© 2003–2004 WASBE

Photographs © 2003 Anthony Reimer or Egil & Brith Gundersen (used with permission)

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herein are those of the
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of WASBE.

Orchestre d'Harmonie d'Électricité de Strassbourg

Concert Review by Timothy Reynish

The Orchestre d'Harmonie d'Électricité de Strassbourg was founded in 1911 and has the twin jobs of being a regional enterprise at the service of clients and also contributing strongly to the cultural life of Alsace. Most of the orchestra work for the electricity company, and it is firmly established as one of the leading amateur organizations in France. It is in the Confederation Musicale de France, which includes approximately 5500 musical and choral groups, a total of 600,000 musicians. Their motto is that the Orchestra should mirror the strategy of the ÉS Group in terms of quality, innovation and public spiritedness. As Felix Hauswirth said in his introduction, it was high time that we had a French Orchestra at a WASBE Conference, and the OHES certainly showed the level of the best work being done in France. Can we hope for more information about French music in our publications following this concert?

I found this programme very varied and perfectly balanced — conductor Kunihiro Ochi used the same analogy as that of Peter Bucher in his talk on programming in Luzern: I have no particular preference for any individual musical style, as long as the music is of good quality. For me, a concert is like a gourmet meal. It needs to include varied dishes of a high quality, accompanied by carefully chosen wines to create the right atmosphere.

There were four substantial works here in this programme. It is no surprise that Rauber has had success in a wide range of music, theatre and film. He has also served as arranger for a variety of artists such as Juliette Greco and classical stars such as Maurice André, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Luciano Pavarotti and Barbara Hendricks. 14 Juilliet is for solo brass quintet with wind orchestra; the work is approximately fourteen minutes long. Its six movements include “The Parade”, “The Commemoration,” “Banquet,” “Le Grand Bal” and a very hung-over “In the early hours of the morning.” I thought that the composer achieved what is very difficult: wit, a subtle humor, in the genre of Ibert and Les Six. The composition is published by WASBE member Robert Martin, and any band who wishes to show off their brass soloists should consider this work. We should all be more familiar with Martin Edition and the music of François Rauber.

Piet Swerts is another composer with a burgeoning career in many fields, including opera, oratorio, choir and orchestra. On the strength of Cyrano, we should be beating a path to his door to commission more works. This was not the most original work in the conference, but was certainly one of the most effective, superbly and persuasively constructed, with terrific orchestration and a sure control of pace and drama. There are episodes which owe much to Ravel (a most ravishing love scene), and there is the energy of Dukas and Florent Schmitt. At a little over twenty one minutes, this is a most welcome addition to the repertoire.

David Kechley's superb saxophone concerto, Restless Birds before the Dark Moon, was commissioned by the United States Military Academy Band of West Point and was premiered in Montreal with Staff Sergeant Wayne Tice as soloist.. It is published by Pine Valley Press and was introduced to me by Frank Battisti. Kechley was present at the Conference and gave a fascinating talk on the construction of the work, and I hope that the wind band world will invite him to compose for the medium again. It was good to hear yet another superb virtuoso soloist in a very exciting major addition to the canon of saxophone concertos, and Tice also gave a wonderful masterclass.

I have a recording of the final work, Aurora, by Thomas Doss, but no recording can do justice to a live performance such as this. Doss is familiar to us through the work of Johann Moesenbichler, and this is another great addition to the repertoire with its sometimes conventional gestures spiced up with wild cries, singing, and bursts of enormous energy, as the programme note describes it. Perhaps you will discover the wild and passionate welcome of Aurora (the Greek Goddess of Sunrise) in the African bush or will hear the rhythmic foot stamping of the first inhabitants of America for whom Aurora (the sunrise) held a unique symbolism. The work is about thirteen and half minutes long and is published by MCS in Austria. I recommend it wholeheartedly for performance along with the other three works in this programme. These are four composers who should be encouraged to continue to write for us!

Interestingly, some delegates were critical of intonation in this concert; I suspect that we were just not used to the more brilliant sound of a French wind orchestra. In a week of really excellent conducting, I must mention the skills of conductor Kunihiro Ochi, both for his programming and for the flexibility and control of this large orchestra. He comes to the wind band from an orchestral background, having played as a trumpeter under Seigi Ozawa and Isaac Stern; he later studied in Germany. Anyone looking for a guest conductor would do well to contact Ochi-san. Arigato, merci and danke, OHES.