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HOMEPAGE APRIL 23rd 2009
World News of wind ensemble and wind band music
Tim Reynish, Cornell University

“CCM, the natural beauty of Cincinnati and a dedicated group of conference specialists, and you have the makings for what is sure to be a ‘can’t miss’ event!”
Rodney Winther, Host of the 2009 WASBE Conference

A full glorious New York Spring heralds in my last sabbatical replacement gig, this time at Cornell University, and the end of an exciting couple of months of music. Two highlights must be mentioned, conducting the Dallas Wind Symphony in a themed programme “Song and Dance”. Wikipedia, that arbiter of good taste, states that “Along with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, the Dallas Wind Symphony is regarded as one of the world's leading wind orchestras”. Having worked with them for four days, I would place them as probably the best civilian wind orchestra, with a wealth of experience, many of their players were in the original group put together twenty four years ago by Kim Campbell and Howard Dunn as a reading band for local professionals. They play with professional ease, but also with great personality, and their recent CDs of music by Maslanka and Grainger are sonic sensations. The ambience at the Meyerson Symphony Centre helps; I cannot recall ever playing or conducting in a hall with warmer or clearer acoustics, nor to such an enthusiastic audience.

Jerry Junkin is the inspiring, and lucky, musical director, and was also the guiding genius and host behind the CBDNA Conference held in Austin. My thoughts on the repertoire and performances will be found under Conferences, but I must mention that Jerry’s own concert of Strauss, Bryant, Adams and Corigliano, gave the players and audience the kind of emotional buzz so often derived from symphony concerts but so rare in wind orchestra evenings. Given the general level of performance, and the interest of much of the music, there is no doubt that wind music is ready to come out of the closet and take its rightful place amongst the musical elite.

Extraordinary news from the New York Philharmonic website that they will premiere a work for solo trumpet and wind ensemble, co-commissioned with the Big Ten Band Directors, conducted by Lorin Maazel. And if this were not exciting enough, news too from Michael Haithcock of the University of Michigan of the premiere of an Oboe Concerto by Jennifer Higdon, which she transcribed from the orchestral original for wind, and from the President’s Own of her transcription of the Percussion Concerto, which will be played at WASBE.

Simon Tillier writes in from the WASBE Conference planning room at Cincinnati Conservatory updating information on the Conference, July 5 – 11 with fourteen groups from four continents, twenty one composers, thirty one clinicians. Browse on the logo above for the website, but curiously, and sadly, there is no information on the WASBE nor CCM site about repertoire; you will find snippets of information in the newsletter if you are a member.

I find it very odd that WASBE carried no information about the CBDNA conference until at the last moment mentioning the live webcasts, CBDNA carries no information about WASBE, NBA carries no information about either. Back In 2006 I quoted the mission statement of our major organisations

TO ENCOURAGE the composition and performance of quality band music at all levels.

….to assist members in seeking individual and collective growth as musicians, educators, conductors, and administrators.

To promote symphonic bands and ensembles as serious and distinctive mediums of musical expression and culture

To advance the status of symphonic wind bands and ensembles and the education of the general public

Well, it seems to me a strange way to set out on these laudable missions by ignoring eachother; I guess we would get a lot more done with a little help from our friends, sharing information, pooling our resources to form pressure groups on the movers and shakers of the world of music. And what about future conferences platforming the best pieces – not necessarily the most commercial - from past conferences, establishing a world repertoire. Now that would be something.

NEW RELEASE Recorded by Nashville Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin on Naxos 8.559373-74

In 1973, Mr. Persichetti was involved in a controversy that put him on the front page of newspapers throughout the country. He had been commissioned by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to write a work for performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra at Richard M. Nixon's second Inaugural Concert, on Jan. 19, 1973. Mr. Persichetti set excerpts from Abraham Lincoln's second Inaugural Address; the choice was deemed unsatisfactory by members of the committee because Lincoln's comments about the Civil War, which he described as a ''mighty scourge,'' were considered too charged for the waning days of the Vietnam War. Consequently, Mr. Persichetti's work, entitled ''A Lincoln Address,'' was deleted from the inaugural program; it was played for the first time later that month by the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Walter Susskind.

(World Premiere; New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with the Big Ten Band Association)

No stranger to the New York Philharmonic, Aaron Jay Kernis was tapped for a second time to compose a new work for Trumpet and Orchestra (without Strings) for the Philharmonic, and it represents the sixth Kernis work to be performed by the orchestra. Among the most respected and popular of contemporary American composers, he was commissioned to write New Era Dance in 1992 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic. His works are frequently performed, eagerly awaited, and received with great enthusiasm. He is one of the youngest composers ever to receive a Pulitzer Prize and was also honored with the coveted 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, Grammy Award nominations, and commissions from the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony, Carter Brey, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, among many others.

This new work is a co-commission by the Philharmonic on behalf of principal trumpeter Philip Smith and the Big Ten Band Association—yes, that would be Michigan, Penn State, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Each of these universities will have the opportunity to perform the concerto, starting in the fall of 2009. “In discussing the parameters of the concerto with the dedicatee,” says Kernis, “Phil, who is a religious man, requested only that I should draw my inspiration from Scriptural passages that refer to music in general and to the trumpet, shofar, cornet, and horn in particular….adding quickly, that I shouldn’t let that impede me!” The research hasn’t been difficult, thanks to the Internet. “I can search on words like ‘shofar’ or ‘trumpet’ in concordances to the Bible and easily find the references.” Coincidentally and simultaneously, Aaron Jay Kernis is completing a Bible-inspired work for orchestra and chorus commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. “It is set on a Hebrew text that has a great deal of meaning to me, even though I’m not especially religious.” When not writing music, he teaches at the Yale School of Music and is the New Music Advisor for the Minnesota Orchestra, a position that allows him to combine his commitment to music of our time, fostering of young composers and their works, and involvement with the educational mission of the that orchestra.

This was certainly one of the best Conferences I have attended, superbly organized by Jerry Junkin and his team, with a great roster of clinicians and ten fine concerts, some of which were extraordinarily good. My prejudices, likes and dislikes, may well persuade you not to bother with my review, to be found under the link to Conferences, but suffice it to say that there were works new to me which I thought significant, and which I would love to conduct, by William Bolcom, Steven Bryant, John Corigliano, David Dzubay, Donald Grantham, Zhou Long, Scott McAllister, Jim Mobberley, Joel Puckett, Kathryn Salfelder, Frank Ticheli, Luigi Zaninelli and Chen Yi, and probably several others which are lost in my memory.

It was a tremendous privilege to conduct the Dallas Wind Symphony and to “wrap up the season” with some of my favorite works, music not so often heard in the United States. We have two “golden oldies”, Holst’s Marching Song and Grainger’s Marching Song of Democracy. Holst I never of course knew, but his great friend Ralph Vaughan Williams used to come to our concerts in Cambridge, and he taught my mother-in-law at St Paul’s School. I was delighted to edit this original little march for publication. I still kick myself for not going to hear Grainger in the fifties when he was playing in London, and I am still amazed that an incredible work like Marching Song of Democracy is not played more often, it has the sweep of a Richard Strauss tone poem, with the freedom and originality of phrasing and tonality of the greatest composers.

I am fortunate enough to know all of the other composers personally. Guy Woolfenden was Best Man at our wedding, and a close colleague at Cambridge, Sadlers Wells Opera and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford on Avon, where he was Director of Music for many years. When I started commissioning works in 1983, he was one of the first composers I turned to; his first work was the splendid Gallimaufry; Illyrian Dances was his second and he kindly dedicated it to me. Adam Gorb and Kenneth Hesketh are two more of the most important composers of wind band music of today, and they bring to the medium a freshness and spontaneity honed in their work for symphony orchestra and chamber ensembles. Ken’s works for wind include Danceries and the post-Impressionist Diaghilev Dances and of course Masque. originally written for the Merseyside Youth Orchestra in Liverpool, an orchestra I conducted for many years, succeeding the young Simon Rattle. Adam has written a number of outstanding pieces for wind ensemble starting with Yiddish Dances for my sixtieth birthday, and unfortunately more recently Farewell coinciding with my seventieth.

Four years younger than Ken is Luis Serrano Alarcón, an outstandingly talented composer in Spain who unlike his British colleagues, grew up steeped in the band tradition and writes marvelously for it, eschewing however the Spanish penchant for celli. Concertango is a jazz/symphonic wind orchestra fusion dedicated to the art of Astor Piazzola and I am sure that you will find it as compulsive as I do. And finally a piece from the younger generation, Daniel Basford who studied with Adam Gorb at the Royal Northern College of Music and left recently to go into teaching. Some of you may remember his Fanfare: Processional Fanfare which opened the final concert of last season, a concert with the memorable Themed title, Tea and Trumpets. Finally as an encore, (except I never play encores) a march charM; charM is a terrific slightly swung number, commissioned by the Norwegian Defence force to celebrate the Milennium.

Masque	Kenneth Hesketh	Faber	6.00
Marching Song	Gustav Holst	Novello	4.20
Arkendale	Daniel Basford	Maecenas	5.00
Illyrian Dances	Guy Woolfenden	Ariel	10.00
Marching Song of Democracy	Percy Grainger	Southern	8.00
Intermission
Concertango	Luis Serrano Alarcón	Piles	11.00
Dances from Crete	Adam Gorb	Maecenas	20.00
charM	Helge Sunde	Warner	4.00

Cornell University Wind Ensemble, Bailey Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, April 25

Programming is one of the biggest challenges for the wind ensemble conductor, finding that elusive mix of styles and sonorities which will provide balance and contrast. I never like thematic programmes, because so often they just provide a peg for oddly associated bedfellows, but this theme gave the Cornell Wind Ensemble and me a chance to jump out of the box and explore regions of the world rarely penetrated by wind players. I suspect that the route of this journey would take even Jules Verne’s eponymous hero over 80 minutes.

I can never understand why Saint-Saen’s little gem of a march, Orient et Occident, is neglected, except that its original scoring is a little outré. I was very glad to bring it to publication in a new edition which preserves the traditional scoring and yet makes the work practical.

Three works emerged at WASBE Conferences; I programmed Davor Bobic’ Zagorske Slike, or Scenes from the Zagorske Region in Sweden in 2003, while for the same conference I commissioned Christopher Marshall’s L’Homme Armé. In Singapore in 2005 we heard Christopher Coleman’s evocative Jazz Funeral, commissioned by Jerry Junkin for his Hong Kong Philharmonic, and I have managed to publish all three works with Maecenas. I believe that this will be the US premiere of Bobic and Coleman.

Julian Work’s Autumn Walk is a rare work in the wind repertoire, a gentle impressionistic tone poem, which reminds me of the pastel shades and luxurious chromaticism of Delius. It is sadly permanently out of print, but I find it ravishing and was delightd when the ensemble voted to play it, a sharp contrast to the energy of Bobic and Coleman. The Grainger we played earlier this year to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s bicentenary, and I hope that this repetition will give our performance greater maturity. One of Spain’s rising young composers is Luis Serrano Alarcón, and this tribute to Piazzola is a wonderful fusion of tango, jazz and wind band style. Finally many years ago I invited Hans Werner Henze to write a wind piece, and he recommended a former student, Luxembourg composer, Marcel Wengler. Tonight we are playing only the theme from a larger work of six explorations or variants.

Orient et Occident		Camille Saint-Saens	Maecenas	6.00
Scenes from Zagorske		Davor Bobic	Maecenas	11.00
Autumn Walk		Julian Work	Shawnee	4.45
A Jazz Funeral		Christopher Coleman	Maecenas	8.40
Marching Song of Democracy		Percy Grainger	Southern	8.00
Intermission
Concertango	Luis Serrano Alarcón		Piles	11.00
L’Homme Armé	Christopher Marshall		Maecenas	17.15
March from Versuche	Marcel Wengler		Maecenas	5.00

He sends news of a world premiere last September, a UK premiere in April of this year, and also of performances of his Requiem.

April 8+9 2009 UK Premiere "Out of Nowhere" op. 76 in Birmingham (Town Hall) and London (Cadogan Hall) Anniversary Concert of the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great
Britain, Cond. Matthew George. This work is a commission work for Matthew George and the University Symphonic Wind Ensemble of St. Thomas, St. Paul Minnesota and was premiered there in March 2008. March 7 and 8, 2009 Two great performances of my Requiem in Bretten/Germany: Clemens Berger and his Sinfonisches Jugendblasorchester Karlsruhe (this
is the orchestra which was doing the two premieres of the students of W. Rihm you mentioned) and a wonderful chorus of a local high school did a great job in performing my 50 minutes Requiem. Last Fall on September 28 I had a wonderful premiere of a commission work for the "Music Days of Niedersachsen" (Niedersächsische Musiktage)
at the Staatstheater in Oldenburg, The "Landesjugendblasorchester (Youth Wind Orchestra) of Niedersachen" under the baton of Matthias Höfert performed my new composition "AUFBRUCH" ("EMBARK!) for the first time there.

