Another great tune, Bill. You told a big story in just a few minutes and swept me long every bit of the way...although for some reason, just listening to it made my lip swell up. Man, you know how to write gnarly horn parts! I would purely love to take a crack at 'em, but I would probably be like the horn player in the first reheasal of Don Juan, who asked Strauss what he had done to deserve this!
I know you've heard this from me before but I really think this piece would work beautifully as a wind band composition. First off, it's a dramatic concert overture, which is absolutely the wheel house of symphonic band literature. Most of the main themes are carried by winds and percussion and the string sections would translate beautifully to woodwinds. I realize that writing for band doesn't have the cachet of writing for symphony orchestra, but we do have one small advantage for the contemporary composer...we actually play new music! Bands don't have centuries of standard repertoire that is the only thing our audiences want to hear. If a tune is good, we'll program it.
Actually, I'm being selfish here. I'd love to play more of your music. Also, I would absolutely love to hear you bring the full power of your MIDI skills to bear on a wind band tune. I think it would jump to #1 on my play list. (WARNING! Mini-rant!!) Have you noticed that, in the vast VSL Demo Library there is one...count it, ONE...movement of one...count it, ONE...piece for band: an old Jay Bacal rendering of the March from the Holst Eb Suite. And as much as I admire Jay, this isn't even one of his best efforts. It seems that this is a market that VSL has very little interest in. They have all the necessary instruments, at least, which is more than I can say for the brass band instrumentation that is so poular in the UK. For that, they have next to bupkus. (End of Mini-rant)
I sure hope you get lots of performances of this excellent overture, but I can't help thinking that the odds of this would be higher if it existed as a wind band composition.
Tom
(BTW, I got your email and I'm working on an answer. Stay tuned!)