British Brass Band Showcase

The Black Dyke Mills Band (1972)

 

The British Brass Band movement, which started in the U.K. during the Industrial Revolution was brought about as an activity to keep the workers of collieries (coal mining companies) out of trouble and was primarily an amateur movement.

With sets of matching instruments, a wealth of original music and arrangements, and a tradition of competition, the brass band movement thrived throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, eventually spreading to North America and throughout the world. 

British Brass Band (Wikipedia entry)

What is a Brass Band? - from the North American Brass Band website

Britain's Brass Bands: A Working-Class Tradition On The Wane - article from NPR

Several classical composers have written music specifically for brass band. These include:

• Malcolm Arnold: Little Suite for Brass
• Granville Bantock: Prometheus Unbound
• Judith Bingham: Prague
• Harrison Birtwistle: Grimethorpe Aria
• Arthur Bliss: Kenilworth
• Derek Bourgeois: Blitz, Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 for Brass Band, Concerto Grosso & Apocalypse
• Arthur Butterworth: Three Impressions for Brass, Odin
• Simon Dobson: The Drop, Lydian Pictures & Penlee
• Edward Elgar: The Severn Suite
• Edward Gregson: Of Men and Mountains, Connotations & Variations on Laudate Dominum
• Hans Werner Henze: Ragtimes and Habaneras
• Joseph Holbrooke: Clive of India
• Gustav Holst: A Moorside Suite
• Joseph Horovitz: Ballet for Band & Sinfonietta
• Herbert Howells: Three Figures Suite
• John Ireland: A Comedy Overture & A Downland Suite
• George Lloyd: Diversions on a Bass Theme & English Heritage
• Frederik Magle: The Hope for brass band, choir, organ and percussion
• William Mathias: Vivat Regina
• John McCabe: Cloudcatcher Fells, Salamander & The Maunsell Forts
• John Pickard: Gaia Symphony & Eden
• Edmund Rubbra: Variations on 'The Shining River'
• Robert Simpson: Energy & Volcano
• Phyllis Tate: Illustrations
• Bramwell Tovey: Coventry Variations, Pictures in the Smoke & The Night To Sing
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Overture – Henry the Fifth, Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes & Variations for Brass Band
• Philip Wilby: Paganini Variations, A Breathless Alleluia, ...Dove Descending..., Vienna Nights, Revelation, Masquerade, Northern Lights, New Jerusalem & Red Priest
• Thomas Wilson: Processional, Sinfonietta, Refrains and Cadenzas, Cartoon for cornet and brass band, Cartoon for solo cornet and brass band, Cartoon for brass ensemble and optional percussion, Cartoon for cornet and piano
  
• Nicole Piunno: Bright Shadow Fanfare
  
• Lucy Pankhurst: Nightlights
  

In class, among other excerpts, we listened to the following works:

• Labor of Love - Percy Fletcher
• It's the first 'original' test piece, commissioned by John Henry Iles for the National an the Crystal Palace in 1913. Promotes themes of "keep working for the company", musical propaganda to keep the men from unionizing. 
  
• Henry V: Overture - Ralph Vaughan Williams
• A Breathless Alleluia - Philip Wilby 
• Fanfare for the Grenadier Guards - Imogen Holst 
• Bright Shadow Fanfare - Nicole Piunno and Nightlights - Lucy Pankhurst , performed live by the Athena Brass Band

British-style Brass Bands are not only prevalent in the U.K., but they can be found around the world, partly due to Colonialism and partly due to their universal popularity.

North American Brass Band Association (NABBA)

Brass Band of Battle Creek  - The foremost American Brass Band, that includes our own Professor Michael Gause.

Athena Brass Band -  "The Athena Brass Band is the first all-female brass band in the United States, named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.  The band was formed in 2003, by Laura Lineberger, to perform at the International Women's Brass Conference with Anita Cocker Hunt as conductor. This successful debut resulted in many more invited performances and several commissioned compositions. Jessica Sneeringer has been the music director of Athena Brass Band since 2012. The musicians include current or former members of the U.S. Army Band, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, Brass Band of Battle Creek and the New Sousa Band.  There are several college professors and public school music educators, conductors, music therapists, a sound engineer, a music publisher and a composer; also a nuclear physicist, a biologist, a sociologist, an MBA and an author.  Most of the ladies also play with a NABBA brass band"

Iowa Brass - Formerly known as the Eastern Iowa Brass Band, is our local Brass Band based out of Solon

I've also created a Brass Band Showcase playlist on YouTube, which includes many of these works as well as several documentaries and live performances by Brass Bands.

 

 

Jan Bach Laudes and Maurer 12 (5) Pieces

Today in class, we listened to a recording of five of Maurer's 12 Pieces by the New York Brass Quintet from 1985. It is from their Mentor Music Record Brass Pioneers, Volume 2 "Romantic Age Brass". On the recording cover it mentions "Historic sound document of live performances (1980-1984). The personnel of the New York Brass Quintet during this time was: Robert Nagle and Allan Dean on trumpet, Paul Ingraham on horn, John Swallow on trombone and Thompson "Toby" Hanks on tuba. Several of us remarked on the graceful and pleasant style of the piece and the NYBQ's interpretation, and that it was especially impressive since it was a live recording.

From Wikipedia:

Ludwig Maurer

Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer (February 2, 1789 – October 13–25, 1878) was a German composer, conductor, and violinist born in Potsdam. In 1802, he debuted in Berlin with his first major violin performance. After a brief period of studying French violin style in Mitau (Latvia), Maurer went to Russia at age 17 in 1806, where he would stay for most of his life. For this reason, Maurer is considered both a German and a Russian composer.
Upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, Maurer performed extensively until the French violinist and composer Pierre Baillot aided Maurer in becoming the conductor of the Count Vsevolozhsky's orchestra in Moscow. Maurer conducted the orchestra until 1817 when he toured as a performer in Germany and Paris. In 1819 Maurer began using Hanover as a base for directing and conducting, while touring and composing. During this period Maurer also maintained a composing partnership with Aleksey Nikolayevich Verstovsky in the opera-vaudeville form. Toward the end of this period in Maurer's life, he toured Germany with his sons Vsevolod and Alexis, who played violin and cello respectively. By 1833, however, Maurer was back in St. Petersburg, where he would remain for the rest of his life. The following year Maurer appeared as the soloist in the first performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in Russia. In 1835 Maurer became the conductor and director of the French Opera in St. Petersburg. He attained other positions in the St. Petersburg music scene and continued to compose until his death in October 1878.

We also listened to Laudes by Jan Bach. It is considered one of the most important works for brass quintet in the 20th century.

From JanBach.com

LAUDES for brass quintet
Program notes by the composer

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 ploychord. 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.

Brass Ensemble Music by Underrepresented Composers 2023

 

Brass Ensemble Music by Underrepresented Composers 2023 - Playlist on YouTube:

1. Transmission I - Florence Anna Maunders - The Brass Project (score in ABEL ICON page files)
   
2.  Saoko - Tania Léon - Meridian Arts Ensemble
3. Brazen Overture - Libby Larsen - Stiletto Brass Quintet
4. Invictus - Anthony Barfield - Musicians from The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, The Juilliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet Orchestra, and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
5. The Five Chairs - Marti Epstein - Atlantic Brass Quintet 
6. Fanfare for a Learned Man -   Libby Larsen - Brass Band Northwest
7. Variations for Brass Band - Thea Musgrave - Rutgers University Brass Band 
8. Quintet No. 2 - Kenneth Amis - Blair Brass Quintet
9. Stiletto Brass Quintet Program:
• A Scent of Paradise  - Kenneth Amis (b. 1970) 
• Tempesta (2021) - Velvet Brown 
• Boy Meets Horn - Duke Ellington (1899–1967) arr. Kenneth Amis 
• Sophisticated Ladies - Ellington arr. Jack Gale 
• The Chili Ristra Tango - Elizabeth Garrett (1885–1947)arr. Charles Brandebury 
• Sea Suite (2020) - Dorothy Gates 
• I. Gulls 
• II. Sea Urchins 
•  III. Heron by Moonlight 
• IV. Seaweed Dance
10. Song for Ursa - Katahj Copley - Pacific Brass Societ
11. The State of Mind - Dorothy Gates - Monarch Brass 
12. Sousa on the Rez: Native American Brass Bands and Beyond - 

