Klarinet Archive - Posting 000592.txt from 1995/10

From: Michiya Nishino <mnishino@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Wind Ens
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995 23:59:08 -0400

On Sat, 14 Oct 1995, Lou Polcari wrote:

> I can not believe what is being played by the so called wind ensemble
> today... I am having some trouble adjusting to playing clarinet in this
> "ensemble" The music for the "ensemble" is in IMHO of poor quality... ie in
> this band we are playing a work be someone called Maslanko (or something that
> sounds like that anyway) The title of this is called "Tears" it comes with a
> five page Essay from the "composer" to explain to the band what the music is a
ll
> about....? Am I the only guy who thinks this is bad 20th century music? I li
ke
> the work of Ned Roram and Coligiliano ect. but this? ugh. I know that there
is
>
> Lou Polcari

Lou,

I would tend to disagree with your generalization that music for the Wind
Ensemble is of poor quality. I know you didn't explicitly say that ALL
music for wind ens. is poor, but as an avid listener/player of music
written for Wind Ensemble, allow me to make a few comments. I'm not
familiar with the David Maslanka composition (_Tears_) that you
mentioned, but in my experience, much of the music composed for winds in
this century is absolutely superb.

Both my band directors in high school and at the university are great
advocates of music written originally for winds (as opposed to
transcriptions of orchestral works), so I have developed an appreciation
for many of 20th-century wind works--I'll list a few of the pieces that I
have especially enjoyed, to give you an idea of what IS good out there:

_Sinfonietta for Concert Band_---Ingolf Dahl
_and the mountains rising nowhere_---Joseph Schwantner
_Symphony in Bb for Concert Band_---Paul Hindemith
_Symphony for Band_---Vincent Persichetti
_Emblems_---Aaron Copland
_Gazebo Dances_---John Corigliano
_Konzertmusik, Op. 41_---Paul Hindemith
_Music for Prague 1968_---Karel Husa
_Theme and Variations, Op. 43a_---Arnold Schonberg
_A Child's Garden of Dreams_---David Maslanka

. . . off the top of my head. You might want to check the library to see
if you can listen to some of these works.

Regards,
Michiya Nishino

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org