Landscapes in Sound
Spring Concert Programme Notes
Candide Overture
Leonard Bernstein
Arranged by Clare Grundman
Candide was Leonard Bernstein’s third Broadway musical, following On the Town and Wonderful Town. Adapted by Lillian Hellman from Voltaire’s 18th-century satire on blind optimism, Bernstein’s Candide is an operetta set in the castle of the Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh in the mythical European land of Westphalia.
Opening on Broadway on December 1, 1956, Candide was perhaps a bit too intellectually weighty for its first audiences and closed after just 73 performances. Bernstein was less concerned over the money lost than the failure of a work he cared about deeply. The critics had rightly noted a marvellous score, and Bernstein and others kept tinkering with the show over the years. With each revival, Candide won bigger audiences. In 1989, the already seriously ill Bernstein spent his last ounces of vital energy recording a new concert version of the work. “There’s more of me in that piece than anything else I’ve done,” he said.
The sparkling overture captures the frenetic activity of the operetta, with its twists and turns, along with Candide’s simple honesty. From the very beginning, though, the overture was a hit and swiftly became one of the most popular of all concert curtain raisers. Brilliantly written and scored, flying at breakneck speed, it pumps up the adrenaline of players and listeners alike. It features two of the show’s big tunes: the sweeping romantic one is Candide’s and Cunégonde’s love duet “Oh Happy We,” while the wacky up-tempo music is from Cunégonde’s fabulous send-up of coloratura soprano arias, “Glitter and Be Gay.”
- Program note by San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra concert program, 12 May 2012
The Lochnagar Suite – I. Scottish Dances
Nigel Hess
The 14-minute suite is based on music from Hess’ one-act ballet The Old Man of Lochnagar, which premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 2007 with the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain, choreographed by Drew McOnie. The magical fable tells the story of a bad-tempered soul who is forced, by a majestic eagle, to look back on a selfish and unfulfilling life. He is plunged into the watery deep of Lochnagar and joins in fantastical games and dances, before being flown to rocky heights. These rejuvenating experiences cause him to cast off his misanthropic persona and make him into a new man.
This is the opening movement, a folksy selection of Scottish dances, depicting a highland festival.
Amparito Roca
Jaime Texidor
Arranged by Winks
Although the original score of this pasodoble was reportedly written (possibly under a different title) by the British bandmaster Reginald Ridewood (1907-1942), Jaime Texidor undoubtedly copyrighted the work and arranged for its publication by Editorial Musica Moderna in Madrid and, in 1935, by Boosey & Hawkes in London. In April 1936, an ad by Boosey & Hawkes in The Musical Progress and Mail included the title Amparito Roca followed by a translation, “The Sheltered Cliff.” The present conductor of the Baracaldo Municipal Band, Juan Esteve Galán, has stated, however, that Texidor dedicated the pasodoble to a girl named Amparito (diminutive of Amparo) Roca, and that she still lives in that area. Regardless of its origin, researchers agree that Amparito Roca is still one of the band world’s most popular pasodobles.
- Program Note from Program Notes for Band
October
Eric Whitacre
October is my favorite month. Something about the crisp autumn air and the subtle change in light always make me a little sentimental, and as I started to sketch I felt that same quiet beauty in the writing. The simple, pastoral melodies and subsequent harmonies are inspired by the great English romantics (Vaughan Williams and Elgar) as I felt that this style was also perfectly suited to capture the natural and pastoral soul of the season. I'm quite happy with the end result, especially because I feel there just isn't enough lush, beautiful music written for winds.
October was commissioned by the Nebraska Wind Consortium, Brian Anderson, Consortium Chairman. October was premiered on May 14th, 2000, and is dedicated to Brian Anderson, the man who brought it all together.
- Program Note by composer
The Lochnagar Suite – II. Dark Lochnagar
Nigel Hess
This is a wistful arrangement of a 19th century Scottish ballad to accompany the Old Man finding his true love.
Gallimaufry
Guy Woolfenden
This suite for concert band was inspired by Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays and derived from music written for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions which opened the Barbican Theatre, London, in June 1982. Dedicated to the director, Trevor Nunn, then the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with grateful thanks for his suggestion that I should expand and mould the music for these productions into a form suitable for concert performance.
The work is continuous, and the thematic material of each of the six sections closely related.
