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ARTICLE 4: EASTMAN WIND ENSEMBLE 50th ANNIVERSARY Revised 18th August 2004 A personal review by Tim Reynish Originally published in the WASBE Newsletter REPERTOIRE NEW TO ME WHICH I CONSIDERED SIGNIFICANT
SUMMING UP THE CENTURY - EASTMAN AND NEW ENGLAND Two events at the start of this century will, I believe, come to represent a summation of the development of wind music of the last fifty years. The first was the Boston Symposium of April 2001; this has been chronicled in the most recent Journal of WASBE, and anyone who wishes to have a record of the discussions and lectures in that extraordinary meeting of composers and conductors at New England Conservatory should purchase a copy of the WASBE Journal for 2001. The second, a celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, took place in Rochester in the first week of February 2002; WASBE joined with CBDNA and Eastman School of Music to pay tribute to Donald Hunsberger, retiring conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and his predecessors, Clyde Roller and Frederick Fennell, who were both present. Like the farewell to Frank Battisti in Boston, this was an historic event; both great schools had invited composers and conductors from world-wide to introduce new works, to discuss the present situation of the wind ensemble and to join in tribute to men who had done so much for the ensemble and its repertoire. OVERVIEW The Rochester Symposium was organized on thematic lines which gave a wonderful overview of the period since the mid-twentieth century, together with in depth look at a number of fascinating topics, Harmoniemusik of 18th century and its relevance to today, Charles Ives and his use of Thematic Transformation, Orchestration with a look at band and orchestral versions of Milhaud and Schoenberg, Unique Voices, a brilliant lecture on music by Varèse and Messiaen and equally brilliant performances of Integrales and Oiseaux Exotiques, and the last years of Richard Strauss, with performances of his Vier Lezte Lieder and the Symphony From a Happy Workshop. As well as the Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Musica Nova and the Eastman Philharmonia, we were privileged to hear Ithaca Wind Symphony under Steven Peterson, Cincinnati Conservatory Chamber Winds under Rodney Winther, and the United States Military Academy Band under David Deitrick.. A further underlying theme was the place of percussion in the ensemble; the symposium began with a concert by Nexus, and they were soloists during the week. The general outline of the events can be baldly stated as follows: Wednesday The Ithaca connection Thursday 1930-2002 The American Bandmasters Association & The College Band Director’s National Association Friday International Repertoire Development – WASBE Eastman Wind Ensemble Gala Concert Saturday United States Military Academy, West Point and their commissions of 1952 and 2002 EASTMAN RECORD TRIBUTE Those unable to be present can catch a flavour of the musical events by purchasing a 3 CD set, DH001CD, Eastman Wind Ensemble at 50, costing 35 dollars, published by Warner Bros, and available from Shattinger, but better still, get all your colleagues and band players to go to your local record store and order a copy. CD 1 starts with the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A K622 played by Larry Combs on a basset clarinet, the accompaniment provided by an expanded Harmonie, arranged brilliantly by Robert Rumbelow. A lecture entitled Harmoniemusik for Today’s Ensembles presented by Christopher Weait of Ohio State University was followed by a performance by Combs and the EWE of the concerto. Also on the first disc is a performance of Verne Reynolds’ Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble with pianist Barry Snyder, who gave a commanding performance of the piece at the Gala Concert. The disc is completed with Last Scenes for Solo Horn and Wind Ensemble (1979) by Verne Reynolds, for many years Professor of Horn at Eastman. FIVE HORN CONCERTOS It used to be as hard to find works for horn and wind ensemble as London busses, but suddenly five have come along, almost all together; Dana Wilson’s Concerto for Horn and Wind Ensemble is a virtuoso work which exploits every facet of the horn but yet keeps in touch with the audience. It was given a terrific performance by Gail Williams who had premiered the orchestral version. The other works now available for horn solo include a Concerto by WASBE member Marco Pütz from Luxembourg, The Glass Bead Game by James Beckel, whose daughter I think must have been playing in the Cincinnati Wind Chamber Ensemble, Shindig by Dan Godfrey, at present a visiting professor at Eastman, and the Last Scenes for Solo Horn and Wind Ensemble by Verne Reynolds. The Ithaca Connection was a two-way tribute to the pioneer work of Frank Battisti at Ithaca High School and the work at Ithaca College under Patrick Conway and Walter Beeler, with special tributes to Karel Husa and Warren Benson who taught at Ithaca and Eastman for many years. Two major works by Dana Wilson (Horn Concerto) and