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This coming Sunday afternoon I will be performing at Arizona State University a very attractive, recent work for horn and wind ensemble, Pele by Brian Balmages. For me the work was actually a YouTube find, and it is one that deserves to be better known. In the website of the composer it is listed as “Solo, Grade 6: Band, Grade 4” which puts it at a level that it can be performed by many groups and soloists.
Stepping back a second, for many people around my age the first thing that comes to mind with the word “Pele” is the name of the soccer great, but actually it is the goddess Pele that is the subject, “goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes.” In fact, this work of Balmages is listed in the current Wikipedia article on the goddess, as follows:
In 2004, American composer Brian Balmages composed a piece entitled “Pele for Solo Horn and Wind Ensemble” on commission by Jerry Peel, professor of French Horn at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. It was premiered by the University of Miami Wind Ensemble under the direction of Gary Green, with Jerry Peel on Horn.
My performance is on Sunday, November 24 in Gammage Auditorium on the ASU campus, the concert starting at 2:30. I have enjoyed learning this work and hope that the composer makes available a piano reduction so that it may be performed more often.
Finally, speaking of finding works on YouTube, the performance below is the one that drew me to the work. The group is the AudioImage Wind Ensemble and the soloist is Alan Kartik. AudioImage is a community group in Singapore, and it is a very nice performance. Enjoy! (direct video link here).
