Brass Playlist Presentation!

Hey! This post will represent the notes for my playlist presentation in class today, so follow along if you want any information on the pieces!

ALFRED REED (1921 - 2005): Symphony for Brass and Percussion (1952), Mvt. 1: Maestoso

- "The President's Own" Marine Band

"Alfred Reed was one of America's most prolific and frequently performed composers, with more than 250 published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and and various smaller chamber music groups to his name. In addition to winning the Luria Prize in 1959, he has been awarded over 60 commissions… with more on the way! At the time of his death, he had composition commissions that would have taken him to the age of 115! He also wrote a multitude of 3-minute musical sequences for sound-track library recordings. His work as a guest conductor and clinician has taken him to 49 states, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Australia and South America, and for many years, al least eight of his works have been on the required list of music for all concert bands in Japan, where he is the most frequently performed foreign composer today. He was the first “foreign” conductor to be invited to conduct and record with the world famous Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. He left New York for Miami, Florida, in 1960, where he made his home until his death."

"The Symphony for Brass and Percussion, originally completed in the summer 1952, received its first performance in December of that year at the College Band Directors National Association convention in Chicago, by member of the Oberlin Symphonic Band under the direction of Donald I. Moore, to whom the work is dedicated. It is the composer’s second major work for the Wind-Brass-Percussion ensemble, following the Russian Christmas Music, and represents an attempt at exploring the possibilities for utilizing on brass and percussion sonorities in an extended piece."

"The music is in three movements. The first opens with a broad introduction in which most of the thematic material of the movement is exposed. The allegro section takes the form of an intensive hard-driven march, but it is in triple rather than the usual duple time. The basic theme, already presented in the introduction, is treated with alternate quartal and tertial harmonies, although it is built mainly in fourths throughout. A quiet, almost chorale-like middle section follows the dying away of this first part, after which the original march-like theme returns and brings the first movement to an ending of great sonority."

HIDETOSHI TAKUMI (b. 1973): Street in Marina for Euphonium and Tuba Quintet (2004)

- Euphonium Tuba Company

"Hidetoshi Takumi (b. Hokkaido, Japan) is a Japanese arranger, composer, teacher, and orchestrator. Takumi graduated from Musashino Academy Music with a bachelor’s degree in euphonium performance. Since a student, he has been involved in producing music for theatre, ballets, movies, and other events. He is an arranger, composer, teacher of desk top music (DTM), and orchestrator. He is the conductor and composer of Caissé Resonate, a chamber orchestra group. Currently, he is focusing on ‘Film Concert’, a joint event of live music with plays or movies. Takumi’s repertoire is wide ranging, including soundtracks, orchestra and band music, as well as operetta for children. As an educator, he teaches music ensembles in kindergarden, and writes a music column for magazines about DTM or MacIntosh. His newest book is Practical Orchestration by DTM."

"This piece was commissioned in 2004 by the euphonium tuba ensemble Bass Blaeser. It has three movements: 1. Prologue of Morning Calm, 2. Wedding Ballad, and 3. Scherzo of Evening Calm. One of the members of Bass Blaeser was getting married at that point, so the second movement is a lyrical and stylish ballad. This piece was meant to be a wedding gift from other members and myself. Originally, it was written for three euphoniums and two tubas, a bit unusual, but it also can be played with two euphoniums and three tubas. Most harmonies and rhythms are common and the range I used is average, so that many people can play and enjoy it."

