Sketch
Manuscript score:
Con
Forza,
Semplice,
Con Brio,
Engraved score
I copy here notes I made the day following the premiere.
Last night, the 6th of May, the world premiere of my Concertino for Wind Orchestra took place at O'Shaunessey Auditorium at the University of St Catherine in St Paul, Minnesota. The ensemble was the University of St Thomas Symphonic Wind Ensemble, which I had the privilege to conduct for the premiere.
Their conductor, Matthew George, was there and he will lead the ensemble in a commercial CD recording on the 19th of May. He gave the ensemble to me to work with over two rehearsal sessions in this last week at UST and we spent many hours discussing the work during the period of my visit to UST.
I had a sense the ensemble was a little under-prepared, due to Matt's having been taken away from work at the early part of the rehearsal season because of his father's illness and death, but their response over this week has been remarkable and most satisfying. They reacted well to my work with them though I myself felt under-prepared as well. After one rehearsal I apologised to them for not being as well focused as I expect I should be. The difference between approaching a work as the composer as opposed to being the conductor is significant (and I have considered that in other places in previous research).
In fact I spent a good deal of time yesterday morning preparing the score in a conducting mode and also used it as a proofing session as well. There are some simple proofing reading errors I will fix and let Matt know before they record. I don't believe it detracted substantially from the premiere though. The nerves associated with a new work, and its delivery to the world, always produce enthusiastic errors from an undergraduate ensemble and, when adding a couple of simple transcription errors via the engraving process, there was no great sense of anything missing, as such.
The response from the ensemble to the piece itself was very satisfying. I have no doubt that the energy and animation that comes with working under a new conductor for such a project adds to the sense of enjoyment and may bias the players toward a more positive response to the work but the reaction to it across the whole rehearsal period and into last night's sound check and performance was heartening.
An audience member moved quickly to me at the reception after the concert to tell me he could "see' the things the music was about. "It was just like film music" he said. Following from his energetic conversation with me a number of other people told me of their pleasure in hearing the new work.
Matt himself has said little about the work and I asked him last night (or was that this morning?) whether he liked it. He said it was growing on him and he had enjoyed the premiere very much. He was looking forward to preparing the ensemble for the recording session they were about to undertake to make a CD of a number of his St Thomas commission series.
I enjoyed working with the ensemble and also hearing the music I had written. There is nothing at all like the acoustic realisation of your mind's tonal ideas. I love it!
When submitting the score to the commissioner, I wrote to him and said:
I guess I should tell you what I had in mind with the piece. I thought first to write a work that was a feature for each section only with a finale embracing them all. What developed was a work that featured brass and percussion to begin, woodwind next and the lot in a flurry at the end. What I have written is more of program music than I have ever done apart from my symphony. I want to write more 'absolute' music - well, try too.
The first movement, Con Forza, is about power. It is not about aggression but about potency - I guess. The drums should be solid, like parade ground drums but not marching band drums - can you hear the difference? The brass should be resonant - and loudness is not what is required, but power is. I know you understand the difference. The woodwinds just spurt out flourishes to outline the brass force.
Semplice is about simplicity in melody. I just love the flute in its lowest register. It has a quality close to the voice I think. This is like chamber music and the brass and percussion just add occasional depth and fullness. Use rubato here - sorry, I know you will!
Con Brio - with vigour indeed! It's interesting that as I read through the sketch after completing movement 3 I thought I had stolen the melodies from somewhere else - not from me, another piece, but from someone else. Then, as I ruminated over what I had done I found the melody that presents in oboe at bar 64 is a variation of the melody in the flute to open the second movement - more joyful and less reflective and pensive. The melody at the end that starts in the horns is from movement 1. I was very pleased to discover all of that!!! This is energy - vigour - and flashes of colour and jabs of light and dark. I think the work has my finger prints and it is not full of notes - too many can be a concern - but each movement reflects its title, I hope.