Program No. 96 - 30th March 2014

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
Trumpet Magic - A Tribute to Rafael Mendez

For the first time on Brass Monkeys we will be featuring one album.

This album was released in 2006 and is a tribute to the legendary Mexican trumpet player Rafael Méndez.

The trumpet player is the current principal trumpet player of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Payne, and he is more than ably backed by said orchestra, under the direction of Jean-Louis Forrestier.

Sadly we cant play the entire album due to time considerations, but the tracks that we will be playing are:

1.     Hejre Kati
2.     Dance Of The Comedians
3.     Bell Song From Lakme
4.    Habanera from Carmen
5.     Dance Boheme from Carmen
6.     Czardas
7.     Zigeunerweisen
8.     Canto Moro
9.     Plegaria Taurina
10.   Farewell My Grenada
11.   La Virgen De La Macarena

Next week, we will start our series looking at brass playing in popular songs of the last 30 to 40 years. We'll begin with brass used by American singer Billy Joel.

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
John Williams and Steven Spielberg in the 1990s
 

 About 6 weeks ago we looked at the collaboration between John Williams and Stephen Spielberg in the 1980's which included the Indiana Jones movies, as well as E.T., Empire Of The Sun and Always.  This week we look the continuation of this partnership in the 1990's.

1.    The Banquet Scene
2.    The Ultimate War
     - Hook (1991)

3.    Journey to The Island
4.    T-Rex Rescue & Finale
     - Jurassic Park (1993)

5.    Main Theme
     - Schindler's List (1993)

6.    The Long Road To Justice
     - Amistad (1997)

7.    Hymn To The Fallen
     - Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Next week, we take another look at the works of Michael Giacchino, as we explore his works away from Pixar.

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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Philip Wilby (Part II)

Last week we looked at three major works composed by Philip Wilby that incorporated music from composers such as Paganini, Vivaldi and Mozart.  This week we continue through his catalogue of major works for brass band.

1.    Dove Descending (Yorkshire Building Society Band)
     - Kings of Europe (2004)

2.    The New Jerusalem (Tertnes Brass)
     - Norwegian Brass Band Championships (1999)

3.    Jazz (Grimethorpe Colliery Band)
     - From Sonnets to Jazz (1997)

Next week we are going to be looking at some of the test music for the upcoming Australian National Brass Band Championships, to be held in Brisbane over Easter.

Program No. 95 - 16th March 2014

Hour 1 (Jazz and Contemporary Brass)
Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson was one of the most adaptable trumpet players, being one of the few to readily change with the times during his long career, from the 1940s to the 2000s. Whilst not the first to utilise the upper register, he came to own that territory.  He released well in excess of 50 albums over his lifetime, with seemingly dozens of compilation albums that have been put together after his death.

Tonight's show seeks to only scratch the surface of his works (as a lot of the tracks tonight have been taken from compilation albums, and could have come from one of 5 or 6 different albums, I have left that information off. But we'll be discussing albums on the show).

1.    Gonna Fly (Theme from Rocky)
2.    Birdland
3.    Sesame Street
4.    The Girl from Ipanema
5.    Eleanor Rigby
6.    Star Trek Theme
7.    MacArthur Park

Next week we'll have our feature of a single album, that is Trumpet Magic: A Tribute to Rafael Mendez, performed by Geoffrey Payne on trumpet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

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Hour 2 (Movie Scores)
Elmer Bernstein

Elmer Bernstein is one of the legends of score composition, having composed for more than 200 movies over his 51 year career. two of his scores (The Magnificent Seven and To Kill a Mockingbird) were listed in the top 20 of the 100 greatest movie scores of all time, compiled in 2005. He was nominated for 17 Academy Awards (and won only one), as well as five Grammy Award nominations.

His first score was for Saturday's Hero in 1951 and his final score was in 2002 for Far Fro Heaven (which was nominated for an Academy Award).

 1.    Main Title
     - The Great Escape (1963)

2.    Sky Hi
     - Thoroughly Modern Mille (1967)

3.    Finale
     - The Black Cauldron (1985)

4.    Main Title
     - To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

5.    Main Theme
     - Ghostbusters (1984)

6.    Airplane Suite
     - Airplane (aka Flying High)(1980)

7.    Walk on The Wild Side
     - Walk on The Wild Side (1962)

8.     Suite from The Ten Commandments
     - The Ten Commandments (1956)

9.    The River Crossing
     - Zulu Dawn (1979)

10.   Main Title
     - Wild Wild West (1999)

11.   Main Title
     - The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Next week we revisit the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams as we look at the 1990s. Think Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Amistad and Hook.

