Michael Allen

In 1970, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) was celebrating its centennial and the Director of the Museum, Thomas Hoving, approached iconic American composer William Schuman to write a fanfare to commemorate the occasion. Mr. Schuman suggested to Mr. Hoving that there be five different works to open each of the five exhibitions to be produced during that centennial season. On behalf of the museum, Schuman reached out to the four colleagues featured on the cover of this recording:...

At the risk of stating the obvious, I've been meaning to briefly address the mildly curious numbering paradigm. I have always used the protocol of most brass music publishing and distribution companies to describe the instrumentation of my charts. If memory serves, this may have been started by Robert King. 423.11 (which indicates 4 trumpets, 2 horns, 3 trombones, 1 euphonium and 1 tuba) is in conflict with the way publishers and distributors describe the brass section in an orchestra...

I recently spent 90 minutes editing a 40 measure section of a score. I did not add a single articulation, or dynamic mark. I did not change any of the notes in the score. What I did was move some phrases around from one instrument to another. I'm working on a quiet transition section in a Vaughan Williams piece; polyphonic writing (almost like renaissance counterpoint) based on a couple of simple ideas. I'm trying to accomplish a couple of things: RVW is winding down his exposition with...