(Re)Connected
Music for Wind Band, New Compositions, Other Arrangements,

(Re)Connected

InstrumentationWind Band
Grade6
Duration15 minutes
PublisherJanssen Music
Demo Score→ Download
Complete score and set are not available before the premiere (medio 2021) has taken place by “Royal Military Band Johan Willem Friso” The Netherlands.

… is a musical adventure for concert band, commissioned by the “Royal Military Band Johan Willem Friso” (NL) and their chief-conductor Tijmen Botma.

Due to the Covid pandemic, there have been hardly live performances by orchestras around the world for (sometimes more than) a year. With this work an attempt is made to make renewed contact with the numerous concert audience. 

(Re)Connected is therefore a work in which famous melodies of grandmasters from the past are connected in a special way and in which a (renewed) interaction between musicians and the audience takes place.

The work opens with Toccata by Claudio Monteverdi from “Orfeo”. Subsequently, the 1st cello sonata by Johann Sebastian Bach takes a prominent place, with a quartet of musicians interacting with the material.

On the basis of the exhibited themes, a fugal structure develops in which new material is used from the Overture “Entführung aus dem Serail” and the final movement from “Die Kleine Nachtmusik” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

After this virtuoso intermezzo peace returns with the famous theme of the adagio from the 9th symphony (“from the new world”) by Anton Dvorak. From this develops a dramatic part based on main theme of Dvorak 9th.

After a brief recollection of Bach and the “(Re)Connected” motif, which is clearly discernible throughout the work, the finale begins based on the impressive theme “Ode to joy” from Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th symphony.

An interactive musical adventure in which musicians and audience are “reunited” with the so beloved grandmasters from music history.

Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini – Rachmaninov
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini – Rachmaninov

InstrumentationPiano & Wind Band
Grade5
Duration30 minutes
Publisher→ Baton Music

In the summer of 1934 Rachmaninoff composed the ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ at his summer home, the Villa Senar in Switzerland.

It’s a concertante work written by for piano and orchestra, closely resembling a piano concerto in a single movement.

After a brief introduction, the first variation is played before the well known ‘Paganini theme’ and then followed by the other 23 variations.

The work is performed in one stretch without breaks but it can be divided into three sections. These correspond to the three movements of a concerto: up to variation 10 corresponds to the first movement, variations 11 to 18 are the equivalent of a slow movement, and the remaining variations make a finale.

text: © baton music

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 – Franz Liszt
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 – Franz Liszt

InstrumentationWind Band
Grade5
Duration12 minutes
Publisher→ Baton Music

The Hungarian-born composer and pianist Franz Liszt was strongly influenced by the music heard in his youth, particularly Hungarian folk music, with its unique gypsy scale, rhythmic spontaneity and direct, seductive expression.


‘Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2’, is the second in a set of 19 Hungarian rhapsodies Liszt composed but it is by far the most famous of the set. It was dedicated to Count László Teleki and first published as a piano solo in 1851.

Its immediate success and popularity on the concert stage led to an orchestrated version, arranged in 1857–1860 by the composer in collaboration with Franz Doppler.

For this transcription I used as well the Doppler version as the version by Müller-Berghaus.

© text: Baton Music

Tod und Verklärung – Richard Strauss
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Tod und Verklärung – Richard Strauss

Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24, is a tone poem for large orchestra by Richard Strauss.

Strauss began composition in the late summer of 1888 and completed the work on 18 November 1889.

The work is dedicated to the composer’s friend Friedrich Rosch. The music depicts the death of an artist. At Strauss’s request, this was described in a poem by the composer’s friend Alexander Ritter as an interpretation of ‘Tod und Verklärung’, after it was composed.

As the man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration ‘from the infinite reaches of heaven’.

Publisher: → Baton Music

explanation text: © Baton Music

Scossa Elettrica – Giacomo Puccini
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Scossa Elettrica – Giacomo Puccini

Alessandro Volta (1745 – 1827) was and Italian physicist whose invention of the electric battery provided the first source of continuous current. In 1899, the Italian city of Como hosted a celebration of Alessandro Volta, for whom the electrical term ‘volt’ is attributed. Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924), at that time already a renowned opera composer was commissioned to write a celebratory march for the occasion. The result was ‘Scossa elettrica’ (Electric shock),  a small brilliant march.

text: © Baton Music

Publisher: → Baton Music

Requiem – Giuseppe Verdi
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Requiem – Giuseppe Verdi

After Gioachino Rossini’s death in 1868, Giuseppe Verdi suggested that a number of Italian composers collaborate on a Requiem in Rossini’s honor. Unfortunately the project was abandoned by the organisation. But not much later, upon hearing of the death of the Italian writer and humanist Alessandro Manzoni, Giuseppe Verdi resolved to complete a Requiem, this time entirely of his own writing.

The ‘Messa da Requiem’ is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It is rarely performed in liturgy, but rather in concert form of around 85-90 minutes in length.

text: © Baton Music

Publisher: → Baton Music

L’Italiana in Algeri – Gioacchino Rossini
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

L’Italiana in Algeri – Gioacchino Rossini

‘L’Italiana in Algeri’ (The Italian Girl in Algiers) is an operatic ‘drama giocoso’ in two acts by Gioacchino Rossini. The music is characteristic of Rossini’s style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies. The overture is widely recorded and performed today, known for its distinct opening of slow, quiet pizzicato basses, leading to a sudden loud burst of sound from the full orchestra. This ‘surprise’ reflects Rossini’s early admiration for Joseph Haydn, whose ‘Symphony No. 94’ in G major, ‘The Surprise Symphony’, is so named for the same shocking and semi-comic effect.

Publisher: → Baton Music

© text: Baton Music Eindhoven

Lachian Dances – Leos Janacek
New Transcriptions, Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Lachian Dances – Leos Janacek

Leoš Janácek (1854-1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style.

The ‘Lachian Dances’ (Lašské tance) was Janácek’s first mature work. The work is split into six separate dances:

1. Starodávný I (Old Time Dance I),
2. Požehnaný (The Blessed),
3. Dymák (Smoke Dance),
4. Starodávný II (Old Time Dance II),
5. Celadenský (Celadna Dance)
6. Pilky (The Saws)

Publisher: → Baton Music

explanation text and demo score: © Baton Music

Demo score: 

Lachian Dances Demo scoreDownload