WHAT: Tacoma Concert Band
WHEN: Friday, February 25, 2000
WHERE: Pantages Theater, Downtown Tacoma
A near-capacity audience at Tacoma's historic Pantages Theater Friday night was treated to a diverse concert band program, skillfully presented by the 60-piece Tacoma Concert Band under the direction of Robert Musser.
The program included band classics such as "Fame and Fortune" by Karl King, "The Thunderer" by John Philip Sousa, and even "A Leroy Anderson Portrait", arranged by James Barnes. Two soloists were featured as well. Local student saxophonist Erik Ibsen-Nowak performed the Glazunov saxophone concerto as winner of the Tacoma Concert Band Student Soloist Competition, an annual opportunity for local student musicians. Soprano soloist Edie Delegans shared lovely renditions of two traditional songs, "Down by the Sally Gardens" and "Gypsy Love Song".
The program also included two contrasting contemporary works for concert band, both of which were given a very committed and convincing performance. The first was Philip Sparke's "Dance Movements", a work commissioned by the United States Air Force Band and premiered by them in 1996. The four-movement work demonstrated superb writing for concert band, with excellent solo use of several instruments as well as wonderful layered ensemble writing. As the composer himself describes, "the four movements are all dance-inspired, although no specific dance rhythms are used". Perhaps most striking in this performance was the brass movement which Sparke describes as a "love duet". The tremendous strength and warmth of the Tacoma Concert Band brass were shown off in this touching brass chorale.
The true gem of the program was Aldo Rafael Forte's "Van Gogh Portraits", a five-movement work based on famous paintings by the great Dutch artist. Forte was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1953, and moved to the United States in 1962. The highly programmatic movements are unified by the use of the three notes B-flat, D, and A. This "Van Gogh motif" develops and transforms through the course of the work, but is always recognizable as a unifying theme. Throughout the work, new sounds and textures are explored as a means of expressing the theme of each painting. The third movement, "Zouave", which features the percussion, and the fourth movement, "The Drawbridge", in which clarinets and bass clarinet establish a remarkably suggestive foggy water scene, were particularly striking examples of the tone painting achieved by Forte in this work.
While it might be said that the program had "something for everyone", the bulk of the audience was attentive and receptive throughout the evening. The same folks who applauded the "Leroy Anderson Portrait" also enjoyed the "Van Gogh Portraits". Such programs are rare musical experiences, and are only possible when the ensemble as a whole has real commitment and skill on which to draw; this is obviously the case with the Tacoma Concert Band.
Kim Davenport
Band marks ‘Milestones’ with style
MICHAEL HILL; For The News Tribune
Published: November 22nd, 2005 02:30 AM
The Tacoma Concert Band celebrated its 25th season Sunday with a concert that touched on the highlights of its first quarter-century and gave a local hero a chance to shine.
Dubbed “Milestones,” the performance featured a selection of significant works performed by the group since its formation in 1981, as well as a quartet of works featuring virtuoso Seattle-born trumpeter Rolf Smedvig.
From the moment Smedvig, founder of the Empire Brass Quartet and holder of the “international chair” at the Royal Academy of Music in London, strode onto the Pantages Theater stage in a bold red jacket with a gleaming gold trumpet under his arm, it was clear that the small but appreciative audience was in for something special. Whether blowing jazzily on Alfred Reed’s “Ode for Trumpet,” summoning matadors and rose-throwing senoritas on the traditional “La Virgin de la Macarena” or peeling off awe-inspiring virtuosic runs on “Carnival of Venice,” Smedvig delivered on his promise by making the most of his time in the spotlight.
He also made a point to give kudos to the Tacoma Concert Band, praising the group’s camaraderie and hailing conductor/music director Robert Musser’s musicianship. “It’s a great privilege to come here and play with such a great symphonic band,” announced the gifted and gracious Smedvig.
Elsewhere, the group took a long look down its own little stretch of memory lane, offering up everything from good-time John Philip Sousa fare (“The Belle of Chicago”) to dense and predominantly dark transcriptions of orchestral works by Gustav Holst (“Mars” from his orchestral suite “The Planets”) and Modeste Mussorgsky (“Night on the Bare Mountain”). The group was particularly effective on a pair of works commissioned by the Tacoma Concert Band, David Holsinger’s “Praises” and Robert Jager’s “A Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.”
The Holsinger piece, a symphonic ballet for band that premiered in 2001, was represented by its third and sixth movements. The third, titled “Barak,” a Hebrew word that means “to kneel and bow as an act of humble adoration,” exhibited a contemporary sound long on texture and reminiscent of the work of Aaron Copland. The sixth movement, “Tehillah,” Hebrew for “to sing halals (praises),” was a rousing musical celebration rooted in a more traditional concert band sound that featured a runaway glockenspiel, sharp blasts from the brass and an introductory section that found the group functioning as a makeshift chorus.
The Jager composition, a tribute to the work of world-renowned local glass artist Dale Chihuly that was premiered in 1997, was a largely percussion-driven offering that ranged from airy and mysterious to rhythmic and rollicking. The third movement, inspired by the music that Chihuly and his apprentices listen to while working, was a homage-of-sorts to ’60s and ’70s rock ’n’ roll music, complete with a percussion quote from Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.
The Sudler Silver Scroll
An International Award
recognizing Community Concert Bands
of Outstanding Musical Excellence
North America's most prestigious award for community concert bands is named after Chicago real estate magnate Louis C. Sudler, a patron of the arts who founded the John Philip Sousa Foundation. This organization is a publicly supported, educational foundation established for the purpose of planning, sponsoring and administering projects contributing to the excellence of bands and band music throughout the world by recognizing excellence in its many forms wherever it may be found.
PURPOSE
To identify, recognize and honor those community bands that have demonstrated particularly high standards of excellence in concert activities over a period of several years and have played a significant and leading role, year after year, in the cultural and musical environment of their respective communities.
PROCEDURE
Nominations will be received from any source and at any time. The nominations may be sent to the President of the Sousa Foundation or to the Sudler Scroll Chair. An Official Application will be forwarded to the director of the band nominated and the chairman will bring the completed applications to the annual meeting of the selection committee which takes place each year in December at the Mid-West International Band Clinic in Chicago. There is no specific number of community bands that can be honored each year.
CRITERIA
The band must have achieved and maintained particularly high standards of excellence in concert performance and have selected a high level of musical literature over a period of years. The conductor must be incumbent in their position for a minimum of five years including the current year. The band must have a demonstrated record of contributing significantly to the high standards of cultural environment in its community both by its performances and by involving a high percentage of community residents as performers.
Recipients of the Sudler Silver Scroll
1987 The Northshore Community Band Evanston, IL , John Paynter, Conductor
1988 The Lawrence City Band Lawrence, KS, William L. Kelley, Conductor
1989 The Tacoma Concert Band, Robert C. Musser, Conductor
1990 The Kiel Municipal Band Kiel, WI , Lewis Schmidt, Conductor
1990 The Allentown Band , Allentown, PA , Ronald H. Demkee, Conductor
1991 The Naperville Municipal Band , Naperville, IL, Ronald J. Keller, Conductor
1993 The Sarasota Mobile Home Band , Sarasota, FL , Leo Laier, Conductor
1993 The Austin Symphonic Band , Austin, TX , Richard Floyd, Conductor
1994 The Racine Municipal Band , Racine, WI , Delbert Eisch, Conductor
1995 The Texas Wind Symphony, Arlington, TX , Ray Lichtenwalter, Conductor
1995 The Medalist Concert Band , Bloomington MN Earl Benson, Conductor
1996 The Kent Stark Concert Band , Canton, OH , Patricia Grutzmacher, Conductor
1996 The Scottsdale Concert Band , Scottsdale, AZ , Charles "Bud" Sessions, Conductor
1996 The Ridgewood Concert Band, Ridgewood, NJ , C. Christian Wilhjelm, Conductor
1996 The Tara Winds Community Band , Hampton, GA , David Gregory, Conductor
1997 The Coastal Communities Concert Band, San Diego, CA , Don Caneva, Conductor
1997 The Lakeland Civic Band , Kirtland, OH , Charles Frank, Conductor
1997 The Twin City Concert Band, West Monroe, LA , Jack White, Conductor
1998 The San Jose Wind Symphony , San Jose, CA, Darrell Johns, Conductor
1998 The Corpus Christi Wind Symphony Corpus Christi, TX , Bryce Taylor, Conductor
1999 The Community Band of Brevard, Brevard, FL , Marion Scott, Director
1999 The Lafayette Concert Band Lafayette, LA, Gerald Guilbeaux, Conductor
2000 Virginia Grand Military Band, Arlington, VA, Loras John Schissell, Conductor
2000 The Allentown Band, Allentown, PA, Ronald H. Demkee, Conductor
2001 The Lafayette Citizen's Band, Lafayette, IN, William Kissinger, Conductor
2002 Pensacola Civic Band, Pensacola, FL, Don Snowden, Conductor
2003 Houston Symphonic Band, Houston TX, Robert McElroy, Conductor
2004 Penn Central Wind Band, Lewisburg, PA, William Kenny, Conductor
2005 West Michigan Concert Winds, Muskegon, MI, Gail A. Brechting, Conductor
2006 South Jersey Area Wind Ensemble, Linwood, NJ, Keith Hodgson, Conductor
2007 East Tennessee Concert Band, Knoxville, TN, Ric Best, Conductor
2009 Cobb Wind Symphony, Marietta, GA, Alfred Walkins,conductor
2009 Minnesota Symphonic Winds, Edina, MN, Timothy Mahr, conductor
