Gavorkna Fanfare by Jack Stamp (b. 1954)
Jack Stamp is an active conductor and composer in the United States and Great Britain. He currently teaches conducting at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His compositions have received positive critique from composers such as David Diamond, Norman Dello Joio, Ron Nelson, Michael Torke, Samuel Adler, Fisher Tull, and many others.
Gavorkna Fanfare is a short concert opener that features heavy brass and bell tone percussion. While most typical fanfares are slow and stately, Gavorkna Fanfare has a driving tempo with dense rhythmic figures and dissonant harmonies.
American Overture for Band by Joseph Wilcox Jenkins (b.1928)
Joseph Wilcox Jenkins was born in Philadelphia where he took piano and music composition lessons at a very young age. In college, Jenkins studied music composition and pre-law until eventually his focus shifted solely to music at the Eastman school of music. After graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and arranged for the Army Field Band. Upon completion of his first enlistment, Jenkins continued his education and obtained a doctoral degree from Catholic University. He enlisted once more with the Army and became the lead arranger for the Army Chorus. Jenkins became a part of the music faculty at Duquense University after his time in the Army. American Overture for Band was written in 1953 when Jenkins was 25 years old and was written with the military band instrumentation in mind. American Overture is a high-energy expression of bold optimism that puts every section of the band in the spotlight – especially the French Horns.
God’s Country by Rossano Galante (b. 1967)
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Mr. Galante received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in trumpet performance from SUNY at Buffalo in 1992. In that same year, he was one of nineteen people across the country to be accepted to the University of Southern California's Film Scoring Program. He studied with the late Jerry Goldsmith, who won an Academy Award for The Omen. In 1999 he moved to California to pursue a career in film composition and orchestration.
Mr. Galante has composed music for the films, Channels, The Prince of Venice, The Great Gabble and additional music for Scary Movie 2. He served as orchestrator for the films Amusement, Loft, L'ennemi public no. 1, Max Payne, Instinct de Mort, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, The Eye, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Perfect Holiday, Live Free or Die Hard, 3:10 to Yuma, The Invisible, The Tuxedo, and many others.
In 2005 and 2008, Mr. Galante's recent compositions, Resplendent Glory and Transcendent Journey were both commissioned by and dedicated to Dr. Peter Loel Boonshaft and the Hofstra University Symphonic Band. Rossano has also been commissioned by the Nebraska Wind Symphony, the Amherst Chamber Orchestra, Trenton State College, SUNY at Buffalo, Grand Island Middle School, Syracuse Youth Symphony, Point Pleasant Borough High School, North Tonawanda High School, Lockport City School District, Edward Town Middle School and the Erie County Wind Ensemble.
“From the most statuesque mountain ranges to our grandest waterfalls, this composition musically depicts the picturesque landscapes that have existed since the beginning of time. Soaring melodic lines, epic brass fanfares, and emotionally charged harmonies will take your performers on an unforgettable journey through ‘God's Country’.”
The Cowboys by John Williams (b. 1932) / arr. James Curnow (b. 1943)
John Williams is an American composer and conductor most widely known for his work in film scoring. His music has accompanied films such as Star Wars, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones.
The Cowboys features music written for the 1972 movie of the same name, with the concert band arrangement by James Curnow. The piece begins with a lively western theme featuring trumpets and low brass. A slow flowing section follows with a melody played on the English horn, which is then passed around throughout the band. As this section builds intensity it leads into the recapitulation of the opening portion of the piece featuring the lively western theme again.
Cajun Folk Songs by Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)
Frank Ticheli is a well-known modern wind ensemble composer. Cajun Folk Songs is contrasting two-movement work that was composed for the Murchison Middle School Band and premiered in the spring of 1991. The piece uses musical materials from a 1934 phonograph recording of folksongs collected by John and Alan Lomax. The first movement, titled “La Belle et le Capitaine,” is a folk song that tells the story of a young girl who feigns death to avoid being seduced by a captain. The music represents the original song which requires prolonged and sustained playing from every instrument as the melody is passed around. The second movement, titled “Belle,” is about a man who leaves his home in Louisiana and ventures to Texas. Upon his arrival, he receives word that his sweetheart has fallen ill and promptly returns home. Finding her unconscious, the man pawns his horse to try to save his love, but to no avail. The music depicts the story using an odd metered dance style that varies in rhythm, texture, and color.
