Admittedly, I’ve been pretty spoiled with conducting opportunities at SHSU. Last month I led the SHSU Wind Ensemble in the premiere performance of B.P. Herrington’s new piece for wind ensemble, Verses from the Thicket.
Brian’s new piece is written for two antiphonal groups of winds, both including woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Group 1 also includes piano and celeste and Group 2 includes a harp.
This is how he describes the piece:
Verses from the Thicket is a fantasia on two Piney Woods folk songs that run through the piece, “Poor Widow Woman” and “Lovely William.” The presentation of these tunes ranges from relatively realist (using the ornamentation and heterophony of folk music) to post-tonal refractions of material. Throughout the piece, these materials come sharply into focus and then dissolve away. The texture alternates between lean chamber textures and large forces. The antiphonal orchestration was initially inspired by the “Fantasia for Double Orchestra” by my teacher Simon Bainbridge and also “Voci” for viola and two orchestras by Luciano Berio. The work is dedicated to Dr. Barry Johnson, who was director of bands for many years at Lamar University. I also wish to express my full gratitude to Dr. McInturf for allowing me to workshop this piece with his ensemble as I developed it.”
It was exciting (and a bit terrifying) rehearsing a piece that had never been performed before. (The piece had been workshopped the earlier in the school year but this was the first time any meaningful time had been devoted to its preparation.) We quickly learned the importance of emphasizing the various musical gestures that were in the score and the need to be very precise with the rhythms. Brian’s writing gives the music a free, improvisatorial feeling that must be communicated by multiple musicians at the same time, sometimes while being seated on opposite sides of the stage.
From a conducting standpoint, the various tempi (ranging from 54-144 and often switching every few bars) creates an extra challenge of focus and internalization of musical elements. Also difficult was managing eye contact with an ensemble that was split on different sides of the stage and with musicians sitting in chairs/rows that they don’t normally occupy.
The premiere took place on April 7, 2017 as part of the 2017 SHSU Contemporary Music Festival and then again on April 20, 2017.
I strongly believe this piece deserves consideration for programming by ensembles across the country and I hope this piece leads to additional interest in Brian’s music in the wind band field.
Below is the recording from our second performance of Verses that took place on April 20th.