Before I dig in, I'd like to call reader's attention to this remarkable entry on Bandcamp, in which a young hip-hop generation listener posts an incredible response to "Autum Hurricanes" which I LOVE.

https://henry-brant.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-hurricanes

"look, i didn't know what to expect when i threw on "autumn hurricanes" <-- INDEED!

Frankly, those of us in the performance likewise did not know what to expect.

Here you go ...

Stetson U is a Baptist-affiliated university located in Deland, FL, county seat of Volusia County (in which is the larger and much more famous Daytona Beach). The School of Music is nationally known and its Choral Arts program has long provided a rich education for its students. I was privileged to participate in choral performances conducted by nationally-recognized conductors like Robert Page (Händel's Messiah), Richard Westenburg (Händel's Messiah), Margaret Hillis (Händel's Israel in Egypt with the Jacksonville Symphony, the fall before the Brant premiere), and Robert Shaw (Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Atlanta Symphony).

The school has a chapel located in one wing of Elizabeth Hall (named after John B. Stetson's wife). This Chapel was for decades the only performance venue for the School of Music: an annual Christmas Candlelight Concert performed by the Concert Choir (now a much more inclusive all-school Christmas Concert; you can find these on YouTube); annual complete Messiah (by the Choral Union), student orchestra, student band, student brass choir (in which I also performed for a few years - as a trombone player no less!), Concert Choir, Men's Chorus, Women's Chorus, Chapel Choir, annual Choral Union concert, and all recitals (student, faculty, and guests). And that organ is magnificent! My 3rd year at Stetson was 1983 which was the 300th anniversary of the births of Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, and Georg Frederick Händel - there were MANY organ concerts that year. It was amazing.

The 1st floor has a very large Beckerath Organ sitting on a "stage" facing the entrance doors with wings of pews forming a U around the room and rows of pews flanking a center aisle in the center; a balcony follows that same U shape as the 1st floor. Don't know how this will work, but this is the Chapel's layout (E are entrances):

E-Organ-+
|---------|
|---------|
|---------|
+--|E|--+

A few links to some images of this Chapel:

The Beckerath Organ with risers set up in front of it, note the balcony on the left side & the space beneath it:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wLESsPmZc-Y-YI7zhG13nAAcJ3HEkY_ImaSe5hXBc7XqcC9daMj-vI8KTthPGb2wCP0KR2C1VsMc-8j0kUaCloKYq8DnP_SeO_gXchT_Z5yeOr9i3zFU6Zba85WUx-_RJPIbSC0JiKg/s1600/DSC_0008.JPG

Some performers sitting in the main floor pews with under-balcony in the background:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkFHKDlDR8sbq3OfbGN-FEROpn2iNbf1W7A2pI2JHouf7QU5M7Vd6y8jEsNUUUnaq9EDq9IdzWdryZ61gVUvhvmcz-l5SZWIFa1jKpK_RYvGrNDPHaeAS8TliWTQvLEi0HpkgKgohyphenhyphen1g/s1600/DSC_0011.JPG

Orchestra on "stage" with balcony and under-balcony on the right side:

https://www2.stetson.edu/today/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stetson-University-Symphony-Orchestra.jpg

Below is all that I can find about this commission and performance currently online (given the sorry state of internet searching). It is probable that the program for the premiere had more information (but that program is not in the Stetson University archives), or that Mr. Brant's private papers have information about his compositional process and thinking. Wesleyan University in Middletown CT has some of his papers in their collection, but it is listed as unprocessed and thus is not searchable.

