wasbe-ed

#206– July 03, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GW8QRWtXuI Cryptogram, by American composer, performer and educator Eli Rexford Chambers is our Composition of the Week. Cryptogram was written in 2017 and has a duration of 13 minutes. It is scored for Wind Ensemble and Jazz Quintet as follows: (3.Picc.3.EbCl.BCl.Sax(4).0/233.Euph.1.Mallets(4).Perc.(3)) (Sop.Sax.Flugelhorn.E-Piano.E.Bass.Drums) Both the quintet and the orchestra have sections where improvisation can take place as well as aleatoric moments. Eli Rexford Chambers earned a MM in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University, studying with Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn, Elainie Lillios, and Marilyn Shrude. While at Bowling Green, he composed and recorded original works for by [...]

#205– June 26, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D26-AZEOYEA Echo-System, by Swiss composer, conductor and arranger Théo Schmitt is our Composition of the Week. Echo-System was commissioned by the Swiss section of WASBE, and has received its premiere performances on April 14 and 16, 2023, at the Casino de Montbenon, Lausanne, Switzerland, by the Micro-Harmonie, with Stéphane Pecorini conducting. Schmitt uses the word oratorio as a subtitle for his work. It has a duration of 13 minutes and it is scored for five homogeneous groups of 6 woodwind and brass players, as well as a group of „percussive“ instruments that include piano, harp, timpani, glockenspiel, [...]

#204– June 19, 2023 Credit Marie Rolland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnBgnQwx10 Magic Circus, by French composer and organist Thierry Escaich is our Composition of the Week. Magic Circus was commissioned by the National Orchestra of Lille, France, in 2004. Its was premiered at the Lille Conservatory of Music on June 1, 2005, performed by members of the above mentioned orchestra. Magic Circus is scored for a classical wind octet and has a duration of 11 minutes. The composer arranged the work for Saxophone ensemble (9) in 2019. The sheet music is available at Gérard Billaudot edition. „Tightrope walkers, sad clowns, hybrid and [...]

#203– June 12, 2023 Credit: Terrance Ragland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jns22RDIqRs Amen! by American composer and arranger Carlos Simon is our Composition of the Week. Amen! was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band to celebrate the university’s bicentennial, with support from the H. Robert Reynolds Commissioning Fund. The premiere performance took place at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) on November 21, 2017, the University’s Symphonic Band under Michael Haithcock. “Amen! is a homage to my family's four-generational affiliation with the Pentecostal church. My intent is to re-create the musical experience of an African American Pentecostal church service that I [...]

#202– June 05, 2023 Credit: Ciril Jazbec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dCwa14NZk Gouache, by Slovenian composer Nina Šenk is our Composition of the Week. Gouache is the French term to call a water-medium paint, similar to watercolor, but modified to make it opaque. Gouache was finished in 2018, premiered on November 15 of the same year by the Slowind Wind Quintet and Klangforum Wien, during the Slowind Festival in Ljubljana, which is the main Slovene‘s scene for modern and contemporary music. Goauche is structured in a single movement, of about 15 minutes of duration, and it is scored for: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, [...]