MELINDA WAGNER (b. 1957): Brass Quintet No. 1 (2000)

American Brass Quintet

- Louis Hanzlik, trumpet

- Kevin Cobb, trumpet

- Eric Reed, french horn

- Michael Powell, tenor trombone

- John Rojak, bass trombone

"Celebrated as an “...eloquent, poetic voice in contemporary music...” [American Record Guide], Melinda Wagner’s esteemed catalog of works embodies music of exceptional beauty, power, and intelligence. Wagner received widespread attention when her colorful Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then, major works have included Concerto for Trombone, for Joseph Alessi and the New York Philharmonic, a piano concerto, Extremity of Sky, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony for Emanuel Ax, and Little Moonhead, composed for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as part of its popular “New Brandenburgs” project. A passionate and inspiring teacher, Melinda Wagner has given master classes at many fine institutions across the United States, including Harvard, Yale, Eastman, Juilliard, and UC Davis. She has held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Smith College, and has served as a mentor at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Atlantic Music Festival, and Yellow Barn. Ms. Wagner currently serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music."

BARBARA YORK (1949-2020): Suite for Euphonium, Tuba and Piano "Dancing with Myself" (2008)

- Jason Ham, euphonium

- Matthew K. Brown, tuba

"Barbara contributed over 40 works involving tuba/euphonium ranging from concerti, sonatas, solos, duets, and chamber works. Many of these works were commissions from individuals at their request, and many of those were reflective of deaths, celebrations, or memorialization of moments, routines, and even American art. Top artists such as Tim Buzbee, Matthew Brown, John Manning, and Stephanie Frye-Clark have recorded her works. Aside from tuba/euphonium, York received commissions from the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra and the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, as well as premiering works at the World Saxophone Congress, the International Double Reed Symposium, the International Women’s Brass Conference, the United States Army Band Tuba and Euphonium Workshop, the International Horn Symposium, and the International Trombone Festival."

"This is my “take” on a more traditional dance movement suite, but with a slightly more contemporary and even psychological twist. I didn’t write this into the program notes much, but this is a very personal piece for me. I love it a lot. This is about me and my friends going out on the town and bar- hopping in Montreal when I went to McGill. A little group of us getting ready to go out. That’s the first sort of jazzy thing, that is like traveling music. We go to this bar and we still haven’t had a lot to drink yet. So we’re hoping that we are pretty attractive, you know? So we get into the tango. Then we travel some more. Then we get into the polka because by then we haven’t found anybody at the first bar, so we’re going on to the second bar. And we have this traveling music again, but we go somewhere else. Then we get into the polka, which is rather clownish because by then we’re just getting a little silly. Nobody hooks up with anybody in this evening -- the last movement is me walking home in the fog in Montreal at two oclock in the morning where I find myself dancing with myself. I love this piece, I mean I really do."

ALEC WILDER (1907-1980): Suite No. 1 for Horn, Tuba and Piano (1971)

- James Wilson, horn 

- Jay Hunsberger, tuba

 

"Alec Wilder’s music is a unique blend of American musical traditions – among them jazz and the American popular song – and basic “classical” European forms and techniques. As such, it fiercely resists all labeling. Although it often pained Alec that his music was not more widely accepted by either jazz or classical performers, undeterred, he wrote a great deal of music of remarkable originality in many forms: sonatas, suites, concertos, operas, ballets, art songs, woodwind quintets, brass quintets, jazz suites – and hundreds of popular songs."

"Wilder’s Suite No.1 for Horn, tuba and Piano was written in 1963 at the suggestion of Clark Galehouse. Galehouse had recorded both Barrows and Phillips separately and thought that the two would sound good together. According to Phillips, “In 1963, Clark Galehouse called Alec and told him that he thought Alec should write something for John Barrows and me, since he heard similarities in our phrasing.” As a result, a new genre of brass chamber music emerged. Wilder took Galehouse’s advice and wrote a five-movement work for Barrows and Phillips called Suite No.1 for Horn, tuba and Piano. At first, many thought the piece would be unsuccessful due to the unusual instrumentation."

JENNIFER HIGDON (b. 1962): Fanfare Quintet (2003)

American Brass Quintet

- Louis Hanzlik, trumpet

- Kevin Cobb, trumpet

- Eric Reed, french horn

- Michael Powell, tenor trombone

- John Rojak, bass trombone

"Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) taught herself to play flute at the age of 15 and began formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Despite these obstacles, Jennifer has become a major figure in contemporary Classical music. Her works represent a wide range of genres, from orchestral to chamber, to wind ensemble, as well as vocal, choral and opera. Her music has been hailed by Fanfare Magazine as having "the distinction of being at once complex, sophisticated but readily accessible emotionally", with the Times of London citing it as "…traditionally rooted, yet imbued with integrity and freshness." The League of American Orchestras reports that she is one of America's most frequently performed composers."

"Fanfare Quintet by Jennifer Higdon was composed in 2002. This work is a movement from an organ and brass quintet piece called Ceremonies that was commissioned by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Guild of Organists when it hosted the group’s national convention. Higdon is one of America’s most acclaimed and most frequently performed living composers having received the 2010 Pulitzer for her Violin Concerto, a 2010 Grammy for her Percussion Concerto, a 2018 Grammy for her Viola Concerto, and the Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University, which is given to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition. Higdon holds the Rock Chair in Composition at the Curtis Institute of Music."

HENRY BRANT (1913-2008): Orbits for 80 Trombones, Organ, and Sopranino Voice (1979)

- Bay Bones Trombone Choir

- Henry Brant, organ

- Amy Snyder, voice

"Henry Brant (1913-2008) was America’s foremost composer of acoustic spatial music. The positioning of groups of performers in specific locations, both on stage and throughout the concert hall, was an essential factor in his work. Brant’s pioneering spatial music has been guided by three ideas taken from Charles Ives: spatial separation, uncoordinated rhythm and the polyphonic possibilities of simultaneous, contrasted styles. Henry’s masterly use of position and directionality enabled the listener to discern details of timbre, texture and line not perceptible in conventional proscenium arrangements. In 2002 Brant was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Ice Field. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he received two Guggenheim Fellowships and was the first American composer to win the Prix Italia. Brant was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University, and the Paul Sacher Foundation in Switzerland has acquired his complete musical archive."

"Often, when wandering through the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, a viewer must wonder why the the museum was in a spiral shape. Surely, this shape might limit the art that could be displayed. What exactly was Frank Lloyd Wright‘s vision of the ideal occupants for his structure? Well, the performance of Henry Brant’s “Orbits: A Spatial Symphonic Ritual,” performed by eighty trombonists, an organist (William Trafka) and an unearthly soprano (Phyllis Bruce), certainly answered the questions posed by bemused museum goers (those sick of climbing a spiral and being uncertain as to what floor they are on). Henry Brant’s piece seemed to have been meant solely for performance in a gigantic spiral. Henry Brant wrote “Orbits” for eighty trombones, divided into groups of ten, with a different part for each member of a group, as well as a soprano and an organ, which filled up gaps. The piece was dissonant, exciting, and titillating, as well as disturbing. Since the mass of trombones were divided into small groups, every trombonist had essentially a different part, and the effect of so many voices further evoked apocalyptic chaos. The organ and soprano contributed to the music a feeling of angst, especially the organ, which was located on the floor, next to the audience. It was impressive that the organ and soprano, dynamically, were not in the slightest overshadowed by the many clamorous trombones. Although the many trombones were not actually playing very loudly, the concert left everyone with a general impression of the most thunderous forte."

NICOLE PIUNNO (b. 1985): Bright Shadow Fanfare (2021)

- Athena Brass Band

"Nicole Piunno (b. 1985) is a composer who views music as a vehicle for seeing and experiencing the realities of life. Her music often reflects the paradoxes in life and how these seeming opposites are connected as they often weave together. Her harmonic language and use of counterpoint mirrors the complexity of our world by acknowledging light and dark, past and present, beauty and brokenness, confinement and freedom, chaos and order, spiritual and physical, life and death"

"The intense contrast in Bright Shadow Fanfare refers to two possible meanings.  It could mean bringing our darkness into the light in order to integrate it with our true self. It could also mean revealing our positive traits and gifts that we may not allow ourselves to show or give to others. "