© Allen Stephens
2015 Summer Concert Series Program Notes
Music Director Emeritus Andrew Pease takes us through
the 2015 Summer Concert Series repertoire.
For more musings and resources on wind band repertoire, visit
his blog: Andy Pease's Wind Band Blog.
Ecstatic Fanfare
by Steve Bryant
Ecstatic Fanfare was extracted in 2012 from Bryant's larger work, Ecstatic Waters (2008). The fanfare uses some of the tutti material from the larger composition's opening movement. In Bryant’s words, “Unlike that work, this one does NOT require electronics, water glasses, a Celesta, or a Mahler Hammer. ;).” Read on here...
If You Could Only See the Frog
by Paul Richards
If You Could Only See the Frog was written in 2008 on a commission from the Saint Mary’s University Concert Band, directed by Dr. Janet Heukeshoven, with support from the Sam & Helen Kaplan Foundation. It was the winner of the 2014 Columbia Summer Winds Outdoor Composition Contest. Writes Richards, "The deceptively simple and playful tune stems from a wide range of cultural influences, combining typically Ladino melodic figurations with a traditional Bulgarian metric construction, punctuated by a curious refrain in Turkish that simply means, “I love you so much”. Read on here...
Selections from 'Into the Woods'
by Stephen Sondheim, arr. Bulla
Into the Woods, with music by Sondheim and book and lyrics by James Lapine, debuted on Broadway in 1987. It tells the story of a childless Baker and the Baker’s Wife, who are cursed by an evil Witch. Their adventures intersect several fairy tale stories by the Brothers Grimm, including Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack and the Beanstalk. The original production won Tony Awards for Best Original Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason). The musical has been revived several times around the world. In 2014, it was released as a movie by the Walt Disney company. Read on here...
The Stars and Stripes Forever
by John Philip Sousa
Washington, D.C. native and legendary bandmaster John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) wrote a dozen operettas, six full-length operas, and over 100 marches, earning the title “March King”. From the Band Music PDF Library, "The Stars and Stripes Forever was not quite so well received though and actually got an over average rating for a new Sousa march. Yet, its popularity grew as Mr. Sousa used it during the Spanish-American War as a concert closer." Read on here...
Molly on the Shore
by Percy Grainger
Grainger originally wrote Molly on the Shore in a 1907 string setting as birthday gift for his mother (who exerted perhaps an undue influence on him during her lifetime). The wind band setting is but one of many, and it appeared in 1920. Read on here...
Second Suite in F
by Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was a British composer and teacher, perhaps best known for composing The Planets, a massive orchestral suite that depicts the astrological character of each known planet. His works for wind band (two suites and a tone poem, Hammersmith) are foundational to the modern wind literature. The Second Suite in F was written in 1911, but not performed until 1922. Each of its four movements uses one or more folk songs as its melodic material. Read on here...
The Hounds of Spring
by Alfred Reed
The Hounds of Spring was inspired by the poem Atlanta in Calydon by Algernon Charles Swinburne. Writes Reed, "[the poem portrays] a magical picture of young love in springtime, forms the basis for the present purely musical setting, in traditional three-part overture form, of this lovely paean… an attempt to capture the twin elements of the poem, exuberant youthful gaiety and the sweetness of tender love, in an appropriate musical texture." Read on here...