Friday, October 24, 2008

Concert Preview

Just a reminder about the Halloween concert presented by the Wauwatosa Community Band this Saturday November 1st at 1 PM at Longfellow Middle School in Wauwatosa, at 76th and North Avenue.

This week's post describes a few more pieces to be performed by the Knightwind Ensemble at their Pastiche concert on November 23rd. For ticket info, see the web site: http://www.knightwind.org/.

On the program is Edward Gregson's Partita, written around 1970. This music is somber as the thread throughout the work is the Dies Irae from the Requiem Mass. Hammer-like chords begin and end the first movement with a more lyrical modal tune in between. In the second movement, the Dies Irae is the bases for an extended melody and five variations.

Also on the program is the James Spinazzola transcription of John Adams' Lollapalooza. Now I have to admit that my familiarity with the name Lollapalooza extends only to heavy metal concerts. However, John Adams wrote this interesting and very difficult piece as a 40th birthday present for Simon Rattle, the music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony. The theme is the rhythm of the word itself: lollapalooza, da-da-da-DAH-da. But there are also other motives and they all appear, disappear, and chain together. It is a very interesting piece and the group is working hard at rehearsals to keep all the motives together. This is one of those pieces where some people will like it, some people won't, and many people won't be sure! So come have a listen and judge for yourself.

Finally on the program is a band arrangement by Mark Hindley of the Ravel orchestration of Moussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition. The transcription is very true to the orchestration and the music is wonderful. Not much more to say about this piece. The sound is magnificent!

Again, for more information or to order tickets, see the web site: www.knightwind.org/.

No comments: