HOMEPAGE 2005                                    NEW: BRITISH WIND MUSIC 1981-2005

UPDATED JANUARY 21st 2005                                    JUNGFRAU MUSIC FESTIVAL FLYER

         UTAH

Welcome to the Tim Reynish Website

Dear Colleagues,

The late Frederick Fennell repeatedly reminded us of the importance of wise choice in programming. He said:

Choosing music is the single most important thing a band director can do, and is the only thing a band director can do alone, made more important because of the substandard repertoire continuously being published.

The Home Page for the beginning of 2005 concentrates almost entirely on repertoire, with an ABCD of ideas for programming, starting with several major Anniversaries for 2005 which might point towards new repertoire choices, continuing with news of British composers and publishers, news also of new works thrown into relief by Competitions in Europe, UK and USA, of two summer conducting schools, and ending with details of the latest in the series of compact discs that I am issuing with Mark Custom Records.

Tim Reynish

INDEX

A - ANNIVERSARIES

B - BRITISH COMPOSERS, PUBLISHERS & COMMISSIONS

C - COMPETITIONS & AWARDS

C - CANFORD SUMMER CONDUCTING SCHOOL & INTERLAKEN CONDUCTING MASTERCLASSES

See Home Page for October with repertoire and links

D - DISC INTERNATIONAL REPERTOIRE VOLUME 3

A - ANNIVERSARIES

For repertoire ideas for next year, point your mouse at the birthday date

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD

1905 2nd January - Michael Tippett

1905 4th April - Eugène Bozza

1905 2nd August - Karl Amadeus Hartmann

1905 23 August - Constant Lambert

1905 7th November - William Alwyn

SEVENTY YEARS OLD

1935 9th April - Aulis Sallinen

1935 5th November - Nicholas Maw

SIXTY YEARS OLD

1945 23rd July - Edward Gregson

B - BRITISH COMPOSERS & COMMISSIONS

LARRY BITENSKY

MARTIN ELLERBY

ADAM GORB

KENNETH HESKETH

ALUN HODDINOTT

JOSEPH PHIBBS

EDWIN ROXBURGH

C - COMPETITIONS & AWARDS

MAECENAS composers shine in British Academy Awards

WALTER BEELER WINNER John Mackey platformed at CBDNA & WASBE

ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize Winner Announced

Ramallah winner in 2004 Harmoniecompositiewedstrijd Harelbeke Muziekstad 

Texas CD nominated by New York Times

3rd European Conductors Competition 2005

D - DISC

To order disc, contact Shattinger, Mark Custom Records or me (timreynish@tiscali.co.uk)

A - ANNIVERSARIES

Triumph for Concert Band – Michael Tippett.

A paraphrase on music from The Mask of Time published by Schotts

Commissioned by an American Consortium

World Premiere CBDNA Conference, Ohio State University, 24th February 1993

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

TROY 560 New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, conductor Frank Battisti

4739-MCD Guildhall. Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conductor Peter Gane

Mosaic for Orchestral Wind – Michael Tippett

The first movement of the Concerto for Orchestra

INDEX 

Eugene Bozza

A Children’s Overture published by Peters

Available on CHAN9897 RNCM Wind Orchestra

Karl Amadeus Hartmann

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Burleske Musik (1931) Cichewiecz/Ensemble Das Neue Weke, Hamburg

MD+G(Musikprod Dabringhaus) L3443

Concerto for piano, winds, & percussion (1953) Maria Bergmann(p)

Rosbaud/Members of SWF Symphony Orchestra DG 0629 029 (LP)

Harmonia Mundi DMR 1004(LP)

Lied for trumpet & Blass Ensemble (1933 rv.1980) Harjanne(tp)

Saraste/Helsinki Radio Symphony Orchestra Teldec 4509 96868 2 ZK

Symphony No. 5 “Symphonie Concertante" 1950

Rundell/Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra Chandos CHAN9805

Herbig/Berlin Symphony Orchestra Berlin Classics BER9048

Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Wergo WER60187 50

Metzmacher/Bamberg Symphony Orchestra EMI CDC5 556 184 2

INDEX

Tiresias – A Ballet in Three Act – Constant Lambert

Published by Maecenas, this is Lambert’s last work,. Written for Covent Garden in 1950, scored for 3333-4331-Timps + 2 Percussion, piano, celeste, cellos and basses, lasting about 55 minute

Recorded by English Northern Philharmonia on Hyperion CDA67049.

