mahaberio

I was recently asked to join a brass quintet by a fellow student. At first I was a little wary for a couple of reasons. First, my schedule is crazy enough as it is and second, this friend is already in a group that programs what are essentially "the classics" of brass quintet music which really don't do much for me. However, thinking it over and discussing it with him I decided to jump on the opportunity. He too has grown a little tired of the same brass quintet music and, knowing that I have more than a slight interest in new music, asked me so that we could start a group with a different focus. Also, this is really the first opportunity I've had to be part of a steady chamber music group since I've been in school. We're still in the early planning stages and we've decided to focus on a very diverse repertoire. Thus far, I've compiled a wonderfully varied group of pieces that we're going to look into performing (obviously this list will have to be significantly narrowed down). Even if you really enjoy "the standards," don't be afraid to program something different to give your concert some variety. Let's face it, nowadays you need a diverse program with a brass quintet concert. Trust me, if done well, your audience will more than likely appreciate it. Here is the list I've compiled so far to get us started (if anyone has any other suggestions, please add them):

Milton Babbitt - Counterparts
Luciano Berio - Call
Elliott Carter - Brass Quintet
Elliott Carter - A fantasy about Purcell's Fantasia upon one note
Richard Danielpour - Urban Dances
Peter Maxwell Davies - Brass Quintet
Witold Lutoslawski - Mini Overture
James MacMillan - Adam's Rib
Michael Nyman - Masque Arias
Christopher Rouse - Artemis
Adam Schoenberg - Reflecting Light
Yong-Won Sung - Pandragon
Eino Tamberg - Music for Five
John Tavener - Trisagion
Michael Tilson Thomas - Street Song
Joan Tower - Copperwave
Iannis Xenakis - Khal Perr

Most of these pieces are fairly accessible to any audience (some more than others) and not all of them do much for me personally but I suppose I need some variety as well. I think creative, innovative programming is a must in today's music world and this especially rings true for an instrumental group like the brass quintet which has such a potential for sounding stagnant. The brass quintet is an interesting group because it can so easily be very, very tedious. But at the same time it has a great potential to create wondefully creative and effective music if a little effort is made.

rowuk

I agree 100%. We have enough groups playing pre-chewed trumpet tunes. Audiences are willing to take challenges - but not willing to get "beaten up". Proper programming can take the audience (and the musicians) places that they have never been before. With proper presentation even very complex structures can be appreciated.
Check out Jan Bach's LAUDES. A great recording is by the Stockholm Chamber Brass on their "Heavy Metal" CD.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

ecarroll

Matthew,

Good morning.

I'll throw Anders Hillborg's BRASS QUINTET, Poul Ruders' BREAK DANCE (both European concert staples over the past few years, the latter with piano) and Hans Werner Henze's FRAGMENTEN AUS EINER SHOW into the mix before settling back to watch this thread. I suspect (and hope) that it turns into a discussion of the virtues of brass music vs. transcription or, at a higher level, art music vs. entertainment...

Best,
EC

Khora

Matthew-

You should check out the ABQ Brass Quintet Database, which you can access from their web site: American Brass Quintet

OF course, also check out Meridian's website - they push the envelope even further, as I'm sure you already know.

Have a great time exploring!

__________________
Sandy

robertwhite

Also check out David Felder's Canzona XXXI. David Sampson's three quintets (Morning Music, Distant Voices, and Strata) are all great works. I would even go as far to say that Morning Music is one of the finest works ever composed in the genre (not to take anything away from the other two).

mahaberio

Wow! Lots of activity so far (my threads usually bomb). Transcriptions were another thing we discussed and we're averse to them. Regarding the entertainment vs. art music aspect, that's really something we're trying to break the stereotype for with our college-aged audience. The brass quintet seems to be most often associated with entertainment and we're trying to show that that's not all it can do. A little entertainment is fine here and there, but is it really still all that entertaining? Even if one embraces that side of the brass quintet, I see no problem with programming some "art music" along with it (tastefully though). As musicians and especially as programmers, I think we really underestimate our audiences. I truly believe that (as I recently tried and tested to great success) that a well-programmed performance of more adventurous music will be well-received. For example, my recent recital program was this:

Somei Satoh-Hikari
Sofia Gubaidulina-Song Without Words
Alfred Schnittke-Suite in the Old Style
James Mobberely-Caution to the Winds (piano and electronic tape)
Kiyoshi Furukawa-4 Play from 'Small Fish Tale' (interactive video piece)
Arvo Part-Concerto Piccolo on 'B-A-C-H'

Even my teacher was wary of such an unorthodox program, but he approached me afterwards and told me how effective he really though it was. My other teacher commented that it was much more memorable than the vast majority of recitals he'd seen from his students. And for an hour and ten minute program, all of the audience members I talked to told me that they'd never lost interest. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn (though it seems inevitable for it to not sound that way), but rather to show that an audience of about half and half people who don't know the first thing about music, responded very positively to a newer, more adventurous program.

-Matthew

Richard Oliver

I hope the quintet does great!


Richard

trumpetmike

Out of interest, why the aversion to transcriptions?

I would suggest that some transcriptions are as much a part of brass quintet history as many of the original works that have been produced. Certainly in the UK, Susato is so ingrained in our quintet life that it is commonly understood that everyone will know them.

But, to get back to the point of this thread (before I go off on a very off-topic tangent), one of my favourite modern quintet pieces is The American, by Elgar Howarth. Always goes down well with audiences and quintet.

trptcolin

I really like John Stevens' Seasons---it's a lot of fun to work on (and eventually play, once it's together). He's a super-nice guy, too.

Jan Bach's Rounds and Dances is great if you can really get it to "swing"...

Another one is Wolfgang Rihm's Sine Nomine---very adventurous, but maybe a bit less rewarding for most audiences (myself included).

mahaberio

TMike,

I would agree that transcriptions have become very much a part of the brass quintet history, and this was necessary early on due to the incredibly limited repertoire. Now, however, the brass quintet has a wonderfully diverse and rewarding repertoire written specifically for it. Part of a really great composition is that the instrumentation is such that it is optimal in its original form. A great composition would never work as well as a transcription as it does as the composer originally intended it because they are so conscious of what they are writing for. Let's be clear, there are certainly many, many pieces that have very ambiguous instrumentation, these are not what I'm referring to. Don't get me wrong, I think there are some very fine transcriptions out there, I just would much prefer some of the wide array of repertoire that has been written for us.