Cedric Fuhrer
Call of the Nomads
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Cedric Fuhrer
Call of the Nomads
- Instrumentation Concert Band
- Composer Cedric Fuhrer
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Difficulty Level
- Edition Score and Parts
- Publisher Musikverlag Frank
- Order no. FRNK44015
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Description:
In the summer of 2017, I was able to visit the beautiful Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. In addition to the incredible landscape with the Tien Shan Mountains and the lakes Yssikköl and Songköl (the latter at an altitude of over 3000 meters), I was particularly taken with the nomadic Kyrgyz people - and their music, which is shaped by all kinds of influences. The work is divided into an introduction and two larger parts:
Call - In the introduction, we hear the call of the nomads across the vast steppe plains. This call recurs throughout the piece in a varied or quoted form.
Sybyzgy - The sybyzgy is a flute that is also common in Kazakhstan. Originally made from reeds, the instrument is extremely simple in construction, but all the more difficult to play. The (not always strict) pentatonic motif is introduced before D by various instruments. The lively melody in a slow march hints at the Far Eastern influences in Kyrgyz music. In F and especially G, we then hear the melancholy side of the sybyzgy, albeit in a grand maestoso. The dance-like quality returns and the motif is passed through the entire band. The transition to the 2nd part follows with a short lento...
Komuz - The 2- or 3-stringed long-necked lute Komuz takes center stage here. In contrast to the sybyzgy, the komuz is often played quickly, virtuosically and in 12/8 time. The theme of the songs played on the komuz is the daring riders and their hunts. The music here is influenced less by the Far East than by Turkey, Persia and the Caucasus and, in Misterioso, also by the choral tradition of the former occupier of Kyrgyzstan, Russia (then the USSR). The piece ends as it began - with the call of the nomads.
Exact tempo markings were deliberately omitted. Swell dynamics (crescendi and decrescendi) with no specified final dynamics are intended more to show the direction of the music and may be freely interpreted by the conductor.