Steven Stucky (Percussion Concerto) emerged out of this first day, both premiered in the evening concert by IthacaWind Symphony under Stephen Peterson. PERCUSSION CONCERTO CO-COMMISSIONED BY WASBE There are now a number of extremely good percussion concertos available with wind ensemble and the Concerto by Steven Stucky, premiered by Gordon Stout, is a major addition to the repertoire. A birthday present to Donald Hunsberger, co-commissioned by WASBE and other contributing ensembles, it is cast in five movements, and includes a slow section, To the Victims of September 11 2001. The current significant body of works for wind and percussion has strong WASBE links, either through commissions, premieres or recordings by WASBE members: Warren Benson Symphony for Drums and Wind Orchestra Michael Colgrass Déjà vu Michael Daugherty U. F. O. Adam Gorb Elements: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble Karel Husa Concerto for Percussion William Kraft Concerto for Four Percussion Ian Krouse Cronica Thea Musgrave Journey through a Japanese Landscape for Marimba and Wind Steven Stucky Concerto for Solo Percussionist and Wind Orchestra MUSIC FROM THE CONCERT OF FEBRUARY 5TH 1951 Frederick Fennell’s first concert with ensemble emphasis was given in 1951, and Eastman Chamber Ensembles under the current conducting staff recreated part of that event. Willaert Ricecare Scheidt Canzona xxvi Di Lasso Motet Gabrieli Canzona noni toni a 12 Beethoven 3 Equali Ruggles Angels Also on the Thursday was a masterly exposé of thematic transformation in the works of Ives, with arguably the three greatest experts on his music lecturing, Jonathan Elkus, Philip Lambert and James Sinclair, and the day ended with a reminder of what Varèse was achieving in the 1920’s with his Integrales, along with Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques (1956), both given extraordinarily brilliant performances by the Eastman Musica Nova. While I love Messiaen’s virtuoso chiruppings and flutterings, It might have been a little more adventurous to introduce us to the last two works by Messiaen for wind ensemble, Un vitrail et des Oiseaux (1986) written for Boulez and the Ensemble Moderne, and La Ville d’En-Haut (1987-1988) or even to make use of the Eastman Theatre, where the fine acoustics would be able to exploit those massive sonorities of Et Exspecto Resurectionem Mortuorum (1964). EASTMAN WIND ENSEMBLE GALA It was a pity not to end the celebration with the wonderful Gala Concert by Eastman Wind Ensemble on February 8th, the true celebration, fifty years to the day since Frederick Fennell’s first concert with the Eastman Wind Ensemble in 1953. His programme then began with the Mozart Gran Partita; unfortunately he was not well enough to conduct this performance. He presided from the side of the stage and the following day he was in as fine form as ever with the Alumni Ensemble in Robert Russell Bennett’s Suite of Old American dances. However, Clyde Roller was able to share the conducting with Donald Hunsberger, contributing a finely judged performance of Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral. The complete programme was: Serenade no 10 in Bb Adagio/Allegro Mozart The Four Seasons Richard Rodney Bennett Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral Wagner Concerto for Percussion (1971) Karel Husa Intermission Unending Lightning (World Premiere) Bernard Rands Concerto for Piano & Winds (1996) Verne Reynolds ONE MAN’S MEAT……… I must confess to being quite amazed at reading in the WASBE Journal Vol 10 2003 that one distinguished composer was quoted as saying that this programme was quite dreary and largely inaccessible to a broad audience. How long is a piece of string, and how broad is an audience? If the audience went in the expectation of hearing a Sousa-type programme of marches and selections, they may well have found some of the works “inaccessible”. But heck, this was 2002. One hundred years earlier Sousa was including in his programmes works by Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss and Dvorak, the “moderns” – Sousa interestingly answered critical colleagues: I learned very early in life that if musicians depended on musicians for their support, there would be no musicians. GALA CONNECTIONS There are other reflections of their Gala Concert on the three-set CD. In the sleeve notes on Nigel Clarke’s Samurai, premiered by the Royal Northern College at Hamamatsu in the 1997 WASBE Conference, there is a tribute to the two decades of commissioning by the RNCM, and in the Gala Concert there was a beautifully balanced performance of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Four Seasons, premiered by the RNCM at the 1991 WASBE Conference. Also on the disc is the fine Ceremonial by Bernard Rands, and the Gala concert included a world premiere by Rands of his Unending Lightening. Rands describes the work as engaging the wind ensemble in a virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, timbre and dynamic range and, though challenging in these respects, it does so without placing taxing demands on individual