ilikethetrumpet

This is great news! I'm actually (as we speak) researching "O King" for a paper on the rapid musical reaction to MLK's assasination that I plan to complete this summer in the hopes of presenting it next year. Even though Osmond-Smith (the main biographer of Berio, who is preparing a mammoth Berio book) lists "O King" as a 1967 composition, odd since King wasn't murdered until April 4, 1968, Berio finished the tribute to King for Lewis Kaplan and the Aeolian players, who first performed the work only a month later. I'm really struck by how the Sinfonia version of "O King"--especially in the Berio-conducting version--has such a martial violence to its ending, and the deep-blues phrasing of the final soprano statement of his name.

Did you commission this from him?

All the best to Oregon--I'm friends with Andrew R. and Doug D. from Lawrence. Speaking of transcription, if you know Doug (who is swimming in praise from his arranging DB award!) ask him about his transcription of the Corelli trumpet sonata for picc. and sax quartet. It's a great transcription, and hopefully he'll have it published sometime--the sax quartet is like a perfect middle ground between strings and organ.

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