Schoenberg's string quartets are some of my favorite 'crunchy listening', so discovering his works for brass was one of my favorite parts of this class. Twentieth-century 'classical' brass writing, with its various influences, and coupled with the developments made in both brass manufacturing and performance, make it some of the most interesting listening out there. Today's post will reflect on various major brass compositions from 20th-century avant-garde composers.
One of the pieces that we listened to ages ago in ABEL that I fell in love with was the Lutoslawski Mini Overture.
Another that I've performed before, which isn't specifically for brass ensemble, but has massive brass parts, is Hindemith's Symphony in B flat for Wind Ensemble.
While at the Atlantic Brass Quintet Seminar, I performed Plog's Four Sketches for Brass Quintet. The performance experience is just as energized as the listening experience is - the chromaticism and tight tempo demand intense focus and precise rhythm, as well as intentional musicality.
This post is a little more emotional than any of my other blogs. As I finish this semester, the last bits of coursework of my Master's degree stretching out before me, I've got a lot of feelings going around. Putting it frankly, 2019 and 2020 have been ridiculous years. My dad was suffering all of Spring 2019 and died last April, and this March we saw the beginning of the US wave of a global pandemic. I know we all have our struggles and face hardships, but sometimes I don't know how I've been able to do it. I'm just glad that I have. I was diagnosed with depression in 2014, and correctly diagnosed with bipolar disorder type 2 sometime in 2016. Getting my undergrad and first grad degrees have without a doubt been the toughest years of my life, and it's hard not to reflect on all that as this degree is coming to a close. I've learned a lot about being a musician, being a decent human, and just kind of life over the past 5 years at Iowa. It's bee...
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