Re: Gunther Schuller – On Winged Flight

[katherine-willow]

I played this years ago. In terms of the pedals, I had to re-write several chords enharmonically. I recall there were times the part would have a Bb, B, C, and C# in the same chord… had to re-write as A#, B, C, and Db to make it work with the pedals. I’m surprised you say the harp part is inaudible, though; I found it to be quite exposed, and there are certain times when the harp is the only instrument playing, or is one of only two instruments playing. Usually, this wasn’t on the “big” chords but on the single notes. The piece is all about tone colors and textures, and the harp plays a big role in that!

In short…
1) Killer to learn, but very cool piece
2) Re-write enharmonically to make the pedals work
3) Count, count, count