Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
At 08:04 AM 10/8/06 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Maybe I should be a little more specific - our wind ensemble
uses pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns, i.e.
apart from the flutes, the "classical" wind band (although we
do play lots of modern music). If a particular piece calls for
extra players (one piece had a solo trumpet part I remember)
then we invite players in, but 99% of the time we are just a
wind octet/decet.
This has been an interesting discussion. Definitions are either very
flexible or have changed.
I always assumed a wind ensemble was still what I played in in the 1960s at
Rutgers -- essentially the band, but with the marching instruments replaced
and extended by concert instruments. Tubas instead of sousaphones, French
horns instead of whatever they played (I forget), plus alto and bass
clarinets (I played second bass clarinet), oboes and English horns, etc.,
and concert percussion (including timpani). There were 100 members in the
maching band. I remember the wind ensemble as smaller (maybe 60).
The pieces I have written for wind ensemble assume a large complement of
diverse instruments.
As is the case with orchestras, instrumentation and numbers on each
instrumental part remain ill-defined in the wind-ensemble world.
For some, 60 members who are the best available constitutes a wind-ensemble.
For others, if there are 23 separate lines in the score, there should be
23 players and no more.
Just as with orchestras -- when a composer writes for a string section,
they are at the mercy of the orchestral forces when the piece is
performed, so a first violin part concieved for a 20-member
BSO/NYPhil-type first violin section are often played by a 4-member
community orchestra first violin section. Very different sounds to be sure.
And the same as with orchestras, many wind ensembles will enlarge or
shrink the performing forces between works while others will have the
same size ensembles perform all the works.
And then there is the "what is the instrumentation for a wind ensemble"
problem -- we've already heard from one for whom the term wind-ensemble
consisted primarily of the orchestral woodwind/brass section with
occasional augmentation. But for many others, the term "wind-ensemble"
equates to "concert band with fewer players."
That makes coming up with something such as "Garritan Wind Ensemble" a
very difficult thing -- when sampling section sounds, how many players
constitute a flute section in a wind ensemble? for some, it would be
one single player, for others it might be 2, for still others it might
be any number up to 4 or 6.
I think a better (safer?) name for the product might simply be "Garritan
Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion."
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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