Enigma (2024) for wind ensemble with optional organ

performed by the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, Michael Gabriel, conductor

Enigma was originally written for brass choir and organ for the dedication of the Red Cedar Organ in the Michigan State University Alumni Chapel. This version was created for my friend Henry Dorn and the St. Olaf Band. It was awarded the 2024 National Band Association William D. Revelli Memorial Prize.


Enigma comes from a Greek word that means “to speak in riddles,” and in this piece, the riddle—or theme—is revealed gradually. The theme comes from the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is one of my favorite pieces of music, and, once the theme is revealed, it is repeated cyclically with 21 variations, just like in Bach’s original. This piece is dedicated to my former teacher, José-Luis Maúrtua, a composer, theorist, conductor, and teacher with whom I studied at Central Michigan University. José-Luis was an extraordinary musician and teacher who was tirelessly dedicated to his students and to pushing them to do their best. I am forever grateful for the lessons I learned from him, and my music and my life are far better for having known him. Unfortunately, he was taken from this earth far too young—at the age of 57—by pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2022. I miss him dearly, and this music is for him.

For more information: https://davidbiedenbender.com/work/enigma-2/

Enigma

Violinist, pianist, chamber and orchestral musician, devoted to composing neo-classical music. 

I want to weave a gentle, emotional orchestral language, that speaks about live and touches the heart. I try to capture these ephemeral, timeless, and moving moments, transcribing them with devotion to sound and recording them in the sound studio.

The music creations are a testament to the value of retreat,
where silence gives birth to the most profound expressions, contrapuncting the noise of our world.

Thanks for your kind listening and commenting !
Helmut / HELMUTunes

Composer David Biedenbender’s music has been described as “simply beautiful” [twincities.com] and is noted for its “rhythmic intensity” [NewMusicBox] and “stirring harmonies” [Boston Classical Review]. “Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played” [Examiner.com]. David has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic Music. His present creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data. He has had the privilege of collaborating with and being commissioned by many talented performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Stenhammar String Quartet, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, U.S. Navy Band, Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, and Eastman Wind Ensemble, among many others. 

He is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at Michigan State University. He holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and Central Michigan University, and has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, the Aspen Music Festival, and in Mysore, India where he studied carnatic music. For more information, visit: www.davidbiedenbender.com.

I was trained in tradition, yet I stepped beyond its walls. Sound is my language, not to decorate but to liberate. Composer, performer, and listener — one fire, three sparks, inseparable.

I write and compose to uncover what is hidden: the truth buried beneath power, the dignity of the ordinary, the current of awareness that flows through all.

I belong to no authority, only to sound, to truth, to the silence from which all begins. My work is not mastery, but remembrance — a manifesto in every note, every word, every breath.

I am a composer of the 21st century: a studio artist. The studio is my forge, my battlefield, my sanctuary. Machines hum like choirs, circuits burn like torches, cables twist like roots in the earth. Tradition breaks open in this fire — the score turns to light, the instrument becomes the world itself.

To be a studio artist is to seize sound at its rawest, to sculpt electricity and breath as one, to summon the invisible power that belongs to all. Here music is not bound by walls, not enslaved by profit, not tamed by form. It is free, untouchable, unending — a living flame for the century that is ours.

collaborations, shared projects, ideas ..

http://marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/

https://musichevirtuali.blogspot.com/

www.musichevirtuali.org

https://twitter.com/musichevirtuali

https://www.facebook.com/pages/orchestra-eclettica-e-sincretista/111790807863?fref=ts

"I'm a mellow artist, ageing 69. I love and release eclectic music, from post-classical to drone. My fave instrument is the Mellotron."

Così, sinteticamente, di solito mi presento.

In genere compongo musica partendo dal suono delle tastiere, ma il mio vero strumento è il registratore.

O i software di registrazione.

"I was made for loving and making recorded music."

Confido da sempre nel potere evocativo e orfico della musica, nella sua capacità di riconsegnarci a mondi più veri e più giusti, più belli di quelli in cui di solito viviamo.

"Ich bin ein kosmische Kurier"

I'm using these tools: Mellotron micro, Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer, Behringer Crave, IK Multimedia Uno synth, Roland Juno synth, Volca keys, Casio digital piano, micropiano Korg, Manetron (iPad app), iTampura (iPad app), Eko 11 (...) string acoustic guitar, electric violin, Orla analogic expander, tenor, treble and descant recorders, soprano and tenor tin whistle, Akai, Roland, Alesis and Arturia controllers, upright piano, Squier 3/4 electric guitar, melodica, Bubble Harp (iPad app), Schoenhut toy harp, soprano ukulele, Eko acoustic guitar, Peavey Composer acoustic guitar, Kurzweill micropiano, Boss and JamMan loop stations , Behringher multi-fx, Olympus portable digital recorder, Phonic, Behringer and Yamaha mixers, Audacity, Paulstretch, various players and plug-ins .. (that's all, folks, I think ..)

latest releases:

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/the-book-of-dreams
https://chitrarecords.bandcamp.com/album/lieder-ohne-worte 
https://ambientologist.bandcamp.com/album/suggestiva
https://ambientologist.bandcamp.com/album/venusia
https://hibernate.bandcamp.com/album/as-riddled-as-the-tide

for further works please go to my bandcamp page
https://marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/

and to 
http://webbedhandrecords.com/
http://www.laverna.net/home/
https://silentflow.org/

iTunes and Spotify as well ..
feed and share ..
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1TRilVaDaQw0ksGqU5tuCh?si=zXD-0xFWS-2yrUs542SH9A

SoundCloud è la piattaforma musicale che preferisco perché è soprattutto il regno degli ‘amateurs’, di quelli che fanno musica per sé e per gli amici .. come quando da ragazzi si condividevano con gli altri le invenzioni e le creazioni .. io sostanzialmente sono rimasto lì e così .. non sempre, ovviamente, ma spesso ci trovo delle cose che valgono altrettanto - se non di più - rispetto a quelle più affermate e conosciute

I'll follow you back when SC lifts the follower limit (!)
Loving listening to everyone's music on here :-))))))))))

Enigma

davebied