Live From Jordan Hall

Stephen Drury (synthesizer), New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Frank Battisti (conductor)

Catalog #: TROY0560
Release Date: March 1, 2003
Format: Digital
Wind Ensemble

Tippett's Praeludium was commissioned for the 40th anniversary of the BBC, in 1962. It was first performed on November 14 that year, at a concert in the Royal Festival Hall, given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Antal Dorati. This work was composed during the time Tippett composed his opera King Priam. Tippett's work Triumph has the full title Triumph: A Paraphrase of "The Mask of Time" and was composed in conjunction with The Mask of Time. Its 6th movement is titled "The Triumph of Life," a grotesque vision of the "triumphal" progress of a chariot throwing bodies off in all directions: this is complemented by the depiction of Shelley's own death, drowning at sea in an attempted defiance of a storm; and the movement ends with the burning of the body of the poet (a legal requirement of the period) though legend has it, the heart would not burn. Triumph evokes this episode. The Concerto for Two Continents for Synthesizer and Wind Orchestra is Ivan Tcherepnin's fourth commissioned work for the American Wind Symphony. It was premiered in Vaasa, Finland with the composer as soloist on the synthesizer. The concerto can be heard as a joyful celebration of the power of music to cross borders and bring peoples together through a commonly shared world of tones and rhythms. Michael Colgrass' the Winds of Nagual is based on the writings of Carlos Castaneda about his 14-year apprenticeship with Juan Mattise, a Yaqui Indian sorcerer from northwestern Mexico.. Castaneda met Don Juan while researching hallucinogenic plants for his master's thesis in anthropology at UCLA. Juan becomes Castaneda's mentor and trains him in Pre-Columbian techniques of sorcery, the overall purpose of which is to find the creative self- what Juan calls the "Nagual."

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Track Listing

Title Composer Performer
Praeludium for Brass and Percussion Sir Michael Tippett New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Frank Battisti, conductor
Concerto for Two Continents Ivan Tcherepnin New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Frank Battisti, conductor, Stephen Drury, synthesizer
Winds of Nagual Michael Colgrass New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Frank Battisti, conductor
Triumph Sir Michael Tippett New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Frank Battisti, conductor

Reviews

  • "...the playing is of the highest quality...This CD certainly belongs in every band director's collection."

    – WASBE Newsletter

*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.