Thursday 17 September 2009

Brassband Willebroek's 30 Anniversary Celebrations

On Saturday 26th of September Brassband Willebroek will celebrate their 30th birthday in Antwerp (www.desingel.be) in front of a sold-out audience. The concert will be broadcasted on Klara (Belgian equivalent of BBC Radio 3) and BBW’s program will include Lament from Macbeth and a rendition of Innuendo where they’ll be joined by the trumpet section of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra.

Thursday 10 September 2009

Performance of Elegie by Jason Ham

I have received this email from my friend, and fantastic euphonium solost, Jason Ham.

This coming Sunday, I've got a recital at West Point that you might be interested in.
I've titled the performance "NOW: Music of the Euphonium's Golden Age", and all the music is from 2002 or later. If this sounds odd, it should. Most people think of a golden age as being something in the past. However, I think of the euphonium's golden age as being now and the future. We're HEADED towards our golden age. The fact is, simply, that the euphonium is having more music written for it now than at any time in its history.
I normally don't get all that excited about recitals, but I am really happy about this opportunity. Let me tell you why, according to each piece on the program:
DOMINIQUE ROGGEN: CONCERTO FOR EUPHONIUM IN Bb MAJOR
Listen to this piece, and you'd swear it was written in the 1600's or 1700's. Completely Baroque. Written in 2006!
JIRO CENSHU: THE WINDOW OPENS TOWARD THE OCEAN
An unbelievably beautiful euphonium duet that I get to play with the great Barry Morrison, my partner in crime...whoops...I meant in hooah...in the euphonium section at West Point
THOMAS DOSS: SIR "EU"
A freakin' hard piece, but with an unbelievably great brass section of 11 brass and 2 percussion. Lieutenant Dae Kim, one of the best young conductor's I've ever seen, will be conducting
PETER MEECHAN: ELEGIE
Pete Meechan is a freakin' genius. He's written more good stuff for euphonium in the last 5 years than just about any composer I can think of has written for the euphonium in their lifetime...yes, this includes Philip Sparke. The brass quintet performing with me on this piece is just superb.
JOE TURRIN: CONCERT PIECE NO. 1
Joe's work from 2004 has gotten a lot of publicity in the euphonium world, and it should. It's a tour-de-force for the euphonium player, and will give the end of this concert a swift kick in the pants! (that is...if the lips hold up!)
Add some great music to an unbelievably beautiful space overlooking the Hudson River on a beautiful day (it's supposed to be sunny and 78 degrees!), and you can't go wrong.
Hope to see you here! Download the attachement for directions to the Jewish Chapel at West Point. It will be a drive worth making!
Jason Ham

Monday 7 September 2009

DVD release


Brass Band Willebroek's performance of "Lament from Macbeth" has been released on DVD. It was recorded at the farewell concert of the 2009 European Brass Band Championships.

More details can be found by clicking the link below: http://www.worldofbrass.com/acatalog/26058.html

News - September

Welcome to my blog...It has been a few months since I last blogged, but I will be on here blogging more from here on in!

There have been several pieces newly released on CD. Sellers International Youth Band is a brass band that I have had the pleasure of writing four pieces for, and they have recorded three of them on their first CD release. The "pastiche" work Curtain Call,Fanfare for a Festival and, the title track of the CD, Apex (Soloist Joe Murray) are all featured by the band, and their MD (And my good friend), Mark Bousie.

All three works featured on the disc are available from
Peter Meechan Music.

Several of my pieces for brass or wind band have been expertly transcribed for fanfare band by Belgian Luc Vertommen. They are published by Band Press VOF who have recently produced a CD, entitled Sirocco. The ten tracks on the CD are performed by the fantasticKoninklijke Fanfare Kempenbloei, and they feature two of my works; Hymn for Africa, andElegie (With a moving performance from soloist Renato Meli). More details can be found about this CD, and the publications, by clicking here.

Other compositions that have been recorded and are currently in post-production include the premiere recording of
Episodes and Echoes (Concerto for tuba) by good friend, tuba player extraordinaire (And a fellow Liverpool fan!)Les Neish. I wrote the piece for Les 4 years ago, and am delighted that he has recorded it for his forthcoming release.