Cajuns are descendants of the Acadians, a group of early French colonists who began settling in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) around 1604. In 1755 they were driven out by the British, eventually resettling in South Louisiana. Today there are nearly a million French-speaking descendants of the Acadians living in Louisiana and parts of Texas, preserving many of the customs, traditions, stories, and songs of their ancestors. Cajun music, in its original form, has a pure and powerful expression of Louisiana French Society.
Rocky Point Holiday by Ron Nelson (b. 1929)
Ron Nelson was born in Joliet, Illinois, on December 14, 1929. He began piano lessons at the age of 6. At that tender age, he wrote his first composition entitled The Sailboat, finding it more fun to improvise than to practice. He became a church organist at the age of 13. His early efforts rewarded him with the discipline to write down his improvisations and the basic principles of orchestration. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned his B. Mus, M. Mus, and D.M.A. in 1952, 1953, and 1956, respectively. After receiving his Doctorate, he joined the music faculty of Brown University, where he served as Chairman of the Music Department from 1963 to 1973. He has composed two operas, a mass, music for films and television, 90 choral works, and over 40 instrumental works. Composing for band has become a major focus and the community has been rewarded with his Savannah River Holiday, Rocky Point Holiday, Passacaglia, and Chaconne.
This 1969 composition was Ron Nelson's first major work for band. It was commissioned for the University of Minnesota Band's Russia tour. "Rocky Point Holiday" was written in Rocky Point, Rhode Island while the composer was on vacation.
Rocky Point Holiday helped "typecast" the composer as a writer of "flashy, high energy overtures." The composer states in the notes to the disc - Rocky Point: “[it is] fun to play and listen to." It is indeed highly energetic, cast in a three-part form of fast-slow-fast and features a sound of long-lined singing melodies, underscored by moving ostinatos, colorful frenetic swirling winds and very busy percussion.
Urban Dances by Erik Morales (b. 1966)
Urban Dances is a modern piece composed by Erik Morales. His inspiration stemmed from current popular music rhythms. Erik Morales composes music for many genres such as classical, jazz, and pop. Mr. Morales began his career in composition upon graduating high school – he composed for his alma mater. Urban Dances features a large battery of percussion to present the concert band’s full gamut of colors.
Yosemite Autumn by Mark Camphouse (b.1954)
Mark Camphouse is a conductor and self-taught composer who currently is the associate director of the school of music at George Mason University. Camphouse started composing at an early age premiering his first symphony at the age of seventeen. To date he has written 25 pieces for symphonic band which are performed all over the world.
Yosemite Autumn is inspired by Yosemite National Park located in California. The majestic nature of this piece captures the beauty of Yosemite. When Mark Camphouse was on vacation with his family in California, they passed through San Francisco, Big Sur, Wine Counrty, and Lake Tahoe. When they reached Yosemite National Park, the natural beauty was so breathtaking it inspired him to write this piece.
On the Trail by Ferde Grofe (1892 – 1972)
In 1916, an itinerant pianist in his 20s strapped gas cans to a vintage jeep and drove across the Arizona desert to watch the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. Grofe used music, the language he knew best, to describe what he saw. Ferde Grofe knew how to use every instrument in the orchestra to bring his compositions to life. In the "Grand Canyon Suite," he evoked the natural sounds he'd heard on his visit there. He made the woodwinds sound like birds and the trumpets sound like crickets. On the Trail is taken from The Grand Canyon Suite. It depicts a traveler and his mule as they make their way down the trail of the Grand Canyon. The music is filled with the sounds of the stubborn mule, musical moments when the pair seem to speed down steep hills, and nostalgic “night-music” (also called a nocturne). In addition to composing the Grand Canyon Suite, Grofe also orchestrated Rhapsody in Blue for George Gershwin, who was tied up meeting composition deadlines for Broadway.
Southern Hymn by Samuel Hazo (b. 1966)
Samuel Hazo is a composer who works primarily with the symphonic band idiom. He has worked with every level of ensemble from grade school to the university level. A number of his compositions have been commissioned and performed for large scale public events such as the London Summer Olympic Games in 2012.
Southern Hymn is reminiscent of old traditional American folk songs and spirituals such as Shenandoah, Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley, and Amazing Grace. The melody that is stated by solo trumpet at the piece’s opening is passed throughout the band as the support from the ensemble intensifies and relaxes the music.
