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American Brass Quintet Launches Season's Faculty Recital Series By RAYMOND MASE
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| The American Brass Quartet (l to r): Michael Powell, John Rojak, Ray Mase, David Wakefield, and Kevin Cobb. (Photo by Richard Frank) |
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Throughout its 43-year history, the American Brass Quintet has made the advancement of serious brass chamber music its top priority. Our programs support this commitment by consistently including pieces from the 100-plus new works written for us and the countless A.B.Q. editions of early music. Our recital in the Juilliard Theater that launches the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital series on October 15 will be no exception, featuring significant works written for the A.B.Q. by Andrew Thomas and Gilbert Amy; a charming piece by the Brazilian composer Osvaldo Lacerda; and our editions of Renaissance music by William Brade, Thomas Simpson, and Giovanni Gabrieli.Our program opens with a Suite of 17th-Century Dances by the English composers William Brade and Thomas Simpson. As the suite's editor, I have tried to create what are often called "historically informed" editions by combining accepted early-music practices in tempi, articulation, and ornamentation with the natural brilliance and clarity of modern brass. The program also closes with early music—works of Giovanni Gabrieli from his Canzone e Sonate of 1615. Gabrieli is considered the most important composer of the Renaissance and his large-scale, ceremonial canzoni have been brass favorites for years. For these pieces, we'll be joined by a student brass ensemble, the Urban Brass Quintet. The Urban Brass were participants in last year's A.B.Q. Seminar and distinguished themselves often in performances here at Juilliard and elsewhere. We're very happy to have them perform with us on the concert.Gilbert Amy's Relais may be the most unusual work in the entire A.B.Q. library. Written for us in the late 1960s, the piece explores new territory for brass quintet, including beginning with a 10-note chord (multiphonics—five notes played while we sing five others). Amy's six movements can be played in any order we choose, incorporate spatial notation, and even have several improvisatory sections without musical sounds. Needless to say, the piece has gotten all kinds of audience response over the years—from the most serious, hold-your-breath concentration to snickers and even hoots and hollers. We're excited about bringing this piece to the Juilliard community and look forward to the reaction.The A.B.Q. residency here at Juilliard, now in its 17th year, has produced some wonderful new relationships for us, and also new compositions. Consonanze Stravaganti, written for us by Andrew Thomas (director of Juilliard's Pre-College Division), uses the music of Renaissance composer Giovanni Macque as the source for a set of remarkable variations. Consonanze Stravaganti was just released on our new recording, American Visions (Summit DCD 365), that also includes works written for the ensemble by Juilliard composers Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser, and former Juilliard president William Schuman. With the release of American Visions, the A.B.Q. discography now numbers 50 recordings.
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American Brass Quintet
Juilliard Theater
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 8 p.m.
For time and ticket information, please see
the calendar.
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Many of our new works are commissions, but we often get new pieces submitted to us informally by friends or while on tour. A memorable tour in 1976 not only introduced us to a wonderful new piece, but also proved to be the longest away-from-home period in A.B.Q. history. Actually, the tour might be better described as a series of tours strung together. In a nutshell, we were on the road for four months, from June 11 to October 10. We left New York for a concert in Logan, Utah, that immediately preceded our annual nine-week Aspen Music Festival residency. Then it was back to New York for two days before a 10-day series of concerts in Iran, Scotland, and Norway… then another day in New York before heading out for a five-week tour of Central and South America, including 14 cities in Brazil alone. We were one very tired group when we got home on October 10! But the point of this story is our September 27 concert in São Paulo, where we met the composer Osvaldo Lacerda. He mentioned a new brass quintet he was working on and asked if he might send us a copy when he completed it. We were happy to receive his Fantasia e Rondo several months later and, after a first reading, we programmed it. The piece proved immediately attractive and Rondo soon became a regular encore—one that we played hundreds of times over the next 10 years or so. (A bit of A.B.Q. trivia: The piece most often performed by the A.B.Q. over its 43-year history is Lacerda's Rondo.) Just goes to show, you never know where the next brass quintet might be coming from.The A.B.Q. is already well into another busy fall touring season, but thankfully we won't be away for four months. We're looking forward to our October recital, and will have just returned from a short trip to Providence, R.I.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Edmund, Okla. We hope to see you at our concert. Trumpeter Raymond Mase has been a member of the American Brass Quintet since 1973 and is chair of the Juilliard brass department.
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