Alloy Brass

All regular members in attendance.

Tonight we ran:

"The Leopards are Coming!" by Jukka Viitasaari

"The Wind Breezes Bend the Trees" by Jukka Viitasaari

"The Virtual Alchemist" by Jukka Viitasaari

"Stargazer" by Jukka Viitasaari

"Quintet" by Malcolm Arnold, mvt. 1

"Contrapunctus IX" by J.S. Bach

"Colchester Fantasy" by Eric Ewazen, mvt. 1

You may notice a theme here.  Actually, two themes.  First, the relatively great quaintity of works by a single composer: Jukka Viitassari.  He's the composer behind one of my favorite pieces, "Bothnian Rhapsody." I finally got a laser printer, and went on the Sibelius web site and bought all of Jukka's brass quintets.  I've been looking forward to getting them all, and now I'm looking forward to playing them all.  These first four were quite satisfying.  Nice melodies, with interesting rhythms and harmonies.   Very good writing.  There are more to come.

The second theme is the running of only the first movement of the Arnold and the Ewazen.  We ran each piece two times, and stopped where necessary to iron out some fine points. Progress was definitely made.  We also ran the Bach twice, with similar results.  We've had the Bach in the book for some time, and it remains one of the most challenging pieces we have.  It demands a great deal of precision.

We are planning to perform for an upcoming West Bank School of Music monthly board meeting.  We're working out a short program to include either the two Folk Song Suites we've been running, or one of the more modern pieces, like the Ewazen or the Arnold.