Crystals - By Thomas C. Duffy

As a composer with great skills and an avowed desire to artfully combine traditional band forms and formats with contemporary techniques and colors, Tom Duffy has fashioned this one-movement tone poem; each of the four sections of the work evokes Duffy's musical representation of a specific type of crystal and its accompanying characteristics, either real or mythological. Tonal writing alongside aleatoric techniques and clusters; it's all part of Duffy's wonderful gifts opening the ears of bands and audiences in most enjoyable ways.