Sextet (2012) - WW5/PN

Sextet (2012)
for woodwind quintet and piano
by Zeke Hecker (b. 1947) - American composer The Sextet for piano and winds is a light-hearted piece, rather in the nature of a suite with several dance-like movements. The winds and piano toss material back and forth in conversation or competition. The most distinctive feature of the work is that its material is derived entirely from the first phrase, a four-note figure Bb, G, Eb, F. That figure in its original form is the theme of movements I, II, and V. In movement III, the phrase is reversed; in movement IV the pitches are shuffled but the phrase retains its predictable shape. The composer ruefully admits that this device was an exercise not in skill, but stinginess; he needed to surrender only one tune out of his dwindling stock.