Program Notes:

Unlike his numbered symphonies that adhere to the formalities of what is defined as the modern practice of the form, William Thomas McKinley's Symphony of Winds is a one-movement work that combines traits of the Baroque Sinfonia that evolved into the present-day concert overture, and reinforces this aspect of the form by way of returning to the roots of the form, namely the Greek definition of symphonia (agreement and concordance of sound) which in itself derives from symphōnos (harmonious), combining these elements with a strong polyphonic use of diaphōnia (dissonance) in a highly original way. Like Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments, McKinley's composition looks back to the older composer's terse and succinct use of wind colors, yet unlike that seminal work McKinley calls for smaller forces and reinforces its sound with a percussion section performing on a wide variety of instruments.

Opening with a stately theme marked Adagio Maestoso, the symphony's melodic and harmonic material generates from this episode, leading into a pungent and jazzy Allegro section where McKinley's use of metrical and melodic polyphony, along with vigorous cross-rhythmic activity combining elements of Baroque processional church anthems and secular dances, free jazz, neo-classical and Balinese Gamelan music, transfigures the material into diverse chapters of mood punctuated by outbursts of vertical chords and horizontal counter lines that seem foreign to the tonal sphere of the work.

Commissioned by the Detroit Chamber Winds, the Symphony of Winds was premiered on 11 September 1988 at the Wallace F. Smith Performing Arts Theater in Detroit, Michigan under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds.

– Kevin Scott, December 2022