MEASURING MY OWN PROGRAMMING, Part 2

U.S. Army Band, "Pershing's Own"

Herein is the second part of a series I began on August 25, putting my own programming to the test that I had proposed to the major (and not so major) American orchestras.  In preparing a concert for the wind medium I wrote "the wind conductor must be cognizant of his/her repertoire; there is no room for "early music specialists" or contemporary ensembles:  the wind conductor has to know it all.  Many in the field are constantly searching for the newest works, sort of a backlash to the "old days" in which much of the band's programming relied on transcriptions of orchestral works.  It is no more viable to play only original works for band as it is to totally ignore transcriptions, marches, etc.  The repertoire is both deep and eclectic, and our programming must recognize this."

Rossini: wrote for band?  Yep...

I remain quite surprised that players are not familiar with some of the hallmarks of the band repertoire.  At a recent open rehearsal of the Quad City Wind Ensemble not one single player had ever performed the Berlioz Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale (although I'd be willing to wager that most had played just about every transcription in the book.  The Rossini Fanfara Alla Corona di Italia is also little known, and an unfortunate happenstance that is:  this piece, the very last work composed by the operatic master, is an original work for our medium, and deserving to be better known.

As I have been in the process of revisiting and revising the remainder of the season, I have held off an assessment of the February and April concerts; now that everything is set, these can be examined in terms of:

• Variety
• Historical vs. contemporary elements
• Enjoyment for the audience (we can stretch them a bit, but I would never want to present what one colleague calls a <insert name of well known wind conductor> death concert).

Herein is the layout for February, "A Sweet Serenade."  The performance, to be held away from our "home" at St. Ambrose University, will feature two soloists: a pianist and a mezzo soprano.  The program includes:

Frank Ticheli:  Sanctuary

Derek Bourgeois:  Serenade, Op. 22

George Bizet/Jan Van Duffel: “Habanera,” from Carmen

            Katherine Dalin, mezzo-soprano

Nebosa S. Macura:  Echoes of Rascia

John Philip Sousa:  Revival March

INTERMISSION

Richard Strauss:  Serenade, Op. 7

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/DCamp:  Piano Concerto in C major, K. 503

I.               Allegro maestoso

Joan Trapp, piano

Steven Bryant:  Stampede

Initially examining the historical aspect, the works, while primarily from the twentieth century, have compositional dates ranging from 1786 (Mozart) to 2008 (Macura).  It features well-known composers from all media (Mozart, Bizet, and Strauss), the wind medium (Ticheli, Sousa, et al) as well as a young UW-Madison graduate (Macura) who took up my call to write for the wind medium.. Echoes of Rascia is a particularly evocative work based on ancient Serbian chant as well as a great deal of original material.

Variety:  The Bourgeois Serenade was originally written as a tongue in cheek wedding processional, with the joke being that the piece is written in the "unwalkable" meter of 11/8.  Once the listener gets accustomed to that oddity, the composer vaults into 13!  Surprisingly enough, every ensemble that I have ever played this work with has problems on the one "regular" bar (12/8) found near the conclusion.

Tradition:  Of course, the name of John Philip Sousa is ubiquitously associated with band concerts.  The Revival March, however, is probably one of his least known works even though it was Sousa's first published work and was premiered by none other than the Philadelphia Orchestra.  The "sweet" association with the work is my own play on words, as Sousa bases his trio strain on the old camp meeting tune, "The Sweet By and By."

Frank Ticheli

Nationalism vs. Eclectic:  Obviously, there are acknowledged European masters on the program.  But it also includes an international mix of contemporary composers as well.  Ticheli and Bryant are both extremely well known in the wind medium (and therefore will not be found in music history texts) as each has contributed in large part to the repertoire.

Does my program measure up?  I want to think so, but maybe it's a very biased assessment.  I do know that I put a great deal of time and thought into each work I decide to perform.  And how many of the works are new to my own personal repertoire?  All but two....I have to continue to learn and study as well.