The Hounds
of Spring - Alfred Reed
When the hounds of spring are on winter’s traces,“When the hounds of spring are on winter’s traces,” 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. The poem, a recreation in modern English of an ancient Greek tragedy, appeared in print in 1865, when the poet was 28 years old. It made Algernon Swinburne literally an overnight success. The Hounds of Spring was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, the John L. Forster Secondary School Symphonic Band of Windsor, Ontario, and its director, Gerald A.N. Brown. The first performance took place in Windsor on May 8th, 1980, by the aforementioned group, under the direction of the composer. - Alfred Reed
The mother of months in meadow or plain
Fills the shadows and windy places
With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain;
And soft as lips that laugh and hide
The laughing leaves of the trees divide,
And screen from seeing and leave in sight
The god pursuing, the maiden hid.
Sparkle
– Shafer Mahoney
University
of Hawai'i Wind Ensemble (video)
Rutgers
Wind Ensemble (audio)
Sparkle is
a rhythmic, celebratory work, about four minutes long. It
was commissioned by the Oklahoma State University Wind
Ensemble, and first performed by that group in April 1999. Most sections
of Sparkle are lightly scored and focus on a
single group of instruments. The first half of the work
alternates between solos for the flutes and clarinets. The
flute solos are cheerful scales, while the clarinet solos
are somewhat darker, but still rhythmically playful.
Later, solos are assigned to the trumpets (muted), horns
and saxophones. A busy percussion ostinato underlies all
of these solo passages. Gradually, these solos grow louder
and more melodic; they culminate in a final passage for
the entire ensemble and a brief fanfare for brass and
percussion. - Shafer Mahoney
Sky
is Waiting - Sam Hazo
Indiana
University of Pennsylvania Wind Ensemble (audio)
Morresville
HS (NC) Wind Ensemble (video)
It is why children
jump in the air, time after time, after time; hoping just once
to be ignored by Newton's essays or God's design. It is
why grown men and women have risked their lives in order to
prove Bernoulli's theories victorious over Earth's hold.
It is why two brother made international history in Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina for a flight that could not quite travers the
length of a football field.... We know that when we are just one
inch off of the Earth, we are, technically, at the beginning of
infinity. And that's where dreams are born.
Sky is Waiting begins with Icarus' violent crash into the Aegean
Sea. The power of this section is a tribute to Icarus
being the only one who knew what it was like to soar so
high. It is in this section that two primary themes are
introduced: a brass theme representing the ida and principles of
flight, and an ethereal theme in the woodwind representing the
dream of flight. The second section develops the ethereal
theme and acts as a bridge to the Wright Brothers. The
third section represents the Wright's first flight. Here a
chorale is presented in two halves symbolizing the two brothers;
each half is 20 seconds long, the total length of their first
flight. The composition then proceedsto explore both
themes, eventually combining to symbolize the birth of aviation,
the realization of the dream. - Sam Hazo
On July 3, 1907, the Australian composer Percy Grainger (1882-1961) presented his mother with an unusual birthday present: the score of Molly on the Shore, a setting of two Irish reels from County Cork ("Molly on the Shore" and "Temple Hill"). Like many of Grainger's works, Molly exists in several arrangements: in addition to the setting for concert band, Grainger arranged Molly for string quartet, symphony orchestra, theatre orchestra, violin and piano, and piano solo. The two reels, taken by Grainger from "The Complete Petrie Collection of Irish Music", are woven into the musical fabric so subtlety that most listeners are unaware that there are two distinct tunes. In response to a request by conductor Frederick Fennell, Grainger provided the following notes:
In setting Molly on the Shore I strove to
imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture
with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying
reel. Melody seems to me to provide music with initiative,
whereas rhythm appears to me to exert an enslaving
influence. For that reason I have tried to avoid regular
rhythmic domination in my music – always expecting irregular
rhythms, such as those of Gregorian Chant, which seem to me to
make for freedom. Equally with melody, I prize discordant
harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it
exerts.
Elegy
for a Friend – Svetlana Artemieva
Ms.
Artemieva completed her musical studies at the Conservatory of
her hometown: St. Petersburg, Russia. There she studies
composition with Boris Tichchenko and conducting with Ilya
Musin. She devotes all of her musical commitment to
composing and conducting Ha/Fa/Bra (Harmonie Band, Fanfare Band,
and Brass Band) repertoire.
Legacy
for Band – Claude Smith
Resonexus
Wind Orchestra - Japan (video)
In Japan, July the 7th is known as "Tanabata", and a legend exists
that a young man and woman, separated by the Milky Way, are
only allowed to meet on this night. Festivals are held
throughout Japan to celebrate their re-union. The
Seventh Night of July is Itaru Sakai’s musical
interpretation of this romantic legend, linked to the summer
night sky. The alto saxophone and euphonium solos in the middle
of the piece are intended to represent the two characters in the
legend.