Ten New Directions for Brass

Gaudete Brass

For one of our upcoming discussions on "Current Topics in Brass Ensemble Literature", we will listen to some of the newest directions in the brass ensemble world. Here are the related links:

1. Lansing McCloskey's What We Do Is Secret a brand-new composition for solo brass quintet and wind ensemble.

2. Meridian Arts Ensemble YouTube demo for their Channel Classics CD called Brink.

3. Gaudete Brass plays Ravel with Theremin

Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis by Maurice Ravel - performed by thereminist, Randy George and the Gaudete Brass Quintet. download video in High Definition at: http://bit.ly/GBQRGM

Arrangement for brass quintet and voice by Paul Von Hoff. Video produced by Randy George. Recorded on September 2, 2010 in Long Beach, CA.

The theremin was invented in 1919, about five years after Ravel composed this work.

4. YouTube video of a live performance of Alma llanera  by the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble.

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble came into being in 2003 from Venezuela's state youth orchestra system (FESNOJIV) under the patronage of José Antonio Abreu and Thomas Clamor. This unique, state-sponsored system comprises some 200 children's and young people's orchestras and about 100 music centres, spread all over the country. In the meantime, thanks to this work, numerous successful youth ensembles have emerged. Leading the way is the “Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela”, where most of the members of the “Venezuelan Brass Ensemble” come from.

5. NU Directions Chamber Brass

NU DIRECTIONS CHAMBER BRASS is a contemporary chamber ensemble dedicated to breaking down barriers of musical categories. This rhythmically explosive genre-bending brass and percussion ensemble brings together classical, jazz, and free improvising musicians to combine their talents and form a new innovative brand of chamber music. NDCB is comprised of two trumpets, two trombones, and two percussionists. Each musician offers his or her own voice to create a truly unique sound.

Trumpet artist, composer, and NDCB founder Thomas Madeja created this ensemble in response to a growing need for accessibly presented original sounding contemporary music. This also drives the group’s commitment to education. In a concert setting, master class, or interactive recital, NDCB invites its audience to experience its unique creative process.
There are no limitations in regard to performance venues either. NDCB has performed in such varied institutions as concert halls, schools, salons, museums, churches, and jazz and nightclubs. Audiences from all walks of life continue to be intrigued and stimulated by this truly one of a kind ensemble.

6. New Brass Directions website and their Demo on YouTube

The idea for this brass ensemble came about in the summer of 2010.
The ensemble consists of top musicians from both the classical and jazz scene. This is their realisation of a dream. During concerts, the audience will hear the “classical” brass instruments of the ten piece ensemble, but the musicians will also unite jazz and classical elements, thus explaining the name: 'New Brass Directions' for this forceful musical ensemble. The concerts will offer a lot of diversity, and the visual aspect will also play a part. The audience will be entertained and surprised.

The Belgian composer and jazz trombone player Lode Mertens composed King of Spain for the classical/jazz combination; the British composer and jazztrombone player Mark Nightingale wrote Our House for the same setting. For the classical ten piece ensemble the American composer Stanley Friedman created a Concerto for Brass. Steven Verhaert made an arrangement of Weills Die Dreigroschenoper and Isoldes Tod from Wagners opera. Renowned trumpeter and composer Bert Joris has agreed to compose something for the classical/jazz combination.

The key elements are virtuosity and emotion.
Curious? Please keep an eye on the Media and Agenda pages, for YouTube clips, concert dates or public rehearsals.

7. TILT Brass

"...a Brooklyn-based experimental music organization dedicated to expanding the world of contemporary brass performance by producing innovative concert programs and recording projects, and by commissioning new works for its two ensembles, TILT Creative Brass Band (CBB) and TILT SIXtet (bios below). Since forming in 2003, TILT Brass has presented the work of over 50 composers, including group members and local colleagues, as well as established masters. TILT’s repertoire engages its audience with musical experiences ranging from sonorous soundscapes to the raucous strains of a street band, from freely improvised explorations to the precision and clarity of fully notated chamber music (often combining the latter two within a single work)."

8. Metalofonico a modern brass ensemble

[In the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of this group, which is comprised of members of the Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Atlantic Brass Quintet, and members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.]

9. Performance of Philip Glass' Brass Sextet on YouTube as performed by London Gabrieli Brass

Brass Sextet, composed in 1962/64 for two trumpets, two horns, trombone and tuba, is something of a curiosity. It was written when Philip Glass, after graduating from the Julliard School of Music, was composer-in-residence with the Pittsburgh Public Schools on a Ford Foundation project. This was several years before he began to become known for the repetitive minimalist techniques which launched him to fame and have enabled him to enter some of the world's leading opera houses.

The Sextet is not listed by Glass now, but it was actually published in England in 1966 by Novello & Co. in their Music for Today Series edited by Geoffrey Bush. The writing shifts rather uneasily from consonance to dissonance but there is plenty of American precedent behind the Hymn, Ballad and gently jazzy Finale.

— Peter Dickinson

10. Billy Childs' Two Elements for Brass Quintet and Piano recorded by the American Brass Quintet. The biography below is from his website. Both of the movements of this work are available on iTunes for .99 each. I will play them in class.

Billy Childs was born in Los Angeles on March 8th, 1957. Having demonstrated an aptitude for piano as early as age six, Childs developed rapidly, and at age sixteen entered the USC-sponsored Community School of the Performing Arts, studying theory with Marienne Uszler and piano with John Weisenfluh. In 1975, he entered USC as a composition major, graduating four years later with a bachelor of music in composition under the tutelage of Robert Linn.

Since then Mr. Childs has received a number of orchestral commissions from, among others: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, The Kronos Quartet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the American Brass Quintet, and the Dorian Wind Quintet.

After apprenticing with Freddie Hubbard and J.J. Johnson in the late seventies and early eighties, Childs’ solo jazz recording career began in 1988, when he released Take For Example, This... the first of four critically acclaimed albums on the Windham Hill Jazz label. He followed that album with Twilight Is Upon Us (1989), His April Touch (1992), and Portrait Of A Player (1993). His next album, I’ve Known Rivers on Stretch/GRP (now Stretch/Concord) was released in 1995, followed by The Child Within, released on the Shanachie record label in 1996. Most recently, Mr. Childs has recorded two volumes of jazz/chamber music – Lyric, Vol. 1 (2006) and Autumn: In Moving Pictures, Vol. 2 (2010) – music which is an amalgam of jazz and classical elements, developed with his ensemble through rehearsal, performance, and recording, over the course of ten years.

Thus far, in his career, Childs has garnered ten Grammy nominations and three Grammy awards: two for best instrumental composition (Into the Light from Lyric and The Path Among The Trees from Autumn: In Moving Pictures) and one for best arrangement accompanying a vocalist. In 2009, Childs was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2006 was awarded a Chamber Music America composer’s grant.

As a pianist Childs has recently performed with, among others, Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter, the Ying String Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, and Chris Botti. In January 2010, The Detroit Symphony (Leonard Slatkin conducting) premiered Childs’ Concerto For Violin And Orchestra with Regina Carter as soloist. Upcoming commissions include a new piece for the Ying Quartet and another new work for the Kronos String Quartet.