TIM REYNISH WEBSITE

AUGUST 2006

New Files for August

90 NEW WORKS AT ALL LEVELS - COMMISSIONING PROJECT 1981/2006

IRISH WIND BAND MUSIC

INTERPRETING CHRIS MARSHALL’S L’HOMME ARMÉ

MUSIC AT KNELLER HALL

CONDUCTING WORKSHOP

CELEBRATING WASBE AND BASBWE

25 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS & REPERTOIRE

Tim Reynish 25th July 2006

PEACE IN OUR TIME

It really is twenty five years to the day since the First International Conference for Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles, masterminded by Frank Battisti and Bill Johnson was held at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, UK. I suspect that nobody, not even Frank and Bill, knew what the effect would be on world wind bands, what a wealth of new music would be created, international relationships sealed despite the many missed opportunities and political and financial crises. I wish music in general and WASBE in particular could do more to make the major powers come to the table. We in UK enjoyed the Barenboim Reith Lectures on the Middle East peace process, but even he was roundly criticised as not doing enough and doing it in the wrong way. When I am really depressed, I often turn for peace and tranquillity to the website of a former student who now leads the wind department at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music:

www.karloma.com

A NEW REPERTOIRE FROM THE EIGHTIES

Suffice it to say that for many of us, that week in 1981 was seminal, and certainly it changed my entire life. Some pieces from 1981 still remain in my top “non-core” repertoire (see article on Not the Core Repertoire). I have never wanted to hear Londonderry Air arranged Sammy Nestico, again, nor Humpety Jump, but it was great to hear the Vallflickens Dance by Alven in 1981 and again in 2003 at WASBE Sweden; after 25 years someone must have published it by now.

THE TEST OF A NEW WORK FOR ME

I remember going to the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958 and spending time in the Phillips exhibition l designed by Le Corbusier, with its montage of light and colour to accompany the Poème Électronique by Varèse. Thirty years later I heard a recording, and many of those events and sounds came flooding back. That for me is the test of a work, whether I can recall events and structures over the years. Here is a list of works which made an impression on me in 1981, some I heard for the first time, some premiered in Manchester.

TOP EIGHT FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1981

REPERTOIRE THOUGHTS

NO ONE OF THE STUDENTS MISSED A FILM-SCORE OR A POP-SONG

This website is a vehicle for me to introduce anyone who browses into my specific world of wind music. It is great to receive an email from someone doing similar work round the world, and their information is most encouraging. Here are a few concert programmes or comments:

AUSTRALIA

NORWAY

Here is a recent email from Odd Terje Lysebo – what a fantastic experience for his Norwegian Community band to play all of this major repertoire:

It has been a good year for us, among the works we have performed last year are:

Goebbels Aus einem Tagebuch (commissioned by Sir Simon Rattle for Berlin)

Lindberg - Concerto for winds (commissioned by Sir Simon Rattle for Birmingham)

Chen Yi - Tu

Corigliano - Circus Maximus

Schwantner - Recoil

Stravinsky - Octet

Messiaen - Oiseaux exotique

Colgras - Winds of Nagual

Holst - Hammersmith

Mahler - Um Mitternacht

Schoenberg - Theme and variations

We also premiered three new works for school band by Norwegian composers commisioned by the Norwegian Band Federation NMF.

Odd Terje Lysebo

Director of Music

Kr. Fredriksvei 6

N-3257 LARVIK

NORWAY

We often underestimate the importance of the educational work of WASBE. Here are extracts from colleagues in Singapore, Slovenia and Switzerland:

SINGAPORE

Recently I bought Blackwater (Carroll) for one of my young band. They love it. I think it is quite accessible for young bands. Attractive melodies with good energy Do you know are there any existing recordings available?

Last month I had two terrific performance of the Bridgewater Breeze (Gorb). The students and the audience enjoyed it very much. I think it is a fantastic piece to train young bands which I did it for one of my bands. They were initially very poor in reading and have no concepts or good tone and articulations. This music actually trained them up and now they are more appreciative for good music. I have been introducing this music to my colleagues but they usually think that Gorb's music is too difficult for students. Well...I will try harder to let them know that there are grade 2 to 3 music available. Mr Ong has recently stocked up more music from Maecenas. I think its time for Singapore bands to expose to better winds music.

