Dances from 'The Cossacs'. Par ELLING CATHARIUS. The Opera “The Cossacs” by Catharinus Elling is based on the Nikolai Gogol novel about Taras Bulba. “The Cossacs” was premiered in 1897 at Eldorado in Kristiania (the old name on Norway’s capitol Oslo). Despite positive response in the papers of that time, the opera was newer performed again in it’s entirely. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation have an abbreviated recording in it’s archives, but no complete performance is known to date. The Norwegian National Opera Orchestra recorded both the overture and the dances in 2021, conducted by Ingar Bergby. Thet are both a part of the CD “Norwegian Opera Overtures”. This arrangement is not commissioned by anyone, but rather written to better the availability of quality Norwegian orchestral music arranged for Concert Band. This edition is a good opportunity to be more familiar with Norwegian heritage of orchestral music. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). Par BRUCKNER ANTON. Anton Bruckner (b. 4.9.1824, Ansfelden, d. 11.10.1896, Vienna) didn’t have it easy. Throughout his life, the Austrian composer was plagued by self-doubt. Anton Bruckner came from a simple, rural background. After the death of his father, he was accepted as a choirboy at the monastery of Sankt Florian in 1837. After several years as a school assistant and his own organ and piano studies, he first worked as organist in St. Florian, then from 1855 as cathedral organist in Linz. Introduced to music theory and instrumentation by Simon Sechter and Otto Kitzler, he discovered Richard Wagner as an artistic role model, whom he admired throughout his life and also visited several times in Bayreuth. In 1868 Anton Bruckner became professor of basso continuo, counterpoint and organ at the Vienna Conservatory; ten years later court organist; and in 1891 finally honorary doctor of the University of Vienna. He was considered an important organ virtuoso of his era, but had to wait a long time for recognition as a composer. It was not until Symphony No.7 in E major, composed between 1881 and 1883, with the famous Adagio written under the effects of Wagner's death, that he achieved the recognition he had hoped for, even if he was reluctant to accept it given his inclination towards scepticism and self-criticism. Anton Bruckner was a loner who did not want to follow a particular school or doctrine. He composed numerous sacred vocal works, such as his three masses, the Missa Solemnis in B flat minor (1854), the Te Deum (1881-84) and numerous motets. As a symphonic composer, he wrote a total of nine symphonies and many symphonic studies from 1863 onwards, tending to revise completed versions several times over. Bruckner's orchestral works were long considered unplayable, but in fact were merely exceptionally bold for the tonal language of their time, uniting traditions from Beethoven through Wagner to folk music, on the threshold between late Romanticism and Modernism. Anton Bruckner composed about 40 motets during his lifetime, the earliest a setting of Pange lingua around 1835, and the last, Vexilla regis, in 1892. Thomas Doss has compiled some of these motets in this volume for symphonic wind orchestra. These motets show many characteristics of personal expression, especially Bruckner's colourful harmony in the earlier works, which is in places aligned with Franz Schubert (changes between major and minor; and movements in thirds). Later works are characterised by many components which, in addition to the expanded stature of the movements, include above all a sense of the instrumentation as an outward phenomenon and the harmony as a compositional feature that works more internally. Some aspects of Bruckner's work are the result of his long period of study, which familiarised him not only with the tradition of his craft, but also gave him insights into the 'modernity' of his time in such composers as Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz. From this developed his personal standpoint, which always pursues the connection between the old and the new. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par JORGENSEN AXEL. Axel Jørgensen was the solo viola in The Royal Danish Orchestra, and as a composer he had a large output, especially for brass. His Romance for trombone and orchestra is one of his most performed pieces, and was first performed by Anton Hansen, the famous teacher. In this arrangement for wind band has Eriksen kept the beautiful late romantic colours. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Norwegian Festival Overture. Par HALVORSEN JOHAN. The Norwegian Festival Overture was written for the grand opening of the National Theatre on September 1st, 1899. In the opening bars, one can virtually imagine the stage curtain being drawn aside, and the stage is revealed to the audience. The trumpets openly quote Peer Gynts return from Grieg's music to the play Peer Gynt. The main part of the overture consists of a theme in Norwegian folk music style, which Halvorsen brilliantly develops thematically and contrapuntally. The work can probably be seen as pompous and at times seems somewhat overwrought, but then Halvorsen himself, ever so slightly self-deprecating, has written Pomposo over the grand conclusion of the work. The arrangement of the overture was written to The Royal Norwegian Navy Band for a concert in Halvorsen’s native town of Drammen in 2016. The arranger has tried to preserve as much as possible of Halvorsen's brilliant orchestration. There are a lot of cue notes which make it possible to perform also with a reduced instrumentation. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie