Audio excerpt of "Quiet City" available under "Music".
The Copland Estate and Boosey & Hawkes (Copland’s Publisher) have recognized the unique value and authentic nature of a new concert version of Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, and will be adding it to their catalogue in spring 2010. Accomplished saxophonist, scholar, and teacher Christopher Brellochs currently has the exclusive right to perform and record this new version of Quiet City and is excited to share this amazing music with audiences. This historically relevant piece has taken an intriguing journey from incidental music to the concert stage. For the first time ever we can examine and enjoy one of the most beloved masterpieces by an iconic American composer in its entirety and for the original chamber ensemble.
In 1939 Aaron Copland composed incidental music for a play by Irwin Shaw called The Quiet City. The play was cancelled after two tryout performances. Although the original manuscript has never been published, it yielded material for two works. First was the well-known concert version of Quiet City (1940) for trumpet, English horn, and string orchestra; second was the Academy Award nominated film score to Our Town (1940). Both works utilized only a portion of the original music.
Coinciding with the seventieth anniversary of Copland’s orchestral version of Quiet City, there is a new concert version by Christopher Brellochs that includes all the musical material from the unpublished manuscript and preserves the original chamber ensemble of trumpet, alto saxophone, Bb clarinet (doubling with bass clarinet), and piano. This is not an arrangement but a new adaptation including previously unheard, original music.
Christopher Brellochs is available to appear as a guest saxophonist either with resident musicians or with his own chamber ensemble. Performance options include presenting this 14 minute adaptation as part of an existing program, in a full-length recital, or coupled with his lecture, “Aaron Copland’s Quiet City: Bringing Previously Unheard Music to Light”.
To schedule a performance, lecture, or recording please contact Christopher Brellochs at:
email: cb@christopherbrellochs.com
website:
www.christopherbrellochs.com
BIO
CHRISTOPHER BRELLOCHS is an active saxophonist as well as a full time instructor of music at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York where he serves as Chair of the Music Certificate Program and Department Supervisor of Music.
As a classical saxophonist, Christopher’s numerous performances have included the solo in Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” at Carnegie Hall, a solo recital at the 32nd International Saxophone Symposium hosted by the U.S. Navy Band, and recitals throughout the northeast. He recently released a solo recording entitled “Apotheosis of the Saxophone” that is available on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby.
Christopher has presented multiple lectures at the Manhattan School of Music and the 2008 College Music Society Conference on papers he has written including, “Benjamin Britten and the Saxophone” and “Aaron Copland and the Saxophone”. His article, “Aaron Copland’s Use of the Saxophone in Wind Band Repertoire,” was published in the Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE, Volume 14, 2007).
Christopher's studies have included a doctorate from Rutgers University where he studied classical saxophone with Paul Cohen and conducting with William Berz, private study in France with classical saxophonist Jean-Marie Londeix, a master's degree from New York University, and a bachelor's degree from Ithaca College where he studied classical saxophone with Steven Mauk.
Christopher Brellochs can be contacted at
www.christopherbrellochs.com.