News and Premiers

#149– May 30, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qskuoL3nf0Q O Magnum Mysterium, by American composer and educator James Syler is our Composition of the Week. O Magnum Mysterium is a transcription for wind ensemble and solo soprano of the composer’s choral work. This version was completed in 1996 and has a duration of 12 minutes. It is scored for standard Wind Ensemble setting, including String Bass, Harp, Piano and one Timpani part. “O Magnum Mysterium is an ancient Christmas Day text that describes the great mystery of God becoming man – even the animals behold him. In this setting I attempt to transcend time and [...]

#148– May 23, 2022 I. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krZU8cHSqto II. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIrZogGOmZM III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAfsqkJ7m0 Chamber Symphony 1, by American composer Daniel McCarthy is our Composition of the Week. Written in 1993, Chamber Symphony was commissioned by Cort McClaren, president of C. Alan Publications and the School of Music at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. The piece was premiered at the Southeast chapter of the Music Educators National Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina in the fall of 1994 with soloist Michael Burritt, professor of percussion studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Chamber Symphony I has a duration of 14 minutes and it is written [...]

#147– May 16, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug8JfoJgGrg Circuits, by American composer and educator Cindy McTee is our Composition of the Week. Circuits was originally written in 1990 for the Denton Chamber Orchestra of Denton, Texas. Shortly thereafter, in 1991, McTee created a version for wind ensemble. Although, in 2011, she bought back the copyrights to Circuits and, following extensive editing, created a newly revised version. ... The inclusion of jazz elements and the playful manipulation of musical materials using syncopation, sudden transposition, and juxtaposition are also characteristic of the work. “The title, Circuits, is meant to characterize several important aspects of the work's [...]

#146– May 09, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-RsVAtYuCo “Cinq Bagatelles” for chamber winds by French composer and conductor Jean-Pierre Pommier is our Composition of the Week. These five short pieces were written in Toulon, France, between April, and August 2016. The movements alternate between fast and slow tempi, for a total performance time of about 15 minutes. They are scored for 19 musicians, detailed as follow: Flute 1, 2 (picc)/Oboe (Eng.Hrn)/Basson/Bb Clarinets 1 - 3/Bass Clarinet Alto Sax/Tenor Sax/Baryton Sax/Trumpet 1, 2/Horn/Trombone/Tuba/ String Bass/Percussion (2) “Cinq Bagatelles” are available directly from the composer. Other works for wind ensemble by Jean-Pierre Pommier include: Sinfonietta Op.23 [...]

#145– May 02, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxp7v7Fgg0o Music for eleven wind instruments and timpani by Russian composer Edison Denisov is our Composition of the Week. This work was composed in 1961 and premiered some years later, on November 15, 1965, in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad at the time), by conductor Guennady Rojdestvensky. This is Denisov’s the first serial work. It is scored for: Flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, and timpani Music for eleven wind instruments and timpani has a duration of about 9 minutes and it is published by Edition Peters. Edison Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia, [...]

#144– April 25, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJRrFzU_AHw As the lights go out, by American composer Ben Robichaux is our Composition of the Week. This work was written in 2018 and has received the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2021. It has a duration of 16 minutes and it is scored for standard wind ensemble setting, including harp, piano, as well as live electronics triggered from a laptop computer. Its movements are 1. Aftermath; 2. Down the Tunnel; 3. Resignation. “As the Lights Go Out is a physical and spiritual immersion into the brain of a dying person. This immersion involves the [...]

#143– April 18, 2022 Photo by Christine J. Chambers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrnl7kBqX-c “Red Sky” by American trombonist, composer and producer Anthony Barfield is our Composition of the Week. Red Sky is a 14-minute work based upon the Big Bang Theory. It was commissioned by Professor Brad Kerns and The University of Kentucky Wind Symphony. The premiere performance took place on October 18, 2012, by the University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble, with Bradley Kerns as soloist and Dr. John Birdwell conducting. Red Sky is available directly from Anthony Barfield. “According to the theories of physics, if we were to look at the [...]

#142– April 11, 2022 Photo by Dario Acosta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55nN2G9ki0M Point of Tranquility by American composer Kenneth Fuchs is our Composition of the Week. This idyll for winds, brass and percussion is inspired by the painting of the same name by abstract artist Morris Louis. Point of Tranquility was written in 2017 and has duration of 11 minutes. “The coloristic freedom and shape” suggested by the painting were the inspiration from which Fuchs has developed his work. Kenneth Fuchs serves as Professor of Composition at the University of Connecticut. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition from the [...]

#141– April 04, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0p3-jJxa4w “Symphonie de l’eau” by French composer and pianist Serge Lancen is our Composition of the Week. Serge Lancen has been an undisputed figure of French wind music. His name is not unknown to WASBE members. He was present at the foundation of our association in Manchester, in July 1981, and had supported it with great enthusiasm during his career. He has served as a board member between 1985 and 1991. Some of his compositions received its premiere performance at WASBE Conferences, for example “Masquerade”, for Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble, premiered at Boston in 1987. We [...]