Wouter Lenaerts: Elegia

Context

Published in 2003, Wouter Lenaets’s Elegia is a beautiful work for wind orchestra. Now a go-to piece for concerts around the world, Elegia showcases both the introverted and extroverted sounds of a wind orchestra.

 

The Music

Two similar main themes are heard throughout this work, which ties the ensemble together neatly. The warm chorale sounds are led by the lower instruments to begin, with the horns adding harmonic decoration. As the melodies grow, the textures become much richer across the instruments creating huge swells of sounds. Lenaerts creates intense changes as he quickly writes out the accompaniment, leaving only a few voices left, creating that introverted sound. As the music builds back up again and a climax is reached, Lenaerts paves the way for a dignified and quiet end to Elegia. 

 

Ⓒ Alex Burns

Happy Reading!

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