Bolcom Caught Fire…
…at ABA last Thursday night. I rode over to the ABA convention with Verena and AEJ on the band bus (hooray for band bus trips!), to hear the UT Wind Ensemble give their concert at Texas A&M. It was a hell of a concert – for me, the biggest highlights were Sunil Gadgil’s absolutely astounding performance of Bolcom’s Concert Suite for Alto Saxophone and Band, and John Mackey’s Kingfishers Catch Fire, which I’d never heard performed live. I must say, as exciting and feel-good as it is on a recording, it’s 10 times that live. The surround trumpets are extra satisfying (though I could use even more – I think Mackey should call for at least Circus Maximus numbers). Jerry Junkin does a very cool alteration of the final trumpet entrance that involves them entering in a slow pan that circles around the audience from left to right. I dig it…and will likely steal it for the final movement of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble, whenever I get around to doing those other movements.
The UT Wind Ensemble gets no time to rest – they have another concert this Tuesday at the Meyerson Symphony Center. My own Ecstatic Waters will make an appearance on the program as well this time (the website above is out of date and doesn’t list it). The concert is at 7:30pm at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. I know I always say this, but seriously, if you’re in the DFW area, you should come to this concert… 🙂