{{Short description|Musical poem}}'''''Desert Transport''''' is a symphonic poem by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Arizona Music Festival and was completed in 2010. It was premiered in February 2011 by the Arizona Music Festival Orchestra under conductor Robert Moody.<ref name="Score">Bates, Mason (2010). [http://www.masonbates.com/work/work-deserttransport.html Desert Transport: Program Note] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920150748/http://www.masonbates.com/work/work-deserttransport.html |date=2015-09-20 }}. Retrieved July 25, 2015.</ref><ref name="AZRepublic">{{cite web |last=Nilsen |first=Richard |title=Review: Arizona Musicfest opens with world premiere |work=The Arizona Republic |date=February 23, 2011 |url=http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ae/articles/20110223arizona-musicfest-world-premiere.html |accessdate=July 25, 2015}}</ref>
==Composition== [[File:Sedona, AZ.jpg|300px|thumb|upright|''Desert Transport'' was inspired a helicopter flight over the Arizona landscape, including Montezuma Castle and Sedona (pictured).]] ''Desert Transport'' is composed in a single movement and has a duration of roughly 13 minutes. The piece was inspired by a helicopter flight over the Arizona landscape. In the score program notes, Bates described the work as "combin[ing] mechanistic rhythmic figuration and expansive desert sonorities."<ref name="Score" />
===Instrumentation=== The work is scored for an orchestra comprising three flutes (all doubling piccolo), three oboes (3rd doubling English horn), three clarinets (3rd doubling E-flat clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, three percussionists, timpani, harp, piano, and strings.<ref name="Score" />
==Reception== Reviewing the world premiere, Richard Nilsen of ''The Arizona Republic'' wrote, "The music, lasting a short and pleasant quarter-hour, takes us on a sonic helicopter ride over Sedona and Montezuma Castle. It is not the best piece Bates ever wrote, but it was a crowd pleaser."<ref name="AZRepublic" /> Mark Kanny of the ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'' described the composition as "accessible music full of creativity on many dimensions — from sonority to inventive developments within his thematic material."<ref>{{cite web |last=Kanny |first=Mark |title=Review: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra glides through creative program |work=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |date=April 13, 2013 |url=http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3825187-74/music-bates-bernstein#axzz3gpnYZRFr |accessdate=July 25, 2015}}</ref> Andrew Druckenbrod of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' lauded, "Although it includes a recording of Pima Indian song in the last movement, the work is devoid of Mr. Bates' usual electronica but none of his characteristic imagination." He continued:{{quote|''Desert Transport'' begins with the orchestra alluding to the rotors of the helicopter slowly turning before depicting the arid landscape, with its famed red rocks, seen from above. Bold brass, nuanced percussion and warm strings tell the story through sonic texture instead of melody. But as the copter neared Montezuma's Castle — the famed cliff dwelling — what was meant to be representative became poetic. The field recording of the Native American chant was accompanied by shakes and drums that audibly mirrored the helicopter's spinning rotors. Or maybe it was the other way around: a re-hearing that connected the past to the present, and nature to machine, in a profound way.<ref>{{cite web |last=Druckenbrod |first=Andrew |title=Concert review: Violinist Joshua Bell's brilliance elevates PSO |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=April 13, 2013 |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2013/04/13/Concert-review-Violinist-Joshua-Bell-s-brilliance-elevates-PSO/stories/201304130152 |accessdate=July 25, 2015}}</ref>}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Mason Bates}} {{italic title}} {{Authority control}} Category:Compositions by Mason Bates Category:2010 compositions Category:Symphonic poems Category:Music commissioned by festivals