Another piece by Ticheli. Here I'm playing a number of percussion instruments; the main one being Timpani, but also tom toms, cymbal, sandpaper, tambourine and other smaller things I don't recall at the moment. As I mentioned in the previous upload, Ticheli is a composer I have had the pleasure of meeting on several occasions. I had a pair of composition master classes with him, and also got to work with him in the rehearsal room as he conducted us for a performance of a pair of his pieces back at California State University.


WARNING: LOUD FIRST NOTE


Program Notes:

Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79, is an icon of power and energy in this work. Originally I had in mind a wild and passionate dance such as might have been performed at an ancient Roman Bacchanalia. During the compositional process, I began to envision something more explosive and fiery. With its driving rhythms, exotic modes, and quotations from the Dies Irae from the medieval Requiem Mass, it became evident that the Bacchanalia I was writing could represent a dance from the final days of the doomed city of Pompeii.