News and Premiers

#229– December 11, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmpoQW-Wtro Anahita, by American composer and educator Roshanne Etezady is our Composition of the Week. Anahita was written in 2005, and refers to the old Persian feminine given name, named after the ancient Iranian goddess Anahita, associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. The work was premiered on September 30, 2005, by the University of Michigan Symphony Band under Michael Haithcock. Anahita is scored for full wind ensemble, including contrabassoon, 2 euphonium and 2 tuba parts, as well as harp and 4 percussion parts. It has a duration of almost 15 minutes, and it is cast in three [...]

#228– December 04, 2023 https://youtu.be/0QAjSGwDB1M?si=8_xQBIvx_0RckA5u Tarot, by American composer and conductor Lindsay Bronnenkant is our Composition of the Week. Tarot was written in 2021 and was premiered on May 5 of the same year, by the Eastman Wind Ensemble with Lindsay Bronnenkant conducting. That first version consisted in a chamber ensemble of 25 musicians. A second version would expand the scoring to full Band. The original idea behind the composition is Bronnenkant’s interest in the music of Gustav Holst and his connection to Indian rāgas. Tarot has a duration of around 17 minutes, and it is cast in three movements: I.The [...]

#227– November 27, 2023 https://youtu.be/DkATnYKQVAU?si=KXMXiLkiYLCfD515 Arlequin, Concerto Burlesque for Piano and Wind Orchestra by Danish-Swedish composer and conductor Martin Åkerwall is our Composition of the Week. Arlequin was written in 1998 and premiered one year later, in Copenhagen, Denmark, by the Lyngby Taarbek Concert Band, Per Salo as piano soloist, and composer Martin Åkerwall conducting. Åkerwall’ work takes its starting point in Harlequin's figure. The tradition of this figure is linked to the carnival, pagan rites and contact with underground forces and creatures. The keywords that are in the medieval times was linked to Harlequin figure and carnival are the concepts [...]

#226– November 20, 2023 I.Moondream Escapade https://youtu.be/lKKvnwlUTIY?si=gpN2VP_15I9D3-Cq II.Other Voices https://youtu.be/ZJACwfwncBo?si=RQnPfsm9-i89BJ4h III.Dances of the Spirits https://youtu.be/8jCucgQbDlU?si=ZHAGHa2nR47-If_R Midnight Music by American composer and conductor Irwin Bazelon is our Composition of the Week. “Midnight Music was commissioned by the Royal Northern College of Music School of Wind and Percussion and was conceived as a tribute to the composer's New York colleague Richard Rodney Bennett and as a companion piece or a foil for Bennett's Morning Music. Atonal, splintered, jagged; the rhythms are dislocated; the forms continuously evolve from tiny fragments; instrumental timbres – the high notes, sometimes with a glissando, of the Eb clarinet [...]

#224– November 06, 2023 I.”…and shadow theatre begins…” https://youtu.be/T-hESSzEigE?si=POKba0Xu19fHkxuq II”…cyclone breeze in the house of infinity…” https://youtu.be/SUwDR8de3w8?si=wzSJDsUDwYPAeF62 III.”moths…batter the dark…orbit the skull” https://youtu.be/EXD3btPisWo?si=4GmL94fB_ardNy5T Dream Carousels, by British composer and scholar Anthony Gilbert is our Composition of the Week. WASBE wishes to pay tribute to his memory on the occasion of his passing on July 5, 2023. Dream Carousels is Gilbert’s most-performed work. It was written in 1988 as a gift to the 50th anniversary of Tim Reynish and was premiered by the RNCM Wind Orchestra, Tim Reynish conducting, at London’s Royal Festival Hall on February 26, 1989. Dream Carousels is inspired [...]

#223– October 30, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbDMC_ROyI On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Swedish composer and conductor Daniel Börtz, Sinfonia 10 is our Composition of the Week. Sinfonia 10 was finished in 1992 and premiered one year after, on March 15, 1993, at Stadsteatern Stockolm, Sweden, by the Stockholms Blåsarsymfoniker under David Porcelijn. The music is scored for a large wind orchestra, including doubling players at alto flute, contra-bassoon, contrabass clarinet, bass saxophone, piccolo trumpet, as well as a very large percussion section with 7 players. Sinfonia 10 is written in one single movement. It has a duration of 18 minutes. [...]

#222– October 23, 2023 I.Moderato https://youtu.be/VPrRGPsnSso?si=bkDPuMy_XeLT8UVz II.Scherzo https://youtu.be/aWjyTFbrfxo?si=7Y49QUgG1g7seDUE III.Minuet.Grazioso https://youtu.be/LEYTtDRBkHw?si=VUF21VoH6-8fPdMh IV.Romance.Adagio https://youtu.be/UDIaQslnGpA?si=33YY7tYwNTgVHi2V V.Finale.Vivace https://youtu.be/argcmSif0L8?si=CwUc2AwHLw9Oz3Kh Serenade in F, Op. 102  by German composer, pianist and conductor Wilhelm Reinhard Berger is our Composition of the Week. Serenade was composed in 1910 and has a duration of 24 minutes. It is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and 4 horns. The date of the first performance is unknown. Berger was born in Boston, USA, but raised in Germany. He began his musical career as a concert pianist. As a composer, he was often associated with the “Berlin academics” who were [...]

#221– October 16, 2023 I.Assemblée https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb2DLbhDctY II.Contemplation https://youtu.be/K-e55aK322A?si=SyhyW9JIRYIcmKN7 III.Faisceaux https://youtu.be/3oTyRMCSHAA?si=i6s5fJjy7P_Ax3Dx IV.Météores https://youtu.be/E9luM-Pi4tA?si=P4aXjHu0ZwoYMehR V.Brouillard https://youtu.be/zibz2iunFLw?si=1_xCdVBse5JT-_ky VI.Choral Varié https://youtu.be/prtp4TbKSLw?si=luHaZyXxZdbjCHoN Créneaux, by Belgian composer and academic, baroness Jacqueline Fontyn is our Composition of the Week. Créneaux (slots), was written for symphony orchestra in 1982 and transcribed for Symphonic Band by the composer one year later, in 1983. “This work was originally conceived for symphony orchestra; it was written for young musicians or amateurs with the intention of familiarizing them with certain aspects of instrumental writing of our time. Jacqueline Fontyn has remained true to her own style whilst avoiding technical difficulties. The six, fairly [...]