Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra

Dario Sotelo, Conductor

Douglas Bostock, Conductor

Soloist: Nobuya Sugawa, Saxophone

Edmundo Villani-Cortes (b.1930)Caete Jurure (The Supplication of the Forest)
Luis Nani (b 1967)Lost Forest Symphonic Poem
Isao Matsushita (b.1951)Hiten-no Inori(Prayer of the Flying Gods)
Piet Swerts (b. 1960)Concertino "Uzume's Dance"
Philip Sparke (b. 1951)Out of the Darkness, Into the Light
Toshio Mashima (b.1949)Danse du Phénix

I had to catch the bullet train back to Taipei and missed the WASBE Youth Wind Orchestra. I had listened to the work by Luis Nani before travelling East, and found it to be repetitive and boring, lacking in any compositional features which would make it worth while being played by an international Youth Orchestra, many who had travelled thousands of miles. I would have liked to have heard the Swerts, his Cyrano was one of my favourite pieces in the 2003 Conference

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchestra

Herbert Blomstedt, Conductor

Gustav MahlerSongs of a Wayfarer
Paul HindemithMathis der Maler
Anton BrucknerSymphony No 9

Now that was the programme for a recent concert by one of the world’s great youth orchestras. When Glenn Price and the Artistic Planning Committee worked with the two conductors on the newly branded WASBE Youth Wind Orchestra, were they convinced that the final programme was of the quality which would send messages to players and delegates that here is a vibrant, exciting, musical medium, capable of providing the finest emotional experiences?

I heard some of the other pieces in the open rehearsal, and I felt that either I would like to hear Mahler, Hindemith or Bruckner, or catch the bullet train. However, one close WASBE friend emailed me to say that it was a terrific concert with great music, wonderfully played, so well done everyone.