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Austrian Band Does ‘Mambo Furioso’ |
| By
Deanna Lytle |
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Dec 6, 2002 |
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| Dr. Brant Karrick directs the UT Wind Ensemble. |
On Nov. 28, the music of Richard Strauss and Frank Lehar was joined by UT's Dr. Brant Karrick when his "Mambo Furioso" was performed during a concert at Austria’s Bruckner Hall.
The Voestalpine Blasorchester under the direction of Walter Weinzierl performed "Mambo Furioso" for an audience of 1,400. A recording of the concert soon will be sent to an Austrian radio station.
Karrick, an associate professor of music and director of UT’s Wind Ensemble, began writing "Mambo Furioso" at the end of summer 2000. The piece is largely a tribute to Tito Puente, who died in May 2000. "For 50 years, he was the figure in Latin jazz music. I like that sound and I wanted to write something that sounded like Puente’s stuff," he said.
Karrick worked for several months on the piece, making sure the end result would be "in tune" with his initial vision. "I tried to imagine what it would sound like if a wind ensemble was Puente’s instrument instead of timbales," he said. Karrick often had the UT Wind Ensemble play through the piece to make sure the sound was just right.
He finished "Mambo Furioso" in December 2000 and began the search for a suitable publisher. "Finding a publisher was the hard part. Most companies like composers to keep things simple, but this piece is hard to play, which makes it a harder sell," Karrick explained.
His piece was accepted for publication by Educational Programs Publishing, based in Missouri. Joseph Papppas, director of publication for the company, said that Karrick’s piece stood out. "Some difficult pieces just go nowhere. But Brant’s piece was different. It had such intensity and development."
It was through Pappas that Karrick’s piece made its way to Europe. Pappas presented "Mambo Furioso" at a conducting clinic in Linz, Austria, in March. Pappas said he chose Karrick’s composition because it was something different, as American compositions are not widely performed in Europe.
At the clinic, band director Weinzierl was immediately struck by the piece. "The publishing representative played this piece with my band and all the musicians liked the piece from the beginning. I always try to perform outstanding, new, interesting pieces at our concerts. And the music Brant Karrick wrote is rhythmically and harmonically very interesting. It grooves."
Weinzierl agrees with Karrick that "Mambo Furioso" is more difficult than the average musical piece. His strategy has been to work with the different instrument groups separately, and then bring the entire band together for a run-through.
"This piece has quality, and a real musician never hates quality music. It is not important which kind of music you perform and like. The only important thing is to get a good feeling for the piece and to transform the feeling to the audience, with a focus on quality and art," Weinzierl said.
Karrick was very excited about the European premiere of his piece. "Mambo Furioso" has previously been performed in Canada, Australia and the United States. "But this is a big deal," he said, referring to the Austrian concert.
The European performance is hardly the swan song for the piece, though. The UT Wind Ensemble will play "Mambo Furioso" in January when it travels to Cleveland for the 2003 Ohio Music Education Association-Music Educators National Conference North Central Division Professional Conference.
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