Classically Speaking

The music's a march and it's being played by a band,* but there's no football game and the performers get to stay seated. 

The WVU Wind Symphony will be performing their spring concert tonight (Tuesday April 14). The concert features West Virginia composer David Williams conducting the WVU Wind Symphony in his new piece “And the Marches After Twilight.”

Here’s what Williams had to say about :And the Marches After Twilight" and the experience of conducting his own music:

Tuba-player, band conductor, teacher, critic, and composer – David Williams has done a lot of different things, but he’s always stayed with music.

I asked a dangerous question … and I’ve now been warned that composers aren’t a reliable source for describing their own music style. Williams still had some insights; he also talked about his process for writing music, and how it’s changed over the years. 

Finally, we chatted about some of his future projects and the effect that writing reviews has had on his approach to music. 

It’s seems we’re on a composer kick recently—check out the recent interviews with Scott Michal and Timothy Cooper.  But it’s been a while since I’ve interviewed a tuba player—the last one was Chuck Daellenbach of the Canadian Brass in July 2008.


* If you object to me casually referring to a wind symphony as a band, you can yell at me in the comments.  But don't be too harsh. I'm just a violist. What do I know?