Labyrinth (Stankovych)

Yevhen Stankovych

General Info

Year of Published: 2007
Publisher: Edition Sviter
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration: 00:09:00
Cost: €35.00

Instrumentation

Soloist

Marimba

Ensemble

Player 1: Bongos & 2 Woodblocks & Tam tam & Bell Tree & Cowbell
Player 2: Octobans & Congas & 2 Chinese Gongs & Metal Pipes
Player 3: Bass Drum & Tom tom & 2 Codo Drums & Chinese Gong & 2 Metal Pipes & Flexatone

Description

Stankovych believes that a composer cannot create music in isolation from his cultural lifeline, and tries to maintain that lifeline with his audience.

Review

Joshua Smith

According to Amazon, customers who liked “Shadow Chasers” by Michael Burritt also liked “Labyrinth.” There are, in fact, many similarities between the two aforementioned pieces, including rhythmically fragmented melodic lines, drum and metallic punctuations, and incessant motion and energy from every voice in the ensemble. “Labyrinth” is the only all-percussion piece from this successful Ukrainian composer, whose primary compositional voice resides in orchestral, stage, and choral works.

Lasting just under nine minutes, the piece for four-mallet marimba soloist and three percussionists is driving and active at the beginning, but sparse and song-like at the end. The second half of the piece, listed at quarter note = 52, requires the marimbist to perform the melody with multiple one-handed rolls in conjunction with arpeggiated chords while one percussionist performs the same melodic material on a bowed flexatone. The resultant music creates a very sedate ending that stands in stark contrast to the melodic pulsations found at the beginning. With percussion parts that can be handled by most college performers, those looking to take their marimba chops on the road should consider incorporating this piece into their tour.