EL SALON MEDICO (1976) for orchestra by Michael Schelle published on 2013-12-12T03:35:49Z EL SALON MEDICO (1976) - by Michael Schelle MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA Sir Neville Marriner, music director and conductor N.B.: this recording rescued just in time from an old 1/4 track reel-to-reel tape that was disintegrating!! - the sound quality here is not the greatest stereo high fidelity, for sure ... . Written near the end of my studies with Aaron Copland (and intentionally imitating his iconic Americana style of "Billy the Kid" and "Appalachian Spring"), EL SALON MEDICO was my 2nd orchestral piece and dedicated to my brother Patrick (who was beginning his surgery residency at a large Dallas hospital). This brief piece proved to be a 'one-shot-deal' in this Americana style, and was in NO WAY the harbinger of things to come for me (stylistically), - not by a long shot !! But it was a blast to work on it under the guidance of the great man. It was a thrill, and and honor, to have worked with Copland for nearly 18 months. . My friend, Pittsburgh composer David Stock, upon hearing the Minnesota Orchestra radio broadcast of EL SALON MEDICO (the title is, of course, a play on the Copland "El Salon Mexico") called me immediately after it ended and said: "Schelle, dammit !! So I'm listening to this piece on the radio and I'm thinking 'wait, I thought I knew every Copland orchestral piece there is, but I don't know this, but clearly it IS Copland, or it's a pretty good rip off". . Another dear friend, Columbus (OH) composer Rocky Reuter, arranged a fantastic wind ensemble version of the piece, just because he 'thought it would be a cool band piece' - and surprized me out of the blue with the score. Now THAT'S true friendship (or complete insanity). The Reuter wind ensemble version has been performed numerous times by university band across the US. . Visit: www.schellemusic.com Genre Orchestral Comment by Bob Morabito EXCELLENT piece of music!:) 2016-01-07T01:03:55Z