Khan Variations

2001 marimba composition by Alejandro Viñao

Khan Variations is a musical composition for 5 octave marimba written by Alejandro Viñao in 2001.[1] The piece was commissioned by twelve percussion educators, including Michael Burritt, Nancy Zeltsman, Robert van Sice, and Gordon Stout. It is structured as an uninterrupted set of 8 rhythmic variations lasting approximately 10 minutes and is considered one of the most challenging works in the marimba repertoire, both from a technical and musical point of view.[2]

The piece has featured in the repertoire of many international marimba competitions such as the International Marimba Competition, the Taiwan Marimba Competition, and the Percussive Arts Society marimba competition.[3] Khan Variations has been recorded by a number of artists and was featured on the album Percussive Counterpoint by Svet Stoyanov.[4]

## References

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1. ^ Hartenberger, Russell, ed. (2016). The Cambridge Companion to Percussion. Cambridge University Press. p. 51\. ISBN 978-1-107-09345-4. OCLC 920816078.
2. ^ Roberts, John Francis (May 2010). The Khan Variations for Solo Marimba by Alejandro Viñao: Musical Analysis and Performance Practice (DMA dissertation). University of North Texas. OCLC 928055428.
3. ^ Elek, Petra (May 2019). The Multilayered Complexity in Alejandro Viñao's Khan Variations (DMA dissertation). California State University, Long Beach. OCLC 1129456626.
4. ^ Lange, Art (May–June 2010). "Percussive Counterpoint". Fanfare. Vol. 33, no. 5\. pp. 128–129\. "My favorite, however, was Alejandro Viñao's Khan Variations, a twisting series of melismatic variations based on a Qawwali theme [...]"

## External links

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* Performance by Ian Rosenbaum as part of the Marimba Literature Library by Vic Firth