Suite for Timpani

The Suite for Timpani was conceived as a recital/jury work to showcase a performer's ability to play in different styles while challenging their capacity for musicality and technical prowess. The first movement demands sensitivity to tempo and dynamic changes; the second movement is reminiscent of an English dance or sea chanty that moves in and out of simple and compound meters; movement three, a ballad, is almost entirely written in rolled double stops; a sense of phrase and rubato is essential to its success. The final movement is fast and powerful, and calls for the performer to play on the center of the timpani head alternately with normal playing position.