Big bang of new Swedish brass music

27-year old Swedish composer Benjamin Staern is pleased that his "Colour Wandering" for brass ensemble will be featured by Håkan Hardenberger's Aero Ensemble on their British tour next week. Having being received favourably in Sweden, these will be the first performances outside the country. According to the composer this piece:

begins with a reversed ’big-bang’ chord and suddenly the wandering begins between the high and low ”coloured” brass instruments. The harmony is distorted by micro-tones and feels like looking through broken windows.

Written in 2002 for the Blekinge International Brass Academy (BIBA) and premiered under the direction of a more established brass composer, Anthony Plog. The instrumentation is quite an interesting 10-piece: 1 piccolo, 2 trumpets (C), 1 flugelhorn, 1 alto trbn, 1 tenor trbn, 1 bass trbn, euph and tuba.

While Colour Wandering is being outed in the UK, Staern will be back in Malmo, busily writing a concerto for tuba, electronics and orchestra to receive its premiere in September from Kjetil Myklebust (a young Norwegian tubist studying at Malmo) and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.


Photo: © 2001 Anders Mattsson Malmö Opera and Music Theatre

Helikon Wasp CD out next week

I've been really quite impressed with Lindberg's compositions so far. His trombone ensemble pieces were great fun, well judged in shape and interesting. Mandrake in the Corner and the sneak preview of his Flute Concerto (from his Classical Concertos disc) have started to make me think he has promise in more serious music. So I'm looking forward to his release next Monday (2nd May) of several of his most recent and successful compositions.

UPDATE: This is now available. I recommend the cheap prices at tesco.com.

Of particular interest is the piece with which he has made a considerable amount of buzz (groan) with the critics, Helikon Wasp, where he conducts and plays from the middle of the orchestra with everone circled around him! Let me know what you think of the CD in the comments!

Christian Lindberg - A composer´s portrait

1. Helikon Wasp (2003) for conducting trombonist and orchestra 16'31

The World of Montuagretta (2001-2002). Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra
2. I. Isola - Mandarena 5'56
3. II. Cadenza ´Horry the Lorry´ 0'42
4. III. Dreams of Arkandia 5'17
5. IV. Cadenza inpala 4'05
6. V. Moriatto bianco 4'50

7. Condon Canyon (2000) for trombone and brass quintet 11'21

8. ´...Ty solen är uppe!´ (1999) for trombone and male-voice choir (text: A. Strindberg) 9'26

9. Behac Munroh (2004) for trumpet, trombone and orchestra 16'35

Christian Lindberg, trombone/voice
Sharon Bezaly, flutes
Ole Edvard Antonsen, trumpet
Orphei Drängar, choir
Stockholms Kammarbrass, ensemble
Svenska Kammarorkestern, orchestra
Basque National Orchestra, orchestra
Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, orchestra
Robert Sund, conductor
Cristian Mandeal, conductor
Christian Lindberg, conductor

Information courtesy of BIS.

Håkan Hardenberger with students in UK

Following his starring role in the Maxwell Davies festival in London's RFH, Håkan Hardenberger is hanging around in the UK for the following week at the start of May to conduct masterclasses and play some great modern music.

Sun 01 May 2005 6pm, Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatiore
Tues 03 May 2005 1pm, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
Fri 06 May 2005, 8pm, Blackheath Concert Halls, London

Håkan Hardenberger with Aero Ensemble (brass students from Malmö Academy of Music)

Programme to include works by Bach, Rautavaara, Turnage, Staern, Piazzola, Gruber
More details here.

Brass mishaps

For a bit of light relief, have a listen to some poor brass player's spectacular mistakes at Andy Callard's Brass Playing Mishaps. (You'll need Real Player installed to hear the recordings.)

Also try: Hilarious Trumpet Bloopers which are MP3s.

What's mildly worrying is that some of the mistakes aren't ridiculously bad. I'm sure there are some from my collection I could add....

I think the best one is this!

Rotterdam trombone-fest photos

The hotly anticipated Dutch Trombone Festival last month seemed to go off with a bang if the photos are anything to go by.

Check out the New Trombone Collective and Christian Lindberg dressed up in everything from wild-west cowboy gear to gospel-style wigs and frocks. It looks like a hilarious bit of acting is going on with Ivan Meylemans being the patient in Doctor Decker's Daydream and the dentist cowering over him with a large power drill as Lindberg and the boys play the music. It's all great fun after so many premieres and much serious music earlier in the day. And in the photos of the aftershow party, such is Lindberg's generously proportioned personality (read: maniac) it's hard to tell if he is drunk, but the facial expressions are fantastic!

