Composition of the Week

#65 - October 19, 2020 GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS (1953) Octet (2015) for 8 trombones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2KTxOVSQRA Continuing with a series of chamber works for winds that might help you in your programming during this pandemic time, we would like to present Octet, by Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas, as our Composition of the Week. The Octet was written for the 8 trombonists of the Trombone Unit Hannover a well-established ensemble in northern Germany. Octet is dedicated to his wife Mollena Williams and has a duration of 20 minutes. Its premiere took place at the Basel Munster in Switzerland on September 11, 2015. [...]

#64 – October 12, 2020 HANS ABRAHAMSEN (1952) Wind Quintet “Landscapes” (1972) and Wind Quintet “Walden” (1958) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3eTftJPB9-1UqGmqsyUqFNRlMUwXfiO4 Two chamber works for Wind Quintet by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen are our Compositions of the Week. These two compositions are considered to be “key works” in Abrahamsen’s output because they are related to a style known as “new simplicity”. Abrahamsen is considered to have been part of this trend, which arose in the mid-1960s as a reaction against the complexity of Central Europe’s avant-garde. Seeking to rediscover man’s lost unity with nature. A lot of superfluous material has been peeled away in [...]

#63 – October 05, 2020 EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA (1928 - 2016) WIND OCTET Allegro Molto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhA61EvFl7o Largo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M3l_sBlnUg Prestissimo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps5370g4akM   Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Wind Octet is our Composition of the Week. Written in 1962, some years before Soldier’s Mass, one of his well-known works for winds, the octet has a rather unusual instrumentation, calling for four woodwinds as well as four brass instruments, which means flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon plus two horns, one trumpet and one trombone (1111/2110). Faithful to his compositional style, Rautavaara likes first to choose the instrumentation of a piece, where the music can only then [...]

#62 – September 28, 2020 Photo Credit : Pascale de Srebnicki IN MEMORIAM CHRISTOPHE BERTRAND (1981 - 2010) AYAS For Symphonic Brass and Percussion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI0R02iXUN0 We would like to dedicate our Composition of the Week to the memory of French composer Christophe Bertrand, at the 10th anniversary of his passing. Christophe Bertrand had an extremely short but brilliant and dazzling career. Unanimously recognized by the greatest names of contemporary music as one of the most promising talents of his generation. He studied piano at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, in France, with Laurent Cabasso and Michèle Renoul; composition with Ivan Fedele and [...]

#61 – September 21, 2020 RICARDO LORENZ KING MANGOBERRY Five Allegories for Wind Symphony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJnLEgEyMLU KING MANGOBERRY by Venezuelan-born composer Ricardo Lorenz is our Composition of the Week. This five-movement set was started in 1993 with the writing of its first movement as a single work. Later on, in 2017, Lorenz revised this original first piece to better suit the addition of four new movements. The result is a suite of about 23 minutes. Its movements are King Mangoberry’s Triumphant Entrance (3’25 Princess Cherrygys Reveals Her Dream (4’25) Sir Lempple Contemplates His Reflection in the Mirror (5’02) Jester Rumffee’s Juggling Fixation [...]

#60 – September 14, 2020 Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Millot ROGER BOUTRY (1932 - 2019) TETRADE I - Allegro con fuoco (1’30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQllCWn5HqY   II - Allegro Scherzando (2’25) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z9gWqX22AQ   III - Andante Maestoso (6’10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIBqUV74Ats   IV - Allegro Giocoso (3’) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoEAD3EZ2zI   Tetrade by French composer Roger Boutry is our Composition of the Week. It’s been just one year since the passing of maître Roger Boutry, and this presentation humbly honors his memory. He was a virtuoso pianist, renowned and internationally recognized conductor, ingenious and elegant arranger, as well as a great composer. Roger Boutry was admitted at 18 [...]

#59 – September 07, 2020 Photo credit: J.Henry Fair JENNIFER HIGDON OBOE CONCERTO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWkBKhFBhUc Jennifer Higdon’s Oboe Concerto is our Composition of the Week. The concerto was written in 2005 for the Minnesota Club, a small private commissioning consortium and it was premiered by Kathy Grennbank and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra on the same year. The Wind Ensemble version was completed in 2008, commissioned by three American universities. The Oboe Concerto is composed in a single movement and has duration of 17 minutes. It is available at Lawdon Press. Reviewing the world premiere, Michael Anthony of the Star Tribune lauded [...]

#58 – August 31, 2020 WARREN BENSON THE LEAVES ARE FALLING https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKAcSXRsnw Warren Benson’s The Leaves are Falling is our Composition of the Week. The Leaves Are Falling was composed between 1963 and 1964. It has a duration of about 11 minutes and is written for a large Wind Ensemble, including Contrabassoon, Contrabass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, 3 cornets and 3 trumpets parts, String Bass and Harp. The work’s atmosphere is evocative, using sustained sonorities and extended, often dissonant, harmonies. The music is Benson’s statement of grief and vivid reaction after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Rainer Maria Rilke’s Poem [...]

#57 – August 24, 2020 HIROSHI HOSHINA KOSHI - AN ANCIENT FESTIVAL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw695K5Jx9E Koshi - An Ancient Festival, by Japanese composer Hiroshi Hoshina is our Composition of the Week. Originally composed for orchestra under the title “A Festival” in 1978 honoring a commission from the Okayama University Symphony Orchestra for its 25th regular concert season. Later on, in 1980, Hoshina transcribed the piece for band upon a request of the Yamaha Symphonic Band, to celebrate the Band’s 20th anniversary. The premiere took place on June 29, 1980, in Hamamatsu. The Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra recorded the piece right after its premiere [...]

#56 – August 17, 2020 STEPHEN MICHAEL GRYC GUIGNOL Concerto for Bassoon and Small Wind Orchestra   Guignol, Concerto for Bassoon and Small Wind Orchestra by American composer Stephen Michael Gryc is our Composition of the Week. Disputes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhglFdIFMLA   A Strange Occurrence in the Night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwIrTp2Xj0o   III. Running Amok. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUaOm43eE6U   Guignol, completed in 2016, was commissioned and premiered by conductor J. Thomas Seddon IV and the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. The premiere took place on April 23, 2017, with Richard Hoenich as soloist. Guignol (which in French means marionette or puppet) has a duration of about [...]