HOMEPAGE OCTOBER 1^ST  2008
Greetings! Many thanks to those who have written in with complimentary remarks about the new design for my website. All suggestions for its future development will be gratefully received.

Each month we shall upload repertoire from the Maecenas catalogue on the Tim-Pod ^TM, listed in the panel on the left. Each month too we will feature a different aspect of repertoire to give ideas for future programming, list items of news sent in by colleagues round the world, and we will upload new articles as well as revisions of old.

INDEX

1. TIM-POD UPLOADS
October 2008
Tim Jackson: Passacaglia
Chris Marshall: Resonance
Michael Ball: Saxophone Concerto

 2. PROGRAMME IDEAS
Concerto for Brass Quintet and Band
Cyrano
Music at a slower pace for big acoustics

3. OPERA with wind ensemble accompaniment

4. Recent Premieres

5. Competitions

6. Forthcoming and recent ENGAGEMENTS

7. Messiaen Review and photographs of Et Exspecto Ressurectionem Mortuorum in Tewkesbury Abbey

2. PROGRAMME IDEAS
A query from Mitch Lutz of Central College for a brass quintet concertante work led me back to the WASBE Conference of 2003 and a fascinating programme of lighter music by the superb Orchestre D’Harmonie de l’Électricité de Strasbourg under Kuniho Ochi. They began with film composer Francois Rauber’s 14 Juilliet for brass quintet and band, just really good light music which I find utterly charming. Rauber was a film and light music composer of high reputation, and his skill is amply demonstrated here – highly recommended. It also has led me to revise my article on concertos and try to bring it up to date for November.

I went on playing the disc, Mark Custom Disc 4738-MCD, which I think well worth purchasing. It includes Kechley’s fine Saxophone Concerto  Restless Birds before the Dark Moon with the excellent Wayne Tice from the USMA West Point as soloist, but I was also reminded of a very fine 20 minute tone poem by the Belgian composer, Piet Swerts. Cyrano  I have listened to this work many times since the Conference, and I still find it thoroughly enjoyable, brilliant introductory material giving way to the most beautiful impressionist scenes which could be by Ravel. I think that Cyrano  should be much better known, and played alongside the works of European composers like Aloncon, Marco Pütz, Comitas, Strens, Rodrigo, all composers who wrote or are writing in a big romantic language, works which I find romantic, emotional and full of sentiment without being sentimental.

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On the left is a photograph of St. Mary’s Church, Portsea, Portsmouth, the magnificent venue for the monthly concerts by the Band and Orchestra of H.M. Royal Marines, Portsmouth. We opened the season there  on 19^th September with a “Last Night of the Proms” concert featuring no less than six conductors, which concluded with the usual Proms finale, preceded by music with both Russian and New Zealand themes. 

Festive Overture - Shostakovich
Symphony no 3 - Koshevnikov
Lane of the Long White Cloud - Sparke
Resonance - Marshall
Passacaglia - Jackson

 
PROGRAMME IDEAS FOR BIG CHURCH ACOUSTICS
The problems of acoustics are particularly acute for wind bands, where so much detail of instrumental colour can easily get lost. With a four second reverberation, conductors must adopt slower speeds and insist on far more articulation. Some time ago I devised a short repertoire table of music which can introduce a change of pace, and much of that repertoire would be ideal for St. Mary’s Portsea.

The vast spaces of St. Mary’s result in a thrilling sound, but anything loud and fast quickly became a jumble of noise. I was lucky to be conducting the Chris Marshall’s Resonance; the Ivesian mix of little motifs, hymn tunes and bird song seemed to suit the acoustic quite well, and the Timothy Jackson Passacaglia sounded quite magnificent.  

Repertoire on the Timpod this month include both of these works, and a work by  Michael Ball, the brilliant Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Band, with a difficult saxophone solo but with the accompaniment at about Grade 4.

A movement which would sound wonderful in this sort of acoustic would be the slow movement of Marco Pütz’ Trumpet Concerto. A simple setting of Bach’s O Sacred Head Sore Wounded, this is an all too brief exploration of that moving chorale. Some Grainger too would sound wonderful, perhaps the later version of Tune from County Derry with the organ and those wonderfully strange harmonies, or Ye Banks and Braes.

H Robert Reynolds transcription of O Magnum Mysterium by Lauridsen is already a classic of this genre. I was especially excited by working early this year with the Calgary Stampede Marching Band who sang it from memory and very movingly, and I much prefer the original vocal version. I think that Tim Jackson’s Passacaglia however has the same intensity and the advantage of being an original for wind band, albeit arranged by the composer from his score for 32 horns. Both Carroll pieces would work well, albeit written for less experienced bands, and the Newman and the Work would be well worth exploring.

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OPERA
THE SCARECROW
In the last few years, wind enthusiasts have been blessed with recordings of three operas written specifically for the medium. To listen to The Scarecrow by Joseph Turrin, browse on SCARECROW to find Turrin’s homepage and recordings of the whole opera.

