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AMATEUR WIND BANDS REPERTOIRE 1 WORLD MUSIC FOR THE COMMUNITY BAND This article first appeared in the WASBE Newsletter; updated 8/26/2004 One of the most important aspects of WASBE is its potential for sharing repertoire ideas. Recommended repertoire lists can be gathered off the internet – everyone has a library of favorite pieces which normally include much the same group of tried and trusted composers, Holst and Vaughan Williams at the beginning of the 20th century, take your pick at the end. The 19th century and early 20th century romantic repertoire is one of our problems; some of the transcriptions are just too dated and too virtuosic, with clarinets replacing violins in a welter of semiquavers/16th notes. (I wish the British adopted the American methods of naming notes). We still hear performances of Cesar Franck and Saint-Saens transcriptions, but not many of Saint-Saens minor original masterpiece for band,
Occident et Orient, now available from Maecenas/Music Masters While Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral will remain a staple part of the repertoire, Laszlo Marosi has opened up a new aspect of Wagner with his splendid recordings of
Wagner Fantasies by Arthur Seidel (1849-1910). These are recorded in splendid performances, sometimes a little coarse at the climaxes but on the whole well-balanced with excellent performances, by the Liszt Academy Symphonic Band Budapest on Hungaraton Classic HCD 31873. For information about these rousing versions of Wagner, contact
Laszlo Marosi. Laszlo Marosi and Tom Everett are two members of WASBE who have worked hard to introduce us to Hungarian music, and two folk suites by Frigyes Hidas, published by
Editio Musica Budapest and available through Boosey and Hawkes, will bring a flavour of Eastern Europe into your programmes. The Irish Youth Wind Ensemble is dedicated to developing an Irish repertoire, and their concerts at the National Concert Hall are always innovative. They recently brought out a disc with seven Irish works, recently reviewed by Leon Bly, and I think that three of those are welcome addition to the Community Band repertoire. The
March Bizarre by Gerard Victory is a fun piece with little quirks and turns that you might expect from the former head of music for Radio Eirann, the
Wexford Rhapsody by T C Kelley is a rather sentimental stringing together of a few Irish folk tunes, which might be a useful alternative in a Celtic evening to replace a similar work by Clare Grundman, and the
Finnegan’s Wake which is one of my favorite community band pieces, a quick march full of energy and humour. Contact
Fergus O’Carroll of O’Carroll Music Publishers for more information about the pieces and about WASBE Conference 2007. One of my favourite marches remains the March from Versuche uber Einen Marsch by Marcel Wengler, a former student of Hans Werner Henze. The whole work is an 18 minute set of experiments on a traditional German march, experiments which touch on Stravinsky, Berg and Ravel, and the march itself has some surprising twists, with extra beats or half beat. Either the March separately or the whole work will be available in the Autumn of 2004 from
Maecenas/Music Masters A fruitful exploration can be made in the 21 MARCHES FOR THE 21ST
CENTURY; they were commissioned by the Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs and recorded in seven sets of three marches on PSC 163 by the seven professional bands of the Norwegian Defence Forces. The record is published by Pro Musica, Norway for Norsk Kuturräd. Each set consists of a march by a distinguished overseas composers, one by a young Norwegian and one by a more experienced Norwegian composers. I recently came across a terrific pasodoble by Rodrigo called Pasodoble para paco alcalde. Information from the main Spanish publishing house Piles or EJR (Ediciones Joaquín Rodrigo) There is a great Rodrigo web site with further information. UK The Holst and Vaughan Williams works are quoted by Frederick Fennell as the cornerstone of our repertoire, but another work from that period well worth exploring is The Pageant of London (1910) by Frank Bridge, two marches framing three dances, rousing and lyrical stuff, ideal for the community band, professional or honours band, not quite as hard as the Holst works to bring off well. Sometimes hard to find, it is published by a small specialist firm, Da Capo, Colin Bayliss, 26 Stanway Road, Whitefield, Manchester, tel +44 (0) 161 766 5950 Many composers writing today have written wonderful music for both community and professional military bands, music which players will love to tackle and audiences to hear. These include Martin Ellerby, Adam Gorb, Edward Gregson, Philip Sparke and Guy Woolfenden. I can heartily recommend Derek Bourgeois and Ernest Tomlinson, both with a light touch and fine feeling for a tune. Ernest’s Suite of English Dances I first came across over forty years ago playing in the BBC Welsh Orchestra, and they are just as attractive in their new wind band guise. Ernest was born in 1924 so this is a good time to explore this great addition to the literature. Derek has written for wind at all levels but two of his most attractive salon pieces will be eagerly purchased by anyone who knows and loves his Serenade. Tomlinson
Suite of English Dances
Novello/Studio Ernest Tomlinson is one of the great exponents of that special genre of British repertoire, light music. Their proud boast is We have more information on British Light Music Composers than any other website |