“Turning in Air”


Recording from excerpts of reading session with the Carnegie Mellon University Wind Ensemble, Stephen Story, cond. 

Turning in Air – Full Score


Turning in Air is energetic and mischievous, built around a sprightly motive of rising thirds. Contrasting colors of shimmering and swirling textures twist around indifferent monoliths that create a landscape for the ensemble. The piece opens mysteriously and atmospherically before it finds its impetus, diving through a series of escapades and diversions; phrases turn on a dime, disorienting and challenging the listener to find a “foothold.” The middle section relaxes and features an ostinato that is carefully eroded from its original identity, adapting to better fit the swelling brass chords. When the kinetic music returns, the ensemble ultimately careens out of control, ending in a final explosion of sound.

Turning in Air, for wind ensemble, was written in 2015, and has a duration of approximately 9’.

~Alex Marthaler