PETER WARE
Classical Composer
ANCIENT EVENINGS:
"The orchestra reveled in the evocative and passionate passages
of the musical epic." -The London Free Press

Symphonies, Tone Poems and Concertos

AISHIHIK      3-2-2-3, 4-2-3-1, Timp., Perc. (3), Pno, Str.  14'  Peter Ware
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Aishihik score Adobe PDF
"The music wins you over with its marvellous stillness." -The Toronto Star
A  single-movement concerto for piano and orchestra reflects the character of a glacier lake in the Yukon.  While the orchestration features the lower instruments, the piano is often frozen in the upper registers creating an icy coldness and sense of starkness and beauty.  Orchestra Score 49 p. AE144 

THE FIRE FROM WITHIN    3-3-2-2, 4-2-3-1, Timp., Perc. (3), Str.    13'  Peter Ware
Free MP3 excerpt of Peter Ware's orchestra tone poem The Fire From Within
Free MP3 of Peter Ware's orchestra tone poem The Fire From Within
Free sample score of The Fire from Within
THE FIRE FROM WITHIN: "Plaudits are due Conta for his choice of the evening’s opening work, The Fire From Within by Peter Ware. This was an accessible and serious contemporary piece, based on an Indian Legend, that spoke in its slow and sonorous language of a mysterious and profound psychic experience" -The Leader-Post
Drawing from a Toltec legend similar to the Egyptian myth of the phoenix, a sorcerer may avoid death by lighting up his bands of awareness and becoming consumed by a fire from within.  This fire then liberates  him  from death. Opening with a Largo misterioso introduction featuring a trumpet solo, it progresses to an Allegro appassionata  where the interplay of instruments develops into a jazz-like theme when the xylophone enters.  Thematic and motivic statements are continually explored and transformed throughout the orchestra.  A dramatic Andante leads to the  closing Larghetto con fuoco.  Orchestra Score 36 p.   AE667 

KUSAWA     3-3-3-2, 4-2-3-1, Timp., Perc. (3), Hp, Str.  12'  Peter Ware
Free MP3 excerpt of Peter Ware's orchestra tone poem Kusawa 
Free MP3 of Peter Ware's orchestra tone poem Kusawa 
Kusawa free sample score

This tone poem of majesty and depth is evocative of a beautiful glacier lake in the Yukon located south of the Alaska highway between Whitehorse and HainesJunction .  It reflects the sparkling clarity and majestic quality of the lake in the constantly shifting orchestration, blending of timbres and colours,  and subtle melodic transformations.  As instruments layer in counterpoint, the quartal and chromatic harmonies emerge building into a polytonal palette.  Orchestra Score 23 p.  AE0321 

LATAKIA  1-1-1-1, 2-1-0-0, Timp., Perc. (1), Hp, Str. 11'  Peter Ware
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Written for the town of Latakia in Syria on the shores of the Mediterranean,  this single-movement work begins with a flute solo accompanied by tremolo strings and harp.  Trumpets and horns mark the Andante con mosso, where cellos emerge with a playful theme that is developed by strings and winds in a Vivace giocoso section.  A viola solo interrupts the motion with a transformation of melodic material from the Andante now in a mysterious character.  The Vivace returns more sombre and develops into a long singing theme in the winds.  A queer dance in triple meter is heard in the oboe; and as the xylophone enters, the emotional ardour accelerates into a Prestissimo leggiero.  The work concludes with a meditative Largo. 44 p.  AE87X  $44.98

SYMPHONY NO. 1 Ancient  Evenings    3-2-2-2, 4-2-3-1, Timp., Perc. (2), Str.    40' Peter Ware  
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"The orchestra reveled in the evocative and passionate passages of the musical epic." -The London Free Press.
Like Norman Mailer's novel, this piece opens in a burial crypt.  Sounds effuse from stone, slowly and magically, as if recapturing a distant past within that brief, equivocal moment flickering between life and death.  In the first movement, the soul attends its own funeral as transformations of Taps are played by solo trumpet and horn, delineating the three main sections.  The faster sections utilize contrapuntal  techniques including mixed canons, imitation and a fugato with solos dispersed throughout the orchestra.  The second and third movements  of the score use abstract  linear writing,  rich harmonies and heroic themes to create the drama and excitement of the hero's journey  through time past.  Orchestra Score 155 p.  AE572  $155.98

TSANKAWI  2-2-2-2, 4-2-3-1, Timp., Perc. (3), Str. 7'  Peter Ware 
Free MP3 excerpt of Peter Ware's Orchestra composition Tsankawi 
Free MP3 of Peter Ware's Orchestra composition Tsankawi  
Click to view Score sample in Adobe Acrobat
TSANKAWI: "From the arresting opening of the bass drums thundering at either side of the stage, the music weaved a haunting spell." -The Leader Post.
"TSANKAWI, Ware’s sweeping tonal picture of an Indian ruin atop a mesa in the Rocky Mountains." -Richmond News Leader.

Inspired by an Indian ruin situated at the top of a mesa located in the Rocky Mountains, Tsankawi is often described as a painting in sound.  It depicts this ancient landscape progressing slowly and deliberately, with an inner strength and refined sense of urgency.  The drama is set in the beginning as two powerful bass drum rolls sound from opposite sides of the stage.  Like a stirring of life, the upper strings and winds emerge from the low percussion and brass, creating an atmosphere of orental serenity with an aura of expansive time and space.  Orchestra score11 p.  AE403