Hanson - Chorale & Alleluia [Fennell conducts TKWO]

Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
The Special Concert Vol. 66
Conductor: Frederick Fennell
April 20th, 2000 / Tokyo Bunka Kaikan

[@jhlundy]

Wow, this concert almost didn't happen! Prior to this trip, Fennell was leading the all-state band in workshops & a concert at the university I was a teaching assistant at. I was his driver & assistant for the week he was there-phenomenal to watch him work with high schoolers! I had met him a few years prior at Craig Kirchhoff's wind band conducting symposium and he remembered me, too! Just such a wonderful human and talented musician. So near the end of the week, I came down with a bug and was told by the Dir of Bands that I had to continue driving him & helping out. I was feeling worse and worse, but eventually it all came together for a wonderful concert that I didn't attend, staying home sick. As it turns out, at the reception afterwards, Fennell was talking with the choral guest conductor then vomited mid-sentence and was whisked to the emergency room. I had given him the stomach flu and this was maybe a week before the Tokyo Kosei trip? I was mortified that I'd be known in the band world as the grad student who ended this great teacher's career, and was relieved to hear he had recovered. Not long after he was at another conducting symposium and saw me and made a face & gesture of terror before breaking into a big smile and waving me over to talk again. Such a passionate, wonderful educator and musician.

[@mathbrown9099]

Dear Sir, I was assigned the same duties for Fennell at my little alma mater, the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA. Most of what you write about working with him happened as I worked with him. Many years later, at the W.I.B.C. In Portland, OR, I performed the Second Suite Solo with a wonderful band from Anchorage, AK. It was the Dimond HS Band, under the baton of the great Jim Parcel. Conductor Parcel also included “When Jesus Wept” in the performance. As that tremendous wind ensemble piece included either oboe/bassoon duet, or trumpet/euphonium duet, I was featured with a marvelous trumpeter from the USAF Band, who was a talented musician, a pleasure to work with. Unbeknownst to either of us, Mr. Fennell was in the audience. He congratulated me on my performances during the concert, remembering me from all those years prior, just like your experience. This account is not about this raggedy old musician, but about the generosity and graciousness of the man himself, Mr. Fennell. God rest his soul. He was one of the most beautiful humans I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

[@PUELT]

日本語で失礼します。｢コラールとアレルヤ｣:ハワード・ハンソン作 全日本では高岡商業高校が演奏した記憶があります。 端正で心洗われる、この様な曲が日本でもっと取り上げられたら、いいなと思います。ルーテル教会の主題による変奏曲｢ディエス・ナタリス｣なども然り。

[@stephencoffelt1378]

I was very fortunate to meet both Howard Hanson & play under Fredrick Fennell's direction at The National Music Camp.

[@joerumler48]

Interlochen... Heaven on earth in my humble opinion... I met and talked with Carlo Curley there while he was playing on stage before a performance.

[@mathbrown9099]

No conductor’s podium, no need for his score. This brilliant musician knows every musician’s part, and how he wants it to combine with all other parts in the ensemble. He was the greatest conductor in all of wind ensemble (band) history, following after JPS. I had the unmitigated pleasure of acting as his assistant for a week during his clinic at my university (1975, Univ. of Puget Sound, Tacoma). He was such a fine human being and in all ways a gentle soul. May he Rest In Peace. He left our world a much better place. Some of us know that Dr. Fennell was a percussionist!

[@brucekuehn4031]

And as a bass drummer, he played under the direction of JP Sousa himself.

[@charlestimberlake5522]

Many years ago I played in a festival band under his direction. He had memorized the scores perfectly, except for the letter markings. He would stop to correct something, ask what the nearest marking was, someone would call it out, and away we went with him knowing exactly where we were immediately. Fine conductor whose work at Eastman changed the concept of wind band music for players, audiences, and composers. The old Eastman recordings are still perfection.

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

I heard that Fennel said when Hanson finished this work, it was considered the most important piece of American band literature in twenty years. It actually may have, along with Fennel spawned and driven the symphonic wind movement in this country. I feel fortunate to have played it a couple times. I envy Stephen who commented below having met these two great men.

[@katinkiplinkyplonk4933]

You did meet them

[@WampsPlace]

I think Divertimento for Band by Persichetti was the most important piece at that time. Pageant and Psalm for Band followed.

[@crxssary]

I'm playing 2nd part clarinet for this and it's one of my favorite songs 🙏 I'm grateful that I have a band director who appreciates older music such as this

[@brucekuehn4031]

Howard Hanson was the director of the Eastman School of Music from 1924 to 1964. This is where Frederick Fennell received his bachelors and masters degrees and in 1952, he founded the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

[@CorvetteCoonass]

RIP Fennel. I wish I could've been conducted by you in an ensemble.

[@HelloooThere]

His bell bottoms are outstanding

[@richardwilliams473]

I remember playing the timpani in Howard Hanson s Symphony No 2 subtitled The Romantic Symphony. Gorgeous music !!!!

[@AAbshier]

Played this at band camp during high school. Great work!

[@richardgordon8110]

Richard Gordon I performed this marvelous work under Dr. Fennell a number of yeard ago. He was a marvelous conductor and a wonderful musician

[@sgsmozart]

I like those music stands !

[@williamphillips6247]

This is a nice band work of Hanson's, but Laude and Dies Natalis are very beautiful as well. Always nice when Mr. Fennell is conducting, too.

[@JustinHall1976]

Played this is college. I've always found it moving.

[@sellyok]

Playing this in Area All State this year! Super excited!

[@calvinjcheairsRnBBluesMusic]

I love this score

[@wlouvier1]

Wow. Fennell!

[@hudsoncampos2201]

Great

[@mathbrown9099]

Euphonium artist plays an Adams Pro using a Denis Wick mouthpiece, looks about a 51. Man plays very well.

[@CameronGurss]

3:35

[@jazzbob57]

Really? You posted the band tuning. Yeesh!

[@emmanuelbarks5896]

So fucking what if the uploader posted the band tuning. That is part of the performance protocol!!

[@HelloooThere]

@@emmanuelbarks5896it displays the ensemble at its most vulnerable THATS why

[@emmanuelbarks5896]

@HelloooThere Or another way of putting it, most ensembles must tune before a performance because group tuning must be done after the musicians have done their individual warm ups which must be done on stage so that the musicians can get used to the acoustics of the peformance space. Again, this is a protocol that even the audience must see.

[@tayo8490]

1:34