Composer: Theodore Wiprud

Where to get the music:: Contact Theodore Wiprud at ted@theodorewiprud.com.

Instrumentation:

Perc 1

vibraphone
chime middle c (share with perc 2)
large triangle
sleigh bells

Perc 2

marimba (standard)
chime middle c (share with perc 1)
claves
temple blocks

Perc 3

2 Peking opera gongs
suspended cymbal
3 tam-tams
tambourine
2 cowbells
3 mixing bowls

Perc 4

bongos
4 tom toms
2 bass drums
small triangle
vibraslap
maraca

Duration: 5 minutes

Information on the music: Anima was composed for Talujon Quartet to perform on a concert presented by Friends and Enemies of New Music in New York in 1996. Because it is fairly brief but full of variety and specific challenges, Anima has proved popular among conservatory percussion departments.

PROGRAM NOTE

Stasis and motion; weight and weightlessness; pulse and impulse: these are the materials of Anima. Two heavy downbeats, immobile; a stream of offbeats takes flight, forever in motion. The reverberation of a bell hangs in space, suspends time: Anima delves into that reverberation, into that moment between moments, and explodes the lingering sonority into a world of rhythm and texture. The silence roars with life; the interval of reflection is filled with vivid experience, with wonder and shudders of awe.

- Theodore Wiprud

ABOUT THEODORE WIPRUD
(233 words)
Summer 2007

Born 1958 in Washington, DC
Resides in New York

Theodore Wiprud is a composer who also plays important roles as concert presenter, educator, and music executive. His compositions are known for the impact they make on performers and audiences, reflecting his constant interaction with both adult and young musicians and listeners from the New York Philharmonic, where he currently serves as Director of Education, to classrooms and community venues.

Wiprud’s music frequently deals with spiritual experience: orchestral music (such as Hosannas of the Second Heaven) and chamber music (String Quartet No. 1, Refining Fire and String Quartet No. 2, Intimations and Incarnations) responding to Dante’s Divine Comedy and similar works; choral music on texts from diverse religious traditions; and percussion scores like Anima and Dark Love. Other pieces involve American literature, including American Journal, based on Robert Hayden’s poem, and A Georgia Song, a setting of Maya Angelou. His Saxophone Quartet has been described as “a work of substance, rewarding to perform, and warmly received by audiences.”

Wiprud earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at Harvard and his master’s in theory and composition at Boston University, where he worked with David Del Tredici. We was a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University as a student of Robin Holloway, and a composition fellow at the Aspen Music School studying with Jacob Druckman and Bernard Rands.

For more information on Theodore Wiprud visit his webbsite by clicking here.