Program for February 11, 2011 Madison Central High School Auditorium
Videorecording of this concert
Proud Heritage (1956) William P. Latham (1917–2004)
Evoking a formal British mood, this processional march cleverly voices the melodies and accompaniments in various sections of the band, achieving variety through shifts of timbre. Characteristically, however, trumpets get the fanfares, reeds get the lyric melody at the Trio, euphoniums are assigned the melody an octave below other instruments, and percussion punctuates! William Latham, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, taught at Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) and North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas).
Salvation Is Created (1984) Pavel Grigor’yevich Tschesnokoff (1877–1944)
arr. (1962) by Bruce Houseknecht
Pavel Tschesnokoff was born in the Moscow area, attended the Moscow Conservatory, taught choral music in several schools in Moscow, and then became a professor of choral music at his alma mater. Most of his compositions, all choral, were sacred. Sources say that one third of his works were based on Gregorian chant. Salvation is Created is a communion hymn for Fridays. The lyrics, based on a verse from Psalm 74, translate as, “Salvation is created, in midst of the earth, O God, O our God. Alleluia.”
Scenes from “The Louvre” (1966) Norman Dello Joio (1913–2008)
I. The Portals
II. Children’s Gallery
III. The Kings of France
IV. The Nativity Paintings
V. Finale
Norman Dello Joio was organist trained at Julliard and Yale, and he taught at Sarah Lawrence College and the Mannes School of Music. “The Louvre” was a 1964 NBC documentary about the famed museum in Paris, for which Dello Joio was commissioned to compose the background music, and for which he received an Emmy Award. The source material is that of Renaissance composers, since the museum developed its identity during that period (1450–1600). The band version written as a commission from Baldwin-Wallace College, excerpts material from the television score, with new material from the composer for the second movement. “The Portals” represents the expansive doors at the opening of the museum each morning. The subject of “Children’s Gallery” is a room in which King Henry IV’s children played (during a time when the Louvre was a royal residence. “The Kings of France,” homage to the Renaissance kings who were responsible for the development and expansion of the Louvre, is rendered in a regal, dignified style. The Nativity Paintings represents the many paintings that depict Christ’s birth. The jubilance of the finale represents the return of many of the museum’s holdings after World War II.
Gathering of the Ranks at Hebron (1988) David Holsinger (1945)
David Holsinger was, for fifteen years, composer in residence for the Shady Grove Church in Grand Prairie, Texas, where he also served as director of the church’s Christian Academy. He teaches at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. This work depicts a story from I Chronicles telling of nearly 350,000 men coming together, armed for battle, determined to make David king over all Israel, eventually making the first ill-fated attempt at bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem.
Rhapsody of Reruns arr. by Paul Jennings
You have to tune in “Nick at Night” or check YouTube to find episodes of the old TV favorites that make up this medley. Listen for theme songs from McHale’s Navy, The Addams Family, Leave it to Beaver, Roy Rogers (Happy Trails), The Lone Ranger, Maverick, Dragnet, Gilligan’s Island, You Bet Your Life, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock, and M*A*S*H. The older you are, the more of these you will know, so we’ll be polite by not asking how many you recognize!
The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896) John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
arr. (2004) by John Bourgeois
Collin Berner, steel pan
John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C., where his father was a trombonist in the U.S. Marine Band. He became a violinist with the band, made a living in music of the theater, returned to Washington to conduct the U.S. Marine Band, and later directed a civilian touring band that brought him to world-wide prominence. The Stars and Stripes Forever, his best-known work, has been adopted as the official march of the United States. Realizing the obbligato originally intended for the piccolo is band member Collin Berner, playing the steel pan, an instrument crafted from a fifty-five gallon drum that was invented on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in the early twentieth century.