Fabrica

• Flute
• Oboe
• Bb Clarinet
• Bassoon

“Fabrica” originally started out as a trio for Flute, Viola, and Bassoon. The piece was written  as a “thank you” present for hosts of a dinner party I attended way back in 2002. Instead of bringing a box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers, I took them up on their offer of writing a short trio as a sort of musical entrée, as it were, which the three of us performed before we launched into a three course meal.

Skipping forward almost 20 years from that dinner party, I decided to reimagine the colour of this piece though the prism of a Woodwind Quartet. Now with four voices instead of three, I was able to bring out some of the harmonics in the original orchestration (particularly in the Viola part) to make a richer texture for the instruments to play within.

The differences in texture in this short piece are acheived by using somewhat unconventional ranges of each instrument (i.e., high Bassoon, and low Flute, etc), colourful harmony, interdependent but connected parts, and voicings that don’t always go in the traditional Soprano-Alto-Tenor-Bass order.

I hope you enjoy performing “Fabrica,” and if you do choose to perform it as part of dinner party, I’d be very interested to hear what food and wine you would pair with this piece!

"I loved your piece. It gave each instrument the spotlight and it gave special attention to the bassoon in the upper register; I don't hear many quartet pieces doing this so it would be a great addition for any quartet's repertoire! It also distributes the difficulty throughout the ensemble. I feel that most quartet and quintet pieces focus the most demanding parts on the flute and oboe but you did a great job of veering away from the norm!" - Ricky D. A. Roshell, Woodwind Multi-Instrumentalist (19 Apr 21)