Flourish for Wind Band was written as an overture to English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams' pageant Music and the People, and was first performed in London in April, 1939. Soon afterwards, the music was lost and wasn’t re-discovered until 1971! The opening fanfare, presented by the brass, is contrasted by a soft, legato, second theme, dominated by the woodwinds. The piece ends with a return of the fanfare.
We will use this as a fanfare that leads directly (with little to no pause) into Crown Imperial.
This is the piece that we will be using as the
processional for the faculty.
William Walton (1902-1983) composed Crown Imperial in
1937 for the coronation of George VI, who became king after the
abdication of his elder brother Edward VIII. The title is taken
from a line of William Dunbar's (1465-1520) poem In Honour
of the City of London: "In beauty bearing the Crown
Imperial." The UVM Band performed this piece at the
Inauguration of the 25th President of the University, Daniel M.
Fogel.
This is the piece that we will be using as the
processional for the platform party.
Alfred Reed (1921-2005) was one of the most prolific and
respected American composer of band music in the 20th
century. Many of his pieces (Russian Christmas Music,
Armenian Dances, El Camino Real, etc.) are heard
on concerts by the best wind bands in the world. This
processional march was written in 1956. The publisher
writes: "[The Crowning Glory is]....a ceremonial march
with a solemn and gorgeous atmosphere. It begins with a
dignified fanfare, and the clear melody and rich harmony create
a sense of both dignity and elegance. It is the perfect work to
commemorate the opening of graduation ceremonies and other
commemorative events."
National
Anthem Video (2023 UVM Graduation,
David Torborg, '23, singer, with the University Brass
Ensemble)
The video here is from the 2023 Commencement Ceremony in front of Waterman. The ensemble is just brass, but it's more or less the same arrangement and uses the same intro as the one we will do.
The noted English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams
was a young man when he was made music editor of the English
Hymnal of 1906. The tune became associated with the hymn
"For all the Saints," though there is some uncertainty as to
whether he wrote the music expressly for those words or altered
a melody he had already written and adapted it for this setting.
Arabesque was commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters Association and written for the 2008 Indiana All-State Band. Arabesque is based in the mystical sounds of Middle Eastern music and it is composed in three parts. “Taqasim” (tah’-zeem), “dabka” (dupp-keh) and “chorale.” The opening flute cadenza, although written out in notes, is meant to sound like an Arabic taqasim or improvisation. Much the same as in jazz improvisation, the soloist is to play freely in the scales and modes of the genre. In this case, the flute plays in bi-tonal harmonic minor scales, and even bends one note to capture the micro-tonality (quarter-tones) of the music from this part of the world. However, opposite to jazz, taqasim has very little change to the chordal or bass line accompaniment. It is almost always at the entrance to a piece of music and is meant to set the musical and emotional tone.