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Hour 3 (Brass Bands and Ensembles)
Philip Wilby

Philip Wilby is a British composer, and whilst he composed for a wide variety of instruments it is his brass band music that we will obviously be looking at closely tonight. In particular we will play 3 of his major works for brass band that have been popular over the last decade or so. The three works share a common theme as they relate to, and include theme and variations of works from well known composers.

1.    Paganini Variations (Grimethorpe Colliery Band)
     - Paganini Variations (1999)

2.    Vienna Nights (Lyngby-Taarbaek Brass Band)
     - European Brass Band Championships 2012

3.    Red Priest (Oslo Brass Band)
     - NM Brass 2012 (Elite Division)

Next week we continue to look at the works of Philip Wilby.

Program No. 68 - 2013 Victorian State Championships Music

At the end of last week's show I promoted this week's show as being all about the music of compose George Lloyd.

Whilst Lloyd was better known for his orchestral and choral works he did write 4 relatively well known major works for brass bands. I was hoping to play all four pieces for you on this week's show. Unfortunately in my research during the week I was unable to find a recording of King's Messenger. Then I found a recording that is being released next week. I have therefore decided to postpone by program of George Lloyd music until a later date.

Instead I will be representing a show I produced earlier this year looking at the music chosen as test pieces for the 2013 Victorian State Championships to be held in Ballarat next weekend (17th and 18th August).

You can find the full list of test pieces on the VBL website.

Please note I have not found recordings of all the test pieces for brass band on the show. In order to mix things up a bit I have included some non-brass band pieces. I'll explain more, later:

1. Nott'num Town (Allan Street)
This is one of the test pieces chosen for D Grade.

I have only managed to find one recording of this piece, and that is by a Concert Band. Here it is performed by The Band of the 9th & 12th Royal Lancers from their 2011 album, In Concert.

I have then found a brass band recording of one of the movements, Goose Fair. Here it is performed by Black Dyke Mills Band from their 1981 album Concert Sound, with Major Peter Parkes as conductor.

2. A Salford Sinfonietta (Darrol Barry)
I believe that this has been selected as a test pieces previously, for the B Grade section. This year it is one of the choices for C Grade.

Here it is being played by BNFL Band on their 1993 album Partita.

3. First Suite in Eb (Gustav Holst)
This is another selection for C grade, and here is another piece where I was unsuccessful in finding a recording of the brass band arrangement. Here it is, for concert, military band, with The Central Band of the Royal Air Force and Wing Commander Eric Banks as conductor, from their 2010 album British Music for Concert Music.

4. The Flying Dutchman: Overture (Richard Wagner)
The first of the selections for B Grade, and yet another piece where I couldn't find the brass band recording. Here is the original orchestral recording, performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vernon Handley
as conductor, from the 2003 album Wagner: The Ride of the Valkyries, Overtures.

5. Royal Parks (George Lloyd)
The second of the selections for B Grade, this was one of 4 test pieces written by George Lloyd for brass bands. Apparently the story goes that people though this test pieces a bit too easy when it was presented by Lloyd. He made sure his next piece was much harder (more about that in our later show on George Lloyd).
This recording is from Black Dyke Mills Band with Major Peter Parkes as conductor from their 1986 album The Complete Champions.

6. Partita for Band - Postcards from Home (Philip Wilby)
This was also an option for B grade bands. Here it is performed by Grimethorpe Colliery Band from their 1993 album Wilby.

7. Rienzi: Overture (Richard Wagner)
This piece was provided as an option for A Grade Bands, but once again I couldn't find a recording of the brass band arrangement. Once again I have turned to an orchestral recording, from the same CD as before (See The Flying Dutchman, above).

8. The Legend of King Arthur (Peter Meechan)
The last recording chosen for tonight's show is also the newest. This piece was only composed in the last couple of years with this recording, from Foden's Band only released last year, on the album with the same name.

I'll be away at the State Championships next Sunday so there won't be a show next week.

The following week we'll have the results of the State Championships as part of our show featuring the music of George Lloyd.