Wind Symphony “Uncharted Territory: music to help us navigate our world”
Finale from Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss, arranged for wind band by A. A. Harding.
From Wikipedia: Death and Transfiguration (German: Tod und Verklärung), Op. 24, is a tone poem for orchestra by Richard Strauss. Strauss began composition in the late summer of 1888 and completed the work on 18 November 1889. The work is dedicated to the composer’s friend Friedrich Rosch.
The music depicts the death of an artist. At Strauss’s request, this was described in a poem by his friend Alexander Ritter as an interpretation of Death and Transfiguration, after it was composed.[1] As the man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration “from the infinite reaches of heaven”.
Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre
Note from Composer
Cloudburst was my second classical work, originally written for chorus in the fall of 1991; it was inspired by an astonishing thunderstorm I witnessed earlier that Spring while on tour in Northern California.
In the fall of 2001 the Indiana All State commissioned me to write an original work for their top festival band, and I convinced them to let me adapt Cloudburst for symphonic winds. The way this new orchestration has transformed the piece is simply amazing to me: I distinctly remember being at the first rehearsal and just being completely speechless. Where the choral version is intimate and delicate, the version for winds is strong and assured, and to my ears it sounds like it’s suddenly in technicolor.., on a 50 foot screen.
Cloudburst was premiered on March 16th, 2002, at the Indiana All-State Festival, with yours truly at the helm of that magnificent band. It is lovingly dedicated to my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Jocelyn Kaye Jensen.
Songs of the West by Gustav Holst arranged by Jim Curnow
Songs of the West was written in 1901 after Holst took an interest in folk music, and was the first of his pieces to be founded on folk songs. It was created from a collection of folk songs gathered from the west of England and was a companion piece to A Somerset Rhapsody. Songs of the West differs in styles, keys, and tempos, and the nautical nature of the coastal region is evident in many of the melodies.
In 1986, composer James Curnow was commissioned to write an arrangement for band of the piece, since it was originally written for orchestra.
– Program Note from Texas A&M University Symphonic Winds concert program, 24 November 2019
On This Bright Morning by David Maslanka
Program Note by David Maslanka
There are times of stability in life, and times of significant transition. Transitions can be upsetting, often provoked or accompanied by physical or emotional troubles. They are times of uncertainty and unknowing, but also the times of greatest creative change.
“On This Bright Morning” acknowledges the struggle, and the feelings of pain and loss in times of transition, but embodies the pure joy of realizing the bigger life. On this bright morning, life is new, life is possible.
The following is from a Bill Moyers interview with the poet, Jane Kenyon, who suffered chronic depression, and who died of leukemia at
age 48:
“Yes, there are things in life that we must endure that are all but unendurable, and yet I feel that there is a great goodness. Why, when
there could have been nothing, is there something? How, when there could have been nothing, does it happen that there is love, kindness, beauty?”
This Cruel Moon by John Mackey
This piece is an adaptation of the middle movement of “Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band.” The full symphony tells the tale of Odysseus and his journey home following his victory in the Trojan War. But Odysseus’ journey would take as long as the war itself. Homer called the ocean on which Odysseus sailed a wine-dark sea, and for the Greek king it was as murky and disorienting as its name; he would not find his way across it without first losing himself.
Mvt 1 (movement 1) from Symphony No. 1 (number 1) The Lord of the Rings: Gandalf (The Wizard) by Johan de Meij
From Wikipedia: Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings is the first symphony for concert band written by Johan de Meij, and one of several works of classical music based on J. R. R. Tolkien‘s fantasy The Lord of the Rings. It premiered in 1988 with the Groot Harmonieorkest van de Belgische Gidsen conducted by Norbert Nozy.
Mvt 5 (movement 5) from Symphony No. 1 (number 1) The Lord of the Rings: Hobbits by Johan de Meij