Composition of the Week

#199– May 15, 2023 Credit: Marcelo Macaue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcHElBcsG74&t=725s Multiverse – Another Rite of Spring, by Brazilian-American composer, pianist, vocalist, and educator Clarice Assad is our Composition of the Week. Multiverse was commissioned by the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble and conductor Michael Votta, who premiered the piece on February 17, 2023, at the CBDNA National Conference in Athens, Georgia. “In 2019, I received an email from conductor Michael Votta with an intriguing vision for a commission: How would you like to write a response to Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” experienced through the eyes of the sacrificial maiden? [...]

#198– May 08, 2023 Credit: Ellen Lande Gossner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pykE7Se8Ntc Waves II-b, by Norwegian composer and performing artist Maja Ratkje is our Composition of the Week. Waves II-b is based upon earlier versions, Waves I and Waves II, both first performed by the Dutch ensemble “de Ereprijs” in 1997 and 1998. Waves II-b was premiered at the Oslo Chamber Music Festival in 1998 by the Oslo Sinfonietta, with Christian Eggen conducting. “Waves of sound, water or light behave similarly. Waves move through a substance with a certain frequency or energy. Waves interfere with each other, and new structures are shown. [...]

#197– May 01, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDf9B48FU-8 Blow, by Swedish composer and conductor Arne Mellnäs is our Composition of the Week. Blow is scored for Flute, Oboe, 3 Clarinets, Bassoon, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Euphonium and Tuba, as well as Double Bass and 2 Percussions. It was written in 1974 and has duration of 12 minutes. The recording proposed here is provided to us thanks to the initiative of conductors Brian Priestman and Osmo Vänskä, who recorded it with the Stockholm Wind Orchestra. Blow was originally published by Edition Reimers. It is now available on rental by [...]

#196– April 24, 2023 I.Toccata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSRJBnl0I4 II.Melodie; III.Rondo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2BFl6NHdVQ Symphonie Nr.5 “Concertante” by German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmannn is our Composition of the Week. In 2023 we commemorate 60th anniversary of his death. Written in 1950, it uses material from a previously conceived composition, the burlesque concertino for trumpet and wind ensemble from 1931. It was premiered 72 years ago, in Stuttgart, Germany, on April 21, 1951, at the South German Broadcasting Hall, during the Musiktage Stuttgart, with the South German Broadcasting Orchestra under Hans-Müller-Kray. The Symphonie is structured in three movements: I.Toccata “Lebhaft”; II.Melodie “Langsam”; III. Rondo “Lustig sehr lebhaft”. [...]

#195– April 17, 2023 Photo by Anthony Barlich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51sfJjjfUgA Carnival, by American composer Augusta Read Thomas is our Composition of the Week. Carnival was premiered by the Sun Fredonia Wind Ensemble conducted by Paula Holcomb with Nadina Mackie Jackson, bassoon soloist at SUNY Fredonia, on April 30, 2022. The concerto has a duration of 23 minutes, but it is also possible to perform a shorter version of 13 minutes, which omits some sections. That is the version presented here. The solo part can be played by either bassoon, baritone saxophone, euphonium, or trombone. Carnival is scored for: 2.picc.1.eh.1.bcl.cbn.sop sax. [...]

#194– April 10, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICXT8hgZf4s Ghosts and Gargoyles, by Canadian composer Henry Brant is our Composition of the Week. Commissioned by Toronto’s New Music Concerts, Ghosts and Gargoyles was composed in the summer of 2001. The work is scored for solo flute (also playing piccolo and bass flute) with an octet comprised of piccolos, C-flutes, alto flutes, and bass flutes, plus a jazz drummer. The stage is occupied only by the soloist, the conductor, and the jazz drummer. The four duos of the octet are spatialized in the four corners of the hall. Occasional quotations from ecclesiastic music by Allegri and [...]

#193– April 03, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icke97ggLV4&t=6s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments by South African composer Kevin Volans is our Composition of the Week. Written in 1995, the concerto was premiered during the same year, on October 18, in De Doelen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, with Peter Donohoe as soloist, and Daniel Harding conducting. The concerto has a duration of 20 minutes, it is dedicated to Barbara Bailey, and it is edited by Chester Music. It was commissioned by the BBC Proms, the premiere included a television dance film with Silvie Guillem, with choreography by Jonathan Burrows. The [...]

#192– March 27, 2023 I.Andante, spaciously https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk6KssUGn0o II.Moderato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZyD1sJ7REk III.Scherzo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyFMoUxo6fY IV.Finale-Rondo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7eeoeLrZWc Symphony No. 3 « In Praise of Winds” by American composer, conductor, educator, and performer Gunther Schuller is our Composition of the Week. Symphony No. 3 was commissioned by the School of Music and the University of Michigan Bands for the Centennial celebration of the University of Michigan School of Music (1880 – 1980). The premiere performance took place on February 13, 1981, in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, by the University of Michigan Symphonic Band, with dedicatee Robert Reynolds conducting, as part of the 21st CBDNA National Convention. In [...]

#191– March 20, 2023 https://on.soundcloud.com/RAuqi Pictures of imaginary windscapes, by German composer and pianist Frank Zabel is our Composition of the Week. Pictures of imaginary windscapes, was written between 1999 and 2001, and it is dedicated to Franz Schulte-Huermann and his orchestra Westfalen Winds, on whose suggestion the work was written. The second movement (Vivace furioso) was premiered by Westfalen Winds on March 11, 2000, at the Kulturhaus Lüdenscheid, Germany. The world premiere, as well as the Swiss premiere of the complete work, was performed by the LBO Baden-Württemberg under Walter Ratzek at the Bundesmusikfest on June 3, 2001, Friedrichshafen, Germany, [...]

#190– March 13, 2023 link to SEISHIN Seishin, by Finnish composer Juha T. Koskinen is our Composition of the Week. Written in 2010 and revised in 2022, Seishin was commissioned by Musica Nova Helsinki in commemoration of his fellow countryman Erik Bergman (1911 – 2006) in the occasion of his 100 years Jubilee. The work was premiered on February 10, 2011, in Helsinki, Finland, by the Guard’s Band, Sami Hannula conducting. The revised version of 2022 was premiered in Nagoya, Japan, on January 18, 2023, by the Aichi University of Arts Wind Orchestra under Yuri Nitta. “Sleep, birds and dawn are [...]