WHAT WE DO IS SECRET Concerto for Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble by LANSING Mc LOSKEY (USA, 1964)
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[#354] May 04, 2026
USA | 2011 | Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble | Grade 6 | 24’ | Concerto
The music is on rental directly from the composer Lansing McLoskey
“What we do is secret”, concerto for Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble, by American composer Lansing McLoskey is our Composition of the Week.
“What We Do Is Secret” was commissioned for Triton Brass and the wind ensembles of Boston Conservatory, M.I.T., and the University of Miami Frost School of Music by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University.
The work has received numerous recognitions. It was the winner of The International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition 2011. Honorable Mention, the 2012 Red Note Festival Competition for Wind Ensemble Music. Third Prize, The American Prize, 2013, Winner of a 2014 Global Music Award.
Nominated for a 2014 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition by Albany Records.
What we do is secret has a duration of 24 minutes, and it is structured in 4 parts:
part I – Strange Notes
part II – The Unheard Music
part III – New York’s Alright (if you like saxophones…)
part IV – Rise above.
“I came to the world of composition via a somewhat unorthodox route. The proverbial "Three B's" for me were not Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, but rather The Beatles, Bauhaus, and Black Flag. My first experiences at writing music were not exercises in counterpoint, but as the guitarist and songwriter for punk rock bands in San Francisco in the early 1980's. It was actually through these years in the visceral world of punk that I first developed a love for classical music (but that's another story). What We Do Is Secret draws its title from the seminal, influential 1978 album by the early punk band The Germs. Likewise, each movement is titled after the name of a song from an early Los Angeles punk band; respectively, “Strange Notes” by The Germs, “The Unheard Music” by X, “New York’s Alright (If You Like Saxophones…)” by Fear, and “Rise Above” by Black Flag. The concerto is an homage to these groundbreaking and influential bands and countless others like them, who despite being lost in oblivion to the mainstream and having never achieved any semblance of commercial success, nevertheless gave voice to the frustrations of a generation, and ultimately changed the face of popular music. Rising from the ashes of the decadent, self-indulgent ‘70’s, this was “alternative rock” before the term was co-opted by corporate record labels, MTV, Hot Topics, and Abercrombie & Fitch. It’s important to note, however, that the piece is in no way an attempt at a “punk concerto” and does not quote any of the punk music in a cheap, postmodern pastiche, but rather uses these songs solely as touchstones and points of inspiration and departure.” Program Notes by Lansing McLoskey
View the score here:
Lansing McLoskey has been described as "a major talent and a deep thinker with a great ear" by the American Composers Orchestra, and "a distinctive voice in present day American music." McLoskey’s music has been performed to critical acclaim in thirteen countries on six continents and has won more than two dozen national and international awards, most recently the 2011 Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the 2011 International Joint Wind Quintet Project Commission Competition. In 2009 he became the only composer in the 46-year history of the ISU New Music Festival to win both the chamber music and orchestral composition awards; both blind-juried national competitions with two independent panels. McLoskey has received commissions from Meet the Composer, National Endowment for the Arts, the Barlow Endowment, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Fromm Foundation, and SCI/ASCAP, among many others. Recent performances include premieres in Italy, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, and Melbourne, Australia, and performances in Aspen, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Lima, Peru, among others. Recent commissions include new works for the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, the JWQP consortium of wind quintets, the newEar Ensemble for their 20th Anniversary Season, Chatham Baroque, and a clarinet concertino for the 2013 soundSCAPE Festival in Maccagno, Italy, where he was the 2011 Composer-in-Residence.
McLoskey completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University, with additional studies at UC Santa Barbara, the USC Thornton School of Music, and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Associate Professor at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, his music is released on Albany, Wergo Schallplatten, Capstone, Tantara, and Beauport Classics, and available from Subito Music and ACA Publishing. Sixth Species, a monograph CD of his chamber music, was released to critical praise in 2008, and his award-winning orchestral work Prex Penitentialis: The Prayer of Petrarch was released in 2011 on Albany Records.
More on Lansing McLoskey
