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Welcome to my HOMEPAGE MAY 1st 2024
STOP PRESS – NEWS FROM MUNICH - BANDS MEET SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
July 7th in Munich
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Bayerische Rundfunk and local bands. Percy Aldridge Grainger/Lincolnshire Posy Lorenz Dangel/“PHON” commissioned by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, world premiere
Hector Berlioz/“Grande Symphonie funèbre et triomphale”, op. 15
Timo Dellweg/“Kaiserin Sissi”
Martin Scharnagl/“Euphoria”
July 7th sees the culmination of Sir Simon Rattle’s huge project in which he and colleagues in Munich auditioned over 120 local bands, four of which will play alongside the Symphoniorchester Bayerischen Rundfunk, wind brass and strings in the Berlioz Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale and their newly commissioned work PHON.
Please click for full interview with Simon
A belated Happy New Year to everyone; it was so great to meet so many conductors worldwide at the Midwest Band Clinic Exhibition with Mid-West Sheet Music and the Maecenas exhibition. For information on our new Maecenas publications, follow this link on your browser https://maecenasmusic.co.uk/latest-news.html
All scores and parts available in USA and elsewhere at
https://www.midwestsheetmusic.com/page/our-store/
Highlights in the Maecenas catalogue for me are
ADAM GORB Out of the Darkness for Wind Ensemble
World Premiere start at 5.45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQNZkQhvAyA
Score $44.00 Score & Parts $160.00
Out of the Darkness follows the implications of its title: a progress from sombre introspection to something much more hopeful. The years from 2020 to 2022 were troubling worldwide but hopefully a brighter future can be attained in the face of present-day challenges. This is 'serious' Gorb, gripping, spiritual, a voyage through struggle and challenge demanding an ensemble's full technical and expressive skill.
ADAM GORB Double Concerto for Violin, Viola, and Wind Ensemble
University of Georgia Wind Ensemble Premiere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ga20y5Dx0o&list=PLeaVPK3st0vLvne0Moz-xvnCbK-mVjdlh&index=3
The work is in two movements, the first includes an element of comedy, the second, slower movement being more tragic. Here, bell like sonorities are balanced against soaring lyrical passages where the soloists pit themselves against the increasing backdrop of the ominously threatening winds. However, the mood becomes more joyous reaching an elusive and intricate coda mirroring the opening of the work. The Double Concerto is a moving and powerful piece with a strong sense of line and texture and, as always demonstrates Gorb's strikingly flawless craftsmanship. Please note: The set of parts includes the two solo parts.
Score £55 Score and Parts $170.00
TERRY GREAVES Werneth
Parts and Score $170.00 Score $43.00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqxLKgUEHkU&list=PL-U_5aypcKa4hwLwOL6V0r9wRkwbIazaE
1. Miniature March – 4:20
2. Sad and Sentimental Waltz – 3:50
3. Skittish Scherzo – 2:20
4. Elegy – 2:30
5. Rondo from Rio – 3:50
Over fifty years ago I joined the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and I used occasionally to play with the BBC Midland Light Orchestra. This was in the heyday of British light music with composers like Ronald Binge , Eric Coates, Frederic Curzon , Robert Farnon, Ron Goodwin, Albert Ketèlby , Billy Mayerl, Angela Morley , Sidney Torch, Gilbert Vinter, Haydn Wood and the doyen of them all, Ernest Tomlinson whose 100th birthday it is this year. Brilliantly catching the spirit of that by-gone age is Terry Greaves in Werneth, a Suite of five dances ideal for a community band or a light programme in school or university, three of them actually written for the BBC MLO.
PETER RACINE FRICKER Sinfonia in Memoriam Benjamin Britten for 17 wind and brass instruments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph7n6rx_RZ8
3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones
Written shortly after Britten’s death in 1976, this is a work of the greatest importance, not only to wind players. One of the most enthalling, moving and eloquent scores by this major composer, now available in a carefully prepared edition. Features an important part for first oboe!
Parts $125 Score $43.00
TWO MAJOR ROMANTIC WORKS ARRANGED FOR WIND ENSEMBLE
JOHANNES BRAHMS Serenade in A for Woodwind choir
Score and Parts $120.00 Score $42.00
Arranged Derek Smith 3 Flutes (3rd doubling Piccolo), 2 Oboes, 3 Clarinets in A and Bb, 2 Bassoons, Contra Bassoon, Alto Saxophone, 2 Tenor Saxophones and Baritone Saxophone.
Johannes Brahms Serenade in A, originally for orchestra with no violins, arranged by Derek Smith (after Op.16) for Woodwind and Saxophones. For Brahms the Serenade was a light-hearted response to the Serenades of Mozart and Haydn. He imagined them as loose-limbed entertainment rather than titanic struggles with symphonic form. Derek Smith’s arrangement of the second Serenade stays faithful to the original Brahms woodwind writing whilst representing the rich dark sonorities of the strings and horns with an extra clarinet and quartet of saxophones. There are five varied movements each of which may be played separately.
Full orchestra score performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKnIGk6USzM
GUSTAV MAHLER/ADAM GORB Rondo Burleske
Score and Parts $200.00 Score $65.00
The Rondo Burleske appears as the second scherzo of the Ninth symphony. In character it is at first sprightly then suddenly hysterical and finally demonic. The 'burlesque' element reflects the reality and grotesqueness of the city culture surely referencing the extremes of Mahler's own artistic experience in Vienna. In this transcription Gorb faithfully represents the exhilarating character and textures of Mahler's writing lending his own imaginative flair for colour to the orchestration and in doing so triumphantly bringing Mahler's artistic achievement to the wind orchestra repertory.
Full orchestra performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzCBjs5xfdU
TWO NEW CD RELEASES FROM MARK MORETTE
Featuring Maecenas works by Greaves, Fricker and Gorb
VOLUME 13
Alarcón: Cello Concerto
Andrew Reynish - Cleveland Symphonic Winds
Ito: As Time Is Passing On
Singapore Philharmonic Winds
Chen Qian: Ambush! From All Sides
Grand Symphonic Winds
Greaves: Werneth
VOLUME 14 RELEASED ON MARCH 15TH
Theofanidis, Christopher: The Here and Now
University of Kentucky Wind Symphony, Chorale and Lexington Singers
Holloway, Robin: Entrance - Carousing – Embarcation
RNCM Wind Orchestra
Fricker, Peter Racine: Sinfonia for 17 Wind op 76:
Cleveland Winds
Gorb, Adam: Out of the Darkness
Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble
MAKING IT BETTER
To access a digital copy of my book Making it Better, enter the link below on your browser.
Making It Better
Creating a wind repertoire in the UK - A Personal Reflection on over 40
Years of
Commissioning, Performing, Recording & Publishing
by Tim Reynish
EUROPEAN REPERTOIRE
Sami Ruusuvuon writes:
I have collected a list of significant European symphonic wind band music works from the 20th century to the present day. My source of information has been wind music professionals from various countries, conductors, sheet music publishers, recordings and literature. My aim was not to list the thousands of European wind band compositions but to choose the most representative, interesting compositions from different countries that would spur interest. My criteria specified that the work was composed between the early 20th century and the present day, was published and is available online. My ambition is to keep completing the catalogue, so I would be happy to receive suggestions by email at sami.ruusuvuori@gmail.com
Visit the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles website