Composition of the Week

#209– July 24, 2023 Jules Strens and The Synthetists Allegro Vivo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4GmX_sKoyk Var.I – Moderato Grazioso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vVbFcllNg Var. II - Vivace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4naBemZmaTg Var. III – Très moderé https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y89MoTXv5mw Vari. IV – Moderato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0dmyDXBZo Var.V – Molto largo e solennel – Finale. Allegro gaio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFXpeKFH80 Gil Blas, Symphonic Variations Op. 21, by Belgian composer, conductor, violinist, and organist Jules Strens is our Composition of the Week. During the coming summer weeks, we are presenting Belgian literature for wind orchestra by Paul Gilson and a group of his students who, in September 1925, joined their creative forces to form the first group of [...]

#208– July 17, 2023 Paul Gilson and The Synthetists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaeF8XXF0CI “Poème symphonique en forme d’ouverture”, by Belgian composer and teacher Paul Gilson is our Composition of the Week. During the coming summer weeks, we are presenting Belgian literature for wind orchestra by Paul Gilson and a group of his students who, in September 1925, joined their creative forces to form the first group of composers in Belgian musical history, called the Synthetists. The music they produced constitutes an unavoidable historical heritage of the early 20th century. This fresh and imaginative repertoire, of great artistic quality, remains curiously and unjustly unknown. The [...]

#207– July 10, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5kHHGgf7Uk Rapsodia Latina, by Uruguayan-Venezuelan composer, arranger, and flutist Efraín Oscher is our Composition of the Week. “Rapsodia Latina was written especially for virtuoso trumpeter Fabio Brum, this piece visits the birthplaces of Latin music such as the Caribbean Sea and Brazil in three continuous movements, to be played with three different trumpets. The bright opening recalls the flavor of the Cuban rhythm of Guajira which was made famous by the iconic song Guantanamera. The orchestra provides a rather percussive texture and establishes a dialog with the powerful sound of the trumpet in Bb, creating an exhilarating [...]

#206– July 03, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GW8QRWtXuI Cryptogram, by American composer, performer and educator Eli Rexford Chambers is our Composition of the Week. Cryptogram was written in 2017 and has a duration of 13 minutes. It is scored for Wind Ensemble and Jazz Quintet as follows: (3.Picc.3.EbCl.BCl.Sax(4).0/233.Euph.1.Mallets(4).Perc.(3)) (Sop.Sax.Flugelhorn.E-Piano.E.Bass.Drums) Both the quintet and the orchestra have sections where improvisation can take place as well as aleatoric moments. Eli Rexford Chambers earned a MM in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University, studying with Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn, Elainie Lillios, and Marilyn Shrude. While at Bowling Green, he composed and recorded original works for by [...]

#205– June 26, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D26-AZEOYEA Echo-System, by Swiss composer, conductor and arranger Théo Schmitt is our Composition of the Week. Echo-System was commissioned by the Swiss section of WASBE, and has received its premiere performances on April 14 and 16, 2023, at the Casino de Montbenon, Lausanne, Switzerland, by the Micro-Harmonie, with Stéphane Pecorini conducting. Schmitt uses the word oratorio as a subtitle for his work. It has a duration of 13 minutes and it is scored for five homogeneous groups of 6 woodwind and brass players, as well as a group of „percussive“ instruments that include piano, harp, timpani, glockenspiel, [...]

#204– June 19, 2023 Credit Marie Rolland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnBgnQwx10 Magic Circus, by French composer and organist Thierry Escaich is our Composition of the Week. Magic Circus was commissioned by the National Orchestra of Lille, France, in 2004. Its was premiered at the Lille Conservatory of Music on June 1, 2005, performed by members of the above mentioned orchestra. Magic Circus is scored for a classical wind octet and has a duration of 11 minutes. The composer arranged the work for Saxophone ensemble (9) in 2019. The sheet music is available at Gérard Billaudot edition. „Tightrope walkers, sad clowns, hybrid and [...]

#203– June 12, 2023 Credit: Terrance Ragland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jns22RDIqRs Amen! by American composer and arranger Carlos Simon is our Composition of the Week. Amen! was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band to celebrate the university’s bicentennial, with support from the H. Robert Reynolds Commissioning Fund. The premiere performance took place at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) on November 21, 2017, the University’s Symphonic Band under Michael Haithcock. “Amen! is a homage to my family's four-generational affiliation with the Pentecostal church. My intent is to re-create the musical experience of an African American Pentecostal church service that I [...]

#202– June 05, 2023 Credit: Ciril Jazbec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dCwa14NZk Gouache, by Slovenian composer Nina Šenk is our Composition of the Week. Gouache is the French term to call a water-medium paint, similar to watercolor, but modified to make it opaque. Gouache was finished in 2018, premiered on November 15 of the same year by the Slowind Wind Quintet and Klangforum Wien, during the Slowind Festival in Ljubljana, which is the main Slovene‘s scene for modern and contemporary music. Goauche is structured in a single movement, of about 15 minutes of duration, and it is scored for: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, [...]

#201– May 29, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXk24Yb5uKQ Concierto para violín y 18 instrumentos, by Argentinian composer, conductor and cellist José María Castro is our Composition of the Week. The concerto was written in 1953 and commissioned by the “Asociación Amigos de la Música” from Buenos Aires. It was premiered by the association’s orchestra on July 6, 1954, with Ljerko Spiller as soloist and Jean Martinon conducting. Castro writes in a neoclassical style, and composes the concerto in three movements, using the current Fast-Slow-Fast structure. The piece has a duration of 23 minutes, and it is scored with the following instrumentation: Solo Violin.2.2.2.2/2.2.0.0.Cello (3). [...]

#200– May 22, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCfjTBUOZA Initiale, by French composer, conductor and teacher Pierre Boulez is our Composition of the Week. Initiale is a short, only 5 minutes, rarely performed piece by Pierre Boulez that he composed for the Houston Symphony Orchestra, in 1987. The instruments, two trombones, two horns and two trumpets, are symmetrically distributed around the tuba, allowing for echo and spatialization effects that the composer of “Répons” likes to consider. Its first performance took place in Houston, USA, on November 11, 1987. A new version of the work followed in 2010. Initiale for brass and percussion is in principle [...]