Custos Caeli by Brian Joyce Woodwind Quintet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.836708

Full disclosure: This work is frankly atonal. Rhythms are tricky. Harmonies are unconventional to say the least. And even the form is nicely aberrant.

Yet something magical happens when writing for winds: because of the weak timbre contact between the different instruments, one can write complex textures without losing clarity. One can write dissonant harmonies without having them sound harsh and grating. In fact, there are moments of surprising beauty here. Take for instance the "color canons," passages combining all instruments in clusters whose harmonic and rhythmic motion is essentially static, but which shimmer with ever-changing timbres.

The title translates - inexactly - to "Keeper of Heaven," or "Starry Watchman," or "Celestial Caretaker," and refers to an imaginary character whose task it is to walk about the heavens at sunset and turn on the stars. He is the galactic equivalent of the old gentlemen who once went about Victorian streets, lighting the gas lamps and generally keeping an eye on things, making sure that all is well. I do not claim that this character is God the Father Almighty, only that he is an "old gentleman." But there might very well be something wizard-ish about him!

Performance time is approximately seven and a half minutes. The audio excerpt included here is of the last two minutes, where the music comes the closest to being tonal.