Concert Review

by Paul Mortilla

Cog - Toccata for winds brass, and percussion was

recently comprised by modern composer Scott Stinson for
the Frost School of Music wind ensemble. Cog was
premiered at the Festival of Miami concert series under
the direction of Gary Green. It was a vital moment for
the composer, moving to the audience and a brilliant
work to remember.

Now briefly about a Toccata: by definition it is a

shorter (roughly eight minutes)piece that implies a
great sense of improvisation. It is characterized by
virtuosic runs of scales and arpeggios in a fast
manner. It could be considered more of a show piece
only to be played by extremely talented performers.
Originally, Toccatas appeared in renaissance Italy in
1536 in Milanese music as flashy codas to various lute
music. The Toccata truly won its world renowned
reputation during the baroque era, when Toccatas were
mostly fancy song written for keyboards (harpsichord,
clavichord, organ, etc). Toccatas began to lose
popularity during the post-Baroque era leading into the
classical, but still survived. Composers even in to the
20th century such as Prokofiev and Gubaidulina
continued to write their own renditions of toccatas,
each and everyone becoming more wild in its character.
Generally a toccata reflects the fugue character,
reiterating small motifs throughout the work. Usually a
section of wild and unstable runs are followed by the
more stable fugue sections (see Prokofiev's Toccata in D
minor)

Cog possesses all of the toccata requirements in

duration, styles, and format, but it also posses a
 personal note from the composer Scott Stinson. He was
asked by conductor Thomas Sleeper to write a piece for
the Frost Wind Ensemble. Shortly after Maestro Stinson
began to hear, at a distance, small rhythms, and
gestures, and fragments of gestures all with a "motor"-
driven styles to them but could not devise his motives
and where the piece was to go as he said in himself.
What caused him to suddenly understand his ideas was
the death of Heath Ledger, an Australian actor whose
career was cut short. This tragic incident gave him the
motive of death in his toccata, as you can hear grim
themes in many other toccatas. His motive was a quote
from British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, "Dies
Irae", the day of wrath. With this he was able to sketch
out his score in its entirety. He quoted that, "I knew
of musical representations of individuals being
transported from the realm of death such as Richard
Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration", but I for some
strange reason imagined(or heard) more of an,"Alice in
Wonderland-like" realm. In first hand account he
said ,"It's a, really really crazy piece for wind and
percussion".

Now his composition was to be played at the new Gusman

Hall of the Performing Arts under the direction of Gary
Green. Gusman Hall was just remodeled for better
acoustic value, but due to first hand account the
composer himself said;"I hate what they've done, it
looks so…huh. Besides that negative comment he had
entrusted his musical masterpiece into the hand of Gary
Green and the Frost Wind Ensemble. Gary Green is
considered a genius for the modern day wind ensemble;
so he was perfect for the job, and the students from
the Frost School of Music have been taught by a
heritage of professionals since 1926 when it's doors
opened. Stinson was worried, he even said, "this is the
moment where you can just watch and they may totally
ruin it". But he took confidence in his E-flat
Clarinetist. He said,"I have the best E-flat
 Clarinetist, look at him!, his so willing to play
really really crazy music, just watch him!".

It began with just a beat, a single beat from the bass

drum the filled the room, it was not loud, it was not
soft, but everyone went silent. Then it's fellow
percussion joined in as a frenzy of pulsations in the
hall. It came from nothingness to somethingness! Then
suddenly a terrifying trumpet solo loomed over you, and
started to follow you through the rest of the night.
You heard countermanding comments from the brass,
obnoxious roars from bassoons, and the song of a glass
shrieking as it was scraped across the piano stings.
When listening you can always hear for shadowing
gestures, but to truly know what was about to strike
next, look the single string bass which gave prophecy
into the next section of this masterpiece. It was a
cog, chewing up and spitting out the ideas one way then
retrograded then inverted then all at once, then all at
once this machine fired up and seven minutes later you
discovered the brilliance and genius of composer Scott
Stinson, all at once. This idea of "all at once is what
hit me, stood out in Cog. All the material was one, yet
very different, but created this sense that is all
belonged.

"A fateful masterpiece"

Paul Mortilla

Bibliography
Wikipedia on: Dies Irae, Gary Green, Gusman Hall

The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music on… Toccatas

Quote Sources…
Scott Stinson