Elliott Tackitt - Freestyle Trombonist

In all honesty this is the funniest trombone humour I've ever seen! Elliott Tackitt is a trombone student at the University of Michigan and puts his tongue firmly in his cheek as he stars in a mini film about his fantasy life as a Freestyle Trombonist.

Feel the pain as Elliott goes through practising in every concievable way in the build up to a Hip Hop play-off with rival trombonist 'Artistizzle'. Will he win his due street cred' in the Mahler 3 solo finale? Watch and find out.

The movie is here.

It's a Quicktime movie of a massive 33Mb so be prepared for a bit of a wait (don't even try it if you have just a modem...). But it's worth it. Enjoy!

Filas premiere a success

The new Filas concerto for trombone is a vigorous and effective show-piece according to the The San Francisco Chronicle who reviewed Joe Alessi's premiere last week with the Marin Symphony:

This concerto, written in 2000, bears the subtitle "Don Chiscotte o un autoritratto" ("Don Quixote, or A Self-Portrait"), but the significance of its self-portraiture was not especially clear. Instead, Filas offers two movements, lasting 25 minutes, that are practically indistinguishable in their mood and musical materials.

Each movement alternates between sections of fast, highly charged writing and more tender, even schmaltzy melodies; a few notable melodic gestures recur between the two. The harmonic landscape is largely set in a moody, elegiac minor key, with a few jazzy outbursts in the second movement. The result was ingratiating and sometimes moving without being particularly distinctive.

[Alessi] turned the solo into a display of personal heroism, vaulting through Filas' arching melodies with ardor and imparting a darkly mournful hue to the more subdued passages.

We also learn from the Marin Independent Journal's preview of the concert much about Alessi's early days in learning his first choice of instrument - the trumpet!

"My father was such a good teacher he could immediately see that the trumpet wasn't for me, I had trouble with the mouthpiece and, like a shoe fits a foot - especially with the trumpet - the mouthpiece has to fit the face.
One day Joe Sr. brought home a trombone and casually asked Joe Jr. if he'd like to try it."

"I didn't react very well to that," he says. "I was only 8 years old at the time. 'I want to play trumpet!' I wailed - because, you know, that was my father's instrument - so he backed off."

Of course, Joe Sr. knew he needed only to be patient. As Joe Jr. continued to have a rough time with the upper register, his father tried again. "'Just try it once,' he said to me, 'and if you don't like it, I won't bother you again.' Well, I played my first note in the upper register with no problem whatsoever. The tears went away," he says.

And of course, the rest is history.

Fun with a four-track

Over at TubaNews there is a great little article by Norwegian tuba star Øystein Baadsvik about his youth spent having fun with a four-track tape recorder and the secret of how to improve without really practising!

Farr brings modern brass band music to Durham

Probably the most enterprising concert series of brass music in the UK is taking place in Durham. Well known brass band conductor and arranger Ray Farr joined the faculty of Durham University two years ago and has conducted a number of concerts of top bands there ever since.

His choice of modern original compositions brought notoriety last year when the local paper advertised the concert by reminiscing of the Brighouse and Rastrick band's tongue-in-cheek cheesy chart-topping hit "The Floral Dance" with Terry Wogan. In the concert the band performed Heaton, Aagard-Nilsen and Wilby which were all reasonably listenable contemporary works. Certainly nothing half as challenging as more familiar contemporary composers such as Birtwistle or Knussen. Hopefully those listeners that stormed out in a huff will not be there this summer!

Saturday 11 June 2005, 7.30 pm, Gala Theatre

Beethoven Sonata
E Howarth Euphonium Concerto
Mussorgsky Songs & Dances of Death
Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring
P Wilby Jazz

Grimethorpe Colliery (UK Coal) Band
Sue Bickley (soloist)
Elgar Howarth (conductor)


Saturday 25 June 2005, 7.30 pm, Gala Theatre

H Howells Pageantry
E Tomlinson Cornet Concerto
E Elgar Severn Suite
G Benjamin Altitude
P Wilby Euphonium Concerto
W Heaton Partita

Brighouse & Rastrick Band
Ray Farr (conductor)

Tickets for each concert: £10.00 (£5.00), Students £3, Under 18s £1
Box Office: Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham.
Tel: 0191 332 4041

Lenthe's playing tips

Anyone learning to play any of these standard pieces of trombone repertoire:

Barat - Andante et Allegro
David - Konzertino
Rimsky-Korsakov - Concerto
Guilmant - Morceau Symphonique

should take a look at Carl Lenthe's on-line trombone lessons on these pieces. There are a host of ideas of how to approach the tricky bits, get a good feel for the music in the pieces and even some sound clips of Lenthe and his students working on them.