Buckaroo Holiday from Rodeo by Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990) / Transcribed for band by Kenneth Megan
Aaron Copland was by all accounts a trailblazer, much like the American spirit his music emulates. He was the first American student of the famed French composer and teacher, Nadia Boulanger. Upon finishing his studies abroad, Copland wished to break free from European musical traditions and create a uniquely “American” style of classical music. Copland made several attempts to this end, writing in disparate styles before finding the quintessential Copland sound. Initially his works were influenced by American jazz and the neo-classical works of Stravinsky. He then veered somewhat off-course, writing works that were harsh and atonal which risked alienating his audience. In the 1930’s Copland wrote of this dilemma: “I began to feel an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of the music-loving public and the living composer. The old ‘special’ public of the modern-music concerts had fallen away, and the conventional concert public continued apathetic or indifferent to anything but the established classics.” These words are eerily prescient, some eighty years later mirroring the plight of the modern day 21st-century composer. He continues, “It seemed to me that we composers were in danger of working in a vacuum … I felt it was worth the effort to see if I couldn’t say what I had to say in the simplest possible terms.
The story of Rodeo centers around a cowgirl who was raised at Burnt Ranch, and who strives to step out of her “just one of the guys” persona. She seeks the attention of the Head Wrangler, who is, like the rest of the cowboys, infatuated with the Rancher’s Daughter. Eventually she catches the eye of the Champion Roper who has just lost the Rancher’s Daughter to the Head Wrangler. In a tale as old as time, the Cowgirl puts on a beautiful dress for the Hoe-Down and finally attracts the attention of the Head Wrangler. The ballet culminates with the Cowgirl and Head Wrangler locked in a Hollywood kiss in the middle of the dance.
Rodeo is filled with American folk tunes, remarkably often left completely intact. “Buckaroo Holiday” opens with a rhythmic and spry fanfare filled with syncopation and accents. Copland uses the brass and strings as opposing forces in this opening. This is interrupted by the gentle and lyrical Cowgirl’s theme introduced by the woodwinds. The first folk tune to make an appearance is the railroad tune “Sis Joe” to which the cowboys enter. It is filled with evocations of galloping horses in the percussion and brass. “If He’d Be a Buckaroo” is used as the Cowgirl tries to garner some attention from her male counterparts. The fanfare, Cowgirl’s theme, “Sis Joe” and “If He’d Be a Buckaroo” all return in various forms clamoring for attention through the boisterous end of the movement.
Cityscape I by David Holsinger (b. 1945)
David Holsinger was born in Hardin, Missouri, December 26, 1945. His compositions have won four major competitions, including a two time ABA Ostwald Award. His compositions have also been finalists in both the DeMoulin and Sudler competitions. He holds degrees from Central Methodist College, Fayette, Missouri, and Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg. Holsinger has completed course work for DMA at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. The composer has been honored by Gustavus Adolphus College with the awarding of an Honorary Doctorate for lifetime achievement in composition and the Gustavus Fine Arts Medallion, the divisions highest honor, designed and sculpted by renowned artist, Paul Granlund. After 16 years of service to Shady Grove Church, Grand Prairie, Texas, as Composer-in-Residence, Holsinger and his wife, Winona, now call Cleveland, Tennessee home, where the composer serves as Director of the Lee University Wind Ensemble. From this beautiful area in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Holsinger continues to travel extensively as a conductor and clinician throughout the United States
Cityscape, a fanfare for wind and percussion, was written for and dedicated to James F. Keene and the University of Illinois Wind Symphony. This symphonic fanfare was designed to make a bold opening statement for the ensemble’s 2006 performance in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Intense, clashing harmonies and tight, vertical rhythms combine with moments of calm, yet unsettled release to depict the atmosphere within the endless canyons of metal and cement in the heart of the city.
Ride by Samuel Hazo (b. 1966)
Samuel R. Hazo received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Duquesne University, where he served on the Board of Governors and was honored as an Outstanding Graduate in Music Education. In 2003 he became the first composer to win both composition contests of the National Band Association with his Perthshire Majesty (2003) and Novo Lenio (2001). Mr. Hazo now resides in Pittsburgh, PA, where he serves on the faculty of the Upper St. Clair School District. He is also active as a clinician and guest conductor.
Hazo wrote Ride for his good friend Jack Stamp, director of bands at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The score describes the composer's experience following Stamp to his home, which turned out to be a wild ride down country roads. “Since I didn't know how to get to Jack's house (also known as Gavorkna House) from the university, he told me to follow him,” Hazo wrote. “Ride was written and titled for that exact moment in my life when Jack Stamp's generosity and lead foot were as equal in their inspiration as the beautiful Indiana, PA, countryside blurring past my car window.”