American euphonium soloist
Aaron Tindall commissioned a set of three unaccompanied pieces for euphonium, titled ...a night devoid of stars and gave the world premiere at the Conservatoire National de Region in Perpignan, France on May 16. He has also recorded the set of three pieces for his debut solo recording.

Another American euphoniumist,
Pat Stuckemeyer has recently sent me the first edits of the premiere recording ofFields of Destruction - and the combination of band, soloist and conductor (As well as a CD full of new repertoire!) is going to make this a disc to not miss! Pat commissioned the work specifically for the recording, and Fields of Destruction will receive its "live" premiere by Manchester University Wind Ensemble (Conducted by Phil Robinson) with soloist Mark Bousie at the RNCM/BASBWE Wind Festival in October.

September sees the publication of
...a night devoid of stars and Fields of Destruction, as well as the piano reduction of Apophenia (With optional percussion part), a new work for tenor horn and piano titled Introduction and Toccata - which, this summer, received its premiere, performed by Owen Farr. All these titles are available fromPeter Meechan Music, where you can now also download selected titles, at a saving of at least 25%

I am trying to keep my blog up to date, so please have a quick look at it -
www.petemeechan.blogspot.com. I will be posting some of my random, and some of my not so random thoughts there.

Take care,

Pete

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Apophenia broadcast

The world premiere of Apophenia, a concerto for trumpet and band, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 yesterday (3/3/09). You can hear it for the next 6 days by follwing this link: 


The concert was recorded at the RNCM Festival of Brass in Manchester, and was performed by Rex Richardson (Trumpet, flugel and picc) and the Fodens Band, conducted by Garry Cutt.

Thursday 5 February 2009

Webcast of Requiem Paraphrases

I have just recieved this from Jason Ham:

Hello All, and Greetings from Lubbock, Texas!

I just wanted to invite you to two performances this coming Thursday and Friday that you may want to catch.

The first, on Thursday, will be a global webcast of a recital I am performing here at Texas Tech at 8pm (9pm eastern). To access the recital, follow the following directions:

1. Access the Texas Tech website: www.ttu.edu.
2. On the left side of the TTU home page, click on "Academics".
3. Under Academic Information, click on "Academic Departments".
4. On the right side of the screen, you will see "Music".
5. Under music on the next page, click on "Visit the School of Music Website".
6. On the left side of the School of Music website, click "Calendar".
7. Scroll down to Thursday, February 5th, at 8pm. Beside my name, you will see a little red box labeled "Web". Click on this link at 9pm to hear this recital live.

The program is as follows: (Susan Wass, Piano, Jason Ham, Euphonium)

1. Vivaldi - Basson Concerto in e minor
2. Turrin - Concert Piece No. 1
3. Giordani - Caro Mio Ben
4. Gillingham - Diversive Elements (with Kevin Wass, Tuba)
5. Meechan - Requiem Paraphrases
6. Anderson - Refulgence
7. Sparke - Harlequin

Sunday 25 January 2009

News - Jan 2009

Welcome to my newly updated website...the design has changed a bit (Although the Liverpool red still remains!), including program notes for all pieces, and links to the publishers websites for further details, including sound clip, sample scores and purchase information.

At the end of January, American trumpet soloist Rex Richardson will give the world premiere of Apophenia, a concerto for trumpet and band. He will perform this with the Fodens Band at the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass. The work was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, Rex and features the soloist on Bb trumpet, flugel and piccolo trumpet. Rex will also premiere the piece in America in April with wind band at VCU.

Several pieces have been recorded recently. Jon Pippen has recorded a new scoring of Elegie for 10 piece brass ensemble and the same work has also been recorded byKoninklijke Fanfare Kempenbloei, a fanfare band from Belgium. They also recorded Hymn for Africa for the same CD. Both works have been arranged for fanfare band by Luc Vertommen, and are available from Band Press VOF.

There are also two exciting recordings happening over the next few weeks; I have rescored Requiem Paraphrases for wind band at the request of American euphonium soloist, Jason Ham, who will record, as well as premiere, the work with the West Point Military Band. The second recording also features an American euphoniumist, Pat Stuckemeyer, who commissioned a new work from me for euphonium solo with wind band. The resulting work, Fields of Destruction, is being recorded by Pat and will be released on CD at a later date.