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Hey all,

There have been rumblings in the music department that the college's wind symphony and the brass quintet that I play in would like to perform a concerto for brass quintet and wind symphony in the spring, but as now no one has found/decided on a piece to perform. Does anyone have any experience putting together a work like this or (most importantly) have any recommendations for good pieces for brass quintet and wind symphony?

Thanks in advance,
Evan Callaway

p.s. It's probably worth noting that the wind symphony wouldn't have it's top two trumpets or tuba for the wind symphony accompaniment...

There are two pieces like this that I know of. The first is Shadowcatcher by Eric Ewazen, the other is New York Cityscape by Jeff Tyzik. Hope this helps you out. Both of these have been recorded, IIRC.

Another Idea is the John Cheetham Concertino for Brass Quintet and Band. I think there are 3 mvt's, and the whole piece can be found on Hoodlebug Brass' cd: Brass Fac's.

Here is a video of Hoodlebug playing the 3rd mvt. last fall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnVYyEkA4aI" target="_blank

Best of luck to you,

I would highly recommend checking out Quintessence by David R. Gillingham. It's a great work that comes off well with an audience.

I will second quintessence i played it two years ago. Has large percussive parts with the piece also so it has very unique flow to it, that like CC said is a great crowd favorite.

Thanks a ton for all the suggestions guys, you've certainly given enough ideas to at least start some discussion so that we can get a clearer idea of what type of piece we want to perform. If anybody else has suggestions please feel free to make your ideas public (poor word choice probably, but I'll leave it in for the sake of TNFJ humor).

-Evan

I would like to add that Spectrum Brass Quintet is currently putting a consortium together to commission a NEW concerto for brass quintet and wind ensemble by composer Jim Stephenson. The work will be performed throughout the 2010-2011 concert season. Jim is an amazing composer and has had some of his concertos premiered by big-name brass players. You can check out his website here: http://www.stephensonmusic.com/

We are happy to have commitments from:

Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of South Carolina, University of Wisconsin, Western Michigan University, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi/Del Mar College in a combined effort.

Spectrum has been fortunate to work with Jim as an arranger for most of the tracks on our new "Rhapsody" CD. We also recently premiered a show featuring brass quintet with orchestra that was commissioned by the Bozeman Symphony and arranged by Jim (all Latin music, very fun).

We are still looking for institutions to join the consortium. If anyone is interested, please contact me via email: jcbcameron at yahoo dot com

Eric...


If the abilities of the ensemble/brass quintet are up to it, I HIGHLY reccommend "Shadowcatcher" by Eric Ewazen. It is a great piece, sounds like Ewazen and has a challenging set of parts for everyone in the ensemble.