Composition of the Week

#45 – June 01, 2020 SALVADOR BROTONS SYMPHONY No 6, Op. 122 “CONCISE” Symphony N.6 “Concise” by Spanish composer Salvador Brotons is our Composition of the Week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPaZM0BOqig (music starts at 1 minute, 11 sec.) The Symphony N. 6 is considerably short and does not follow an established external program. It is characterized as pure music. It has five direct movements, without much development or thematic manipulation, hence the subtitle of "Concise". The movements are the following: Frontal Courtship (Procession) Scherzo Passacaglia Finale Frontal With a duration of about 25 minutes, the work is orchestrated for a typical Spanish band setting, [...]

#44 - May 25, 2020 IM MEMORIAM JOHN PAUL ZDECHLIK (May 2, 1937 - May 21, 2020) CELEBRATIONS For Concert Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAlcHdZUiMg Celebrations by John P. Zdechlik is our Composition of the Week. We respectfully dedicate this obituary to his memory. John Zdechlik was an American composer, teacher and conductor. He has been elected to the American Bandmasters Association (ABA) in 1989. Many of his compositions have become standard concert band repertoire, including Psalm 46, Chorale and Shaker Dance and Celebrations. John Zdechlik began his tenure in 1970 at Lakewood Community College (now Century College) in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where [...]

#43 - May 18, 2020 JEAN-FRANÇOIS MICHEL GUERNICA For Concert Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcVejhbe_Qc Guernica by Swiss composer Jean-François Michel is our Composition of the Week. Written in 2015, Guernica was the compulsory piece in the 2016 Swiss National Music Festival for the highest Concert Band’s category. It uses a standard instrumentation and has a duration of about 16 minutes. “For his new work, Jean-François Michel has reevoked the name of Guernica as a recurring and disturbing reminder of an unending nightmare in perpetual motion. He describes it in following terms: A short introduction in “chamber music” style illustrates the peaceful daily life [...]

#42 - May 11, 2020 CARLOS CAIRES PIANISSIMO For Wind Band, Piano and Electronics https://soundcloud.com/user-642642570-907922214/sets/wasbe-composition-of-the-week “Pianissimo” for Wind Band, Piano and Electronics by Portuguese composer Carlos Caires is our Composition of the Week. Pianissimo was written in 2017 and has a duration of about 12’. The electronic part consists of two sound files that should be triggered at two specific moments of the piece, using the Max/MSP patch provided. This patch is very simple to operate. It has to be triggered in sync with the conductor, who is equipped with an “in-ear device” to follow a click track. You can take [...]

#41 – May 04, 2020 AULIS SALLINEN THE PALACE RHAPSODY OP. 72 (PALATSIRAPSODIA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE_hFkiu80 “The Palace Rhapsody, Op.72” by finish composer Aulis Sallinen is our Composition of the Week. The music from the rhapsody derives from Palatsi (The Palace), which is Sallinen’s fifth opera, composed in the early 1990s, with libretto by Irene Dische and Hans Magnus Enzensberger, with Sallinen himself providing the Finnish version of the text. The Palace was commissioned by the Savonlinna Opera Festival and was first performed on July 26, 1995. The opera main subject is a satire on the collapse of a corrupt regime. A couple [...]

#40 – April 27, 2020 JOEL PUCKETT SOUTHERN COMFORTS Violin Concerto https://soundcloud.com/user-642642570-907922214/sets/wasbe-composition-of-the-1 Joel Puckett’s Southern Comforts is our Composition of the Week. Southern Comforts is a violin concerto with orchestral winds and percussion. The concerto has a length of about 16 minutes and it was completed in October 2008 for a consortium of collegiate American wind ensembles organized by Robert Ambrose of Georgia State University. Puckett calls for an ensemble of 15 players: 2222/1110.Doublebass.Piano.Percussion (2) Southern Comforts is cast in four movements: Faulkner Ritual: Football and The Lord Lamentation Mint Julep They are an evocation of the composer’s nostalgy for his [...]

#39 – April 20, 2020 WILLIAM KRAFT DIALOGUES AND ENTERTAINMENTS I. Friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g0mP8_rmCw II. Interlude https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqErYZXhBM4 III. Homage Saint Marks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR8kjeU7kUc IV. Let not the black sun deceive you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1vIcpDVj_w Dialogues and Entertainments by William Kraft is our Composition of the Week. Composed in 1980, it was a commission of the University of Michigan Wind Ensemble “and respectfully dedicated to that superlative group and its excellent director, Mr. H. Robert Reynolds”. Its premiere took place on February 13, 1981. Dialogues and Entertainments has a duration of about 20 minutes, and it is scored for Solo Soprano.4444.sax(4)/8442.Stringbass.Timpani.Percussion (6) The work offers a [...]

#38 – April 13, 2020 ROLF RUDIN SYMPHONY Nr.5 “Psychograms” Op. 88 (For large Symphonic Wind Orchestra) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7I-LKCKImw Rolf Rudin’s 5th Symphony “Psychograms” Op.88 is our Composition of the Week. Written in 2014, Rudin’s work was commissioned by the Mannheimer Bläserphilharmonie (Mannheim Philharmonic Wind Orchestra) with support of the University Clinic in Mannheim/Germany. The premiere took place on March 8, 2015 at the Rosengarten Concert Hall in Mannheim. Symphony Nr 5 “Psychograms” has a duration of 16 minutes and it is cast in four movements: I           Wind in the Head (Wind im Kopf) II          Freaky Butterfly (Irrer Falter) III         Burning Tears [...]

#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 [...]