wasbe-ed

#45 – June 01, 2020 SALVADOR BROTONS SYMPHONY No 6, Op. 122 “CONCISE” Symphony N.6 “Concise” by Spanish composer Salvador Brotons is our Composition of the Week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPaZM0BOqig (music starts at 1 minute, 11 sec.) The Symphony N. 6 is considerably short and does not follow an established external program. It is characterized as pure music. It has five direct movements, without much development or thematic manipulation, hence the subtitle of "Concise". The movements are the following: Frontal Courtship (Procession) Scherzo Passacaglia Finale Frontal With a duration of about 25 minutes, the work is orchestrated for a typical Spanish band setting, [...]

#44 - May 25, 2020 IM MEMORIAM JOHN PAUL ZDECHLIK (May 2, 1937 - May 21, 2020) CELEBRATIONS For Concert Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAlcHdZUiMg Celebrations by John P. Zdechlik is our Composition of the Week. We respectfully dedicate this obituary to his memory. John Zdechlik was an American composer, teacher and conductor. He has been elected to the American Bandmasters Association (ABA) in 1989. Many of his compositions have become standard concert band repertoire, including Psalm 46, Chorale and Shaker Dance and Celebrations. John Zdechlik began his tenure in 1970 at Lakewood Community College (now Century College) in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where [...]

#43 - May 18, 2020 JEAN-FRANÇOIS MICHEL GUERNICA For Concert Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcVejhbe_Qc Guernica by Swiss composer Jean-François Michel is our Composition of the Week. Written in 2015, Guernica was the compulsory piece in the 2016 Swiss National Music Festival for the highest Concert Band’s category. It uses a standard instrumentation and has a duration of about 16 minutes. “For his new work, Jean-François Michel has reevoked the name of Guernica as a recurring and disturbing reminder of an unending nightmare in perpetual motion. He describes it in following terms: A short introduction in “chamber music” style illustrates the peaceful daily life [...]

#42 - May 11, 2020 CARLOS CAIRES PIANISSIMO For Wind Band, Piano and Electronics https://soundcloud.com/user-642642570-907922214/sets/wasbe-composition-of-the-week “Pianissimo” for Wind Band, Piano and Electronics by Portuguese composer Carlos Caires is our Composition of the Week. Pianissimo was written in 2017 and has a duration of about 12’. The electronic part consists of two sound files that should be triggered at two specific moments of the piece, using the Max/MSP patch provided. This patch is very simple to operate. It has to be triggered in sync with the conductor, who is equipped with an “in-ear device” to follow a click track. You can take [...]

#41 – May 04, 2020 AULIS SALLINEN THE PALACE RHAPSODY OP. 72 (PALATSIRAPSODIA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE_hFkiu80 “The Palace Rhapsody, Op.72” by finish composer Aulis Sallinen is our Composition of the Week. The music from the rhapsody derives from Palatsi (The Palace), which is Sallinen’s fifth opera, composed in the early 1990s, with libretto by Irene Dische and Hans Magnus Enzensberger, with Sallinen himself providing the Finnish version of the text. The Palace was commissioned by the Savonlinna Opera Festival and was first performed on July 26, 1995. The opera main subject is a satire on the collapse of a corrupt regime. A couple [...]