Wind Drake - Wind Band and Electronics Pablo Rojas

Third prize

"I International Band Composition Competition "La Paz" of Siete Aguas".

Wind Drake is an original work for band constructed as two toccatas with fugue. These names of musical forms were very common in the baroque period. By toccata is meant a free-form instrumental piece that usually precedes a fugue; and by fugue is meant the most complex composition of polyphony, in which voices "chase" each other imitatively, optimising the musical material. In Wind Drake, the toccatas find their inspiration in authors already considered classics of band music, such as James Swearingen, Robert William Smith and James Barnes. The fugue, composed for three voices, is a characteristic element of Pablo Rojas' training and work, influenced by Johann Sebastian Bach and taught by Francisco González Pastor and Antonio Sendra.

The title Wind Drake translates as "Drake of the Wind". Although the word "Draco" can also be understood in Spanish as the mythological being called "Guiverno", i.e. as a small dragon. "Wind Drake" is also the name of a blue card in the collectible card game "Magic: The Gathering", one of the 95 types of draco creature that exist today.

Despite not being incidental music, this piece can evoke certain fantasy images. As an example, right at the beginning, the woodwind instruments and percussion form a light haze with various textures.