Wing on Wing
Wing on Wing is a single-movement composition for two sopranos and orchestra by the Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. The work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their inaugural season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and was premiered June 5, 2004 by the orchestra under Salonen. The piece is dedicated to the architect Frank Gehry, the acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, and the L.A. Philharmonic CEO Deborah Borda. Composition. "Wing on Wing" has a duration of roughly 27 minutes and is composed in one continuous movement. The title and composition of the piece are inspired  by the architecture of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which architect Frank Gehry likened to the appearance of a sailboat with its foresail and mainsail opened to a 180-degree angle. Salonen commented on the composition in the score program notes, writing: The music also incorporates the sounds of a plainfin midshipman and the sampled voice of Frank Gehry. Instrumentation. "Wing on Wing" is scored for two sopranos and an orchestra comprising four flutes (3rd doubling alto flute, 2nd doubling piccolo, 1st doubling piccolo 2 and bass flute), three oboes, cor anglais, three clarinets (3rd doubling E-flat clarinet and  bass clarinet), contrabass clarinet, four French horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, four percussionists, two harps, celesta, sampler, and strings. The first percussionist plays glockenspiel, vibraphone, 3 large suspended cymbals and 4 bongos. The second plays crotales, almglocken, 8 bell plates, 4 tuned gongs and second glockenspiel. The third plays sandpaper blocks, 3 tam-tams, 4 large triangle (instrument)s, 2 congas, wind machine and third glockenspiel. The fourth plays chimes, another 15 tuned gongs, 2 suspended cymbals, sizzle cymbal and log drum. Reception. Mark Swed of the "Los Angeles Times" called "Wing on Wing" a "seductive, restless ode to  Walt Disney Concert Hall and to the [Los Angeles Philharmonic]". Alex Ross of "The New Yorker" said it "meditates mesmerizingly on the architectural ideas of Frank Gehry, assembling high-tech orchestral-electronic textures that gleam and shimmer like the wings of Disney Hall." Stephen Johnson of "BBC Music Magazine" similarly lauded, "...while the sampled voice of Disney Hall architect Frank Gehry introduces a distractingly conceptualist note in "Wing on Wing", the sound of the two wordless sopranos weaving in and out of lush orchestral textures is unforgettable." Arnold Whittall of "Gramophone" wrote: