My bucket list: (wind) pieces I need to conduct

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I've been at this conducting thing for many years now, having first led an ensemble in public sometime in June 1975.  The piece was E. E. Bagley's National Emblem and the occasion was my own high school graduation.  It would be five years until I would take up the baton with a wind group, although I already had several years of choral conducting under my belt, so to speak.  Sometimes I almost have to feel sorry for the folks in that Presbyterian church choir back in Michigan.  I'm sure that I made more than my share of mistakes, but the experience gained was beyond anything experienced in more "formal" studies.

From time to time, I've found it necessary to reflect upon the works I have chosen for study, including those pieces that I find myself returning to after an absence (regardless of its length).  The latter are mostly pieces from the earliest years of the repertoire of the modern wind band: the Holst Suites and works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gordon Jacob, and others.  Sometimes I just feel the need to encounter an old (musical) friend, or else I am tempted to escape the sins of my youth, of which there were many.

Still, I find the need to establish a kind of "bucket list" of those works I have--intentionally or not--avoided.  It may be due to a simple "fear" (I'm just not ready for that) or I don't have the "horses."  The latter is no longer true a the Quad City Wind Ensemble will play anything that I throw at them, but still, I must remember that the ensemble does not exist for my own repertoire development or self-aggrandizement.

There exist on the web (yes, its on Wiki--but I can vouch for it) several lists of the significant works for the wind band.  For the sake of this exercise, I am going to ___ my own shortcomings from a group identified as cornerstone works, "some of the most universally respected and established cornerstones of the band repertoire. All have "stood the test of time" through decades of regular performance, and many, either through an innovative use of the medium or by the fame of their composer, helped establish the wind band as a legitimate, serious performing ensemble."  While I have conducted many of these (thank goodness!) there remain some pieces that I (and I feel my ensembles) need to study and perform.

• John Barnes Chance:  Elegy.
• Aaron Copland:  Emblems.  I'm not exactly sure that I'm sold on this, but it is on the list.
• Antonin Dvorak:  Serenade, Op. 44.  Amazing that I've yet to conduct this.  Of course, the presence of those darned strings (a cello and a bass) poses such a problem for the wind conductor!
• Morton Gould:  Symphony No. 4, "West Point"
• Paul Hindemith:  Symphony
• Karel Husa:  Music for Prague, 1968:  one of those pieces in the "fear" category.  Having spent time with Husa during his UNI residency in 1992, I am always amazed that such a seemingly simple man could write such complex music.
• Vincent Persichetti:  Symphony
• Arnold Schoenberg:  Theme and Variations, Op. 43a
• something by Joseph Schwantner.
• something (big or small) by Igor Stravinsky
• Ralph Vaughan Williams:  Toccata Marziale:  at least I've programed this one for the upcoming season.

Are there pieces to revisit?  Sure.  I need another go at Lincolnshire Posy now that I kind of have that dreaded third movement figured out.  Same goes for Milhaud's Suite Francaise as well as Incantation and Dance and the Suite of Old American Dances.

The list isn't really a daunting one, but of course, completely ignores anything written more recently.  My first concert of the 2014-15 QCWE season includes:

Karel Husa:  Smetana Fanfare 

Ralph Vaughan Williams:  Toccata Marziale 

Friedemann/Lake, Kent:  Slavonic Rhapsody 

Ottarino Respighi:  “The Pines of the Appian Way,” from Pini di Roma 

Meredith Willson/Iwai:  76 Trombones 

Yasuhide Ito: Funa-Uta 

Ralph Hultgren:  Hornet’s Nest or Australian Rhapsody 

SOLO:  Kurt Dupois (Principal Trumpet, U.S. Marine Band) TBA

Hmmm.  Looks like I still have a long way to go.  The joy of the conducting profession: so much great music, so few concerts!