Content area
Full Text
This is the hrst installment in a multi-part series of articles by leading composers for wind bands. The acclaimed composer and conductor Johan de Meij has compiled this fascinating article involving his colleagues from around the world.
Major, sweeping changes are stirring up the original repertoire for the wind orchestra. And it's happening now, even as we speak. The last 25 years have been exhilarating with literally thousands of new works written and published. Among them are some true masterpieces that will undoubtedly journey into the standard repertoire for winds. At the same time, many thousands of mediocre works were also spawned. We can only hope they will go back to where they came from and disappear from our concert programs.
Keep in mind it's only been about 100 years since the first original works for wind orchestra were written. By contrast, the repertoire for symphony orchestra goes back an additional two centuries. This makes those in the wind orchestra world part of a young, fresh, and accelerating movement in modern day music. In my opinion, one work marks the beginning of this development: Florent Schmidt's Dionysiaques, written in 1913, the same year as the tumultuous premiere of Strawinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps'.
Here is a partial list of major works that have become our standard "classical" repertoire for the wind orchestra:
* Hector Berlioz - Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale (1840)
* Florent Schmidt - Dionysiaques (1913-1914)
* Gustav Holst - Suites for Military Band No. I (1920) and No. 2 (1922),
* Hammersmith - Prelude & Scherzo (1930)
* Ralph Vaughan Williams -...