INDEX

Concerto for Flute and Wind Octet - William Alwyn

Score for Solo flute with wind octet, this is a major miniature work to go with the Gounod Petite Symphonie, written for William Bennett.

CHANdos 9512 recorded by Kate Hill with the Haffner Winds

INDEX

Palace Rhapsody Op. 72 - Aulis Sallinen

Commissioned jointly by the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester UK, (with funds provided by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts) and the College Band Directors National Association.

World premiere Cheltenham International Festival 6th July 1997 by the RNCM Wind Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Reynish. Published by Novello/Music Sales

Recording due from Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, cond. Ari Rasilainen

RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE 

Royal College of Music on 5600-MCD

Chorali for 36 Wind – Aulis Sallinen

Published by Fazer

CP0O 999 918-2 Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, cond. Ari Rasilainen

CHAN 10038 Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra cond. Clark Rundell

INDEX

American Games: Medley for Wind Band – Nicholas Maw

Commissioned by the BBC World premiere BBC Prom Royal Albert Hall, London 23rd July 1991 by the RNCM Wind Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Reynish

Published by Faber

EDWARD GREGSON (Born 23 July, 1945)

*Recorded by the RNCM Wind Orchestra on DOY CD043

INDEX

BRITISH COMPOSERS, COMMISSIONS AND PUBLISHERS

LARRY BITENSKY bitensky@centre.edu of Centre College, Kentucky, has finished a new piece Hadra jointly commissioned by Dennis Johnson and myself. He writes: 

I am very pleased to say that I have finished the wind ensemble piece that I've been writing for you. It's a 25-minute piece called Hadra, inspired by Sufi trance rituals that I participated in during a recent trip to Morocco. It gets pretty raucous, but I think it will be fun to play.

MARTIN ELLERBY has celebrated the 10th anniversary of the premier of Paris Sketches (Maecenas) with a new edition computer setting. His latest commission is from HM Band of the Coldstream Guards for a work to be entitled The Cries of London.

ADAM GORB has rescored his Epitaph for Philip Jones, originally for brass tentet, for wind orchestra. He won the British Academy Award for the outstanding new work of 2003-2004 with his Towards Nirvana. Eine kleine Yiddische Ragmusik and two movements from Dances from Crete were played at the Midwest International Clinic.

KENNETH HESKETH is launching his new series of Contemporary Chamber Music at Cambridge, details on http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/music/ky_nm05.pdf. Following the successful premiere of a new work for oboe and piano, he has been commisisond by oboist Nick Daniel to write a wind Octet for the Britten Sinfonia. His Infernal Ride (Faber) was premiered by Matthew George in Minnesota recently, while Cloud of Unknowing (Schotts) will be given its world premiere later this year in London – details to follow.

EDWIN ROXBURGH is writing a Concerto for Oboe and Wind Ensemble in my commissioning series. Another recording of Time’s Harvest (Maecenas) is now available in a recording by the Royal College of Music Wind Orchestra on 5600-MCD from Mark Custom Records.

INDEX

THE BRITISH COMPOSER AWARDS

Presented by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, in association with BBC Radio 3 and sponsored by the Performing Right Society, were announced at a ceremony in Ironmongers' Hall on 17 December 2004 followed by a broadcast of extracts from the winning works on BBC Radio 3 on 21 December. For more details, contact Alice Lemon on 0207 636 2929 Alice@britishacademy.com

Composers nominated included Mark-Antony Turnage, Peter Maxwell Davies, Stephen Montague, John McCabe, Jonathan Harvey, Harrison Birtwistle, Tom Ades and Julian Anderson. Winner in categories for choral music and liturgical music was Judith Bingham, whose wind work Bright Spirit has just been released on 5600-MCD, and Adam Gorb won the category for the outstanding wind or brass work in 2004 for Towards Nirvana. 

