t’s time for another Frank Ticheli piece review. Vesuvius is a fabulous rhythmically syncopated piece written on the theme of the famous Pompei volcano that destroyed the city. It is flooded with the tonality of D minor. There is a bouncy 9/8 syncopation that allows the piece to lunge forward. It starts out however with a driving tonality of low brass in A. That goes into the 9/8 lunging theme that is present primarily in the brass and the percussion seem to bring out mostly in the beginning. The theme comes back in various instruments and the full band to make the sound of the colossal lava flow that actually consumed the city of Pmopei.
The texture moves around and finally ends in a fury as the brass and woodwinds and percussion collide with fills and a cymbal roll. This is one fabulous culmination that would keep people on the edge of their seats! It is definitely one to keep in one’s classical music collection.
