This article has been translated from the original Dutch from the website:
Landesblasorchester Baden-Worttemberg
Conductor: Bjorn Bus
Rienzi Overture - Richard Wagner, arr Douglas McLain
Transitions - Henk Bading
Vasa - Jose Super Oriola
Terra Australis - Thorsten Wollmann
Cap Kennedy - Serge Lancen
Times Square "On the Town" - Leonard Bernstein
Since its founding in 1978, the LBO has presented itself as one of the most successful symphonic bands in Germany.
Numerous international prizes and CD productions document the ongoing excellence of the band.
Its 80 musicians come primarily from all over Baden-Worttemberg. On four intensive weekends each year the band rehearses its upcoming concert program. The mission of the LBO is to present mainly original works for symphonic wind band in an exemplary fashion and, by doing so, contributing to the development of this genre. At the same time it aims to set a musical example to the many wind bands in the region.
Bjorn Bus was born in 1980 in Brunssum in the Netherlands. At a young age, he began as a percussionist, before later taking up the trombone.
He devoted himself to his studies as a trombonist at the music conservatories in Maastricht and Aachen.
He studied conducting with Alex Schillings and Jan Cober at the music conservatories in Groningen and Maastricht. In 2011 he achieved a master's degree with honours. He attended a great many masterclasses and competitions, where he was able to prove his capabilities and win prizes.
Currently, Bjorn Bus conducts many orchestras in the Netherlands and the professional wind ensemble Helicon. He is a sought-after guest conductor all over Europe. Bjorn Bus became the musical director of the LBO in 2014.
The title of the CD Transitions does not only recalls the name of the work by Henk Badings but, in many ways, describes the LBO as a whole.
Due to the way it is structured, the LBO instrumental line-up often varies, as do its concert locations. The year 2013 involved another monumental change for the band when the artistic director, Isabelle Ruf-Weber, passed on her conducting baton to Bjorn Bus (after over 10 years of fruitful co-operation with the orchestra) in her final farewell concert on 11/9/2013. The LBO wishes to thank both conductors for the harmonious transition period and especially for acting in the orchestra's best interests and in the interest of the music.
The live recordings took place at concerts in Rottweil on 4/20/2013 and on 11/9/2013 in Stetten am kalten Markt. Special thanks go to the town of Rottweil and their local wind band, as well as to the community of Stetten am kalten Markt and their fire brigade wind band, without whom the CD recordings would never have been logistically possible.
Rienzi Overture (1842)
Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), Arr: Douglas McLain.
In honour of the great operatic composer Richard Wagner, the LBO has chosen to play his Overture to Rienzi.
Rienzi was the third opera that Wagner completed and it became his musical breakthrough. As in the operas to follow, Wagner already presents the leading motives or "Leitmotive" of the main characters in the overture. This allows the listener to participate in the tragic fate of the statesman Cola di Rienzi, who decidedly confronts the brutal reign of two conflicting noble families in Rome of the 14th Century. At first, he leads a national uprising that appears to have been successful. However, due to a web of intrigue, the people eventually turn against him. During a riot, Rienzi dies in a sea of flames caused by rebels setting the statehouse alight.
Transitions (1972)
Henk Bading (1907-1987)
The work Transitions was penned by Henk Badings, who was born in 1907 and who, due to his productivity in writing a broad spectrum of innovative works, is one of the best-known contemporary Dutch composers.
The work focuses on the changes or transitions that occur when juxtaposing differing musical parameters; for example high-low, loud-soft, fast-slow. In this way conflicts result between the low registers with their fierce character and the high instruments with their bright, glittering sound. Because of this, a dramatic tension builds between two opposing sound-worlds. This tension finally leads to a milder atmosphere that gradually loses its aggression and concludes the piece in a pleasant, radiant fashion.
Vasa (1999)
Jose Super Oriola (b. 1964)
The Spanish composer Jose Super Oriola was born in 1964 and dedicated his work Vasa to his daughter Iris.
It depicts impressions of a visit to the well-known Vasa Museum in Stockholm, where the legendary battleship Vasa, of Gustav Adolf II's royal fleet, is on display. Due to faulty construction, the ship tragically sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, a disaster which claimed a great many lives.
It was salvaged in 1961 and painstakingly restored. In 1990 it was moved to the specially built Vasa-Museum, which has since become the most frequented museum in Scandinavia. The reason why the museum is fascinating for so many visitors becomes apparent when experiencing the special atmosphere of the dimmed light and the close proximity of this exquisite ship.
Terra Australis (2008)
Thorsten Wollmann (b. 1966)
The contemporary composer Thorsten Wollmann, who lives in Asia, composed the piece Terra Australis for the LBO in honour of its 30th anniversary in 2008.
Wollmann dedicates three movements to the uniqueness of the Australian continent. In Rainforest he depicts the eerie atmosphere and the exertion of trekking through the fertile vegetation of the Tasmanian rain forest while rain falls through the giant tree ferns.
The second movement, Outback, describes the outback or large desert at the centre of the country. Here Aborigines meet among red sand dunes in the hazy heat to practice their tribal rituals and play the didgeridoo, one of the world's oldest instruments.
The third movement creates an impression of the Great Barrier Reef, the largest and most impressive coral reef on the planet. It allows the listener to visualize the tropical paradise of a colorful, lively and fascinating underwater world.
FRANK Heinkel, didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a rhythmic wind instrument deeply rooted in the ancient culture of the north Australian native peoples. When he plays, Frank Heinkel uses the didgeridoo as an instinctive mode of expression. Frank is a self-taught player and has, in the course of his career of nearly twenty years, released four CDs and performed internationally on a variety of stages. Further information is available on the following website:
Cap Kennedy (1970)
Serge Lancen (1922-2005)
The French composer Serge Lancen was born in 1922 and gained inspiration for his work Cap Kennedy from the United States Apollo Program. The piece is named after the American space station in Florida, which since 1973 has been called Cape Canaveral.
Successful space travel and especially the first moon landing inspired him to compose a musical depiction of this journey to the moon.
The listener experiences a rocket taking off, the weightlessness of space, the majestic view of the universe, and the euphoria when landing safely at the destination.
On the Town (1944) - Times Square
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
The conductor Leonard Bernstein, who was born in 1918, also achieved world-fame as the composer of such works as West Side Story and Candide. His first musical, On the Town, which he composed at the young age of 26, celebrated great success on Broadway with a total of 436 performances.
It is based on his ballet music to Fancy Free and portrays three sailors at the time of the 2nd World War, who are on 24-hour leave in New York and are there to have fun. Times Square provides the perfect starting point for just that. From the three dance episodes of On the Town, the LBO recorded only the third episode, Times Square.
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