Review of November 28, 2007 (Debut) Concert
Ensemble shows early signs of unity and promise
By Peter Jacobi, Bloomington Herald-Times Reviewer
November 30, 2007
There’s a new band in town. Among the 50 members of the Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble are 12 present and former band and orchestra directors, IU faculty and students, those who participate in the Bloomington Pops and Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, and a host of others. All play professionally or probably could if they weren’t engaged in other pursuits, such as medicine, business and engineering. All were auditioned. And on Wednesday evening in the auditorium of Bloomington High School North, they made their performance debut, and an auspicious debut it was.
At their helm was the gentleman that had the notion and the drive for a carry-through, Eric Isaacson, who spends most of his time over at the Jacobs School as chairman of the music theory department. He thought that in Bloomington and environs, just as there were talented vocalists to people the Bloomington Chamber Singers and talented instrumentalists to fill the Pops, the BSO and the Camerata, there must be those with the desire to make a wind ensemble thrive.
And so it happened that the group was assembled and rehearsed and guided toward Wednesday’s concert, one interestingly shared with the Bloomington North Symphonic Band, led by Janis Stockhouse, who not only encouraged Isaacson in his endeavor but joined the ensemble as trumpeter.
Let it be noted that the remarkable Stockhouse had her high school youngsters play first and play so famously that the new aggregation could well have been inspired to a how-can-we-top-this level.
Isaacson chose demanding pieces: an accelerated exercise called “Spin Cycle” by Scott Lindroth who’s on the composition faculty at Duke; an instrumental setting of Morton Lauridsen’s much admired choral work, “O Magnum Mysterium”; Percy Grainger’s frolicking “Children’s March”; and the richly hued “La Fiesta Mexicana,” Owen Reed’s 1949 harvest of folk tunes, religious celebration and fiesta expressive of Mexico.
Though the ensemble is, at this early stage, a work in progress, one could already discern an admirable sense of unity and a world of promise. Collectively, the sounds struck one’s ears and consciousness quite comfortably and, individually, soloists from within the ranks performed nobly when called upon, their talents evident.
Stockhouse and her energetic band of students seemed intent on proving they belonged with these Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble players as they tackled challenges of their own: a lively set of “Armenian Dances” by Alfred Reed, an even livelier “Shadow Rituals,” composed by a 20-year-old, Michael Markowski, and Philip Sparke’s “Pantomime,” sporting a mélange of technical hurdles for a soloist, each aced by Daniel Freeman, an IU master’s candidate in music who has been working with Stockhouse and her various ensembles at North.
To end the program, both bands performed “Christmas in the Round,” a most engaging arrangement that had the players all over the auditorium to create an alluring surround of sounds.
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