Also of interest on his website is an aural comparison of two trombones - he has recordings of "Trombone A" and "Trombone 1" (to be impartial!) so see which one you prefer and send him an email why.

Carl Lenthe is a professor of trombone at Indiana University, has played professionally for a number of years as principal trombone at the Bavarian State Opera and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. In 1998 he returned to the States to teach at Indiana and has been called upon to play with the renowned Summit Brass and the top US orchestras.

Jonathan Pippen MP3

Welsh trombonist Jonathan Pippen can be heard all this week on the BBC website's 'Play Again' feature. He was featured on BBC Radio 2 last Friday night in the programme "Listen to the Band" hosted by the Tredegar Band. He plays Simon Kerwin's arrangement of "Variations on Carnival of Venice" which is great fun and a fantastic show-piece for Jonathan's obvious talents. Although it has its roots in the Arban variations and style, this is a much more fresh and slightly tongue-in-cheek take on this classic work.

Pippen studied at the Royal College of Music and Royal Northern College of Music and has pursued a freelance career since 1998, playing with the likes of the Hallé Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, English National Opera, Opera North, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Frank Renton, who presents the show, is renowned for choosing his words carefully - a piece which is really too hard for a band is described as 'challenging' and a really dodgy arrangement that doesn't work at all is described as 'optimistic'. So when there is unstrained praise, you know that it is well deserved so Jonathan will no doubt be pleased to hear:
"ace trombonist Jonathan Pippen"
"sit back and enjoy the most amazing display of trombone fireworks from Mr Pippen"
"the amazing Jonathan Pippen"

You'll need Real Player installed, then click on Play Again, Radio 2, Listen to the Band. The trombone feature starts at about 12 minutes into the show.

Brass Spectacular 2005 - full details

More details of the Brass Spectacular 2005 event in Glasgow have arrived to feast your eyes on. It's turning out to be a corker!

Brass Spectacular 2005

Artistic Directors: Nigel Boddice and Bryan Allen

Brass Spectacular is back for an all day feast of brass, featuring a galaxy of international, national and local stars filling the concert halls and foyers of the RSAMD from noon to midnight. From classical to jazz, traditional to cutting edge, serious to lunatic, there’s something for everyone. Concerts, recitals, competitions, masterclasses, premieres, featured composers, trade stands and wall to wall foyer music – it’s all there!

This year Brass Spectacular showcases the huge array of staff and student brass talent in the RSAMD. Headline RSAMD groups include the ‘All Star Brass’, comprising the cream of Scotland’s brass players, SCOT (Scottish Consort of Trumpets), and the Academy’s own flagship student brass group, Royal Scottish Academy Brass. Staff and students will also be featured heavily with solo performances from RSAMD stars such as Mark O’Keeffe, John Kenny and Simon Johnson, along with ‘student showcases’ featuring some of the brightest stars – all supplemented by a host of international visitors and guest ensembles, such as Norway’s brilliant tuba virtuoso Oystein Baadsvik.

RSAMD graduates Angela Whelan and Lorna McDonald make welcome returns with their own hugely successful groups, Fine Arts Brass and Bones Apart, while current student and rising jazz star Ryan Quigley solos with the RSAMD Big Band and also presents the debut performance of an exciting new 10 piece group comprising some of Britain’s leading jazz and commercial players, including Derek Watkins amongst others.

The spotlight will also fall this year on RSAMD staff and student composers, with a host of premieres and works for brass by composers such as Gordon McPherson, Rory Boyle, John Maxwell Geddes, John Kenny and Adrian Drover, along with Scottish composers Peter Graham, and Jennifer Martin.

Brass Spectacular 2005 also hosts two major competitions.

The Yamaha Intercollegiate Brass Quintet Competition will feature seven young quintets representing Britain’s Conservatoires, and includes prizes for the best quintet and also new composition by a student composer. All the groups will combine to form Intercollegiate Brass, which will provide a rousing start to the evening concert with ‘Fanfare for Glasgow’ by RSAMD Principal John Wallace.

Once again, the National Association of Brass Band Conductors stages an event at Brass Spectacular – this time a competition for up and coming conductors, who will put the Johnstone Band through it’s paces in the preliminary round. Four finalists will work with welcome return visitors the Scottish Coop Band, and the winning conductor will take centre stage to conduct a piece with Scotland’s own European Champion Youth Band, and Gala Concert stalwarts, West Lothian Schools Band.

There’ll be an extensive trade village with all the latest brass gadgets and must have equipment on display for you to try, along with wall to wall foyer music to fill in those quiet moments!

What’s more – it’s all free.

