Street Song
Fri 12 Apr 2024, 7 PM

The earliest brass instruments are among the oldest instruments of all, and played their part in the rituals of many ancient cultures. The brass family continue to inspire composers around the planet, as you’ll hear in this resounding brass showcase for ANAM musicians and faculty. 

This program of 20^th and 21^st century works takes you across the planet and, in a way, across time, for the Day and Night fanfares by Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu – collectively, the Signals from Heaven – are arranged antiphonally, taking you back to the conversational effects achieved by Gabrieli and his 17^th century Venetian contemporaries. Although much of Street Song is sassy and ebullient, it has a vein of melancholy running through it too and, as its composer says: ‘The harmonies move between the world of the Middle Ages and the present, between East and West, and always, of course, from the perspective of 20^th Century America.’ Written by one of the world’s great conductors, Street Song is now a major work in the brass ensemble repertoire, as are the light-hearted Ragtimes and Habaneras by Hans Werner Henze. These are gentle, affectionate parodies of the fox trot, the tango and other popular dances of a bygone era. 

Improviser, saxophone soloist, chamber musician – Daniel Schnyder is a prolific and hugely versatile composer, and packs a kaleidoscopic range of expression into his five-movement Brass Symphony, from its sassy introduction to the rhythmic fireworks of its finale. Finally, Holly Harrison showcases three contrasting brass sound worlds in her aptly named Triple Threat.

Torū TAKEMITSU Signals from Heaven 
Hans Werner HENZE Ragtimes and Habaneras
Daniel SCHNYDER Brass Symphony 
Michael TILSON-THOMAS Street Song 
Holly HARRISON Triple Threat 

Colin Prichard (ANAM Faculty) director/trombone 
ANAM Brass

Approximate concert duration: 90 minutes

Download the Concert Program

CONCERT PROGRAM