I am really proud to tell you that I am working L'Homme Armé (Marshall) with St. Hilda's. They like the music very much..We are going to Osaka this June to have an music exchange with Tenri junior high school. We will be working on L'Homme Armé and also Orientales by Thomas Doss Sir, do you think L'homme armé is suitable for band competition? Gosh...conductors in Singapore have to face a major national competition every two years in order to survive. I hope to get my school band to play more great stuffs by Gorb, Bourgeois, Bennett and others in future.

Andy Sim

SLOVENIA

340 YEARS

The Miner's Wind Band of Idrija, Slovenia, who I have been directing since then, celebrated its 340th anniversary of existence last year. At this occasion, we were truly honoured to receive a visit by Mr John Stanley who was a guest to the festive concert marking the anniversary. He even conducted the Band in a piece of music.

In the course of our performances, the Band have already played both suites by Gustav Holst, Gallimaufry by Guy Woolfenden, Metro Gnome by Derek Bourgeois, etc. Currently, we are rehearsing and working on Hanover Festival by Philip Sparke and Nelhybels Tritticco, which, however, is still proving to be too difficult for our amateur level. As of 2006, I decided to work systematically on band tone and intonation to which I have been paying much attention. I've started to work in accordance with the methods and suggestions by Edward S. Lisk and the propositions regarding the tone quality by Francis McBeth. Nevertheless, I still think that we are not making as much progress as we should. One of the reasons is the fact that the Band members do not rehearse at home on a daily occasion and consequently, they appear to have difficulties in performing the proper emboushure, the breath support, etc. I have succeeded, though, to convince them to listen more, and I think that slowly they will grasp the very essence of what should be listened to. 

I would be much obliged to you if you advised me on the repertoire and the pieces of music to choose for conducting. How could I work on the sound and intonation in a more "European" way (the "American" system requires rehearsing on a daily basis, which, unfortunately, is not applicable in our case, community band). Finally, could you please advise where I could order a recording and the score of Dances from Crete by Adam Gorb.

DOMEN PREZELJ

KAJUHOVA 6

5280 IDRIJA

SLOVENIA

SWITZERLAND

NO ONE OF THE STUDENTS MISSED A FILM-SCORE OR A POP-SONG

Still having our discussions about good literature in my ears I tried it out first with my youth band;. my next programme (in May) will be Parade of the Wooden Warrior - Over Hills over Dales - Agincourt Variations - Three Processionals and Flourish for Wind Band. To my big surprise, no one of the students missed a film-score or a pop-song, they love it and rehearsing them is lot of fun!!! In November I will do Danceries - Yiddish Dances - Illyrian Dances and Fergal Carroll’s Winter Dances in a program.

Christoph Mueller

www.chrismusic.ch

NEWS

AN OCTET TO PARTNER STRAVINSKY

The Doctrine of Affections - Kenneth Hesketh

for Wind octet 

Published by Schott

Scoring: FL.(doubling cap gun)CL.2BN.2TRP.2TRB

Commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia

First performance

14 February 2006 • Cambridge, West Road Concert Hall

The Doctrine Of Affections – Programme Note

Kenneth Hesketh

As a musical theory that arose from rhetoric during the Baroque period, the doctrine of Affections (Affektenlehre) prescribed certain musical methods and figures for summoning or portraying individual emotions which in performance were supposed to directly affect the audience.

In writing my octet I have used the idea of four specific aria types laid out in the doctrine, namely the aria di portamento, the aria parlante, the aria d'imitazione and aria d'Agilita. These sections generally adhere to the standard forms for such types. One example of this may further explain my approach; in the Baroque aria d'imitazione, coloratura and echo effects were used and the music often involved the portrayal of natural phenomena (storms, bird calls or the hunt). These traits were somewhat freely adapted in the octet; the coloratura in my aria d'imitazione is given to the bassoon. Echo and imitative effects are also used and perhaps the sound of birds far off calling to each other became unconsciously woven into the texture.

The arias are introduced and connected by 'chorus' movements; as in Classical Greek theatre, these chorus sections comment on the action, move it forward and bind the whole together. These are the only movements which develop across the piece through variation and the reordering of gestural blocks. The arias on the other hand remain, generally, within one affect and are self-contained.

In effect, the piece projects a form of abstract theatre - a secret drama being played out at which we may only guess the content. Each section is a dramatic archetype or scena connected by the chorus who are sometimes majestic, sometimes comic or perhaps even deadly (a pistol shot that occurs in one of the chorus movements may represent a multitude of situations).