Movement One: Church and State
Leadership; the establishment; temporal and ecclesiastical power
Movement Two: Inn and Out
The Boar’s Head Tavern; the Stews; low-life revels
Movement Three: Starts and Fits
Tavern Brawl; Gadshill ambush; Pistol “the swaggerer” evicted; Mistress Quickly’s rescue.
Movement Four: Father and Son
Relationship of King Henry and Falstaff to Prince Hall; real and surrogate parent.
Movement Five: Advance and Retreat
Recruiting March derived from the Tavern tune.
Movement Six: Church and Status Quo
Falstaff rejected. Hal becomes King; order restored.
- Program Note by Guy Woolfenden
INTERVAL
Fanfare for a Festival
Malcolm Arnold
Arranged by Michael McDermott
The work has no opus number but was written between his famous Tam O'Shanter Overture for orchestra (opus 51) and his John Clare Cantata (opus 52) and completed in April 1955. Originally scored for 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 1 cornet, 3 trombones, timpani and 3 percussion, this new version for concert band by Michael McDermott was made in celebration of Malcolm Arnold's 80th birthday.
- Program Note from publisher
Strike up the Band
George Gershwin
Arranged by Ray Woodfield
Strike Up The Band is the title song for a musical interpretation of George S. Kaufman’s satire about a proud American owner of a cheese factory who is outraged when Switzerland protests a tariff on imported cheese and convinces the U.S. government to declare a war he would finance. George and Ira Gershwin saw this as an opportunity to write in the style of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The 1927 production never made it out of Philadelphia, as political satire was a hard sell even in an operetta style. The inevitable boy-meets-girl story did produce the classic love song The Man I Love.
- Program note from Music Program Notes for Band and Wind Ensemble Music
First Suite in E flat
Gustav Holst
Arranged by Michael McDermott
Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat for Military Band occupies a legendary position in the wind band repertory and can be seen, in retrospect, as one of the earliest examples of the modern wind band instrumentation still frequently performed today. Its influence is so significant that several composers have made quotation or allusion to it as a source of inspiration to their own works.
Holst began his work with Chaconne, a traditional Baroque form that sets a series of variations over a ground bass theme. That eight-measure theme is stated at the outset in tubas and euphoniums, and, in all, fifteen variations are presented in quick succession. Holst presents some inverted melodies, contrasting the optimism and bright energy of the rest of the work, typically introducing a sense of melancholy or shocking surprise. The second half of the Chaconne, for instance, presents a sombre inversion of the ground bass that eventually emerges from its gloom into the exuberant final variations.
The Intermezzo, which follows is a quirky rhythmic frenzy that contrasts everything that has preceded it.
The March that follows immediately begins shockingly, with a furious trill in the woodwinds articulated by aggressive statements by brass and percussion. This sets up the light-hearted and humorous mood for the final movement, which eventually does take up the more reserved and traditional regal mood of a British march and is simply interrupted from time to time by an uncouth accent or thunderous bass drum note. The coda of the work makes brief mention of elements from both the Chaconne and Intermezzo before closing joyfully.
- Program Note by Jacob Wallace for the Baylor Wind Ensemble concert program, 19 December 2014
Bullets and Bayonets
John Philip Souza
Arranged by Frederick Fennell
More than many of Sousa's other marches, this World War I composition has a distinctly military character. In studying the music, Sousa's apparent inspiration by visions of battlefield glory is not difficult to imagine. But perhaps its war-like title accounted for the relative lack of popularity.
There is no record of solicitation by a specific regiment, but the march was dedicated "To the officers and men of the U.S. Infantry."
- Program Note from John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalog of His Works
Gaelforce
Peter Graham
Gaelforce follows in Cry of the Celts style, and using three traditional folk tunes exploits the colour and variety of the modern wind band. Firstly, the slip jig The Rocky Road to Dublin features the woodwind section. The Minstrel Boy, and the final reel, Tossing the Feathers, have both recently enjoyed renewed popularity courtesy of The Corrs. The Minstrel Boy here features the solo flugel horn in contrast with woodwind choir and mellow voices, while Tossing the Feathers is something of a tour de force for drums, woodwind, and eventually the whole band.
- Program Note from publisher
The Lochnagar Suite – III. Dance of the Eagle
Nigel Hess
The Dance of the Eagle describes the majestic and dynamic Lord of the Air, who guides the Old Man on his adventures.