Stephen McNeff, composer of several wind works in the Maecenas catalogue, was a runner up in the category for opera, and another composer nominated was Joseph Phibbs whose work Rainland for massed choirs, two soloists and wind orchestra, was premiered in a packed Albert Hall last Autumn. He is now writing a further wind work, contact conductor Philip Scott at pscott@pscott.demon.coi.uk

INDEX

JOHN MACKEY WINS WALTER BEELER

Winner of the 2004 Walter Beeler award was John Mackey with Redline Tango. The orchestral version was premiered in 2003 by the Brooklyn Philhartmonic, further performances followed at Dallas and Vail, and Marin Allsop will conduct it later this year. The wind version was commissioned by a consortium organised by Scott Stewart of Emory University and Scott Weiss of Lamar University. The work, which lasts ten minutes, will be played by a score of bands this season, including FSU under Richard Clary at ABA, Ithaca under Steve Peterson at CBDNA and University of Florida under David Waybright at WASBE. It will also be programmed by several high schools; it is published by Osti Music www.ostimusic.com

Redline Tango is a witty theatrical cross between a tango and The Rite of Spring, with Klezmer-style melodies tossed in for good measure…a bold complex composition.

Newsday New York

INDEX

ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize Winner Announced

Yotam Haber, 28, Wins $5000 First Prize in Competition for Young Composers of Concert Band Music

Frances Richard, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Vice-President and Director of Concert Music and Gary Hill, President of the CBDNA (College Band Directors National Association), today jointly announced the second bi-annual ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize winner. The competition, named for living legend Frederick Fennell, ASCAP member and founder of the CBDNA, was established to encourage gifted American composers to create new works for Concert Band. The winning work was selected via a juried national competition, which attracted submissions from eligible composers (between the ages of 18 and 30) from across the United States.

The $5000 Prize, for a wind ensemble work, has been awarded to Yotam Haber, age 28, for "Espresso,” which will be performed during the National CBDNA Conference in New York City on February 24, 2005 by Rutgers University Wind Ensemble at NYU’s Skirball Center. Haber was commissioned to write “Espresso” by Cornell University. The premiere was performed by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble, conducted by David Conn at Ithaca College in 2004.

Gary Hill, President of the CBDNA said, "Today's young composers will play a major role in determining the future of concert music. CBDNA is, therefore, very pleased to collaborate with ASCAP in recognizing and encouraging fresh, creative voices through the Fennell Prize."

Additional works selected for Special Distinction and Honorable Mention by the Jury will be circulated to ensembles performing at regional CBDNA conferences.

Recognized for Special Distinction:

Eric Knechtges, age 26, Lansing, MI - “Broken Silents” for wind ensemble.

Honorable Mention:

Joseph Eidson, age 22, Jefferson City, MO - “Chadron” for wind ensemble. 

Eli Marshall, age 27, Montville, ME - "Grand Laudations" for concert band. Daniel Perttu, age 25, Columbus, OH - “Atop Black Balsam” for wind ensemble.

Carl Schimmel, age 29, Wakefield, RI - “The Blatherskite’s Comeuppance” for wind ensemble.

The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2004 competition were: Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, David Del Tredici, and Melinda Wagner. The conductor jurors selected by CBDNA were Thomas Duffy (Yale University) and Charles Peltz (New England Conservatory of Music).

INDEX

CANADIAN WINS COMPETITION IN BELGIUM

Ramallah by Robert Lemay for alto saxophone and wind ensemble has won the first prize at the 2004 International Harmoniecompositiewedstrijd Harelbeke Muziekstad, in Belgium. Last year, the jury selected the piece as one of the three finalists chosen from 51 entries from 14 countries. The final stage of the competition took place in Harelbeke, Belgium, on November 7, 2004, when a second jury awarded the first, second and third prizes. The prize is worth 10,000 Euros.

Information about this piece is available from:

Dr. Robert Lemay

Music Department

Huntington/Laurentian University

Sudbury, ON

CANADA

rlemay@laurentian.ca

Lemay's "Ramallah," for solo saxophone and wind ensemble was selected for performance at the Asian Music Festival 2003 in Tokyo from Sept. 17 to 23, 2003. The festival is one of the most important in Asia. "Ramallah" was premiered by saxophonist Jean-François Guay and the Ensemble vent et percussion de Québec under the direction of René Joly at the Henri-Gagnon Hall of Laval University in November 2002.

