Candide to overture - bernsteinCandide (1956) is operetta in the vein of Offenbach and Gilbert and Sullivan. Its music has all the wit, élan, and sophistication that is associated with that genre. This is immediately apparent in the Overture (who ever wrote a special overture—in sonata form, no less—for a musical comedy?). It begins with a fanfare built on the interval of a minor seventh, followed by a major second—typically Bernstein, which serves as a motto and as a basis for development, throughout the entire operetta. This seventh sets up an expectation of B-flat major; but, instead, there is a stumbling, like a pratfall, into E-flat. This, in the body of the show, becomes "battle scene" music. Next, a lyrical contrast from the duet "Oh Happy We" is stated. This entire section is then repeated with lighter orchestration (note the devilish glee of the solo violin) and is succeeded by a brilliant codetta derived from the end of the aria "glitter and Be Gay." The Overture concludes with a shower of musical sparks utilizing fragments of everything already heard.
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Festival Variations - C.T. SMithPremiered at the 75th anniversary of the MENC in San Antonio by the United States Air Force Band who commissioned it, the composition met with immediate and overwhelming acceptance. "Festival Variations with its brilliant technical passages coupled with its glorious romanticism will certainly rank as one of the monumental compositions of the 20th century"...Arnald Gabriel, Col (Ret.) Commander/Conductor, The United States Air Force Band. Although difficult, many of the finer bands throughout the world have added this great work to their repertoire and perform it regularly.
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Suite Francaise - Milhaud"For a long time I have had the idea of writing a composition fit for high school purposes and this was the result. In the bands, orchestras, and choirs of American high schools, colleges and universities where the youth of the nation be found, it is obvious that they need music of their time, not too difficult to perform, but, nevertheless keeping the characteristic idiom of the composer. The five parts of this Suite are named after French Provinces, the very ones in which the American and Allied armies fought together with the French underground of the liberation of my country: Normandy, Brittany, Ile-de-France (of which Paris is the center), Alsace-Lorraine, and Provence (my birthplace). I used some folk tunes of these provinces. I wanted the young American to hear the popular melodies of those parts of France where their fathers and brothers fought to defeat the German invaders, who in less than seventy years have brought war, destruction, cruelty, torture, and murder, three times, to the peaceful and democratic people of France."
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Sleep - ERic WhitacreThe circumstances around the commission were certainly memorable. She wanted to commission the piece in memory of her parents, who had died within weeks of each other after more fifty years of marriage; and she wanted me to set her favorite poem, Robert Frost’s immortal Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. I was deeply moved by her spirit and her request, and agreed to take on the commission.
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Festive overture - shostakovichThe overture begins with a fanfare in the brass, followed by a fast melody in the winds. The strings take up this melody and the piece reaches a climax with a four-note motif. Suddenly, the music reaches a more lyrical melody in the horns and cellos, although the tempo remains the same. Shostakovich develops this material in his typical style, using both themes in counterpoint, before the fanfare returns and leads to a rousing coda.
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Jupiter - HolstWhat an astonishment the Age of Aquarius would have been to Gustav Holst (1874-1934). Its focus of attention on astrology can almost certainly be credited with the renewal of interest in his orchestral suite, The Planets. And since the British composer was distressed at the immediate success of the seven-movement work when it was introduced in 1919 - he never considered it one of his best efforts - its rebirth could only cause him further chagrin. Come to think of it, he might also find it a little embarrassing to be told that his suite is shy one planet, although had he kept up with astronomical findings he would have learned of the discovery of the planet Pluto in 1930.
"Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity," is the most thoroughly English section of the work, with Jupiter's high spirits projected through a broad, infectiously energetic melody. A stately, more serious processional theme then enters, its royal dignity fully intact, after which the vigorous melody returns. |
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traveler - MaslankaThe idea for Traveler came from the feeling of a big life movement as I contemplated my friend’s retirement. Traveler begins with an assertive statement of the chorale melody “Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr” (“Not so sad, not so much”). The chorale was not chosen for its title, although in retrospect it seems quite appropriate. The last part of life need not be sad. It is an accumulation of all that has gone before, and a powerful projection into the future – the potential for a tremendous gift of life and joy. And so the music begins with energy and movement, depicting an engaged life in full stride. At the halfway point, a meditative quiet settles in. Life’s battles are largely done; the soul is preparing for its next big step.
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Pilatus: Mountains of Dragons - Steven ReinekeThis ten-minute work, on the easy side of the medium-advanced level, successfully conveys the awe-inspiring grandeur of Pilatus mountain in Switzerland. It opens with the brass slowly blowing air through their instruments, as if to simulate the mountain wind, or perhaps the breath of dragons! A compelling work!
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