Some documentation from the Stetson University Archives:

Faculty/Staff Newsletter announcing Henry Brant's participation in the annual Twentieth Century Music Festival and the Premiere of his commissioned work on April 4, 2986, p. 5:

https://archives.stetson.edu/digital/collection/Unidocs/id/52312/rec/1

Faculty/Staff Newsletter, April 18, 1986 and appears to suggest that the premiere was the final work on that year's Twentieth Century Music Festival, page 6:

https://archives.stetson.edu/digital/collection/Unidocs/id/52313/rec/1

The 1986 Stetson University Yearbook, with an image of the Concert Choir that year, page 32, yours truly 2nd from the right, 2nd row, beard and all, Dr. Robert Rich (who probably conducted the choirs in the "Autumn Hurricanes" performance) is at the far left of the 1st row:

https://archives.stetson.edu/digital/collection/Yearbooks/id/39294/rec/1

There is no mention of Brant's "Autumn Hurricanes" for the Concert Choir on this page. It is mentioned on the following page for "The Wind Ensemble and Chorus" (a very odd thing to show; I think the yearbook staff likely had few options for images of the Wind Ensemble). What's amusing is the little blurb for this image:

"These two groups performed together twice during the 1985-86 school year. During the Spring semester, they were able to present a premiere of a new piece by Henry Brandt [sic]. [Love that "they were able" LOL]

The Wind Ensemble has performed several times alone during the year. They perform music from all musical periods. During the fall, they performed an experimental 20th century piece that the audience enjoyed for its innovative creations." [No idea what this was.]

"Autumn Hurricanes" was a commission for the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Stetson University. It's premiere was in 1986 the year I was graduated. The Stetson School of Music has a long tradition of promoting "modern" music and scheduled an annual Twentieth Century Music Festival (mentioned above) during which works from the 20th century were programmed. It is unsurprising they would choose Henry Brant for this commission. This Chapel, and can be seen in the description above, provided many spatial opportunities for Henry Brant to exploit, which he did.

Performing forces were positioned around this Chapel, on "stage," in the under-balcony both sides, the balcony both sides, and in other spots in the Chapel. I cannot recall exactly what was where - surely the orchestra and pianos had to be on the "stage", I think Men's Chorus was upper balcony right side and Women's Chorus upper balcony left side; oddly I cannot remember where I was - I think as a member of the Concert Choir I was in those center pews closest to the stage and I believe Dr. Rich conducted from this location. He would be visible from all three of those "choir" positions and could easily see Mr. Brant conducting the entire performance. I think the Brass Choir was in the under-balcony right side. Vocal soloists and flutists scattered (maybe?). Thus Mr. Serotsky nailed it: "clearly, to be “widely separated”, they’ll have to be dotted around all over the auditorium – and probably at differing heights." That is exactly what was done. I have no memory whatever (sorry) of microphone placement. The Audio Control room once was in a room behind the upper balcony, right side, though perhaps for a recording of this scale they might have set it up in the main hall.

I confess I had an antipathy for Modern Music 40 years ago when I began my studies (as likely did more of my fellow choral students, most of whom came from southern towns and churches with very little exposure to it. But it was one of those Twentieth Century Music Festivals that opened my "ears" as it were - Tim Maloney (one of the conductors in this performance) was professor of clarinet and he played an unaccompanied 3-part clarinet work by Schönberg that was amazing. I personally began to listen to Modern Music with a more open mind.

I LOVE AUTUMN HURRICANES! Yes, really. It's a hard listen, to be frank. There are moments of lyricism and moments of cacophony that seem unintelligible (the bandcamp review comes to mind). I believe this was Mr. Brant's goal. If one were to be IN a major hurricane, what would that sound like? Perhaps like this amazing work. A friend from my Stetson days with whom I am still in contact (who is in that image of the Concert Choir in 1986) does NOT like it at all: "It's just noise." As with much 20th century music, listening to 20th century music takes an open mind and experience with it (though I'll be honest and say that I still cannot Babbitt and Carter, for the most part, which often seem to me "just noise").

As a sometime composer myself of choral music, I am in awe of a human who can conceptualize a work of this magnitude and complexity and then conduct it! A sad reality of works like this is that because they are written with a very specific venue that is very hard to replicate in other places, people will seldom attempt a performance. I don't think "Autumn Hurricanes" has had a second performance.

And that's likely far more than you wanted to read.