Timetable of Events

All events are free, but you will need a ticket for the two main concerts at 1.00pm and 8.00pm (these can be reserved in advance from the box office on 0141 332 5057)

Admission to all concerts is on a first come first served basis.

Academy Concert Hall

1.00 Opening Concert (Academy Concert Hall)
RSAMD ‘All Star Brass’, Royal Scottish Academy Brass
Fine Arts Brass, Bones Apart
Mark O’Keeffe, John Kenny, Oystein Baadsvik

2.15 Fine Arts Brass
One of the world’s leading brass ensemble’s present a varied programme in its inimitable style.

3.15 Bones Apart
The award winning all-female trombone quartet take centre stage to delight us with a selection of highlights from its extensive repertoire

4.15 National Association of Brass Band Conductors Competition
Three finalists conduct the Scottish Coop Band in a set test piece and a work of their own choice by Peter Graham.

5.45 Rylo Ensemble
The debut performance of an exciting new 10 piece brass ensemble with rhyhm section. Formed by ex RSAMD students Ryan Quigley and Lorna MacDonald and featuring some of Britain’s leading jazz and commercial players.

8pm Gala Concert
A host of star soloists and ensembles come to together to present a spectacular ‘Gala Concert’
Intercollegiate Ensemble
West Lothian Schools Band
Ryan Quigley, Angela Whelan,
Oystein Baadsvik, Simon Johnston
Fine Arts Brass, Rylo Ensemble
RSAMD Big Band, Derek Watkins, Ryan Quigley

Guinness Room

A series of 30 minute recitals on the hour featuring international and national stars of the trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba, along with a special ‘electric brass’ concert.

2.00 ElectroAcoustic Brass
Mark O’Keeffe, trumpet, John Kenny, trombone

3.00 SCOT (Scottish Consort of Trumpets) with special guests
Mark O’Keeffe, trumpet, Annique Burms, soprano

4.00 Trombone Mania
John Kenny, David Bobroff, Simon Johnston, trombones

5.00 Oystein Baadsvik, Tuba
One of the world’s great tuba players, Norwegian Oystein Baadsvik presents a recital of music for tuba and piano, including some of his own compositions.

6.00 Horns A Plenty
Dave lee, Horn
A recital with a difference given by one of Britain’s leading commercial and session players.

Groves Studio

2.30 The National Association of Brass Band Conductors (Scotland)
Conducting Competition (Preliminary Round)
Up and coming conductors put the Johnstone Band through it’s paces to compete for a place in the final to be staged later in the afternoon.

Alexander Gibson Opera Studio

2.30pm The Yamaha Intercollegiate Brass Quintet Competition
Seven brass quintets representing Britain’s leading Conservatoires present 25 minute programmes of original works for brass quintet to compete for this prestigious title. The order of play will be decided by draw on the day and posted in the foyers, with groups playing at 30 minute intervals. The results will be announced at 6.30 and again in the evening Gala Concert.

Café Bar Foyer

12.00 Foyer Music and Trade Village
The day kicks off with a foyer music extravanganza and a chance to browse the many trade stands. Further foyer music will happen throughout the day in 15 minute bursts at a quarter to each hour from 2.45 until 6.45, leading into a final extravaganza at 7 as a built up to the evening concert.

10.30 Langs Hotel
A late night party to round off the day in true brass player’s style! Complete with rhythm section and jam session for all comers.

Pete Smith and David Geoghegan

Young brass stars at the Royal Academy of Music are starring in concerts over the next few weeks. The stunningly talented tubist Pete Smith plays the Vaughan Williams in April and in May, trumpet player David Geoghegan will treat us to Cecilia McDowall's "The Night Trumpeter". There's also a horn masterclass from LSO principal David Pyatt.

Pete Smith - V-W tuba concerto
Friday 15th April
Royal Academy of Music London, Duke’s Hall — 12:30pm
Academy Concert Orchestra
Luis Filipe Carvalho Machado, Osamu Matsuura and Khac-Uyen Nguyen conductors
Christopher Cooper bassoon
Linda Lin cello
Peter Smith tuba
Weber Bassoon Concerto op 75
Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto no 1 op 33
Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
This concert, conducted by final year postgraduate students, forms part of their exam. Free, no tickets required


David Pyatt horn masterclass
Tuesday 3rd May
Royal Academy of Music London, Recital Room
6:00–9:00pm
Horn Masterclass
Internationally-renowned soloist and recording artist and visiting professor David Pyatt returns to the Academy. Free, no tickets required


David Geoghegan - Night Trumpeter
Thursday 12th May
David Josefowitz Recital Hall
6:00pm
The Night Trumpeter
David Geoghegan trumpet
Catriona MacKinnon oboe
Louise Haines and Andrew Harper clarinets
Christopher Cooper bassoon
Hilary Michael violin
Amy Fawcett viola
Louise McMonagle cello
Claire Whitson double bass
Laura Baxter piano
Cecilia McDowall The Night Trumpeter
Simon Bainbridge For Miles
Martinu La Revue de Cuisine
Free tickets available from the Academy’s Box Office

Virtuosic hiccups

Any piece using a trombone prominently would infallibly announce the homecoming of a drunk; no other instrument could hiccup with such virtuosity.

