Orfaly-Rhapsody No. 1 (SP)-Solo 4T/B/V/M/P

Rhapsody No. 1 was written in the spring of 2001 for my good friend and colleague Matthew Basset. The version her is a slightly modified version as it was premiered in 2001. It takes an irregular (thus a Rhapsody) form of many intervals of slow and fast section with a middle slow section as a resting point A tonality was sought by employing many of the same pitches from the timpani tuning into the mallet percussion parts. There is much dialog between the solo part and the percussion parts. A great deal of time, the solo part wits atop the other parts, but also at time is required to function as part of the ensemble. Different colors are achieved on the timpani by using such specialty mallets such as blasticks and maraca sticks.

-Alex Orfaly
Number of Players: 4
Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:

Player I: Solo timpani and Bass Drum

Player II: Glockenspiel, Brake Drum, Tambourine, Small Maraca, 5 Temple Blocks, Low Cowbell, Guiro, 2 Cymbals, G crotale

Player III: Vibraphone, Claves, Triangle, Snare Drum, Sandpaper Blocks, Log drums, Low Suspended Cymbal, Dumbeg or Djembe, China Cymbal

Player VI: Marimba 5 oct. Sizzle Cym, Tam0Tam, Bongos, Med tom, Field Drum, Wind Chime, G Chime, Splash Cymbal.

Alexis Orfaly is currently the solo timpanist of the Orquestra Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, Spain under the direction of Lorin Maazel. Past positions as timpanist have included the New World Symphony and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Naples Philharmonic to name a few.  Alexis has participated in a number of summer festivals including the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, and the Pacific Music Festival. He has recorded with Deutsche Gramophone, London Decca, and Sony Records. A native of Belmont, Massachusetts, Alexis grew up in Boston's rich musical environment. After studying with Paul Yancich, he graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1996 where he received the Bruce Collie award for percussion.  As a composer his 2001 work, "Divertissement" won a Percussive Arts Society award and his "Concerto for Brass and Percussion" was premiered by the New World Symphony in 2004.  Most recently his Rhapsody No. 2  for solo timpani won 1st place in the PAS composition contest.