Titles are funny things, and Paul Richards knows how to grab your attention with titles like “A Butterfly Coughs in Africa” and “Falling on Lobsters in the Dark.” But he holds your attention with a rich palette of innovative and engaging sounds. The Dallas Wind Symphony will perform his concerto “Snake in the Garden” in its next concert, and you’ll be tempted to become a Richards fan.

Works discussed: Paul Richards, Snake in the Garden

What’s this program about?
Carl Orff selected vivid poems from a Medieval manuscript and super-charged them with color and energy to create the mega-hit “Carmina Burana” in 1937. An innovative music educator and proponent of Eurhythmics, Orff poured his understanding of natural melody and rhythm into this theatrical work, a spectacle for ear and eye.

Works discussed: Carl Orff, Carmina Burana

What’s this program about?

Enter the musical world of Sir Malcolm Arnold, a world of brisk expression and energy, evocative soundscape, precise instrumentation, and winsome melody.  A world of richly colored, well crafted, deeply satisfying sound.

Many people discover Malcolm Arnold through his sets of appealing dances and through his film scores, especially Bridge on the River Kwai.

Technorati Profile

Conductor and oboist Vladimir Lande talks with Professor Carol about the legacy of Evgeny Mravinsky and Soviet composers Shostakovich and Khachaturian, as well as the influence of folklore and the bells of the Orthodox Church on Russian composers. He discusses performances of music by John Corigliano, Gaetano Panariello, and Lorenzo Ferrero and his enthusiasm for performing contemporary music of Russia, America, and Italy at the St. Petersburg Musical Spring and Ravello Festivals.

In addition to his conducting career, Lande is a virtuoso oboist with the Poulenc Trio and the D’Amore duo. He began his career as principal oboist of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (1984-1989), playing under such legendary conductors as Mravinsky, Mariss Jansons, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, and Yuri Temirkanov.

Lande has been awarded many prestigious prizes, including the First Prize of the Russian Republic Wind Competition. He was named principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in Russia, as well as music director and conductor of the Washington Soloist Chamber Orchestra in Washington, D.C.

What’s this program about?

In today’s classical music world, there are not many composers who can stir up the excitement that might have accompanied the premiere of a new work by Brahms.  But John Mackey is a composer who can.  He has a popular following from all over the world.  The Dallas Wind Symphony collaborated with a group of wind bands to commission Mackey’s new Concerto for Soprano Sax and Wind Ensemble.  Mackey dedicated the work to Don Fabian, principal saxophonist of the Dallas Wind Symphony, and Professor Carol talks to Fabian about the upcoming premiere.

Works discussed: John Mackey’s Concerto for Soprano Sax and Wind Ensemble

What’s this program about?
Hollywood is heir to the European musical traditions. The classic films were scored by composers trained in Europe and schooled in the classical traditions and by immigrant composers who escaped Germany after their work was denounced by the Nazis as “degenerate music” (Entartete Musik).

Works Discussed: Bernard Herrmann: Psycho, Vertigo; Erich Korngold: Robin Hood; Aaron Copland: Red Pony; Virgil Thompson: The Plow that Broke the Plains

Where you can find:
The Film Music of Erich Korngold
Copland: The Red Pony Suite
Herrmann: The Film Scores
The Music Survives! Music Suppressed by the Third Reich

What’s this program about?
Carol interviews Dean Bouras, arranger for the Dallas Wind Symphony Big Band concerts, and John Trapani, leader of the John Trapani Big Band about the era, the music, and its popularity today.

Works Discussed: Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Norman Leyden

Where you can find:
Big Band Collection
Big Band Magic

What’s this program about?
The tone poem of the late romantic era painted pictures and portrayed stories with a rich orchestral style that became the model for film music. In Part 2, Professor Carol explains features of John Williams’ famous film scores and how we hear music differently when it accompanies drama.

Works Discussed: John Williams, E.T., Schindler’s List, Jaws, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Harry Potter

Where you can find:
Holst “The Planets”
Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores

What’s this program about?
Professor Carol continues her interview of John Corigliano and Jerry Junkin. Corigliano talks about his approach to composition and how he, and other top composers, are turning to wind bands for an exciting new sound.

Works Discussed: Corigliano, Circus Maximus

What’s this program about?
Professor Carol interviews two friends and collaborators, composer John Corigliano and Maestro Jerry Junkin. Circus Maximus, Coriglian’s explosive third symphony, vividly portrays ancient Rome’s fascination with perpetual entertainment and our own culture’s similar obsession.

Works Discussed: Corigliano, Circus Maximus

Where you can find:
John Corigliano’s Altered States
John Corigliano’s Red Violin
John Corigliano’s Concerto for Clarinet

What’s this program about?
Percy Grainger’s life story reveals a most unusual personality who left an enduring legacy as a virtuoso pianist, an inventor of instruments, a collector of English folk songs, and a composer of music for wind band. 

Works Discussed: Grainger, Lincolnshire Posy, The Immovable Do, Molly on the Shore.

Where you can find:
Percy Grainger’s Great Symphonic Band Music
Frederick Fennell – Eastman Wind Ensemble
Percy Grainger Biography – John Bird