Welcome to timreynish.com

HOMEPAGE SEPTEMBER 11th 2008
Welcome back to school, college, the new season or the end of the old, and welcome to my new-look website, more details below.

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH
As always, this homepage concentrates on repertoire, and this September we feature the music of Adam Gorb, born 1958, with a revised and updated article with a discography. For ideas on programming for 2009, check out this article and his website.

There are still a few links not yet working, but we hope to sort these out this month. Please reprint anything that might be useful, with due acknowledgement to this website, and also feel free to write to me with any questions.

Adam and Tim Reynish after the world premiere of Farewell,
given by the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales, April 6^th 2008

Clicking opens the Tim-Pod with this month's browsing music, all by Adam Gorb.

Track 1: DANCES FROM CRETE - for amateur groups and good school bands
Track 2: FAREWELL - for professional level groups
Track 3: SUNRISE & SAFARI - Grade 3 level for school bands

1. WEBMASTER ANNOUNCEMENT
For the last four years Mike Grieff, conductor, oboist and IT expert, has been my webmaster, struggling manfully with my speeling and uplod deminds. He admits that he never anticipated the amount of work involved, and is, I think, quite relieved to hand over to Mark Heron, conductor, ex-tuba player, amateur IT expert.

Many thanks to Mike and his long-suffering family, and welcome to Mark, who has already re-shaped the main pages and is disciplining my monthly output.

2. MESSAGE FROM WEBMASTER
The site structure has been completely re-designed. Within the archive homepages, recognisable by their distinctive mustard yellow background, there may well be some missing images and broken links but all of the text should be there.

There is now a search facility at the top of this page. As this relies on Google for its results, for some time it will throw up references to the old page names which will result in a broken link. The accuracy of this will improve with time.

As ever, please report any broken links or things you can't find by email and we will do our best to help.

Of Adam’s thirty pieces for wind band, wind ensemble or chamber winds, some sixteen are aimed at experienced bands, either good school bands, honours bands, college or conservatoire groups or professional ensembles, while the remaining fourteen are suitable for less proficient groups at American Grade 2 or 3 level. It is my personal belief that the emotional and technical range of his music is comparable to that of Percy Grainger and is almost without parallel in other composers for band and wind ensemble.

Deceptively mainstream at first glance, they display the same inventive brilliance, pulsating sound world, striking use of rhythm and an undogmatic absence of stylistic hang-ups to embrace jazz and serialism in works where power, poetry, irony and pathos, often underlaid by a theatrical and deeply subversive element, coalesce in an integrated, highly individual musical voice. Gorb is also not afraid to draw on the vivid musical heritage of his Jewish roots, sometimes directly, often in a more subsumed or radically creative way. The crucial and consistent feature of Gorb's work though is that it communicates strongly without patronising players or audiences. He firmly believes that if contemporary music - any music - does not impact on listeners then its message is irrelevant; it is lost.

The article on his music has been bought up to date by Adam himself, and is included in this website with a selective discography.

4. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS’ WIND WORKS
By Jon Ceander Mitchell, published Meredith Music Publications $28.95

This is a truly noble tribute to one of England’s most creative nationalistic composers of his day writes Donald Hunsberger in his Foreword to the beautifully produced definitive book on the Music for Wind and Brass by Ralph Vaughan Williams by Dr Jon Mitchell.

My own contact with the great man was sketchy; my mother-in-law the oboist Sylvia Spencer was a frequent performer at his Leith Hill Festivals, and spoke of him with great affection. My professor at Cambridge, Paddy Hadley, was a close friend, and I well remember him attending the premiere of a work by Patrick Hadley, Connemara; an awe-inspiring figure, he sat in the front row and swiftly went to sleep.

He and Holst consolidated the reputation of English composers, paved the way for Britten, Tippett and the host of great composers we have now, and of course laid the foundations for the contemporary wind band and wind ensemble.

The book itself is probably best browsed through; it is written in a pastoral discursive style reminiscent of much of the subject’s music, and not only ranges over the music for pageants, the brass band music, the Flourishes for trumpets, the choral works with band and of course the military band works, but also touches on, amongst other topics, the Household Music (his answer during the war to the German’s Gebrauchsmusik), the operas and orchestral music, his relationship with Cecil Sharp and English Folk-Song (Under which king, Bezonian, speak or die?, his experiences in both World Wars, his connection with Alan Bush and the Communist Party and his work with the amateur music movement

There is a script from a BBC broadcast introducing the BBC Military Band, an article on The Composer in Wartime from The Listener, words of the folk songs he used and, best of all, copious letters amply illustrating his pet likes and dislikes. For instance, writing about his Overture Henry V he suggests that In any case the vulgar sentimental vibrato which disfigures most brass-band music should be strictly avoided.

There is one tiny but significant As well as an incomparable source of information about the composer, this book gives a brilliant account of the musical life of Britain during the composer’s lifetime. Douglas Yeo, bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Musical Director of the New England Brass Band (do they play with vibrato?) writes: For wind and brass band conductors and players, Mitchell’s is essential reading. I would add that this is an exuberant portrait of the times which will entertain and engross the non-musician as much as the conductor, performer, student and aficionado. We are all in Dr. Mitchell’s debt. I am in his debt particularly as the dedicatee, an honour hardly deserved.

5. SAMUEL ADLER, BORN MARCH 4, 1928
Composer, teacher and conductor, Samuel Adler is one of America’s most distinguished musicians. Earlier this year (2008) he reached his 80^th birthday, an event marked by performances throughout USA and Europe.

Born in Mannheim, Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1939. ). Adler was educated at Boston University and Harvard University, and holds four honorary doctorates (Southern Methodist University, Wake Forest University, St. Mary.s Notre-Dame, and the St. Louis Conservatory).

His major teachers in composition were Herbert Fromm, Walter Piston, Randall Thompson, Paul Hindemith, and Aaron Copland and in conducting, Serge Koussevitzky.

He is Professor-emeritus at the Eastman School of Music where he taught from 1966 to 1995 and served as chair of the composition department from 1974 until his retirement. Since 1997, he has been a member of the composition faculty at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.

Samuel Adler is the composer of over 400 published works, including 5 operas, 6 symphonies, 12 concerti, 8 string quartets, 4 oratorios, many other orchestral, band, chamber, choral works, and songs, which have been performed all over the world. He is also the author of three books: Choral Conducting, an anthology (Holt, Reinhart, and Winston 1971, second edition Schirmer Books 1985) Sight Singing, (W.W. Norton 1979, 1997) and The Study of Orchestration, (W.W. Norton 1982, 1989, 2001.

Among other events celebrating his 80^th birthday was the premiere of Long May She Prosper given on March 25 by the Mannheimer Bläserphilharmonia in Mannheim, Germany.

WORK	DATE	DURATION	PUBLISHER
A Little Night & Day Music	1976	6.00	Carl Fischer
American Airs & Dances	1998	18.00	Carl Fischer
An American Duo	1981	7.00	Booseys
Concerto for Viola	1968	18.00	Carl Fischer
Dawn to Glory	1998	14.00	Carl Fischer
Double Vision	1987	13.00	Ludwig
Family Portraits	1995	14.00	Unknown
Festive Prelude	1965	8.00	Belwin Mills
Merrymakers	1982	3.30	Ludwig
Purim Merry-go-round		15.00	Belwin Mills
Pygmalion	2005	Unknown	unknown
Rogues and Lovers	1995	19.00	Ludwig
Serenata Concertante	1997	24.00	Presser
Snow Tracks	1981	20.00	Ludwig
Southwestern Sketches	1961	13.00	Ludwig
The Force of Credulity	1977	10.00	Ludwig
To celebrate a Miracle	1999	13.00	Transcontinental

Imagine Elliott Carter and Olivier Messiaen teaming up to write a concerto, add a certain lithe sense of mystery ……. and you'll have some idea of "Extremity of Sky”.
Washington Post

"I found the piece absorbing and exhilarating when I first heard it in 2003
Chicago Tribune

"A ferocious, kaleidoscopic, confounding, richly hued concerto scored for a dazzling 21st-century orchestra"
American Symphony Orchestra League

No, not reviews of the latest wind spectacular at a WASBE, BASBWE, CBDNA or NBA Conference, but reviews of a major work by Pullitzer Prize winner, Melinda Wagner. No reviews whatever of her latest work, an exciting piece for wind orchestra, SCAMP, premiered by the US Marine Band under Colonel Mike Colbourn at the MENC Conference, but you can year the premiere by the US Marine Band under Colonel Mike Colbourn here.