players. In short, it aims at a collective, ensemble virtuosity rather than a soloistic one. CHAMBER WINDS Earlier in the day Cincinnati Conservatory Chamber Winds conducted by Rodney Winther gave us a fine account of Richard Strauss’s Symphony From a Happy Workshop which was followed imaginatively by an equally fine performance of the Four Last Songs by the Eastman Philharmonia, conducted by Mendi Rodan with four soloists from the school. The Chamber Winds then worked with Frank Battisti, Donald DeRoche and Rodney Winther in a session on various types of repertoire from Harmonie of Mozart and Krommer through to mixed wind and strings in works by Schwantner and Dana Wilson. Handouts for this included the complete repertoire for the Taffanel Society and for the Longy Club, and we were reminded of the splendid research done on this by Frank Battisti and David Whitwell for their paper at WASBE 1991. Another handout listed a top “core” repertoire for chamber groups of selected by the three clinicians, and my mind immediately began to work on a Anglo-Austrian programme of works for less than 18 players which I particularly enjoy for wind ensemble or wind with strings which did not appear in their core listing: Sinfonia in Memoriam Benjamin Britten Peter Racine Fricker Symphony No 1 in C Adam Gorb Piano Concerto Constant Lambert Interval Concerto for Flute and 8 wind William Alwyn Kammersinfonie No 1 Arnold Schoenberg However, those of us who stayed for Saturday were rewarded by a final concert and an interesting session given by the West Point, reminding us that it is 50 years since their last big celebration. As in 1952, they have celebrated by inviting a number of composers to write for them, and like Eastman they are bringing out recordings of many of these works. Their first CD is out, and includes a work from their concert, the virtuosic saxophone concerto, Restless Birds Before the Dark Moon by David Kechley, superbly played by Wayne Tice. This work was a worthy winner of the 2000 National Band Association, Twenty Fourth Annual NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. THE LEGACY OF WEST POINT United States Military Academy Band The series of commissions led by Commander Resta in 1952 were important historically as an attempt to create a repertoire parallel to the work of Frederick Fennell at Eastman. Larry Harper introduced the programme, and included Morton Gould’s Symphony for Band, Milhaud’s West Point Suite, Roy Harris’s West Point Symphony. I would like to hear Lin Arison’s Israfel again, a tone poem based on Edgar Allen Poe’s army experiences, but undoubtedly for me the find of the session was Charles Cushing’s Angel Camp, a fine well constructed work which should now receive far more performances; based on a traditional European folk melody which then was used as setting of Psalm 34, it has none of the sentimental naivety which often cloys in similar works of today. The final concert began with what is for me one of Timothy Broege’s strongest pieces, Three Pieces for American Band (set no 3), and continued with Kechley’s very convincing Saxophone Concerto, Restless Birds Before the Dark Moon. Donald Grantham contributed a tautly constructed work Farewell to the Gray, for the most part lyrical with one tremendous climatic point, Samuel Adler a work Dawn to Glory which for me was a little too academic. I found Ira Hearshen’s Fantasia on Army Blue far from academic, but while I sat marveling at his virtuosic scoring and brilliant use of the material, I could not help thinking that it simply did not, for me, add up to anything substantial. His Divertimento played at WASBE in 1999 is similarly virtuosic, but also great fun; none of the movements outstay their welcome, and for me it is the strongest of his works that I have heard. This was preceded by Alan Fletcher’s moving An American Song featured at WASBE in Luzern in a brilliant lecture by Marc Hopkins.Winner of the West Point Composition Contest, this is an imaginative Ivesian collage on familiar American themes, beautifully scored with some wonderful textures and overlaid harmonies. This performance seemed a little hurried, and I love the more laid-back approach by NEC and Frank Battisti, the dedicatee, on their most recent recording, but it was interesting to hear a completely different interpretation. This is certainly another major work to add to our repertoire. As they say in the advertising world…”and much more”…… an amazing Rudimental Drumming session with the great John S Pratt, a Composers Forum to die for with Husa, Rands, Reynolds, Stucky and Wilson all on outstanding form, some great chamber music conducted by Frank Battisti, Donald DeRoche and Rodney Winther, a fascinating comparison of band and orchestra versions of the Milhaud Suite Française and Schoenberg Variations…… we were indeed privileged to join in this celebration. Thanks to everyone at Eastman for the superb organization and musicianship, and a special thank you to Frederick Fennell whose inspired vision fifty years ago changed the face of the wind band, and to Donald Hunsberger for continuing the work at Eastman. |