Composition of the Week

#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, [...]

#201– May 29, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXk24Yb5uKQ Concierto para violín y 18 instrumentos, by Argentinian composer, conductor and cellist José María Castro is our Composition of the Week. The concerto was written in 1953 and commissioned by the “Asociación Amigos de la Música” from Buenos Aires. It was premiered by the association’s orchestra on July 6, 1954, with Ljerko Spiller as soloist and Jean Martinon conducting. Castro writes in a neoclassical style, and composes the concerto in three movements, using the current Fast-Slow-Fast structure. The piece has a duration of 23 minutes, and it is scored with the following instrumentation: Solo Violin.2.2.2.2/2.2.0.0.Cello (3). [...]

#200– May 22, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCfjTBUOZA Initiale, by French composer, conductor and teacher Pierre Boulez is our Composition of the Week. Initiale is a short, only 5 minutes, rarely performed piece by Pierre Boulez that he composed for the Houston Symphony Orchestra, in 1987. The instruments, two trombones, two horns and two trumpets, are symmetrically distributed around the tuba, allowing for echo and spatialization effects that the composer of “Répons” likes to consider. Its first performance took place in Houston, USA, on November 11, 1987. A new version of the work followed in 2010. Initiale for brass and percussion is in principle [...]

#199– May 15, 2023 Credit: Marcelo Macaue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcHElBcsG74&t=725s Multiverse – Another Rite of Spring, by Brazilian-American composer, pianist, vocalist, and educator Clarice Assad is our Composition of the Week. Multiverse was commissioned by the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble and conductor Michael Votta, who premiered the piece on February 17, 2023, at the CBDNA National Conference in Athens, Georgia. “In 2019, I received an email from conductor Michael Votta with an intriguing vision for a commission: How would you like to write a response to Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” experienced through the eyes of the sacrificial maiden? [...]

#198– May 08, 2023 Credit: Ellen Lande Gossner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pykE7Se8Ntc Waves II-b, by Norwegian composer and performing artist Maja Ratkje is our Composition of the Week. Waves II-b is based upon earlier versions, Waves I and Waves II, both first performed by the Dutch ensemble “de Ereprijs” in 1997 and 1998. Waves II-b was premiered at the Oslo Chamber Music Festival in 1998 by the Oslo Sinfonietta, with Christian Eggen conducting. “Waves of sound, water or light behave similarly. Waves move through a substance with a certain frequency or energy. Waves interfere with each other, and new structures are shown. [...]

#197– May 01, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDf9B48FU-8 Blow, by Swedish composer and conductor Arne Mellnäs is our Composition of the Week. Blow is scored for Flute, Oboe, 3 Clarinets, Bassoon, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Euphonium and Tuba, as well as Double Bass and 2 Percussions. It was written in 1974 and has duration of 12 minutes. The recording proposed here is provided to us thanks to the initiative of conductors Brian Priestman and Osmo Vänskä, who recorded it with the Stockholm Wind Orchestra. Blow was originally published by Edition Reimers. It is now available on rental by [...]

#196– April 24, 2023 I.Toccata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSRJBnl0I4 II.Melodie; III.Rondo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2BFl6NHdVQ Symphonie Nr.5 “Concertante” by German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmannn is our Composition of the Week. In 2023 we commemorate 60th anniversary of his death. Written in 1950, it uses material from a previously conceived composition, the burlesque concertino for trumpet and wind ensemble from 1931. It was premiered 72 years ago, in Stuttgart, Germany, on April 21, 1951, at the South German Broadcasting Hall, during the Musiktage Stuttgart, with the South German Broadcasting Orchestra under Hans-Müller-Kray. The Symphonie is structured in three movements: I.Toccata “Lebhaft”; II.Melodie “Langsam”; III. Rondo “Lustig sehr lebhaft”. [...]

#195– April 17, 2023 Photo by Anthony Barlich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51sfJjjfUgA Carnival, by American composer Augusta Read Thomas is our Composition of the Week. Carnival was premiered by the Sun Fredonia Wind Ensemble conducted by Paula Holcomb with Nadina Mackie Jackson, bassoon soloist at SUNY Fredonia, on April 30, 2022. The concerto has a duration of 23 minutes, but it is also possible to perform a shorter version of 13 minutes, which omits some sections. That is the version presented here. The solo part can be played by either bassoon, baritone saxophone, euphonium, or trombone. Carnival is scored for: 2.picc.1.eh.1.bcl.cbn.sop sax. [...]

#194– April 10, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICXT8hgZf4s Ghosts and Gargoyles, by Canadian composer Henry Brant is our Composition of the Week. Commissioned by Toronto’s New Music Concerts, Ghosts and Gargoyles was composed in the summer of 2001. The work is scored for solo flute (also playing piccolo and bass flute) with an octet comprised of piccolos, C-flutes, alto flutes, and bass flutes, plus a jazz drummer. The stage is occupied only by the soloist, the conductor, and the jazz drummer. The four duos of the octet are spatialized in the four corners of the hall. Occasional quotations from ecclesiastic music by Allegri and [...]

#193– April 03, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icke97ggLV4&t=6s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments by South African composer Kevin Volans is our Composition of the Week. Written in 1995, the concerto was premiered during the same year, on October 18, in De Doelen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, with Peter Donohoe as soloist, and Daniel Harding conducting. The concerto has a duration of 20 minutes, it is dedicated to Barbara Bailey, and it is edited by Chester Music. It was commissioned by the BBC Proms, the premiere included a television dance film with Silvie Guillem, with choreography by Jonathan Burrows. The [...]