Sul Ross Music

Come see this amazing show!

We are proud to present the premiere recording of Together Sounding by Michael Bratt with the Sul Ross State University Wind Ensemble.

Together Sounding (2021) by Michael Bratt was commissioned by the Big Bend (TX) Community Band.

When COVID-19 was declared a national emergency, Sul Ross, like most colleges, went fully online for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year. Knowing that many band members did not have their instruments at home or lacked sufficient bandwidth for virtual band, we transitioned the remainder of the course to a survey of the history and literature of the wind band. One early composer that stuck in my mind was Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1556-1612) and his wealth of antiphonal brass music.

That was the inspiration that made me approach my friend, composer, and electronic artist Michael Bratt with the germinal idea of a modern counterpart to Gabrieli, where electronics could aid in utilizing the space in the same way as antiphony. What he provided was part in the Renaissance and Baroque instrumental tradition and part Wendy Carlos, in a truly inspired new work for flexible instrumentation band and electronics, a dialectic between cutting-edge and old-fashioned.

Together Sounding by Michael Bratt Sul Ross State University Wind EnsembleWorld Premiere RecordingJeffrey J Meyer, directorCommissioned by the Big Bend (TX) Community Band

Martin Hammer was a dedicated musician (euphonium) and dear friend to the Alpine, Texas and Sul Ross State University Music communities. He was a rare “double threat”: someone with a deep love of music and art (and of people) who could also play so well you would look forward to hearing him in rehearsals and concerts just as much as you looked forward to chatting with him. Martin was accepting of all kinds of music, and he made himself available to the University’s Wind Ensemble, as together we sought to educate the next generation of musicians and teachers. After rehearsals, he would frequently come up to me and say, “we’ll get ‘em there.”

Pavane (2020) by Hannah Lash was commissioned by the Big Bend (TX) Community Band and friends as a memorial to Martin’s legacy. It’s not meant to represent Martin or the music he loved, but rather to live on in perpetuity keeping his memory and the spirit of his heart alive for years and performances to come.

At a base level, the inclusion of the harp alludes to angelic and religious imagery, as well as music’s antiquity and Greek mythology, as does the title Pavane. The pavane is a Renaissance dance that has fascinated composers since its inception, including famous pavanes composed by Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré, which Martin had surely heard and known in his lifetime. This piece has elements of those works, as well as of modern settings of ancient dances such as Magnus Lindberg’s Corrente (courante) series.

Composer Hannah Lash has won numerous awards and accolades for her music, and as a harpist. She has held teaching positions at Harvard University (Teaching Fellow), Alfred University (Guest Professor of Composition), and currently serves on the composition faculty at the Yale University School of Music. This work is published by Schott-Helicon.

The Sul Ross State University Wind Ensemble performs the recorded premiere of Lash’s Pavane (2020) featuring Hope Cowan, harp, Jeffrey J. Meyer, director. The Big Bend (TX) Community Band premiere was cancelled due to COVID-19, and the group plans to perform the work publicly soon.

- Jeffrey J Meyer

Pavane by Hannah Lash In loving memory of Martin HammerCommissioned by the Big Bend (TX) Community Band & Friends(world premiere recorded performance)Sul Ross State University Win...

Well tempered klavier.