Proud Heritage (1955)
WILLIAM E. LATHAM (1917-2004)
"Proud Heritage" is one of William Latham's most well-known works. Latham, a native of Louisiana, studied at Cincinnati College and the Eastman School of Music before a stint in the U.S. Army, where saw active combat towards the end of World War II. Latham spent most of his professional career as a professor at the University of North Texas, retiring in 1981. "Proud Heritage" is a processional march that mixes legato clarinet and euphonium lines with bright brass fanfares and a climactic finish. For many years, it was the parade march for the WIlliamsport High School Blue Band, and has become the standard march of the Williamsport Community Band as well.
Earthdance (2010)
MICHAEL SWEENEY (b. 1952)
"Earthdance" celebrates the natural rhythms and energy of our beloved planet. From the routine of day following night and the progression of seasons to the ebb and flow of the tides and cycle of water and wind, our own rhythms of existence are deeply connected with the environment that surrounds and nurtures us.
Powerful displays of force and destruction (earthquakes, volcanoes, storms) are balanced with fragile beauty and life-giving abundance. We fear our "mother Earth" when she is violent, and bless her when she is calm. The journey through life on this planet may not always be smooth, but the highs and lows of the experience provides the ultimate dance for us all.
(Program note from the composer)
Hands Across the Sea (1899)
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
When played for the first time by Sousa's Band in Philadelphia's Academy of Music on April 21, 1899, "many feet were beating a tattoo." The band was obliged to repeat it three times. Hands Across the Sea was off to a good start, and it has since remained a standard in band literature.
The march was addressed to no particular nation, but to all of America's friends abroad. It has been suggested that Sousa was inspired by an incident in the Spanish-American War in which Captain Chichester of the British Navy came to the support of Admiral Dewey at Manila Bay. A second (and more likely) source is a line by Frere, which was printed on the front cover of the music: "A sudden thought strikes me ... Let us swear an eternal friendship."
The line by Frere apparently appeared in a play which Sousa read. In answering questions sent to him while serving in the navy, he gave this account in the Great Lakes Recruit in March 1918:
After the Spanish War there was some feeling in Europe anent our republic regarding this war. Some of the nations ... thought we were not justified while others gave us credit for the honesty of our purpose. One night I was reading an old play and I came across this line, A sudden thought strikes me ... Let us swear an eternal friendship." This almost immediately suggested the title Hands across the Sea for that composition and within a few weeks that now famous march became a living fact.
Program Note from John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalog of His Works
Aquarium (1991)
Johan De Meij (b. 1953)
The suite Aquarium is Johan de Meij's third composition for symphonic band and features six tropical fishes, each of them represented by a motif, and surfacing as such in several guises. The composition consists of three movements, of which the second and third merge uninterruptedly into each other.
1. Allegretto grazioso (Neon Tetra, Electric Eel and Angelfish)
2. Andante/Adagio (Sea Horse and Zebra fish)
3. Finale: Allegro giocoso (Guppy & Co.)
The neon tetra motif functions as a kind of 'leitmotiv' and describes the beautifully coloured, frisky fish: A number of variants have been derived from this theme and will also appear in the other movements. The electric eel is fact is not represented by a motif, but by a rhythm based on the restless electric pulses made audible in some aquaria. The angel fish is represented by elegant chord clusters.
In the second movement the sea horse emerges out of the water vegetation and starts a dialogue with the zebra fish, which is represented by one melodic phrase in unison getting more and more threatening by adding parallel fifths and octaves. Simultaneously with the sea horse motif the neon tetra theme emerges, this time in 3/4 time and in Eb minor.
The third movement starts with only two instruments (trumpet and xylophone), but as it is often the case with guppies, their number rapidly increases. Piccolo and alto saxophone introduce the guppy theme, followed by several instrumental combinations. Every theme from the first movement 'swims by' once more, after which the principal motif leads us to a brilliant ending.
Aquarium was commissioned by the Dutch Music Foundation "Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst."
Program Note from the score
Infinity (2020)
Kathy Copley (b. 1998)
Shooting stars symbolize good luck, change or big event is coming towards your life, or it can also be a symbol of endings and beginnings. Shooting stars are actually one of the most diverse omens we have throughout our history. Shooting star symbolizes a brief fleeting moment in one's life just like the brief wonder of seeing a shooting star race across the night sky. They can also be a symbol of reaching one's ultimate destiny.
Shooting stars, asteroids, and the movement of the heavenly bodies in the night sky have always fascinated humans. Some cultures have always and strong beliefs and superstitions in the meaning of shooting stars. Traditional shooting stars also meant a new birth and changes in one's life and also a wish for a better life.
With Infinity I wanted to create the sense of shooting stars flying through the infinite playground known as space. As the piece begins, the world of space is filled with stars running through the skies. Throughout the piece, the shooting stars go through many different scenarios both dark and light until finally at the end of the piece the stars – with their bright colors and lights – flash across the sky with spectacular grandeur.
program note by the composer
Where the Waters Meet (2021)
Carol Brittin Chambers (b. 1970)
Where the Waters Meet is based on the British Isles folk tune O Waly Waly (the same tune use in The Water Is Wide). Lee Smith, former Texas music educator, loved nature, and he enjoyed spending time in the mountains and at his lake home of Lake Fork. He also loved teaching children. Lee felt that humans need two things above all else: to love and be loved. That was the basis for his teaching: if students did not know you loved them, you would not reach them.
As I set out to write this special piece in honor of Lee, I decided to use the imagery of water to portray this particular sentiment: loving students, then truly being able to reach them. One set of waters (a river) meets or flows into a larger body (a lake). The river is the teacher, and the lake is the body of students. Where the Waters Meet symbolizes the moment or moments when the teacher shows love, gives knowledge, and thereby reaches the students. Lee's principal instrument was the trombone, which explains my choice of trombone solo for the river's opening statement.
- Program Note by arranger
Peter and the Wolf (1936)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) arr. James Curnow (b. 1943)
Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich are the two composers who stood above the rest of those who labored during the years of the Soviet Union. Unlike, Shostakovich, however, Prokofiev enjoyed part of his career living and composing in the West, returning to the USSR in 1936 voluntarily. Like his compatriot, he must be counted as one of the great composers of the twentieth century, although unlike Shostakovich, his direct influence on composers outside of the Soviet sphere was minimal. He was a virtuoso pianist, but who also composed from the beginning, graduating from the St. Petersburg Conservatory shortly before World War I. His musical style was based in the Russian romantic tradition, but he established early on a personal idiom that was characterized by pungent dissonance, soaring lyrical melodies, a facile manipulation of motoric rhythms, and kaleidoscopic harmonic changes. Part and parcel of his musical personality was an acerbic appreciation of satire, parody, and even the grotesque.
Although he travelled widely early on, all the while he returned to the Soviet Union from time to time for extensive concertizing; his works were performed frequently there, and he always kept his Soviet passport. He was never a political naïf regarding the life of artists under that political system, and it must be surmised that his eventual removal to the USSR was made with “eyes wide open.” His musical language had been gradually moving to a simpler, more accessible style—a necessary condition for artists who wished to serve a collectivist state and appeal to the masses. So, when he and his family arrived in Russia in 1936, he adapted readily to political requirements by composing works that addressed the necessary content of “socialist realism.” This primarily meant patriotic subjects, in a traditional musical style, that served political ends. One aspect of the artistic demands of “socialist realism” with which Prokofiev evidently was in full accord was the emphasis placed upon music for children. Of course, totalitarian states have always worked through children’s education as they build control of society, but on the surface, what’s wrong with writing entertaining, charming works for children? Nothing, Prokofiev evidently thought, and upon his return to the Soviet Union in 1936 a series of compositions for Soviet youth ensued, including Peter and the Wolf. Commentators have long seen the work as an allegory for the Soviet Republics’ uniting together to face the coming Nazi onslaught, as well as Peter, the good Soviet “Young Pioneer,” taking the lead from the old fogies of the adults of the past to push into a future dominated by youthful initiative. All true, perhaps, but one doesn’t have to think of these things to enjoy this engaging little masterpiece that helps children to appreciate the riches of the voices of the orchestra.
The work’s genesis stems from a commission by the Central Children’s Theatre in Moscow for a symphonic work for its audience. Originally, Prokofiev was presented with the story cast into rhymed couplets, but dissatisfied with this, the composer wrote his own narrative, and set it to music in only four days. The première was not an especial success, being sparsely attended and not attracting much attention. That eventually changed, of course, and Peter and the Wolf went on to become perhaps Prokofiev’s most famous work.
The cast of characters is represented by music of great appeal and charm, and appropriately suited to each of them: Peter by the winsome sound of the whole string section; the Bird by the flute (of course!); the Cat so slyly by the low register of the clarinet; Grandpa by the bassoon; the funny Duck by the oboe; the Wolf by the sinister trio of brassy, threatening French horns; and finally the percussion section provides the gunshots of the Hunters. The narration makes the brief story perfectly clear, and the totally popular style of the attractive music suits the characters delightfully—what more could one ask? Children and adults have always responded with warmth to this charming work. The only tragic note lies in the pitiful honking of the duck trapped in the stomach of the Wolf at the end.
Prokofiev went on to great success in the Soviet Union. Never really playing his political cards, he managed to survive the incredibly difficult times during the 1940s by adroit artistic gamesmanship with the harshly repressive Stalinist state. He never joined the Communist Party, and made few public statements. He struggled to survive, maintain his artistic integrity and continue composing in an authentically personal style. But, alas, the difficulties of the extreme, repressive measures beginning in 1948 ultimately got the best of him. His death on 5 March 1953 ironically garnered little recognition—Joseph Stalin’s demise on the same date preëmpted the stage.
program note by William E. Runyan
Into the Raging River (1998)
Steven Reineke (b. 1970)
"Into the Raging River" is a programmatic tone poem for band inspired by a whitewater rafting trip on the Gauley River in Southern West Virginia. The piece opens in stillness, with falling rhythms and a horn solo to represent the sunrise. Bubbling woodwind lines propel the music into a driving trip downriver. As the rapids calm and the raft slows, there is space for reflection in slower, more restrained music. After a stomach-turning trip over the falls, the piece reaches its triumphant conclusion with a restatement of the main theme.