The following list of the movements and the larger blocks into which they are grouped may help guide the listener through the work:

Chorus 1 (fanfara)

<brief pause>

Aria di Portamento

<brief pause>

Chorus 2 (frammenti di fanfara)

Aria di Parlante

Chorus 3 (Parabasis - with pistol shot)

<long pause>

Aria d'Imitazione

Aria d'Agilita

Chorus 4

The Doctrine Of Affections was commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia and is dedicated to them.

PAUL PATTERSON AT SIXTY

Paul Patterson will be celebrating his 60th birthday in 2007; Full details of all his works are available on www.paulpatterson.co.uk

Recent Performances

World Premiere of Westerly Winds. 10th April 2006

Princess Pavilions, Falmouth

Cornwall Youth Wind Orchestras

Conductor: Janet Easton

DEREK BOURGEOIS

New works published by HaFaBra

Concerto for Bass Trombone and Wind Band Op 239 (15 mins)

A book of 16 warm up exercises for bands (title still to be agreed) Op 240 (21 minutes)

JAMES OLSEN - The Fall of Cracker Castle

'James Olsen's The Fall of Cracker Castle, the last piece of the weekend, was brilliantly imaginative. Scored for wind band and percussion, the work dramatises and parodies the disastrous first performance of Handel's Fireworks Music. Using and abusing Handel's original themes, Olsen's piece transcends its source material, and creates music full of flair and clarity.' 

Guardian, April 2002

Has anyone information of the piece, its composer or its publisher?

SKROVACEVSKI COMMISSION

Minnesota Orchestra, Saarbrucken Radio Orchestra, New England Conservatory, University of Minnesota, Indian Hill (MA) Orchestra, MIT, University of Southern California and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

The instrumentation of the new Skrowaczewski work will be triple woodwinds (with doublings), including a trio of saxophones (soprano, alto, and baritone), three trumpets, four horns, three trombones, tuba, piano, and percussion. The length will be approximately 12-15 minutes, and it will be available to subscribers to the consortium by October 2007.

I hope everyone is having a relaxing and productive summer. I wanted to make you all aware of these new works. We fond them all to be very rewarding to perform and deserve repeated hearings. Unfortunatey recordings are not available through the university. Please contact composers directly if you are interested in their work.

SWITZERLAND

World Premiere of "Temples" by Oliver Waespi

owaespi@bluewin.ch

The new work for large wind ensemble by Oliver Waespi, "Temples", was premiered on Friday, 14 July 2006, at 8 pm in the Kursaal Interlaken, during the Jungfrau Music Festival, by the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of the Swiss Army under the baton of Maj Philipp Wagner. The concert also includes works by Holst and Gorb and featured Philippe Bach as guest conductor. Further informations are available on the following website: http://www.jungfrau-music-festival.ch/.

"Temples" is a large-scale 30-minute work based on the famous temple ruins of Angkor in Cambodia. The architecture and history of four of these temples - "Phnom Bakheng", "Bayon", "Preah Khan" and "Angkor Wat" - form the background for a musical tale about the evolution of human civilization between destructive and constructive forces of nature.

FROM USA

Jeffrey Renshaw of the University of Connecticut reports on Five New Compositions for Wind Band 2005 - 2007

Mirror, Mirror by Stacy Garrop

Winner of the 2005 Sackler Prize in Composition

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 4 percussion

Stacy Garrop is an Assistant Professor in Composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University.

sgarrop@earthlink.net (847) 328-4223

Crimson Earth by Robert Paterson

Wind Ensemble and solo violin (oboe)

In Crimson Earth, my primary concerns are the exploration of exotic sonorities and textures, the spatial placement of instrumental groups and the process of moving musicians throughout the hall to create interesting textural juxtapositions.

rob@robpaterson.com

(212) 217-0119

Countrymans Flock by Robert Bradshaw

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion

Countryman`s Flock is the latest in a series of compositions based on Aesop`s Fables.

Robert J. Bradshaws music is available through Beauport Press Music Publications (www.beauportpress.com).

mail@robertjbradshaw.com

And Then There Were Three

Concerto for Jazz Piano and Wind Instruments by Earl MacDonald

I. Character Defect

II. L.J.

III. Janas Song

Earl.MacDonald@uconn.edu

(860) 486-670

Variations on a Theme of Schubert by Lowell Liebermann

For Wind Band

Lowell Liebermann is one of America`s most frequently performed and commissioned composers. Called by the New York Times "as much of a traditionalist as an innovator," Mr. Liebermann`s music is known for its technical command and audience appeal.