Composition of the Week

#37 – April 06, 2020 MASON BATES (1977): MOTHERSHIP (version for Wind Ensemble, Soloists and Electronica) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEBWJ4l1nSo Mothership, for Wind Ensemble, Soloists and Electronica is our Composition of the Week. The orchestral version of Mason Bates’ score was commissioned by the You Tube Symphony, a project lead by its Music Director Michel Tilson Thomas, and was premiered on March 21, 2011 by the above-mentioned orchestra at the Sidney Opera House, Australia, for a live audience of 2 million people worldwide. Solo-Instruments included electric guitar, violin, zheng (Chinese zither) and bass guitar. Mothership is a single-movement composition. Bates explains his work on [...]

#36 - March 30, 2020 IN MEMORIAM KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI (November 23, 1933 - March 29, 2020) UWERTURA PITTSBURSKA (Pittsburgh Overture), 1967 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SctIG18OX14 Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the world’s most celebrated composers, died on Sunday 29th of March at 86 years of age. Penderecki composed four operas, eight symphonies and several orchestral pieces, a variety of concertos, choral works as well as chamber and instrumental works. Among his best-known works are Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), Symphony Nr. 3 (1988 - 95) or Saint Luke’s Passion (1966). His film scores were also highly praised, such as “The exorcist” for William [...]

#35 – March 23, 2020 TRIUMPH - A paraphrase on music from “The Mask of Time” by SIR MICHAEL TIPPETT (1905 - 1998) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1EEhwadhs Sir Michael Kemp Tippett’s TRIUMPH is our Composition of the Week. Triumph was written in 1992 and was commissioned by a consortium of U.S college bands, and first performed in 1993. The work calls for a large Wind Ensemble, including double bassoon, soprano saxophone, 6 horn parts, 2 euphonium and 2 tuba parts. It has a duration of about 15 minutes, and it is available on rental at Schott Verlag. Sir Michael Tippett was an English composer [...]

#34 - March 16, 2020 VARIATIONS ON A PENTATONIC THEME by ROB GOORHUIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1EEhwadhs Rob Goorhuis’ Variations on a Pentatonic Theme is our Composition of the Week. These Variations were written in 1987 for the Royal Wind Band of Thorn and conductor Jan Cober. Two small motifs taken from the main theme, a descending minor third and a descending major second, trigger a total of five variations, building up a broad melody which will finally unfold completely during the last variation. The work is about 18 minutes long and served as the compulsory piece for the Concert Division at the 2005 [...]

#33  - March 9, 2020 KOREAN DANCES - for Wind Orchestra by CHANG SU KOH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_5RjKlV9SA Chang Su Koh’s Korean Dances for Wind Orchestra is our Composition of the Week. This dance suite has three movements, Preludio, Passacaglia and Rondo-Finale, and was commissioned by Osaka College of Music. Chang Su Koh uses several traditional Korean rhythms called Chirche Chandan. The first movement, Preludio, is a kind of marching overture. The second movement, Passacaglia, is a series of variations on the traditional tune Birds and Moon. The third movement, Rondo-Finale, uses the form of Chirche Chandan in a freely structured way. Chirche [...]

#32 - March 2, 2020 MÀSCARES by VORO GARCÍA Màscares by Voro García (Spain) is our Composition of the Week. Màscares (masks), was commissioned by Banda “La Primitiva” from Rafelbunyol and was featured as their free-choice pièce for the presentation at the “Certamen Internacional de Bandas de Valencia” in the first section, in 2017. You can hear the live recording capturing that moment following this link. The band was conducted by Àngel Martínez Escutia.   Voro García, born in Sueca. Studied trombone, piano, singing, chorus and orchestra conducting musicology and composition, at the Conservatory of music of Valencia, with R. Ramos [...]

#31 – February 24, 2020 AQUILA NON CAPIT MUSCAS MAXIME AULIO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ulErAFMRik Aquila non capit muscas (an eagle does not catch flies) is our Composition of the Week. The work was acknowledged with the 3rd prize in the 2nd category of WASBE’S Composition Contest held in its last International Conference, which took place at Buñol, Spain, on July 2019. Aulio’s work has a duration of approximately 12 minutes and written for medium-difficult level (Grade 4 - 5) . It was commissioned by the Orchestre d’Harmonie de Beaulieu-Mandeure, France, for their 130th anniversary. Program notes by the composer: “Impressions and imagination about [...]

#30 – February 17, 2020 ALMIRANTE CRISTOBAL COLÓN EVA IRENE LOPSZYC https://soundcloud.com/user-642642570-907922214/sets/wasbe-composition-of-the-1 Argentinian composer Eva Lopszyc’s Almirante Cristobal Colón is our composition of the week. Almirante Cristobal Colón  was written in 2008 dedicated to” Pablo Dell'Oca Sala, Laszlo Marosi, Darío Sotelo and Félix Hauswirth “ and premiered by the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Tenerife’s Symphonic Band, Felix Hauswirth conducting,  at the IV Iberian-American Congress for Composers, Conductors, Arrangers , Symphonic Bands  and Ensembles  in Santa Cruz de Tenerife- Spain, November 2008. The piece was performed also in Germany (Stuttgart and Manheim) and Lisbon- Portugal under the batton of Alberto Roque, [...]

#29 - February 10, 2020 CONCERTO FOR TROMBONE STEVEN BRYANT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7dIHF_G2WI Steven Bryant’s Concerto for Trombone is our composition of the week. The 23-minutes work is dedicated to Joseph Alessi, who premiered it on February 19th, 2016, with the University of Texas Austin Wind Ensemble under Jerry Junkin. Bryant’s concerto was commissioned by the Dallas Winds, UT Austin Wind Ensemble and a consortium of ensembles from around the country. Written for an advanced level, the concerto’s instrumentation uses the orchestral winds as its basic canvas: 2232/4331.Contrabass.Piano.Harp.Timpani.Percussion (4) “Unlike most of my other music, I initially created a long (for me) melody [...]

#28– February 03, 2020 IM MEMORIAM BLAS EMILIO ATEHORTÚA AMAYA (1943 - 2020) Colombian composer, conductor and teacher, Blas Emilio Atehortúa Amaya passed away on January 5th 2020 at 76 years of age. The multifaceted and prolific composer is regarded as one of Latin America’s leading musical artists. His works have been performed worldwide. After his studies in Colombia, he obtained a scholarship to study in Buenos Aires at the “Centro de Altos Estudios Torcuato Di Tella”. This institution offered him the possibility to get in contact with the young Latin American composers, as well as the great European composers of [...]