BANDANNA
Daron Hagen describes his opera as an aggressive, manic, emotionally overwrought, progressive piece of American Opera, equal parts opera and music theatre… It is now available in a stunning recording conducted by the composer with UNLV Opera Chorus and Wind Orchestra on Albany records TROY 849-50 also available on ITUNES (search for Hagen - Bandanna)

BLUE MOUNTAIN -  ONE ACT OPERA RECORDING RELEASED
Commissioned by the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, the world premiere of Justin Dello Joio’s  one act opera, Blue Mountain was given on October 8,9,10, 2007, at Kanonhalen in Oslo, Norway, as part of the 2007 Ultima Contemporary Music Festival. The opera was recorded in performance and the CD was released on Bridge Records in August 2008. American composer Justin Dello Joio's one act opera, Blue Mountain, was written to commemorate the 100th year of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's death. The opera is based on descriptions of Grieg's final days (September 1907), and includes the roles of Grieg, his wife Nina, his physician, and his friend and champion, Percy Grainger. Dello Joio's colorful score weaves in references to a number of Grieg's works, including his Violin Sonata in C minor, one of his Lyric Pieces for Piano, (Evening in the Mountains) a brief snatch of Peer Gynt, and references to his Piano Concerto

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4. RECENT WORLD PREMIERES

BRAZIL
On September 6^th was premiered ULTREYA by Vicente Moncho in Tatuí  (Brazil). The piece was performed by Orquestra de Sopros Brasileira conducted by Darío Sotelo. “Ultreya” (grade 5 and 9 minutes of duration) for Concert Band means the song of the pilgrims on the way to Santiago de Compostela. The piece was composed with a modal language on base of two well-known groups of four sounds both esoteric and mystic meaning. Ultreya was dedicated to Darío Sotelo “as companion of musical routes”

The piece, composed on April-May 2008 will be available by Johann Kliment Musik-Verlag.

JAPAN
Adam Gorb Symphony no 1 in C will receive its Japanese premiere by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra October 10^th conductor Kazumasa Watanabe; it will be preceded by an arrangement of Beethoven Symphony no 1, on which the Gorb Symphony is based.

February 20 100^th Regular Concert of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra will be celebrated with the premiere of special commission from the distinguished composer, Michio Kitazume, Director of the Japan Society for Contemporary Music.

LUXEMBOURG
June 4^th 2008 world premiere of Omaggio by Marco Pütz for Fanfare Band Orchestra: Fanfarekorps Koninklijke Landmacht Bereden Wapens (NL), Conductor Tijmen Botma

SWITZERLAND
28^th September, Lucerne World Band Festival, the Lucerne Wind Ensemble conductor Franz Schaffner gave the world premiere of Legenda Rumantscha by Oliver Waespi

Bläserphilharmonie Zug will give three concerts in their first season.under Conductor Christoph Mueller  www.blaeserphilharmonie.ch

On March 15 they premiere a Marimba Concerto by Carl Ruetti  www.ruettimusic.ch

UK
Cambridge University Wind Orchestra will give the world premiere of a work for choir and wind band by Leon Charles, 21^st February at Trinity College.

UK PUBLISHERS NEWS
Adam Gorb has been commissioned to write a work for school bands at about Grade 3, to be published by Maecenas.

Recent publications from Maecenas include A Jazz Funeral by Christopher Coleman and Werneth Suite by Terence Greaves.

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5. TWO COMPOSITION COMPETITIONS

2008 NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition ContesT
Deadline November 1^st
The NBA/Revelli Composition Contest has awarded prizes since 1977. It is the desire of the National Band Association that winning compositions reflect its mission in helping further the cause of quality literature for bands in America. Additionally, works chosen as winners should be those not only of significant structural, analytical, and technical quality, but also of such nature that will allow bands to program them as part of their standard repertoire. This contest is open to any composer writing for any grade level of literature for wind band. Deadline for submission of all materials: November 1st each year. See the link on the left for more information.

2009 SECOND TOKYO WIND ORCHESTRA COMPOSITION COMPETITION
CLOSING DATE APRIL 15 2009
RULES FOR ENTRY

Submission of Compositions
Entrants must submit an unpublished original work in accordance with the instruction below:
1. The work must have been composed by only one individual.
2. Performance time should be between eight and about fifteen minutes.
3. A concerto with a solo instrument or a work with vocal parts will not be accepted.
4. The instruments used must be chosen from the list of instruments [instrumentation] that follows.
5. The submitted work must not be made public by performance, recording in any medium, including video and DVD, or other means, outside this competition until the final selection of prizewinners is announced. [These doses not apply to works that do not qualify for the first preliminary and the second preliminary selections.]