Max Winkler (film composer)

Nils-Ole Bo Johansen in London

Next month, contemporary trombone specialist Niels-Ole Bo Johansen will be performing a lunchtime recital in London. It is part of the London College of Music and Media's contemporary music week. Anyone who hasn't heard Bent Sørensen's Bells of Vineta will be in for a treat, and I'm intrigued about the rest of the programme.

Monday 2 May
1.15pm: Vestry Hall

Recital - Nils-Ole Bo Johansen - Trombone
As part of this contemporary music week Nils-Ole Bo Johansen gives a recital of contemporary trombone music.
Programme to include:
Bent Sørensen - The Bells of Vineta for solo trombone
Per Nørgård - Identity Problems for solo trombone
Wayne Siegel - Jackdaw for solo trombone and electronics
Arne Nordheim - The Return of the Snark

Trombonist Nils-Ole Bo Johansen was born 1961 in Viborg, Denmark. Privately tutored, Nils-Ole started his musical education in the local boyscout band, whose leader at the time, the dynamic and charismatic trumpet player John Leth, became his first teacher. He later studied with Rolf Sandmark, Ingemar Roos of The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Benny Sluchin of Ensemble Intercontemporain, Paris.

Nils-Ole Bo Johansen's professional career has been as unorthodox as his education. 1980-84 he was in The Prince's Life Guard Regiment Music Corps, Viborg. From 1984 to 1986 he was in the Funen Life Guard Regiment Music Corps and from 1986 to 2000 he was a member of The Åarhus Symphony Orchestra. Since 1989 Nils-Ole Bo Johansen has been teaching at The Royal Academy of Music Åarhus. In the year 2000 he was appointed a full professor, and from 2002 he accepted the position as Dean of the classical department at The Royal Academy.

Nils-Ole Bo Johansen has performed and given masterclasses in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, United Kingdom and Cuba and has been soloist and clinician on the ITA (International Trombone Association) festivals in 1996 and 2003.

Rest for the wicked

The Catholic Mission of Yule Island, Papua (a Mission once supported by France and Belgium, but now exceedingly impoverished), is anxious to introduce brass band playing among the cannibals of the main range, where much of their work is done. It is found that brass instruments subdue much of the dangerous energy of these people, and supply the excitement and amusement formerly furnished by a head-hunting raid. When Christianised, and consequently induced to cease from hunting, cooking and eating his neighbour, the wild Papuan of the hills is apt to find life a trifle dull, and the Catholic Mission of Yule Island, with characteristic common-sense, sets itself to fill the gap as far as possible.

If any reader of the Musical Times has any good, noisy brass or other instrument that he has no further use for, he may be assured that it will do excellent missionary work at the far ends of the earth, if he will take the trouble of sending it, carriage paid, by any of the parcel agencies, or by parcel post, according to size, to Yule Island, Papua.

Musical Times, March 1920

More choice quotes from this esteemed publication found here at IBEW, the Internet Bandsman's Everything Within.

Filas concerto

This Sunday Joseph Alessi will premiere a trombone concerto by Juraj Filas in a concert with the Marin Symphony. Slovak by birth, Filas wrote "At The End Of The Century" for trombone and piano which has gained much popularity since it was written in the late 90's and has been recorded by both Joe Alessi and David Bruchez.

April 3 & 5, 2005, 7:30pm
FILAS Concerto for Tenor Trombone, "Don Quixote"
BRAHMS A German Requiem

Alasdair Neale, conductor
Joseph Alessi, trombone
Marin Symphony Chorus
Marin Symphony

Brett Baker workshop in North Wales

Any trombonists able to get to Northop near Chester next Wednesday will be in for a treat as Brett Baker and the Black Dyke trombones host masterclasses and a workshop. Contact Brett for more information and registration.

There are still places on the Northop Festival Trombone workshop as part of International Trombone week.

The session is on 6th April from 6.30pm - 10pm at Northop Band Room and Community Hall in the centre of Northop. The session will include playing and workshops from members of the Black Dyke Band Trombone Section.