7. CANTINA BY DAVID RAKOWSKI
Back in 2001, I wrote in a review in the WASBE Newsletter of the Lucerne Conference …Two of the final concerts alone would have made the journey to Lucerne worth while. Under Timothy Foley, another conductor who has complete control of dynamics, phrasing and ensemble with an unostentatious beat, The United States Marine Band, which I still rate as probably the best in the world, gave a beautifully planned program……….. The second half of the program began with the world premiere of David Rakowski's "Ten of a Kind," a concerto for ten clarinets, who are in fact but one of many concertante groups drawn from the orchestra. I loved the sound world and found the ideas flowed naturally and that the contrasts were finely drawn.

Good then to hear of another Rakowski work, Cantina, commissioned by the Barlow Foundation and premiered on March 2 at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, Virginia, by the US Marine Band as part of the CBDNA Eastern Division Conference, repeated by the Meadows Wind Ensemble conducted by Jack Delaney on April 25^th. Any hope of a review in CBDNA or WASBE news? Any news of Sibling Revelry also by David, both published by Peters Edition.

INDEX

8. A JAZZ FUNERAL FOR SYMPHONIC BAND
By Christopher Coleman, published by Maecenas, Summer 2008

The funeral processions of New Orleans are accompanied by a jazz band that usually consists of a couple of saxophones, perhaps a clarinet, a trumpet, a trombone, a sousaphone, and snare and bass drums. On the outward journey, these musicians render slow and mournful Dixieland versions of traditional hymns like Amazing Grace. But on the return journey, sorrow is left behind and the band strikes a celebratory note, picking up the tempo and kicking in syncopations in an affirmation of life, and of the Afterlife.

The true Christian belief is that death is merely a journey to heaven, and so rather than grieving over our loss, we should celebrate the eternal happiness of the deceased, who is released from worldly woes and is sitting with Jesus in God's eternal love. In A Jazz Funeral I've tried to capture this spirit. The opening trumpet solo is based on a slave song from the sea islands of my home state of Georgia. Byum By-E, was recorded by Lydia Parrish in the early 1900's with no accompaniment or harmonization provided.

It is an extraordinarily touching lament for Shisha Shalum, in which at one point all rhythmic and melodic motion ceases entirely to the words "Lord, Shisha"--the grief of loss completely overwhelms the song. My original idea was to present the song without ornamentation, strictly as Parrish recorded it but with my own accompaniment. As I worked on the piece, I realised that Parrish's notation was surely influenced by her Classical training, and that she'd notated only what she knew how to notate.

I came to believe that treating the song much more freely was completely within the tradition from which it came. Other melodies in the piece are inspired by the New Orleans tradition, but are of my own composition. I've tried to do more than just compose my own piece in the New Orleans style by adding a little extra flavor, as though the procession passes rooms where other bands are playing, where doors open and close and music floats in unexpectedly. The procession might even be visited by the spirits of past musicians, who improvise from another, unworldly plane.

A Jazz Funeral was commissioned by the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia for their 2005 concert at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) conference in Singapore, and was premiered under the direction of Jerry Junkin by that group on July 7, 2005, in Hong Kong.

9. COUPS DE VENT COMPETITION WINNER
Composer Avner Hanani takes first prize at international competition held in France for his woodwind instrument piece, 'Wind Borne'

A piece by the young Israeli composer Avner Hanani has taken first place at the Coups De Vents competition, which took place for the third year in a row in the French town of Lille. The competition, sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture, received 257 pieces from composers worldwide.

The contest aims to expand the existing repertoire for symphonies performed by woodwind instruments. There were four finalists, out of which the judges chose to award the grand prize of 10,000 euros to Hanani's piece, entitled "Wind Borne" which will be published by Studio Music and recorded this autumn by the RNCM Wind Orchestra and Mark Heron.

"Regarding the classic woodwind repertoire and the modern writing tradition, I felt this piece was different than the rest of those that reached the final stage," Hanani told Ynet. "I didn't know what to expect and I am very happy about winning the prize, especially since this was a very respectable contest."

Pieces at Grade 2 and 2.5 in the Maecenas Genesis Repertoire can be heard in the audio area of the site.

Ordering information:
Score and parts: $75 HL04002768
Conductor score: $10 HL 04002769

The Odyssey was written by Homer about 2700 years ago. It tells of the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus (Ulysses in Roman mythology) during his harrowing return to Ithaca after being away for twenty years, ten of which he had spent fighting the Trojan Wars. In one part of the journey, Odysseus is aware that he is about to encounter the sirens, famous for luring sailors to their death with their beguiling wind-like song. Intensely curious to hear them, he has all his sailors plug their ears and tie him to the mast, with instructions not to untie him, no matter what he says. As they approach, the sirens begin singing and Odysseus screams to be untied, but the sailors can’t hear him and they are all saved.

According to some versions of the myth, the sirens are fated to die if sailors were to hear their song and escape. So after Odysseus’ ship passes by, the sirens fling themselves into the sea and are drowned.

This piece suggests this dramatic encounter. If you listen carefully, you can hear the wind-song becoming evermore insistent, the rocking of the ship, Odysseus’ screams, and finally the sirens plunging to their death.

It might also be mentioned that sirens are still found in our stories today. Perhaps most recently, the Marvel Comics superhero “Siryn” (associated with the X-Men) is an Irish mutant that possesses a “sonic scream.” And the term "siren song" still refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but, if heeded, will lead to disaster.

Finally, as part of the American Composers Forum's BandQuest commission that supported the creation of this piece, the composer worked with the Boynton Middle School Concert Band, which also happens to live in Ithaca (though this one is in New York).

About Dana Wilson
The works of Dana Wilson have been commissioned and performed by such diverse ensembles as the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Buffalo Philharmonic, Memphis Symphony, Washington military bands, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Syracuse Symphony, and Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. Solo works have been written for such renowned artists as hornist Gail Williams, clarinetist Larry Combs, trumpeters James Thompson and Rex Richardson, and oboist David Weiss.

He has received grants from, among others, the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Arts Midwest, and Meet the Composer. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and East Asia. They have received several awards, including the International Trumpet Guild First Prize, the Sudler International Composition Prize, and the Ostwald Composition Prize; are published by Boosey and Hawkes, Ludwig Music Publishers, and Dorn Publications; and can be heard on Klavier, Albany, Summit, Centaur, Innova, Meister Music, Elf, Open Loop, Mark, Redwood, Musical Heritage Society, and Kosei Recordings.

Dana Wilson holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, and is currently Charles A. Dana Professor of Music in the School of Music at Ithaca College. He is co-author of Contemporary Choral Arranging, published by Prentice Hall/Simon and Schuster, and has written articles on diverse musical subjects. He has been a Yaddo Fellow (at Yaddo, the artists’ retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York), a Wye Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a Charles A. Dana Fellow, and a Fellow at the Society for Humanities, Cornell University.

1-5 October 2008: Swedish Wind Ensemble with Radovan Vlatkovic
Swedish Wind Ensemble continues their manifestation to encourage young people to take up wind instruments. They have contracted the worlds greatest horn player, Radovan Vlatkovich, and also invited the Swedish horn phenomenon Sören Hermansson and commissioned a double concerto from Swedish composer Anders Emilsson. Programme will also include Schumann Fantasiestucke for 4 horns and orchestra.

19 October 2008 Amsterdam Marathon
Christian Lindberg will run his 8th Marathon this year. 5 times he has done the Stockholm Marathon and twice Berlin, but this time he will try Amsterdam out.

17-20 November 2008: Conducting world premiére of wind version Euphonium Concerto
Lindberg will conduct the Lindköping Wind Ensemble in the world premiére of Olle and the Steamboatjetty for Euphonium and Wind Band. The orchestration is done by the phenomenal wind arranger Anders Högstedt, and the solopart will be played by the commissioner of the piece, Mikael Andersson.

GREGSON HORN CONCERTO TRANSCRIBED FOR WIND
Edward Gregson’s Concerto for Trumpet and Brass Band has been transcribed for wind band by Roger Harvey.

Gregson was taught never to write notes that were not absolutely necessary. 'I can't stand the sentimental in music", he has said. He learned much from the structural clarity of Bartók and Hindemith, the economy and incisiveness of Stravinsky, the rhythmic flair of Walton and the simple modality of Vaughan Williams.

To that list of influences one could also add Tippett, Lutoslawski, Messiaen and John Adams. This is a consciously eclectic mix, informing an approach to writing which is rigorous, disciplined and rooted firmly within the symphonic mainstream, and amply demonstrated in the four works recorded here.