For more information browse on KOSEI COMPOSITION COMPETITION

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6. FORTHCOMING and RECENT ENGAGEMENTS

DURHAM SINFONIA
Saturday 11^th October at 7.30pm Durham Cathedral
Sunday 12^th October at 2.30pm, St George’s Church, Osborne Road, Jesmond
Egmont Overture - Beethoven (Not in Jesmond)
Cello Concerto - Dvorak
Symphony no.2 - Rachmaninov

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF WOODWIND DAY
Sunday 19^th October 5.30.PM
Crane Dances          Melinda Maxwell
Time Slip                 Richard Bissell

ROYAL WELSH COLLEGE OF MUSIC & DRAMA WIND ORCHESTRA
Thursday 27^th November at 7.30
Church of St Andrew and St Teilo, Cathays, Cardiff
Welsh Dances - Alun Hoddinott (Denis Wick)
Elegy for Ur - Edwin Roxburgh (Maecenas)
Broken Sea - Christopher Painter (Maecenas) - world premiere

                        interval

Concertango- Luis Serrano Aloncon (Piles)
Adrenaline City - Adam Gorb (Studio)
Blasket Dances - Matthew Taylor (Maecenas)       

After all of the excitement of my continuous 70^th birthday celebrations with concerts in Calgary, Las Vegas, Manchester, Cardiff and Singapore, the Autumn, or Fall, looks a  little more peaceful. I am delighted to be working again with one of the finest amateur orchestras in the country, the Durham Sinfonia, in a great pairing of Dvorak’s incomparable ‘Cello Concerto and Rakhmaninov’s Second Symphony, an orgy of self-indulgence for the whole orchestra and me.

INDEX

It will be good to be back at the RNCM, where I shall be directing two chamber wind works in the RNCM Woodwind Day on 19^th October, a work by Melinda Maxwell for oboes and, and one by Richard Bissill scored for quartets of woodwind. In addition I shall be coaching chamber music on a regular basis until Christmas when I re-locate to Cornell University for the Spring.

It was also good to be back at the Cheltenham International Music Festival where the RNCM Wind Ensemble had given so many memorable concerts including the world premieres of

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - The Four Seasons
Aulis Sallinen - The Palace Rhapsody
Dame Thea Musgrave- Journey through a Japanese Landscape

Our performance of Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum  in Tewkesbury Abbey on July 7^th was almost sold out, and received the following review on Musicweb International which I am reprinting, first because it is so complimentary to my players, second because it so rare that wind performances get a press notice. Now there’s a work which would sound wonderful in St. Mary’s, Portsea, with the massed wind, brass and percussion of HM Band of the Royal Marines.

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ET EXSPECTO RESURRECTIONEM MORTUORUM IN THE CHELTENHAM INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

REVIEW    
I don’t know who dreamed up this programme but let me say right at the start that it was one of the most intelligent, perceptive and unusual concert programmes I have ever encountered....A miniature by Messiaen closed the first half but there was nothing remotely miniature about the sole offering in the second half. Everything about Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum is on a huge scale. Written in 1964 to a commission by the French Government to commemorate the dead of the two World Wars, Messiaen’s piece is lavishly scored for 18 woodwinds, 16 brass and no less than six percussionists playing all manner of gongs, bells and tam-tams. Indeed, looking at the vast array of percussion instruments assembled I suspect that every gong in the entire Greater Manchester area had been transported down to Tewkesbury for the occasion. In yet another imaginative touch most of the lights in the Abbey were dimmed for the performance, which just added to the ambience.

Messiaen’s music is on a truly monumental scale and he conjures up some quite amazing sonorities from the orchestra. The menacing, low sounds with which the work opens are almost primeval. The first movement was built to a terrifyingly loud, gong-drenched climax. After this Timothy Reynish made a very long pause, as he was to do after each of the first four of the work’s five movements. I don’t know if these pauses are specified in the score but they were hugely effective and sustained the tension long after the echoes had died away.

In the second movement we heard some excellent, highly exposed solos from the flute, oboe and clarinet. The confidence with which these hugely demanding solos were delivered exemplified the superb technical standard of the entire performance. As with so many of Messiaen’s works birdsong is never far away. In the third movement he depicts the cry of a rare Amazonian bird. In the programme note the composer was quoted as saying of this bird’s call that it “surprises and bewitches the listener with disjointed melodic jumps, colour changes and dynamic contrasts.” Actually, that strikes me as a pretty fair description of much of the music of  Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum itself.

There was some truly fabulous wind playing in the fourth movement. The woodwind parts here sound ferociously difficult but the precision and tuning of these young players was quite amazing. Finally came the slow, majestic processional that constitutes Messiaen’s finale. This movement bears the superscription “And I saw a great multitude”. The music is underpinned by slowly pulsing gongs while the brass intone a long processional hymn. It’s immense music of huge reach and suggestive of vast spaces. It demands a grand and resonant acoustic to make its effect. The Abbey was an ideal place for this music and I wondered if the building has ever before resonated to such sounds. Mr Reynish and his players unleashed the cumulative power of Messiaen’s music to thrilling effect and one could visualise in the mind’s eye, as the composer surely intended, a never-ending procession of souls.

The performance as a whole was a stunning achievement. For once the word “awesome”, used in its correct sense, was entirely appropriate. This magnificent account of Messiaen’s visionary score was a thrilling culmination to one of the most exciting concerts I’ve attended in a long time.
John Quinn

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