INDEX

DAUGHERTY: "BELLS FOR STOKOWSKI"; OTHER COMPOSERS AND WORKS

The Reference Recordings label, "Bells for Stokowski," by The University of  Texas Wind Ensemble was selected as one of the best classical CD`s of 2004 by the New York Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/arts/music/12reco.html

University of Texas Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jerry Junkin (Reference Recordings). The contemporary works, by Michael Daugherty and David Del Tredici ("In Wartime"), are intriguing, but the real gem is a gleefully anachronistic arrangement of Tylman Susato`s collection "Danserye," from 1551. JAMES R. OESTREICH

Review (April 4)

INDEX

DISC REPERTOIRE

In a superb WASBE Journal of 1998, edited by David Whitwell and subtitled “On the Role of Emotion in Music”, composer, conductor and trombonist Johan de Meij wrote:

I think there are several reasons why most audiences remain unmoved by the average band concert.

First, the programming consists of too many short works in different styles, including entertainment works, marches etc., while substantial works of high artistic quality are often missing.

Second, conductors pay too much attention to technical aspects and spectacular effects.

Third, I have seen too many mechanical, non-emotional conductors, with whom technique and precision prevail over emotion and musical depth.

Fourth, I do not enjoy concerts if there is a lack of quality in non-professional players, or a lack of passion with professional players.

CHOICE OF REPERTOIRE

The programme for this disc is drawn from three concerts which I conducted between 2002 and 2004 after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music. For four of the works I was engaged in the commissioning process, all five composers represented on this disc came to the wind orchestra with fresh ears, with a proven track record as composers in a wide variety of genres but with little or no experience in “wind band”.

The glory of the wind band/wind ensemble is its breadth and variety, since the repertoire covers educational music for school students, Gebrauchsmusik for ceremonial and entertainment, for amateur and professional wind bands, and also so-called art or serious music. Much of the band repertoire which is regularly performed is essentially commercial, and is promoted with all of the skills of commerce; it is not necessarily the worse for that, but here are five works, in the genesis of which I played some small part, works which I hope will become better known through this disc.

THE CRADLE OF THE CONTEMPORARY WIND BAND

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC was founded in 1882 as a successor to the National Training School for Music by the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VII)), and opened in 1883 with George Grove (of Grove Dictionary fame) as director. It moved to its present location near the Royal Albert Hall in 1894. The College has a rich history in performance, scholarship and composition, and among its graduates are Neville Marriner, Colin Davis, James Galway, Andrew Davis, Thomas Allen and John Lill.

Holst and Vaughan William were also alumni, and a list of others who taught or studied composition there in the 20th century would almost provide a Who’s Who of British contemporary wind music of all genres: these include Frank Bridge, Gordon Jacob, Constant Lambert, Michael Tippett, Elizabeth Maconchy, Adrian Cruft, Edwin Roxburgh, Philip Sparke, Kenneth Hesketh, Derek Bourgeois and Michael Ball. 

Frederick Fennell asserts that twentieth century wind music is founded on a handful of works written for British Military Bands by Holst, Vaughan Williams and Jacob, so the RCM can be rightly considered the cradle of the contemporary wind band.

INDEX

The Palace Rhapsody op 72 Aulis Sallinen (born 1935)

Published by Novello/MusicSales

Sallinen has viewed this work in the vein of the Harmonie arrangements of 18th Century opera and has based the piece on his very successful opera The Palace, deriving the composition from some of the main themes. The Palace was commissioned by the Savolinna Festival in Finland, premiered there in 1995 and in the original English version at the New York City Opera in 1998. The opera is a satire with dark undertones on the subject of authoritarian power - the libretto draws on two different sources, borrowing characters from Mozart's opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and ideas from Kapuscinski's novel The Emperor, which observes the fall of Haille Selassie, last Emperor of Ethiopia. While the score includes many of Sallinen's most infectious melodies, the undertones are ominous as the occupants of The Palace transfer power from one dictator to an equally totalitarian authority. The music of the Rhapsody deliberately reflects the black comedy of the opera - exaggerated contrasts of style mirror the dramatic shifts of mood, from bustling matter-of-factness to dark, bleak drama via ironic jazzy episodes of comic burlesque.

INDEX

Time’s Harvest - Edwin Roxburgh (born 1937)

Published by Maecenas/Masters Music

The composer writes:

The end of the 20th century closed the book on conflicts which outstrip any other in history for the inhumanity of man towards man (the gender used is not an oversight). It is remarkable that great achievements have taken place alongside slaughter and brutality.