Laszlo Marosi reports that the world premiere of the Symphony by Kamilló Lendvay was given by the Sao Paolo State Symphonic Band, conducted by Erika Hindrickson. No other information is available at this time, except that the work will probably be published by Stormworks.

Michael Kummer (email kummer@mac.com)gave the German premiere of Boris Pigovat’s "Song of the Sea" with the Munich Academy Wind Orchestra in a programme themed on Sea Songs.

Polish composer Norbert Palej has been commissioned by Tim Reynish to write a Percussion Concerto for Evelyn Glennie, to be premiered in 2010-2011.

Just to let you know that my Tuba Concerto has had a lot of playings by Jim Gourlay who commissioned it in Glasgow 2007. It is available in Piano, Orchestra, Concert Band, Brass Band and 10 piece brass accompaniments, and Jim has performed all of these somewhere in the world. Next performances are with the National Youth Wind Orchestra in Birmingham and London in April. Studio Music are to publish it.

News from Alexander Beer, secretary of WASBE Germany, of a new CD from the German Conductor and former Berlin Philharmonic Trombonist Hermann Bäumer. He recorded the Hilding Rosenberg Sinfonie für Bläser und Schlagzeug

SWITZERLAND
Stefan Hodel has retuned to London and announced the premiere of his latest work, a jazzy piece called "Woodie's Delight" which features the clarinet section.

The Butler University Wind Ensemble premiered the "Symphony for Band" by James Beckel, Jr. on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009 in Clowes Memorial Hall on the Butler campus. It is a wonderful piece, three movements long, of some 18-19 minutes duration. We led a consortium of 14 schools to commission this work, Beckel's first symphony. The consortium members were:

MATTHEW TOMMASINI writes about a new piece called Taking Sides (for solo trombone, woodwind octet, percussion, piano, and contrabass). It was premiered by H. Robert Reynolds and commissioned by the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings/Oberlin Conservatory/University of Michigan Consortium. The 13 min. work mocks political debates with the woodwind octet divided into antiphonal, mirror quartets arguing with the trombone soloist. More information about the piece can be found at the following links:

He is currently completing a new chamber winds commission from the Big East Band Directors Assoc. which will be premiered in Sept. by Frederick Speck and the University of Louisville Wind Symphony.

Israeli Rhapsody by Judith Zaimont was performed in concert on March 30 by
the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Scatterday, conductor

The composer commented, "In 'Southern Comforts' I am sharing some of the things that were important to me growing up in Atlanta or have become important in trying to remember home. Each movement is my representation of a memory or item from my childhood in the South." Southern Comforts, a four-movement work from 2008 by Atlanta-native Joel Puckett also will be heard. According to its composer, "Each movement is my representation of a memory or item from my childhood in the south." The movements are entitled "Faulkner," "Ritual: Football and the Lord," "Lamentation," and "Mint Julep." The string soloist will be Associate Professor of Violin Eka Gogichashvili.

Concluding the program will be the premiere performance of a new work by Professor of Composition Scott McAllister, Popcopy. This witty take on modern popular culture includes "More Cowbell!" (after TV's "Saturday Night Live"), "One Time at Band Camp" (after the film American Pie), and "Serenity Now" (after TV's "Seinfeld").

Dallas Wind Symphony Announces Its Annual Call For The 2009-2010 Fanfares!

Dallas Wind Symphony Announces 10th Annual Brass Fanfare Competition
For the past nine seasons, the Dallas Wind Symphony has established a tradition of performing brass fanfares 15 minutes prior to curtain in the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. Our patrons eagerly gather in the lobby to hear these fanfares, which have become an important part of the concert going experience.

Composers are to submit their unpublished fanfares to the address below by June 5, 2009.

Fanfares should be no longer than 2 minutes and instrumentation can include minimal percussion as deemed necessary. Seven fanfares will be selected by committee, and the winning entries will receive:

·
A live performance in the Meyerson foyer prior to a Dallas Wind Symphony subscription concert during the 2009-2010 season;

· Recognition from the stage during the concert by DWS founder Kim Campbell (if you choose to attend the concert);

· Publishing, sales and marketing services from Lovebird Music: www.Lovebirdmusic.com

Submissions must be postmarked by June 5, 2009. Please submit your unpublished scores and complete parts to:

(percussion: not required. If chosen to use, must not exceed 3 players and instrumentation can only include SD, BD, Cym, Sus. Cym, and 2 timp.)

For information or questions, please contact Dallas Wind Symphony Associate Conductor,

For more information about the Dallas Wind Symphony, please go to our website at www.dws.org