SCORE      PARTS      SCORE (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)      PARTS (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)

Instrumentation
Oboe
Clarinet in Bb
Alto Saxophone
Bass Clarinet
Bassoon

Duration: 9′
Movements:
I. Flicker
II. Twilight
II. Florescence
IV. Ultra Violet 

Kinds of Light was commissioned by Akropolis and the I-Park Foundation in 2018. Listen to Kinds of Light on Akropolis’ 2021 Billboard-charting release, Ghost Light.

About the Composer
The works of Michael Gilbertson have been described as “elegant” and “particularly beautiful” by the New York Times, “vivid, tightly woven” and “delectably subtle” by the Baltimore Sun, “genuinely moving” by the Washington Post, and “a compelling fusion of new and ancient” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gilbertson is the BMI Composer in Residence with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and is a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Quartet. His works have been programmed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Washington National Opera, Albany Symphony, and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, among many others.

About the Piece
Kinds of Light takes each reed quintet instrument as a color or pigment. When combined in various combinations, textures, and layers, they come together to illustrate kinds of light. Unlike other works on the album, much of Kinds of Light is homophonic, moving these colors at the same time and in the same rhythm.

Otherwise, clear layers are present and serve as foils, such as the melody of the saxophone, oboe, and bassoon in “Ultraviolet” against the clarinet and bass clarinet engine. “Twilight” is completely homophonic, with no rhythm variance between instruments, but rich in harmonic development and detail which is therefore more apparent and appreciable.