A Dash for the Timber! - for Orchestra (2020)
A Dash for the Timber! - for Orchestra (2020)
Difficulty: Very Hard - Ideal for collegiate and professional ensembles
Duration: c. 2’50”
A fast and exhilarating opener or closer for a program, A Dash for the Timber! is a piece reminicscent of the iconic music of classic Western films by composers like Elmer Bernstein, Max Steiner, and Bruce Broughton.
Score is 9x12 and will be delivered physically. Parts are PDFs and are delivered electronically.
A study-score version of this piece is available for Score Level patrons on Patreon.
Listen to A Dash for the Timber!:
Instrumentation:
Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
Cor Anglais
2 Clarinets in Bb
Bass Clarinet
2 Bassoons
Contrabassoon
6 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C
2 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Drums (Three Players: Crash Cymbals, Snare Drum, Bass Drum)
Tambourine
Mallets (One Player: Glockenspiel, Marimba, Xylophone)
Harp
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Violoncello
Contrabass
Program Note:
In 2019, I came across the painting known as “A Dash for the Timber” by Frederic Remington. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I was immediately inspired by how vivid and energetic the painting was. That evening, I wrote an initial version of what would become this piece, with all of the themes that appear here.
Several months later, I had the opportunity to meet the composer Bruce Broughton during a class I had at the University of North Texas. I ended up being able to take a lesson, and since one of his most famous film scores is for a Western from the 80’s called “Silverado”, I figured I would show up with this piece for my first lesson with Bruce. He ended up tearing it apart (he was actually very nice about what I could do better, but in my own head I realized how little I really knew about orchestration). So after reworking the whole piece, I came out the other end with this version. I brought it back to him months later, and he asked where I learned orchestration, and was glad to hear I had learned from him.
Written for a large orchestra, the work opens with the high strings playing a soft note reminiscent of the dry moring air in the West. A soft introduction of the main theme is passed around by solo oboe, clarinet, and cor anglais with brass interjecting for drama. Then, the brass build on each other for a rousing crescendo into the main theme which plays out like a classic Western in the styles of Elmer Bernstein, Max Steiner, and, of course, Bruce Broughton. After a bigger statement of the main theme, we move into a secondary theme, more lyrical, played by the strings before they are interrupted by a menacing moment of stabs in the low strings, woodwinds, and brass.
As the riders in the painting are chased through the desert, dodging bullets and shooting their own, I hope the high energy and action depicted so well in the painting comes through in this section. Following the whirl, the piece comes back to the main theme, as the riders live to fight another day (except for one poor soul). The music continues charging forward as it comes to the secondary theme again. This time it isn’t interrupted as before, and continues on in a valiant form. For the final few bars, the orchestra gets quiet as the French horns play the theme one final time before the piece ends.
This piece is dedicated to Fred Cludius, who helped me continue to take lessons with Bruce to develop my craft. Thank you, Fred, for everything you’ve done.
-Ernesto
