Carter and Tower

Elliot Carter (1908-2012)

 

Today, we studied the recording Elliott Carter's Brass Quintet (1974) by the American Brass Quintet. Elliott Carter was a very important figure in modern music in the 20th century, who studied with Nadia Boulanger and was influenced by Ives, Stravinsky and Varèse and won the Pulitzer prize in music in 1960 and 1973. 

Below is a description of the piece in Carter's own words from the score:

The Brass Quintet was written during the summer of 1974 for the American Brass Quintet which commissioned the work. This group gave its premiere on October 20, 1974 at a Charles Ives Festival broadcast by the BBC from London, and its American premiere at the Library of Congress on November 15, 1974, and has recorded the work for Columbia Records.

The music being almost constantly multilayered, as is my Second String Quartet, separates the players by individualizing their parts, but not completely, because each instrument shares parts of its repertory with one of the others. The first trumpet, for instance, near the beginning plays in a trio with the second trumpet and tenor trombone featuring the minor sixth light, irregular chords of which the character and interval become part of the repertory of the three participating instruments. A bit later, the first trumpet plays another trio with the horn and bass trombone that features fanfares and quiet, majestic music based on the perfect fifth, which then become part of the repertory of these three instruments. The horn, which has the largest repertory of all, however also frequently uses the augmented fourth which it does not share with any of the other.

All of the contrasting characters and their related musical materials form a multilayered piece planned along the following pattern: Every third (that is, the first, forth, seventh, etc.) of its overlapping 19 short sections is a brief five-part quodlibet in which the instruments oppose each other with contrasting parts of their individual repertories. Between these is a dup preceded or followed by a trip in which two or three instruments join in music of similar character. Each dup and trip has a different instrumentation.

The general plan is interrupted midway through the work by a relatively extended unaccompanied horn solo which is cut off by angry octaves from the others. The slow music which began the piece and forms the background of the first three quodlibets is abandoned after the last of these, only to return in extended form near the end. The entire work, in fact, can be heard as one long, slow movement with interruptions.

This quintet, rather than employing all the resources of color possible with modern mutes for the brass, relies primarily on linear material, textures, and the instrumental virtuosity for which the American Brass Quintet is notable.

--Elliott Carter

The score for the Carter Brass Quintet is available in the Files section of our ICON site, but here is a YouTube video with a scrolling score with the same American Brass Quintet audio recording, which may be more convenient to view. To learn more about Carter, visit his Boosey and Hawkes page to view an excellent video on his early years here. 

 

Joan Tower (b. 1938)

The second piece we heard was Joan Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 3. As the title implies, Tower composed other fanfares. As mentioned in Wikipedia,

Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman is a series of six short compositions, or “parts” of one 25-minute composition, by Joan Tower. Parts I, II, III and V are scored for brass, Parts IV and VI for full orchestra. The score for the whole series includes 3 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, 2 bass drums, 5 cymbals, 2 gongs, tam-tam, tom-toms, the triangle, glockenspiel, marimba, and chimes. Tower wrote Part I in 1987, Part VI twenty-nine years later, in 2016. The fanfares are a tribute to "women who take risks and are adventurous", with each dedicated to an inspiring woman in music.

The recording we viewed on YouTube was of the world premiere by members of the New York Philharmonic and the Empire Brass at Carnegie Hall in 1991.

 

 

Brass Ensemble Music by Underrepresented Composers

 

ABEL 2021

Listening Session #4

Playlist:

“Brass Ensemble Music by Underrepresented Composers”

Presented by John Manning, Associate Professor, University of Iowa School of Music

Saoko (Brass Quintet) by Tania León (2’43”)

Score on ICON files page

YouTube Video (audio only) of Meridian Arts Ensemble

YouTube video of a Live performance

 

Tania León (b. Havana, Cuba) is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator and advisor
to arts organizations. Recent commissions include works for New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles
Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Grossman Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble,
and pianist Ursula Oppens with Cassatt String Quartet. Appearances as guest conductor include
Philharmonic Orchestra of Marseille, Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato, and
Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuba. Upcoming premieres feature commissions for the NewMusic USA
Amplifying Voices Program, The Musical Fund Society in Philadelphia to celebrate their 200th
anniversary, and for The Crossing chamber choir with Claire Chase, flutist, among others.

A founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, León instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic
Community Concert Series, co-founded the American Composers Orchestra’s Sonidos de las
Américas Festivals, was New Music Advisor to the New York Philharmonic, and is the founder/Artistic
Director of the nonprofit and festival Composers Now.

Her honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement, awards from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the ASCAP Victor Herbert Award,
among others. She also received a proclamation for Composers Now by New York City Mayor, and the
MadWoman Festival Award in Music (Spain).

León has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Colgate University, Oberlin and SUNY Purchase
College, and served as U.S. Artistic Ambassador of American Culture in Madrid, Spain. A CUNY
Professor Emerita, she was awarded a 2018 United States Artists Fellowship.

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L'homme Armé (Brass Quintet) by Marti Epstein (9’40”)

Score on ICON files page

Soundcloud recording

 

Marti Epstein (November 25, 1959) started studying composition in 1977 with Professor
Robert Beadell at the University of Nebraska.  She has degrees from the University of Colorado
and Boston University, and her principal teachers were Cecil Effinger, Charles Eakin, Joyce
Mekeel, Bunita Marcus, and Bernard Rands.  Marti was a fellow in composition at the
Tanglewood Music Center in 1986 and 1988 and worked with Oliver Knussen and Hans Werner
Henze.  As a result of her association with Henze, she was invited by the City of Munich to
compose her puppet opera, Hero und Leander, for the 1992 Munich Biennale for New Music
Theater.  She was on the jury for the 1994 Biennale.

Marti has received commissions from the Paul Jacobs Memorial Commissioning Fund, the
CORE Ensemble, ALEA III, Sequitur New Music Ensemble, the Fromm Foundation, guitarist
David Tanenbaum, the American Dance Festival, the A*DEvant-garde Festival of Munich,
tubist Samuel Pilafian, flutist Marianne Gedigian, the New England Brass Quintet, the Iowa
Brass Quintet, Boston Conservatory, Boston University Marsh Chapel Choir, pianist Kathleen
Supové, the CrossSound New Music Festival of Juneau Alaska, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra
of Boston, the Radius Ensemble, the Ludovico Ensemble, and the Callithumpian consort. The
Longy School of Music commissioned her to compose Quartet for BSO English horn soloist Robert
Sheena to be played at the Inauguration of Karen Zorn, their new president. Marti’s music has been
performed all over the world by ensembles, which include the San Francisco Symphony, the Radio
Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, the Atlantic Brass Quintet, and Ensemble Modern.

---

 Invictus by Anthony Barfield (5’50”)

[Score for sale on website]

YouTube Video

Anthony Barfield is a producer and composer based in New York City. Known for his lyrical
writing style, his compositions have been performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Anthony has received commissions from groups such as The University of Kentucky Wind
Ensemble and Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic. In 2012 he made his Carnegie Hall
debut at the New York Wind Band Festival where his work "Here We Rest" was premiered. In
demand as a composer in residence, Mr. Barfield has worked with groups such as The United
States Army Band "Pershing's Own” and has had performances at the Southwest, Northwest
and Northeast College Bandmasters National Association. Anthony released his first composition
album in the fall of 2013 titled "Chapter II" with The University of Alabama Wind Ensemble.
Anthony studied composition with C.P. First with additional coaching from Thomas Cabaniss,
Avner Dorman, and Nils Vigeland.

As a former trombonist, he has performed at halls such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall,
Dizzy's Coca Cola Club, Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Anthony has served as a
Trombone teaching Artist for Grammy-award-winning producer Phil Ramone's Children's
Orchestra and was a member of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra in Philadelphia. He has
performed with The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Alabama Symphony, and Mobile
Symphony.

Formerly the Media Production Manager for Juilliard Global Ventures, Anthony produced
content for the Juilliard Open Studios app which was named by Apple as a Best New App
in 2015.  After leaving his position at JGV he founded a music production company called
Velocity Music, which has produced pop music for major artists such as the singer- songwriter
Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, as well as scored music for independent feature films. Recently,
Velocity Music signed a record deal with Pologrounds Music a subsidiary of SONY RCA records.

Anthony holds degrees in trombone performance from the Juilliard School and Manhattan
School of Music. Teachers include Joseph Alessi, Per Brevig and Dan Drill. Mr. Barfield
currently resides in New York City with his wife Alaina and Black Pug Gouda.

---

Fanfare for a Learned Man (Brass Quintet) by Libby Larson

Score on ICON files page

Website recording

 

Libby Larsen, born December 24, 1950 in Wilmington, Delaware, is one of America’s most
performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 500 works spanning virtually
every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over 15
operas. Grammy award-winning and widely recorded, including over 50 CDs of her work, she is
constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras
around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory.
An advocate for the music and musicians of our time, in 1973 Larsen co-founded the Minnesota

Composers Forum, now the American Composer’s Forum. Grammy Award winner and former holder of
the Papamarkou Chair at John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, Larsen has also held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Colorado Symphony. As Artistic Director of the John Duffy Institute for New Opera (2014-2020), she guides a faculty of practicing professional artists in nurturing and production of new opera by American Composers. Larsen’s 2017 biography, Libby Larsen: Composing an American Life, Denise Von Glahn, author, is available from the University Illinois Press. 

---

Variations for Brass Band by Thea Musgrave (7’43”)

Online Score

Video

Thea Musgrave (b.1928), composer of over a dozen operas, began her studies in Edinburgh
and in 1950 went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. While still at the Paris Conservatoire her

 music began attract attention in her native Scotland. By the mid-sixties she was a much-respected 

and widely-commissioned composer in the UK, conducting many of her own works. In 1972, Musgrave 

moved with her husband, the violist and conductor Peter Mark, to Virginia, USA where he was invited 

to set up the Virginia Opera. From there her career as an opera composer took off, and in 1977 Scottish 

Opera premiered her watershed grand opera Mary, Queen of Scots.

During the late sixties- early seventies, Musgrave began working on group of works which sought to 

elevate the inherent drama of the concerto form, extending the conventional boundaries of instrumental 

performance by directing players in their physical movement around the performance space. While 

instruments took on a ‘character’ in doing so, such early works were by no means programmatic, and 

soon after, were referred to by the composer as being examples of ‘dramatic-abstract’. In recent years 

her musical style has developed into something more lyric and immediate, but certainly no less inventive, 

dramatic or unique.

With over 160 mature works to date for choir, orchestra, chamber ensemble and the stage, Musgrave 

remains a respected voice in composition, having been commissioned by some of the world’s finest 

companies such as the Royal Opera House, The BBC Orchestra and Choirs, and the Boston Symphony 

Orchestra.

---

Transmission I by (Brass Sextet)  Florence Anna Maunders (3’15)

YouTube Recording

Score on ICON files page

Florence Anna Maunders started to compose music when she was a teenager, and her early

 tape-based pieces from this time reveal an early fascination with the unusual juxtapositions of 

sounds and collisions of styles which have been a hallmark of her music-making ever since. 

This is perhaps a reflection of the music which interested and excited her from a very young 

age – medieval dance music, prog-rock, electronic minimalism, bebop jazz, Eastern folk music,

 the music of Stravinsky & Messiaen, and the grand orchestral tradition of the European concert 

hall. Flori started out young, as a chorister, clarinetist and saxophone player, but following an 

undergraduate degree at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied with Anthony 

Gilbert, Adam Gorb, Simon Holt & Clark Rundell, she's enjoyed a mixed and international career 

as a jazz pianist, orchestral percussionist, vocalist arranger, electronic music producer and teacher. 

Since 2018 she's had a bit of a radical transformation of herself and her career, and returned to 

composition as a main artistic focus, winning a series of awards & competitions, and with her music 

performed across the UK, Europe, the USA and the rest of the world - performances and collaborations 

with leading ensembles, orchestras and soloists.

Listening Presentation for 4/19

Due to the Horn Search, I asked each of you to submit some YouTube videos of live brass ensemble music performances in place of meeting on Monday 4/19. Here are your contributions,

From Ben:

 

Army Trumpet Ensemble – “Cyclone”

Most musicians are familiar with military ensembles. This particular group is likely taken from some of the top U.S. Army bands including the “Pershing’s Own” band. The group performs a piece by Erik Morales titled “Cyclone.” The work was “dedicated to all those who had to endure many hardships during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The piece depicts the thoughts and emotions of those who are forced to endure a hurricane.” Erik Morales (b. 1966) is a modern composer who has written over one hundred and forty publications which include works for wind, orchestral, jazz, and chamber ensembles.  

 

Tokyo Brass Symphony – “A Song for Japan”

As a trombonist, “A Song for Japan” is a piece that is well known in the literature significantly due to the massive community surrounding the song. This piece was part of a project started by Japanese trombonists living outside of Japan to support Japan after it was rocked by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and multiple resultant Tsunami waves in 2011. I ended up stumbling across a performance of this piece by the Tokyo Brass Symphony. Although I could not find much information about the performers, the entire list of performers is listed on the YouTube video. This piece was originally composed by Steven Verhelst. Verhelst is a Belgian composer and trombonist. As a composer, Verhelst has written for several large name artists and ensembles and remains as an active performer in many Belgian and Dutch orchestras.

United States Naval Academy Band – Toccata in D Minor

Originally for organ, J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was arranged by A.P. Taylor for trombone quartet. This particular recording is by the United States Naval Academy Band. Located in Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval Academy Band is termed “The Navy’s Oldest and Finest.” The group has been active since 1852.

From Irene:

Divertimento Op. 47 for Brass Ensemble - Trygve Madsen

From Me:

 

Empire Brass - Live in Venezuela, Scarlatti Sonata in C Major

 

 

IWBC Monarch Brass Concert - Tara Islas Ascent to the Summit

 

 

German Brass - Handel, Rejouissance from Royal Fireworks Music

 

Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Since the earliest days of brass instruments, brass ensembles of some type have often been involved in popular music in some way. Whether they were part of Renaissance dance music, Civil War regimental brass bands, dixieland bands, part of big bands of the Swing Era, or rock and roll, brass ensembles have proven to be a versatile and sometimes unique addition to popular music.

Here is the Apple Music playlist called Brass Ensembles in Popular Music which I played from today. It ranged from Pink Floyd and the Beatles, to Tower of Power and David Byrne . Please share links to any videos or recordings of brass ensembles that fit withing this category. 

For more visuals, here is a related YouTube playlist I created. It includes the full versions of the videos viewed in class today, including everything from Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass, Pink Floyd, Chicago, Chase, Tower of Power, Blood Sweat and Tears, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Banda El Recodo and the Roots. If you enjoyed these videos, please watch the full versions on YouTube. 

As I mentioned in class, I think it's important to recognize all genres of brass ensemble music and I encourage you to learn more about these styles and if you are ever offered the chance to play with a an ensemble like this, seize the opportunity. Not only is if really fun to play "toe tapping" music for enthusiastic crowds, but it will help you become a more well-rounded musician.

 

 

Jan Bach "Laudes" and André Previn "Four Outings for Brass"

Center City Brass Quintet

For today's class, we listened to Laudes (1972) by Jan Bach and Four Outings for Brass (1974) by André Previn. There are several similarities between these two landmark works; each is a four-movement work for brass quintet, written in the early 1970's by American composers although Previn was born in Germany and emigrated to the US when he was nine, and both recordings we listened to were made by the Center City Brass Quintet. 

We just lost composer Jan Bach on October 30th, 2020. Laudes is one of the most important works for brass quintet of the 20th century. His writing is imaginative, challenging, and utilizes the full range and color of all of the instruments. The four movements of Laudes are:

I. Reveille
II. Scherzo
III. Cantilena
IV. Volta

Program Notes by Jan Bach:

"Laudes (loud-ays), as its name may imply, is a Twentieth-Century tribute to the great brass tower music of the Italian Renaissance. Its title has several different associations: I(louds) was the sunrise service of the Roman Catholic Church. Laude (loud-ee) were Italian hymns of praise and devotion which flourished from the 13th through the 19th centuries. And the title is also a musical pun: somewhere in each movement is a loud concert A! The work was written in late 1971 at the request of the Chicago Brass Quintet, which premiered the piece at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art on January 21, 1972.

The work is cast in four contrasting movements. Reveille moves from dark to bright colors, alternating sections of relative inactivity with sections of extreme brilliance and energy. Its title was chosen after the fact, because of the music's suggestion of a sunrise. Scherzo is cast in three-part form, its quick outer sections consisting principally of a single melodic line produced by rapid entrances and exits of the five instruments playing their "open" (valveless) tones con sordino, the middle section consisting of chromatic scale segments in both principal and supporting material. Cantilena gives each instrument an opportunity to dominate one of several solo sections which alternate with weightier sections of all five instruments, each section cadencing in the same d minor/c minor polychord. Volta, a lewd dance (the couples actually embraced each other!) of Provencal origin, is in this instance a quick movement of violent dynamic and textural contrasts. After an exhausted breakdown of the instrumental forces near the end of this movement, the suite concludes with a coda based on a slow section of the first movement; out of this coda emerges a gradually rising and quickening line which brings the work to a brilliant close.

In 1974 this work received international attention when it was chosen as the best new brass quintet submitted to the First International Brass Institute in Montreux, Switzerland. Since that time, Laudes has been performed countless times throughout the world, largely through the efforts of the New York Brass Quintet, which performed it on two European and several American tours, recorded it on Crystal records, and published it through their Mentor Music house. Laudes opened the Kennedy Library in Boston, and was danced to by the Hubbard Street Dancers on the streets of New York. It is one of a very few works by living contemporary composers existing simultaneously in four different recordings, three of which on CD and recorded since 1990. In 1983 a poll of International Trumpet Guild members selected it (along with works by Dahl, Schuller, and Etler) as one of the four most significant brass quintets ever written."

Four Outings for Brass has a more accessible and popular-influenced sound to it, which is not surprising as Previn composed for films and performed and recorded jazz, but it is also very challenging to perform. The four movements are:

I. Moderato, with energy
II. Blues tempo
III. Slowly
IV. Vivace

 Here are the program notes  from the Stockholm Chamber Brass recording liner notes:

"More than half a century after Stravinsky wrote Ragtime, the pianist, conductor and composer André Previn wrote Four Outings for Brass. The piece was written for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and was first performed at the 1974 South Bank Summer Festival in London. Each movement represents a soloist. The first movement is light-hearted in character, with the tuba as soloist. The second movement is in blues style with two trumpets playing the principal part. The third movement, with hints of Kurt Weill in the Mahogany-like trombone solo, reminds us of Previn's early Berlin background. The fast and scherzo-like final movement presents a smooth horn melody in a rough and rhythmical pattern. Four Outings is dedicated to 'Fletcher'."

 

Malcolm Arnold - Symphony for Brass and Brass Quintet No. 1

Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)

 

Today we will be listening to two landmark works by Sir Malcolm Arnold; his Symphony for Brass, Op 123 (1978) and his Brass Quintet No 1, Op 73 (1961).

Born in Northampton in 1921, Malcolm Arnold is one of the towering figures of the 20th century, with a remarkable catalogue of major concert works to his credit, including nine symphonies, seven ballets, two operas, one musical, over twenty concertos, two string quartets, and music for brass-band and wind-band. He also wrote132 film scores, among these are some of the finest works ever composed for the medium including Bridge on the River Kwai (for which, in 1958, he was one of the first British composers ever to win an Oscar), Inn of the Sixth Happiness (for which he received an Ivor Novello Award in 1958), Hobson’s Choice and Whistle Down the Wind.

Arnold began his professional musical life in July 1941 as second trumpet with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Acknowledged as one of the finest players of the day, he eventually became the orchestra’s Principal Trumpet. By the end of the 1940s he was concentrating entirely on composition. The long and close relationship established between Malcolm Arnold and the LPO continues unabated, with the orchestra performing and recording the composer’s music widely.

In 1969 he was made a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth and was awarded the CBE in 1970. He holds Honorary Doctorates of Music from the Universities of Exeter, Durham and Leicester - and in America from the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1983 and is an Hon. R.A.M. and an Hon. F.T.C.L. In 1985 Malcolm Arnold received an Ivor Novello Award for “Outstanding Services to British Music”, the Wavendon Award in 1985, and a knighthood in the 1993 New Years Honours List for his services to music. In 1994 the Victoria College of Music appointed Malcolm Arnold as their President. In 2001 he was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. In 2004 he was also honoured with the Incorporated Society of Musician’s Distinguished Musician Award “for his lifetime’s achievements as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.” In 1989 he received the Freedom of Northampton. In 2003 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Winchester. On 29th June, 2006, the University of Northampton conferred on Malcolm Arnold an Honorary Doctorate.

Throughout his life Malcolm Arnold has maintained a strongly held social conscience. In May 1957, as a guest of the Union of Czechoslovak Composers, he represented the British Musicians Union at the Prague Spring Festival. It was at this time that Arnold first met Shostakovich. To mark the Centenary of the Trades Union Congress, he was commissioned to write the Peterloo Overture; a work premiered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Festival Hall on 7 June 1968.

His most popular works have a global audience and his finest body of music, the nine symphonies, are available in numerous recordings including two complete cycles on the Chandos and Naxos labels – and, from September 2006, on Decca. Malcolm Arnold’s music has – and continues to be – performed and recorded extensively by leading orchestras both nationally and internationally. His work in musical education has been impressive and consistent. He helped establish and support, through the writing of works and fundraising, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. His belief in contemporary music led him to be an influential advocate for Pierre Boulez’s entry into British musical life.
Special musical tributes took place throughout 2006 to mark Malcolm Arnold's 85th anniversary year.

A revival by the Royal Ballet of the Malcolm Arnold/Fredrick Ashton acclaimed ballet Homage to the Queen, opened on 5 June at the Royal Opera House. Commissioned to honour the Queen’s Coronation, this work was first performed by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden on 2 June, 1953. On 23 September 2006 the Northern Ballet Theatre embarked on a UK tour with the world premiere of a new full length Arnold ballet, The Three Musketeers.  The first Arnold Festival took place on 21st and 22nd October at the Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton, the composer’s birthplace. Sir Malcolm Arnold died on 23 September 2006.

If you have not heard it, listen to Arnold's Brass Quintet No. 2 here.

Listening Presentation - European Brass Ensembles

 Stockholm Chamber Brass

 

Today in class we listened to recordings of European brass ensembles by European composers. I invited you to "live-blog" this class, so I look forward to reading your posts. 

• Wilhelm Ramsøe - Quartet No. 1 performed by the Ewald Brass Quintet (Ensemble)
  
• Ludwig Maurer - two movements from 12 Kleine Stüke, I. Maestoso and III. Allegro Grazioso performed by Quintetto Infagranti
  
• Henry VIII - two movements from Rose Without a Thorn Suite, II. Pastime with Good Company, III. Adieu! Madame et Ma Maistresse performed by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
  
• Tielman Susato - La Mourisque as performed by the Belgian Brass
• Michael Praetorius - Courante (from Terpsichore) as performed by the Belgian Brass
• Peter Graham - Metropolis 1927 performed by Ensemble de Cuivre Melodia which was inspired by Fritz Lang's science fiction epic Metropolis 
• Malcom Arnold - Fantasy for Brass Band performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band
  
• Anders Hillborg - Brass Quintet as performed by the Stockholm Chamber Brass
• Kamilló Lendvay  - Further Eight Arrogant Ideas, movements:
1. Intrada
2. Ah, Tristan
3. Intermezzino
4. Replication
5. Tango
6. Polkissimo
   

 

 

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/abel-european-brass-ensembles/pl.u-6YpLU8YLBR

Boehme and Lutoslawski

Oskar Böhme (1870-1938) composed the Trompetensextett, Op. 30 in Eb minor around 1906. Written for Cornet, two trumpets, Bass trumpet (Altohorn), Trombone (Tenorhorn) and Tuba (Bariton). Böhme was born in Dresden and in 1897, he moved to St. Petersburg and played in the Mariinsky Theatre orchestra.

Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994) was a Polish composer and one of the most famous European composers of the 20th century.  He composed Mini Overture in 1982 and dedicated it to Ursula and Philip Jones, of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, for Ursula's 50th birthday.

From www.lutoslawski.org:

The Mini Overture was originally to be the first piece in a suite ending in a Galop. The impulse for the creation of the Mini Overture (defined by Witold Lutosławski as a "small caricature of an overture") was provided by the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Ursula Jones, wife of Philip Jones.

The barely three-minute composition, dedicated to Walter Strebi, who was the initiator of a project for a collection of pieces for this type of ensemble, does not occupy in Lutosławski's output a place as important as the Epitaph for oboe or Grave for cello. Rather, its rank could perhaps be compared to that of Slides or the two Fanfares - one for Cambridge University and the other for Lancaster University. Yet it has an irresistible charm, which clearly points to the Neoclassical aesthetic of a grotesque scherzo. Short ‘pugnacious' motives seem to resound with the pastiche idioms of Stravinsky from the Histoire du soldat, and where the instruments play unisono or where they resound with lively and regular chords, it would be difficult to recognize the hand of Lutosławski if not told what is being played. Why is that so? This is because here Lutosławski does not apply his special earmark - the technique of aleatoric counterpoint, which in his music from the 80s plays an ever lesser role. A special characteristic of this work is also the fact that it exhibits a particular contrariness: the sunny shine left by the French Neoclassicism is obtained with a construction based on two markedly contrasting 12-tone series which create the outline of sonata form. Thus, in the score composed of three continuously played segments we are dealing with something that is trifling and even entertaining, but also full of finesse and intelligence, like a smartly constructed toy.

 

American Brass Quintet Database

 

Thank you to Dr. Louis Hanzlik for being our guest speaker today. In addition to learning a bit about his background, and sharing resources about historical brass music, he took us on a tour of the American Brass Quintet Database. Their, you can search for brass quintet music using a variety of parameters, including keywords, composer, gender, demographics and grade level. If you register, you can contribute to the database, which functions like a Wiki where composers and brass quintets can share information about new works.

 

 

Ewald Resources

Viktor Ewald

The most valuable resource on accurate, well-research information about Viktor Ewald can be found in a series of articles in the International Trumpet Guild Journal by Andre Smith. I have uploaded these articles to the files section of our ICON site for your perusal. They include:

• Viktor Ewald 
• The History of the Four Quintets for Brass by Victor Ewald
• The Four Brass Quintets of Viktor Ewald
• Brass in Early Russia

You can find a few of these articles in the Files/Articles section of our ICON Page.

From the New York Times, January 15, 1975

Victor Ewald is a name that has only recently turned up in, English‐language music encyclopedias, although he lived from 1860 to 1935. He was a Russian composer, who, like many of his kind, followed a profession and had music as an avocation. He was a civil engineer. He played the cello and the French horn and was an avid chamber‐music participant in St. Petersburg circles before the Revolution.

Three of his works for brass quintet were found not long ago in Rumania by Andre M. Smith; a trombonist and musicologist, who presented them to the American Brass Quintet for its series this season in Carnegie Recital Hall. The Brass Quintet No. 3 in D flat (Op. 7) was played Monday night in the second of the ensemble's four programs.

It is a conventional four movement Romantic score, very decently crafted. If it won't set the world on fire, it is certainly pleasant, to hear in its strongly melodic, tonally mellifluous way. In view of the shortage of works for brass quintet, it should be a useful addition to the repertory.

From Prince Regent's Band Blog: (Prince Regent's full website link here)

"Russian Revolutionaries Vol. I: Victor Ewald and Oskar Böhme" October 22, 2017

In 1972 the American Brass Quintet (ABQ) approached Smith with a view to including the additional Ewald Quintets in their 1974–75 season as the quintet was keen to focus on nineteenth-century repertoire in their programming. The first event in this celebration was a performance of the Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 6, as part of an ABQ concert at the Carnegie Recital Hall on the 18th of November, 1974. Following performances of all four quintets Smith was contacted by the principal horn of the Leningrad Philharmonic, Vitaly Buyanovsky (1928–93), who was eager to see the quintets. Smith sent his parts to the second (Op. 6) and third (Op. 7) quintets, retaining the fourth quintet (Op. 8) as he was ‘not yet satisfied with their accuracy’ and because the ABQ had exclusivity on this quintet for a year. Apparently Buyanovsky misinterpreted Smith’s insistence that the parts not be shared further and made his own copies of the two quintets which he then shared freely.

One of Buyanovsky’s pupils was the eminent Norwegian horn player Frøydis Ree Wekre (b. 1941). Ree Wekre made numerous copies of music she encountered during her studies. This included the Ewald Op. 6 and Op. 7 quintets which she later shared with the Empire Brass Quintet. Many contemporary editions of the second and third quintets appear to be offshoots of the Ree Wekre sources and make the fundamental change of altering the instrumentation from two cornets, althorn, tenorhorn and tuba to the more standard modern brass quintet of two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba. This raises the question of what other alterations have occurred. It would be erroneous to suggest that Ree Wekre’s sources were necessarily of Buyanovsky’s edition from Smith (thus providing an intriguing thread of Ewald–Gippius–Smith– Buyanovsky–Ree Wekre–Empire Brass) given that Ree Wekre’s studies in the autumn of 1967, the spring of 1968, and visits in subsequent years appear to be prior to Smith sharing his version with Buyanovsky (post 1974 at the earliest), thus suggesting another source. Indeed a set of parts to the Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 6 exist in the music library of the St Petersburg Philharmonic and it is these, with the kind permission of the library, that PRB have used. The parts are hand written on manuscript paper from the hugely productive printing firm of Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin (1851–1934) based in Valovaya ulitsa (‘Gross Street’) Moscow. This publishing house (‘The Association of Printing, Publishing and Book Trade ID Sytin and Co.’) was subsumed by the State Publishing House in 1919 and this set of parts was consigned to the Philharmonic library in 1950.

 For more about one of the controversies around publication of Ewald's works, read André Smith's open letter (scroll down in the comments section).