history

21 May 2006: Performed by the NZSO, conductor James Judd, with Hamish McKeich (solo contrabassoon)

01 Jun 2006: Performed by Hamish McKeich (contrabassoon); New Zealand Symphony Orchestra cond. James Judd; Town Hall, Dunedin

17 Apr 2012: New Zealand in L.A.

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