Fifty Years of the American Brass Quintet

The American Brass Quintet gave their first public performance on December 11, 1960 in New York City. This year, 2010, they will celebrate with a special 50th Anniversary Concert on Friday, October 15 in Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.

I still remember the first performance I heard by the ABQ; it was in Wichita, Kansas in the winter of 1981-82. For three of the summers that followed I was a student of David Wakefield at the Aspen Music Festival and have been an enthusiastic fan of the ABQ ever since. I am sure many readers share this enthusiasm, and as they very correctly say in their website “the American Brass Quintet has been internationally recognized as one of the premiere chamber music ensembles of our time.”

Few chamber groups ever reach the milestone of a 50th anniversary and among brass chamber groups this must be a first. Their 50th Anniversary Recital will feature according to the Facebook event page “New York Premieres by Trevor Gureckis and David Sampson, works by Joan Tower, Thomas Stoltzer and Giovanni Gabrieli (Sonata XX for 22 players).” Turning to the press release on the event, we learn more of these works.

Joan Tower’s Copperwave was commissioned for the ABQ by the Juilliard School in commemoration of the Schools’s 100th anniversary. It has since become one of the most performed works on ABQ tours. David Sampson’s Chants and Flourishes for double brass quintet was written to commemorate the ABQ’s 50th anniversary and to celebrate the twenty five year relationship between the composer and the ABQ. Trevor Gureckis’ Fixated Nights is the third in a series of emerging composer commissions made possible by the Jerome Foundation. The Stolzer fantasias harken back to the first early music critical editions performed by the ABQ while the Gabrieli Sonata XX is programmed to highlight the ABQ’s dedication to brass chamber music performers of tomorrow by the inclusion of students in the ABQ brass chamber music seminar program at Juilliard.

The impact of the American Brass Quintet over the years cannot be underestimated with their commitments to performance and teaching and also their continued commitment to new works and recordings of music for brass quintet.

ABQ commissions by Samuel Adler, Bruce Adolphe, Daniel Asia, Jan Bach, Robert Beaser, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Jacob Druckman, Eric Ewazen, Anthony Plog, Huang Ruo, Steven Sacco, David Sampson, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Ralph Shapey, Joan Tower, Melinda Wagner, and Charles Whittenberg, are considered among the most significant contributions to the modern brass quintet repertoire. In the last three seasons the ABQ has premiered new works by Gordon Beeferman, Justin Dello Joio, Shafer Mahoney, David Sampson, and Grammy-winning, composer-pianist Billy Childs, and released two new recordings—Cheer Boys Cheer (volume two of civil war brass music of the 26th N.C. Regimental Band, and Jewels (ABQ concert favorites). In commemoration their 50th anniversary, the ABQ will soon release their eighth recording on the Summit label—a double CD of new works called The State of the Art—the ABQ at 50.

If you are in the New York City area their 50th Anniversary Concert is one to certainly attend. We at Horn Matters enthusiastically congratulate the ABQ on their achievements in brass chamber music.

Finally, we would offer a special note of recognition to David Wakefield. He joined the American Brass Quintet in 1976 and has certainly impacted the horn community with his performances worldwide and teaching at locations including the Aspen Music Festival and Juilliard. May he see many more years of performing and teaching.

Photo by Peter Schaaf