Norbert Palej - Recollections

Recollections: Vigilance - Game - Prayer

11 minutes

If you are looking for school band works which will extend and tease your players, if you enjoy the quirkiness of Dance Sequence by Marco Pütz', you will definitely enjoy a new work by Norbert Palej, Professor of Composition at the University of Toronto and formerly a graduate student at Cornell University. The term "recollections" can be understood in at least two ways. On the most basic level, it means "memories". However, there is also the deeper and more constructive way to recollect than merely to reminisce or dwell on things past and gone: it is to "recollect oneself" - to rethink one's life and actions, and to collect and focus one's spirit. This piece depicts three different modes of recollection: through vigilance (being mentally restful yet alert), through play (enjoying the company of friends), and through prayer (contemplating the metaphysical). "Three miniatures of Ravelian distiction, a must for all serious wind ensembles".

Full performance and opening 10 pages of the score on Maecenas website