Ewazenoms :)
Eric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher. He has written music for many different ensembles and solo instruments. There are some people out there that don't think very highly about his writing, maybe because a lot of his music sounds "the same". I have to say that I enjoy his style of writing, and have never been bothered by the consistency in his sound that he creates with his writing. I'd have to describe it as uplifting and mysterious at times.
Not too long ago I heard a piece by Eric Ewazen, Grand Canyon Octet. When I heard this it was being performed by the Juilliard Trombone Choir. I enjoyed this piece a ton and it was performed impressively by the trombone choir. Looking into this piece more I discovered that it was originally written for horn octet, I enjoyed it even more!
Here are program notes from the composer:
"The Grand Canyon Octet was commissioned by Thomas Bacon and the Arizona State University Horn Ensemble, to whom the work is gratefully dedicated. It was premiered by them at the ASU Horn Festival in February, 1997. The trombone version was made at the suggestion of Don Lucas. Under his direction, the Texas Tech Trombone Choir premiered this version in the Spring of 1997 and at the International Trombone Association Convention, held in May of that same year, at the University of Illinois. This is a large brass choir piece in three movements. The first movement is a rollicking Allegro with playful motives tossed from instrument to instrument. The second movement is a dramatic and soulful lament. The third movement is in a rondo form, with a resonant and striking main theme alternating with lively contrasting sections.
The title of the piece simply came from the fact that Arizona is the Grand Canyon State. Written for the Arizona State University, I thought this would be an appropriate and fun title. The themes that I have used throughout this piece are often colorful, bold and majestic and they seem to nicely fit the connotations of a work called Grand Canyon Octet." - Eric Ewazen
I have here two recordings, horn and trombone choir arrangements.
Have fun listening to both versions and see which you like best!
The American Horn Quartet & NY Phil Horns_ Allegro maestoso
The American Horn Quartet & NY Phil Horns_Andante appassionato
The American Horn Quartet & NY Phil Horns_ Lento-allegro molto
Performance from the Hong Kong Trombone Association Inaugural Concert
Not too long ago I heard a piece by Eric Ewazen, Grand Canyon Octet. When I heard this it was being performed by the Juilliard Trombone Choir. I enjoyed this piece a ton and it was performed impressively by the trombone choir. Looking into this piece more I discovered that it was originally written for horn octet, I enjoyed it even more!
Here are program notes from the composer:
"The Grand Canyon Octet was commissioned by Thomas Bacon and the Arizona State University Horn Ensemble, to whom the work is gratefully dedicated. It was premiered by them at the ASU Horn Festival in February, 1997. The trombone version was made at the suggestion of Don Lucas. Under his direction, the Texas Tech Trombone Choir premiered this version in the Spring of 1997 and at the International Trombone Association Convention, held in May of that same year, at the University of Illinois. This is a large brass choir piece in three movements. The first movement is a rollicking Allegro with playful motives tossed from instrument to instrument. The second movement is a dramatic and soulful lament. The third movement is in a rondo form, with a resonant and striking main theme alternating with lively contrasting sections.
The title of the piece simply came from the fact that Arizona is the Grand Canyon State. Written for the Arizona State University, I thought this would be an appropriate and fun title. The themes that I have used throughout this piece are often colorful, bold and majestic and they seem to nicely fit the connotations of a work called Grand Canyon Octet." - Eric Ewazen
I have here two recordings, horn and trombone choir arrangements.
Have fun listening to both versions and see which you like best!
The American Horn Quartet & NY Phil Horns_ Allegro maestoso
The American Horn Quartet & NY Phil Horns_Andante appassionato
The American Horn Quartet & NY Phil Horns_ Lento-allegro molto
Performance from the Hong Kong Trombone Association Inaugural Concert
I had to go to YouTube to hear this as well. You might consider changing the Spotify links to YouTube or some other non-subscription based streaming service. https://youtu.be/grwqc6ROOgg
ReplyDeleteAlso, Juillliard is the most commonly misspelled school name in music (two "i"s and two "l"s. You can thank Augustus D. Juilliard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_D._Juilliard) for that.