Philharmonic, with no strings attached
‘Winter Winds and Brass’ includes Mozart serenade
Aconcert on Jan.
8 will showcase the New Mexico Philharmonic sans strings.
“Winter Winds and Brass! opens at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, conducted by University of New Mexico music professor Eric RombachKendall.
The concert will open with Mozart’s luminous Serenade in C minor. The octet will feature two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns.
“Mozart composed a number of serenades, and three of them were for winds,” Rombach-Kendall said. “Wind octets were a very popular medium in the late 18th century.”
The form emerged from both the symphony and the concerto, he added.
“These came out of the need to create light music for evening entertainment.”
Late 19th century German composer Carl Reinecke’s octet will follow.
“The borders in Europe were changing at that time, so he was technically born Danish,” Rombach-Kendall said.
UNM graduate and Taos native John Cheetham’s “Commemorative Fanfare” will offer a short introduction to the brass.
Cheetham is a professor emeritus of music theory and composition at the University of MissouriColumbia.
Twentieth century British composer Peter Warlock’s “Capriol Suite” was originally written for strings, then arranged for full orchestra and then again for brass choir. The composer based it on a Renaissance treatise known as the Orchesography. The document discussed Renaissance dances and featured musical excerpts, Rombach-Kendall said.
The concert will close with French classical composer Henri Tomasi’s 1947 “Fanfares Liturgiques,” adapted from his opera “Don Juan de Mañara.” The suitably theatrical final fanfare comes from a scene that takes place in Seville during a Holy Week procession. A heavenly voice sings to Miguel Mañara, lifting his spirits. Tomasi was the conductor of the Opera Monte Carlo.
The arrangement features three trumpets, four horns and four trombones.
A contemporary music advocate, RombachKendall is the UNM band director, known for conducting brass, winds and percussion.