The title of the work has been chosen as a millennium statement of hope at the outset of 2000. The first section laments what has happened, the second is an affirmation of faith in the younger generation who have the opportunity to foster the creative rather than the destructive aspect of life in the bright new age which space exploration promises. A Fanfare for the Future heralds this hope.

INDEX

Distant Variations - John Casken (born 1949)

Published by Schott

Distant Variations is a Concerto Grosso for solo saxophone quartet and wind ensemble; it also exists in a version for unaccompanied quartet. It was inspired by lines of Janek Schon (Variations on a Distant Rim).

Sunrise in the silent canyon; the clear, sharp line between blackened rim and inky sky is shattered by the sun’s first rays. Fortresses of rock come to life in distant variations, carved by time, enflamed for all eternity.

The opening crescendo on a lone soprano saxophone begins quadruple pianissimo; a cluster of sixteenth triplet notes ushers in a rhythmic motif which will dominate much of the introduction and reappear in the short epilogue. The work is in a single continuous movement with a quadruple pulse that embraces strong contrasts of feverish rhythmic activity with pools of stillness.

INDEX

Bright Spirit - Judith Bingham (born 1952)

Published by Maecenas/Masters Music

In her introductory remarks to this performance, Judith Bingham spoke of the problem of writing a memorial for someone whom she did not know. The direct inspiration came when browsing in a bookshop through a volume by Shelley, which fell open at an exquisite poem that he had written in memory of his own son, William, who had died at the age of five. Shelley’s poem does not finish, but breaks off in mid-phrase; he contemplates the flowers and grasses growing on the grave, and the seeds blowing in the wind. Poignantly he reflects that although William is no longer here, yet his bright spirit lives on.

The shape of the piece follows loosely the shape of the poem. It begins with a slow, bluesy funeral march which eventually gives way to a more dogged march, building to a massive climax - the message is that the bereaved have to come through grief and continue onwards. The four note twisting phrase is the word “Will” in musical terms. The work was written in the aftermath of 9/11 so the composer felt it was curiously apt to write a memorial piece at that time.

INDEX

Entrance; Carousing; Embarcation - Robin Holloway (born 1943)

Published Boosey and Hawkes

Robin Holloway writes:

It was sketched intermittently from 1988, but the main composing was done in the summer of 1990. Though large in scale, it is simple in shape – an introduction and allegro with a coda.

The introduction is of course the Entrance. The Carousing is the rondo Allegro opened up by the Entrance. Its episodes, variously riotous or plangent, form islands within an overall loosely fugal texture. At the climax, the opening is regained, its elements reordered and drastically curtailed. It leads this time into a rough drinking song, which expands into a final grandiose apotheosis – as if the Viking longboats were tunnelling out into stormy northern seas, then receding into the distance over the horizon.

Entrance; Carousing; Embarcation was dedicated to Malcolm Williamson in the year of his sixtieth birthday.

In a review, the Sunday Telegraph noted that Holloway's music, while achieving distinctive individuality, draws its inspiration from the rich heritage of the past century. He has been described as a fluent and versatile composer composer, noted for his rapprochement with tonality and Romanticism in such works as Scenes from Schumann (1970). His music has emotional power, skillful construction and exuberant orchestration His works include the opera Clarissa (1976), a number of concertos and chamber music. He is a fellow and lecturer at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.

INDEX

DEVELOPING AN INTERNATIONAL REPERTOIRE

For over two decades I have been closely involved with the work of the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles, WASBE in developing a wider knowledge of international repertoire. This series of live performances which I am sponsoring, aims at putting on disc unfamiliar works which often do not have the advantage of a strong popular appeal or commercial interest. These three recordings can be ordered from Shattinger or Mark Custom, and direct from me priced at £10.00, $15 or 15 euros including postage and packing. 

More information about repertoire and world news on www.timreynish.com

INTERNATIONAL REPERTOIRE SERIES VOLUME 1

University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble vol 1 (4949-MCD)

INTERNATIONAL REPERTOIRE SERIES VOLUME 2

University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble vol 2 (5347-MCD)

AVAILABLE DURING 2005

INTERNATIONAL REPERTOIRE SERIES VOLUME 3

Royal College of Music, London (5600-MCD)

THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC WIND ORCHESTRA

Recordings 1990 - 2002