Erin Fehr (Yup'ik), archivist at the Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas (Little Rock), and John Troutman, curator of American Music at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will discuss the social, historical, and artistic experiences of Native American musicians from the early 1900s to today. Michael Pahn, head of Archives and Collections Digitization at the National Museum of the American Indian and Vice Chair of the Smithsonian Music Executive Committee, moderates the program.

Notes on Xiaoyu's Listening Presentation

Since several of your were away for ABA, I thought I would share a blog about Xiaoyu's listening presentation. It was an eclectic mix of types of group from around the world in several different styles. Here is her playlist.

Three Brass Cats is a composition by Chris Hazell commissioned by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. The group we hear was from Sinfonia Varsovia, an orchestra from Poland. From a German publishing website, here is a bit about the composer:

Chris Hazell studied composition at the Royal College of Music before joining the Argo division of Decca in 1973 as a producer. There he continued the legendary recordings of Sir Neville Marriner, Philip Jones, King's College Cambridge and Peter Hurford amongst others. As the Decca Group labels evolved his artist base widened to incorporate such names as Sir Georg Solti, Dame Joan Sutherland, Charles Dutoit and Sir Charles Mackerras with the Berlin, Chicago, Montreal Symphony and all the major London Orchestras, becoming Senior Producer in 1992. His many recordings with David Zinman in Baltimore have continued (after becoming freelance in 1997) with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, on their award winning Beethoven Symphony cycle. His partnership on recordings with Simon Eadon is about to enter its 30th year.

Parallel to this has been his work as arranger and composer. His 'Brass Cats' (written for Philip Jones) is standard repertoire world-wide. He has worked extensively with Dame Kiri te Kanawa, and was both producer and arranger on Bryn Terfel's recent best selling Welsh album. He also works regularly with Angela Gheorghiu. He has written music for television, including the title theme for the late Desmond Wilcox's award winning documentary series 'The Visit.'

This is what Chris Hazell, the composer, had to say about ‘Three Brass Cats': ‘Some years ago I had four cats in the house - all were strays and decided that I was a soft touch when it came to free board and lodgings, so instead of moving on, they all decided to stay. Sadly they have all now gone to the great cattery in the sky. However, at the time they were around I was asked to write some pieces for a brass group (The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble). What should I write about? Well, I've always liked writing about the people and places around me (they appear in a lot of my music) so I thought.. I know, my cats. These days I don't have any cats as I travel around a lot with my work, but it's nice to think that they're still with me in the music.'

Sinfonia Varsovia Brass

is a thirteen-person brass band formed of the members of the brass and percussion sections of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra. The ensemble’s repertoire includes original compositions written for the ensemble as well as arrangements of symphonic, jazz, and baroque music. The members of the ensemble are particularly drawn to Latin music as well as film scores. The ensemble has performed with notable soloists, such as Eric Miyashiro or Wayne Bergeron. In 2017, Warner Classics published the debut record of the Sinfonia Varsovia Brass, an energetic compilation of hits drawn from film scores and American and Latin music.

The ensemble is made up of: Jan Harasimowicz (trumpet), Jakub Waszczeniuk (trumpet), Ostap Popovych (trumpet), Andrzej Tomczok (trumpet), Marek Żwirdowski (trombone), Tomasz Światczyński (trombone), Tomasz Hajda (trombone), Mariusz Opaliński (trombone), Henryk Kowalewicz (French horn), Krzysztof Mucha (tuba), Piotr Kostrzewa (drums), Sebastian Frankiewicz (drums), and Tomasz Bielecki (drums).

Brass Ensemble Zero

In 2010, a group of recent music university graduates came together to form Brass Ensemble ZERO. In keeping with their motto, “tradition and innovation,” the ensemble strives to expand possibilities in different directions to explore the true meaning of music. Their name contains their goal – thinking up new things from nothing; from point zero. Since its founding, Brass Ensemble ZERO has presented primarily unique programs with music for brass instruments at subscription concerts. The ensemble’s programming includes early works, such as arrangements of Early and Baroque music by Monteverdi, J. S. Bach and Handel, as well as later works by Sibelius, Hindemith, and Stravinsky, which were composed primarily for brass instruments. They also perform contemporary pieces by composers such as Xenakis and Takemitsu, as well as works by Chris Hazell, Jim Parker, and Goff Richards, which the well-known Philip Jones Brass Ensemble has often played.

 This video below is from Paradise Balkan Orchestra

 

I commented that it was my new favorite band, and admired the video for how engaging, musical, dynamic and energetic is was. The audio is excellent, the videography is outstanding and compelling, and visually the scenery, settings, and "uniforms" work very well. From their website:

Since they began their journey in early 2015 in Barcelona, Balkan Paradise Orchestra has shown, in each and every performance, their potential as an unusual and ground-breaking group. Composed by wind and percussion players, the Balkan Paradise Orchestra (aka BPO) is a breath of fresh air for the music panorama of our country. Audiences are completely engaged with their pure cheerfulness and distinguish playful vibes which will make it impossible for you to sit still during they shows.   

With different studies, experiences and influences, but inevitably connected with the Balkan tradition of wind orchestras, they transform this musical genre to an authentic elixir made of rhythms of the entire world. They offer a show that works both on stage and on the street, with a surprising capacity of generating empathy towards the public and always bringing joy, party and an urge for dancing in every single corner of the world.

Balkan Paradise Orchestra

 

The playlist also includes outstanding performances by the Samurai Brass, the China Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Quintet, the Canadian Brass and another work by Henri Tomasi, Etre ou ne pas Etre (To Be or Not To Be). We didn't get to the last three selections on the list, but give it a listen and leave feedback on Xiaoyu's latest blog post.

 

 

 

 

 

Early Brass Ensemble Listening Session

In class today we listened to a playlist of brass ensemble music by European composers ranging from the late Renaissance and Baroque eras to the 19th century. As I mentioned in class, rather than a simply passive listening experience (since we are studying scores), I encouraged you to take notes on any piece, composer or ensemble that peaked your curiosity and consider blogging or even writing your historical perspectives paper on that topic. Here is the complete playlist with as many hyperlinks as I could find of interest:

1. The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, La Bignani by Giovannio Cavaccio
   
2. The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Canzona a 5 by Claudio Merula
3. American Brass Quintet, Battle Suite, II. Courant, by Samuel Scheidt 
4. U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, March Fur Die Arche by C. P. E. Bach
5. Brass sections of the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago Symphony Orchestras,Canzona Per Sonare No. 27 by Giovanni Gabrieli from the Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli recording
6. The Ewald Brass Quintet, Brass Quintet No. 4, II. Minuetto by Jean Francois Bellon who composed as set of twelve brass quintets in the 1850s.
   
7. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass & Mark Ridenour, Sonata Piano e Forte by Giovanni Gabrieli  
8. Copenhagen Brass, Flensborger March by Jensen from their "Historic Danish Brass Music" recording
9. The Brass Ensemble of the Tonkuenstler Orchestra Lower Austria, Arie Per Il Balletto A Cavallo by Johann Heunrich Schmelzer
   
10. The Brass Ensemble of the Tonkuenstler Orchestra Lower Austria, Grund-richtiger Unterricht by Daniel Speer 
11. Deutsche Naturhorn Slisten & Franz Ruml, Air for 2 Horns and Organ in F Major, HWV 410 by Handel 
12. Le Rally-Cor de Montmélian, Les Honneurs du Pied 
13. Hermann Baumer & Brass Partout, Brass Quartet, Op. 38 In Modo Religioso by Alexander Glazunov (pub. 1893)
    

Brass Ensemble Music History

To give you some ideas of topics for your historical perspective paper, I've listed below some of the possible directions you might consider. Remember to keep within the realm of ensembles, not individual instrument history. 

 

I. Principal Composers and Places of Brass Ensemble History:

Links to Critical Places and Traditions:

The Venetian School (Wikipedia)

Venetian Polychoral Style (Wikipedia) 
Early Brass Music (Brass Quintet Forum, Annapolis Brass)
Band Music from the Civil War Era - Library of Congress
A Brief History of Brass Quintets (Chamberlain Brass)
Trombone Choirs (NPR)
Moravian Music Foundation
The Waits Website
Waits (Medieval Life and Times)
Stadtpfeifers - Groves Online

II. Course-related Reading Online:
 

The Venetian school and the Extensions of the Polychoral Style - Iakos Demetriou
They're With the Band, Speaking That Global Language: Brass
by Josh Kun, New York Times, 4/9/2006
A Short History of the Trombone by David Guion from the Online Trombone Journal
History and Heritage of the Trombone Choir by John Marcellus, Eastman School of Music
The American Brass Band Movement - Library of Congress 
Something About Trombones (Moravian) from the Bethlehem Digital History Project
Venitian Polychoral Style (Wikipedia entry)
Stadtpfeifers - Groves Online
Wait - Groves Online
Saxhorns (Wikipedia)
Brass Chamber Music in Lyceum and Chautauqua - Raymond David Burkhart 
A Celebration of 100 Years of the Trombone Class at Saratov State Conservatory - from Historic Brass Society Journal by Yury Gusev
The Disten Family from the Prince Regent's Band

III. Significant Composers Throughout Brass Ensemble History:

   A. Renaissance and Baroque Eras

Andrea Gabrieli (1533-1585) Ricercari
Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1557-1612) Sacrae Symphoniae; Canzoni
Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina (1525-1594)
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) L'Orfeo (five trombones)
Gioseffo Guami (c. 1540-1611) Canzoni
Anthony Holborne (1584-1602) Consort Music, Pavans...
Matthew Locke (1622-1677) Consort Music
William Brade (1560-1630) Dance Suites
Tielman Susato (c. 1500- c.1562)
Samuel Scheidt (1587-1653)
Johann Schein (1586-1630)
Johann Pezel (1639-1694)
George Friederich Handel (1685-1759) Water Music, Royal Fireworks

  B. Classic and Romantic Eras

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Drei Equali
Alexander Alyabiev [Aliabev] (1787-1851) Quintet in E-flat for Brass
Ludwig Maurer (1789-1878)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Messe Solenelle (1824), Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem) [orch. + 4 antiphonal brass choirs]
Viktor Ewald (1860-1935) Brass Quintets Nos. 1-4
Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961) Music for Brass Choir, op. 45

 

Permont Brass Quintet

This semester, the University of Iowa will be hosting a very special event; the Festival of Contemporary Music from Israel, which will be held from April 17th to 23rd, is a collaboration between the University of Iowa and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. As part of the festival, the Iowa Brass Quintet will be performing Haim Permont's Brass Quintet. It is a very interesting and challenging work, but well worth it. Here is a video of members of the Israel Philharmonic in an amazing live performance of the work. I have uploaded the score to our ICON Files page, and will be presenting in class later this semester.

Welcome Spring 2023 Students!

 

Welcome Spring 2023 Students! I look forward to working with you all this semester exploring Brass Ensemble Literature from many different eras, styles and genres. I will be using the ICON site for grades, announcements, submitting assignments, and course documents and resources. This blog, which has been used for this class since 2006, serves as a course blog and a central hub to access all of your student blogs, which you will maintain for most of the semester. You can choose a theme, but feel free to mix it up as well. You can quickly access the course syllabus at the top of the sidebar to this blog, as well as through the ICON site. You can also click on the lists of student blogs, organized by year, to peruse through posts from all of the students who preceded you, as well as links to your own blogs in the sidebar to the right. Keep an eye out here as I often post about recent or upcoming course-related topics.