Donald Furlano

Summer Wind Overture

This piece, which has the character and structure of a short, celebrative overture, was commissioned by the Wind Band 'Madonna del Ponte' of Gubbio (Perugia, Italy) to commemorate the tenth year of the event 'Sbandiamo.' The title was inspired by the lukewarm wind that blows in the summer on the hills of Umbria; a suggestive image that the music portrays in the opening section with rapid runs of sixteenth notes. The middle part of the piece is, instead, a chorale that, after the first exposition, assumes the noble and sustained style typical of the Trio of an English school march and, eventually, brings us back to the first theme. The work ends with a reprise of the chorale in the original key and with the stylistic features of a concert march. The finale once again suggests the idea of the summer wind by juxtaposing the principal theme with the compositional elements already used in the opening section to achieve this goal. This composition received an honorable mention at the National Contest for Original Wind Band Compositions 'Centenario di fondazione 1912-2012' organized by the Filarmonica S.Cecilia of San Martino Canavese.