Symphonic Winds
Recruiting a large Symphonic Band of 100 wind & percussion players, drawn from the Brisbane Community (grade 7) and current students at the Queensland Conservatorium, we will perform a concert of original wind band classics.
The intention being to reference a former style of wind performance praxis in a melding an older mega-ensemble sound, colour and dynamic potential with contemporary wind performance techniques, in revealing extended listening opportunities and allowing for an expansive expression of wind sound potentialities.
The music selected presents original compositions for wind bands written between 1949 and 1966. Repertoire representing an important developmental shift away from earlier band concert repertoire consisting of mostly marches, orchestral “war horse” transcriptions and opera excerpts to original symphonic compositions.
In this concert we will present three influential works from this transition era of symphonic band music.
La Fiesta Mexicana (1949) H. Owen Reed
Hammersmith (1954) Gustav Holst
Trittico (1966) V alclav Nelhybel
The ensemble instrumentation for this concert will be based on the historic University of Michigan Symphony Band and its 15 week, 1961, USA State Department sponsored tour of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Turkey.
This style of large university ensemble was the gold standard of ‘symphonic band” performance in its day in the USA. As a musical benchmark, performances by the University of Michigan Symphonic Band, under director Dr. William Revelli, were closely associated with the works to be performed in Symphonic Winds.
Trittico, by Valclav Nelhybel, is dedicated to Dr Revelli and the ensemble who it premiered it in 1966 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. A concert that “happened” to be the first live performance of symphonic music that I was fortunate to attend as a young High School brass player; an experience that inspired me to become a musician.
This concert will be the second of a series of our four curated programs exploring bass tuba performance practice in symphonic wind music.
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