Composition of the Week

#137– March 07, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zzs-nsA98E Beacons, by American composer Peter van Zandt Lane is our Composition of the Week. Beacons was composed for Cynthia Johnston Turner (to whom the piece is dedicated) and the Hodgson Wind Ensemble at the University of Georgia, and premiered at the for the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 16, 2017. Beacons has a duration of around 15 minutes and it is cast in four movements: Daybeacon, II. Relays, III.Orbital Lights and IV.Polaris. Its instrumentation calls for a standard wind ensemble setting, with the addition of amplified steel [...]

#136– February 28, 2022 https://educast.fccn.pt/vod/clips/2kii0ehkh9/desktop.mp4?locale=pt?sd Think of Jazz by Spanish composer and jazz artist Jesús Santandreu is our Composition of the Week. Think of Jazz was premiered at the “Com Sona l’ESO” (The sound of ESO) Festival in the summer of 2011. The “Com Sona l’ESO” festival “is a project born in 2000 out of the enthusiasm of some music teachers who came from the region of Valencia and were teaching in Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Their enthusiasm led them to put all the ideas together to present to a wider public all that could be achieved with students [...]

#135– February 21, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPtONky1pe0&t=8s Rampa by Argentinian composer Marcos Franciosi is our Composition of the Week. Rampa is Marcos Franciosi's first composition for winds. Finished in September 2021, it was commissioned by the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music Wind Orchestra and premiered on December 11, 2021, at the Cité de la Musique et de la Danse, Strasbourg, France, under Miguel Etchegoncelay. Rampa is dense and virtuosic in texture, with complex rhythmic treatment, reflecting the stubborn and ostinato character of Piazzolla's music. Structured in two large contrasting sections, Rampa has a duration of 10 minutes. The instrumentation used is as follows: Piccolo, [...]

#134– February 14, 2022 IN MEMORIAM JOSEPH HOROVITZ (1926 - 2022) BACCHUS ON BLUE RIDGE For Symphonic Wind Band View score and listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79avP5gff5o Austrian-born British composer and conductor Joseph Horovitz passed away on February 9, 2022, his work Bacchus on Blue Ridge is our Composition of the Week. The work is written in three movements, reminiscent of Copland and Gershwin. It has a duration of 19 minutes, and it is set for a standard symphonic band setting. It was written in 1974. The final symphonic wind band version was published in 1983. It has become, ever since, a beloved [...]

#133– February 07, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LHLo3SAQDQ Music for Piano, Percussion and Wind Ensemble by Chinese American composer Xi Wang is our Composition of the Week. Written in 2007 and dedicated to composers Steven Stucky and Roberto Sierra, both previously featured in this publication, as well as to conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner. The work was premiered by the latter, on May 3, 2007, at Bailey Hall, Cornell University, by the Cornell Wind Ensemble, with Dominic Donato, Steve Paysen on solo percussion and Frédéric Lacriox on solo piano. Music for Piano, Percussion and Wind Ensemble is written in three movements: I. Introduction, II. Andante [...]

#132– January 31, 2022 Photo credit: Priska Ketterer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAovfnwRR04 “Fanfare Chimérique” by South Korean composer Unsuk Chin is our Composition of the Week. Fanfare Chimérique was written between 2010 and 2011. It was commissioned by IRCAM - Centre-Pompidou and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, which premiered the work on April 15, 2011, at the Centre-Pompidou in Paris, under Patrick Danvin. Unsuk Chin has later revised the work in 2019. We present here the first, original version. The live electronic’s device was produced at IRCAM’s studios and realized by Benoît Meudic. Fanfare Chimérique is written for too identical wind ensembles, using the following instrumentation, [...]

#131– January 24, 2022 I. Movement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WClAlrGTbw8 II. Movement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DFcvinJg0Y Musica Boema by Czech composer Zdeněk Lukáš is our Composition of the Week. Musica Boema was commissioned in 1977 by Joel Blahník for Stanley DeRusha, who premiered the work with the Michigan State University Wind Symphony on December 11, 1978, at the CBDNA Conference. An earlier work by Lukáš written in 1966, Sonata Concertata for Piano and Symphonic Band, Op.49, was also premiered in the same program. Musica Boema is scored for winds, brass, harp, xylophone, and glockenspiel and cast in two movements. It has a duration of 18 minutes. It [...]

#130– January 17, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff9nGZuaijQ “Skating on the Sheyenne” by American composer Ross Lee Finney is our Composition of the Week. The work was completed in April 1977 after a commission of the Brooklyn College Band. It was premiered by this ensemble under Dorothy Klotzman, on May 20, 1978. “Skating on the Sheyenne” reflects several 20th-century compositional techniques, including rhythmic retrograde, aleatory as well as extended tonality. At the same time, depicts images associated with the Sheyenne River in wintertime. The river runs through Valley City before flowing north to Hudson Bay. It usually freezes each year before the first snowfall, [...]

#129– January 10, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7f8A34b5M Le Cortège du Roi Renaud, for Double Wind Quintet, by Swiss composer and conductor Franco Cesarini is our Composition of the Week. Le Cortège du Roi Renaud was originally written for a full-wind orchestra in 1999 and would be later rearranged for double wind quintet by the composer. This is the version we are presenting to you. It is a short suite in five movements based on tales that originated in southern European folk songs, dating back as far as the 16th century. A large portion of these songs refer to the French poetry “complaintes”, which [...]

#128– January 03, 2022 photo by Charlie Grosso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_mp9btuj3A In this, our first publication for the new year 2022, WASBE wishes to convey to you its most sincere wishes for peace and serenity. May today, more than ever, the possibility of making music together help us to treasure the importance of sharing meaningful moments with musicians, colleagues, and friends in live concerts. Lux Perpetua, by American composer and conductor Frank Ticheli, is our Composition of the Week. Winner of the 2021 NBA/William Revelli Composition Prize, Lux Perpetua received its world premiere by the Baylor University Wind Ensemble under Eric Wilson, at [...]