Tour de Force - Mat Campbell [DIGITAL]

Tour de Force is an orchestrated piano improvisation that is haphazard, jarring, and abrasive at times. At its most fundamental level, this is music with no substance or narrative composed for the mere sake of sounding sophisticated.

Genre: Percussion Ensemble | # of Players: 12
Series: N/A
Level: Advanced | Duration: 08:15

Instrumentation
Player 1: Glockenspiel
Player 2: Xylophone, Crotales (2 octaves)
Player 3: Vibraphone 1
Player 4: Vibraphone 2 [4-octave optional], Chimes
Player 5: Marimba 1 (4.3-octave)*
Player 6: Marimba 2 (4.5-octave)*
Player 7: Marimba 3 (4.3-octave)*
Player 8: Marimba 4 (5-octave)*
Player 9: Timpani [4 drums], China Cymbal
Player 10: Snare Drum, Bongos, Hi-Hat, Mounted Opera Gong, Ride Cymbal, Splash Cymbal
Player 11: Multi-Bass Drum, 3 Toms, Marching Snare Drum, Large Zil-Bel, Sizzle Cymbal
Player 12: Concert Bass Drum, Kick Drum, Djembe, Cymbal Stack or Ribbon Crasher, Brake Drum, Large Tam-tam

*Players 5 and 6 may be played on a single 4.5-octave marimba and Marimbas 7 and 8 may be played on a single 5.0-octave marimba.

Program Notes
I’ve been focusing on writing a lot of music with a dedicated architecture in recent years. Tour de Force is not that kind of piece. It is an orchestrated piano improvisation that is haphazard, jarring, and abrasive at times. Through composing this piece, I learned that these structures that I’ve written for so long have started to permeate my improvisations even when I’m trying to avoid them. Perhaps my mind is trying to constantly reinvent the framing of these “-isms” so that they come out in fresh new ways every time. This has taken on the form of episodes throughout the piece, all of which reflect a softer and subdued start to a new musical process. These episodes are followed by bombastic sections of resonant metals and pounding drums. This battle of contrasting sections exists through the entire eight minute and fifteen second duration of the piece. Nearing the end of the work, the episodic material starts to coalesce with the bombastic material to create an impressive, albeit entirely superficial ending. This piece, at its most fundamental level, music with no substance or narrative composed for the mere sake of sounding sophisticated.

Tour de Force turned out to be not only a piece that requires elegant technique and musicality but also a relentless mental exercise of ensemble awareness, timing, and endurance. My biggest goal was to compose a piece that would contribute to the percussion ensemble repertoire, and to create one so bold that it would truly live up to its name. Tour de Force was commissioned by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Percussion Ensemble for their 2023 Texas Music Educators Association Showcase Performance.