Composition of the Week

#113– September 20, 2021 Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra EDWIN ROXBURGH (1937) https://soundcloud.com/user-642642570-907922214/sets/edwin-roxburgh Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra by British composer, conductor and oboist Edwin Roxburgh is our Composition of the Week. The concerto was premiered on March 30, 2017, in celebration of the 80th birthday of composer Edwin Roxburgh, by the Trinity Laban Wind Orchestra, with Karl Lutchmeyer on piano and Tim Reynish conducting. The piece has a duration of 24 minutes and it is set for: 2 (Picc).2.2(EbCl).BCl.2/4331.Euph/Timp.Perc(2) The performance material is on hire at United Music Publishing Limited. Edwin Roxburgh was born in Liverpool, England. After [...]

#112– September 13, 2021 Hour of the Soul - Poem for Large Wind Orchestra and Mezzo-Soprano SOFIA GOUBAÏDOULINA (1931) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvnP8aC5-j8 Hour of the Soul, by Russian composer Sofia Goubaïdoulina is our Composition of the Week. Based on a poem by Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaïeva (1892 - 1941), Hour of the Soul was written in between 1974 and 1976 and premiered in western Europe 30 years later, on September 11, 2004, in Bolzano, Italy, by the Windkraft Ensemble, with Nathalie Stutzmann as mezzo-soprano soloist and Kasper de Roo conducting. Goubaïdoulina would later revise the piece in 1988, for the percussionist Mark Pekarsky, for [...]

#111– September 06, 2021 CONCERTO FOR TUBA and WIND ORCHESTRA JURAJ FILAS (1955) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJHBNX1ufsM Concerto for Tuba and Wind Orchestra by Slovak composer Juraj Filas is our Composition of the Week. The concerto was commissioned and performed by tuba soloist James Gourlay and the Glasgow Royal Academy of Music in 2006. It has a duration of 15 minutes. He had already composed on specific commissions for other world-class brass players such as Joseph Alessi, solo trombonist of New York Philharmonic (two sonatas and a concerto) as well as Otto Sauter, one of the best contemporary piccolo trumpet players (a concerto and [...]

#110– August 30, 2021 photo credit: Tristan Willems POLKA and FUGUE from “ŠVANDA DUDÁK” (transcribed by Glenn Bainum) JAROMÍR WEINBERGER (1896 - 1967) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzSeEuUgmY “Polka and Fugue” from the opera Švanda Dudák (Schwanda the Bagpiper) by Czech composer Jaromír Weinberger is our Composition of the Week. We usually like to feature original works for winds, however, on this occasion, we would love to present you a fine transcription; we do so for a couple of reasons. The band score was transcribed by Glenn Bainum in 1928, which means almost immediately after the premiere of Schwanda, the Bagpiper, which took [...]

#109– August 23, 2021 Photo credit: Tina Krohn NOVEL ROMANCE Variations for Winds JONATHAN NEWMAN (1972) https://soundcloud.com/user-642642570-907922214/sets/novel-romance Novel Romance, by American composer Jonathan Newman is our Composition of the Week. Novel Romance was written in 2018 was commissioned by the XI Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia in honor of their 100th Anniversary and the University of Kansas Bands, and it was premiered on December 6, 2018, at the Lied Center of Lawrence, Kansas, by the Kansas University Symphonic Band under Matt Smith. The work has a duration of about 7 and a half minutes, and it is scored as follows: [...]

#108– August 16, 2021 CANTARES DE GALICIA MICHAEL GANDOLFI (1956) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgbQ1PJCnCE Cantares de Galicia, by American composer Michael Gandolfi, is our Composition of the Week. Cantares de Galicia was commissioned by the Ithaca College of Music in 2015 and it was premiered a couple of years later, on February 15, 2018, by the New England Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble, under Charles Peltz. Cantares de Galicia uses a standard wind ensemble instrumentation, including harp and 5 percussion parts. It has a duration of 15 minutes, and it is available directly from the composer. Gandolfi tells us more about Cantares de Galicia’s [...]

#107– August 09, 2021 UNA COSA RARA (Sinfonia) and DIVERTIMENTI 2, 3 and 4 in B-Flat Major VICENTE MARTIN Y SOLER (1754 - 1806) Una cosa rara (Sinfonía) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06WiSimLU10 Divertimento No. 2 in B-Flat Major (4th movement) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkPpxxQhDU Divertimento No. 3 in B-Flat Major (1st movement) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bha8bUeVB-A Divertimento No. 4 in B-Flat Major (1st movement) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt7oHKzlTjo The overture to the opera “Una Cosa Rara” and Divertimenti 2, 3 and 4 in B-flat major by Spanish composer Vicente Martin y Soler are our CompositionS of the Week. We would like to bring some fresh summer air with these marvelous and rather unknown [...]

#106– August 02, 2021 PLACES WE CAN NO LONGER GO JOHN MACKEY (1973) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAeLHj5w6vM "Places we can no longer go", by American composer John Mackey, is our Composition of the Week. Written in 2019 for wind ensemble with soprano, the work was commissioned by a consortium led by the School of Music in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, for the ASU Wind Orchestra under conductor Gary Hill, which premiered the piece on February 22, 2019, at the CBDNA National Conference in Tempe, Arizona, with guest soprano soloist Lindsay Kesselman. “Places we can no longer [...]

#105– July 26, 2021 CONCERTO FÜR KLAVIER UND BLASORCHESTER HERMANN REGNER (1928 - 2008) I. Toccata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT5Sgj-58sk II. Romanza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_ko4b3Tfxs III. Ballata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7lmqpq25EY Concerto für Klavier und Blasorchester by German composer Hermann Regner is our Composition of the Week. This short concerto, of only 11 minutes, was written in 2004, and it is designed for young players.  It is cast in three movements, Toccata, Romanza, and Ballata. The Toccata is a percussive movement, followed by the slower Romanza, where the piano takes the main role, portraying a calm and tender theme (tranquillo e teneramente). The work closes with the Ballata, which [...]

#104– July 19, 2021 LE CIEL DÉGRADÉ SE DISSOUT À LA SURFACE DE L’EAU TAKASHI HAGA (1989) https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=jlGEonJCVYk « Le ciel dégradé se dissout à la surface de l’eau » by Japanese composer Takashi Haga is our Composition of the Week. « Le ciel dégradé se dissout à la surface de l’eau » whose possible English translation would be « a gradient sky dissolves at the water surface » is the winner of the 6th International Composition Contest « Coups de Vents » 2018, which is held every two years in northern France. It received both the 1st prize from the jury as well as the audience’s choice. [...]