Bamboula Beach

Instrumentation

3(picc)33(bcl)3(cbsn) 4331 t,p(4),pf,str

Year

1986

Duration

6:00

Composed

9/1/1987 - 10/13/1987

Dedication

Michael Tilson Thomas

Commission

Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony

"Lively tunes that are heard as single glittering gestures are ... hocketed forth exuberantly ... Steel drums are prominent in one episode; toward the end the trumpet plays a popular tune.  But what matters most is the energy of the inventions that dance through the score, the liveliness of the textures, and captivating shifts of 'perspective'.  At times, the music seems suddenly to have moved further away; then a new idea strikes up in the foreground.  BAMBOULA BEACH, although short - it lasts about seven minutes - is an important piece ... BAMBOULA BEACH is substantial, although it does have "lightness of spirit"" Andrew Porter, The New Yorker  "An exhilarating, festive, six minute tour-de-force for large orchestra. titled Bamboula Beach.  It is a compact, complex, powerful essay in darting counterpoint and syncopation, with Latin folk tumes interwoven in its dense yet transparent fabric.  The score has a faintly Stravinsky-ish flavor, but its swift shifting of focus from section to section, with rapid alterations of strings and brasses, is pure Wuorinen.  The piece's uproarious impact is terrific, but for all of its querulous harmonic clashes, it ends on a triumphantly tongue-in-cheek A-major chord" Miami Herald