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Music Commentary by Garry Hallas
The Music on our CD
is made up of our regular concert items from the last couple of years,
most of which have helped us to win a variety of “Entertainment” contest
titles. Hopefully, just like our concerts, you will find 'From The Top'
packed full of an array of styles as we take you on a whirlwind tour of
the modern brass band repertoire. Let me guide you through our
selection...
From the world of
Opera: The opening number, ORFEO, from Claudio Monteverdi’s ground
breaking opus, changed the face of Opera when first performed in 1607.
Principal Cornet, Crawford Howe, is playing the INTERMEZZO from 'Cavalleria
Rusticana'. Written by Pietro Mascagni in 1888, he entered the one act
opera in a competition run by the newspaper, Sonizogno. Mascagni won and
became an overnight hit, travelling around Europe conducting his work.
Jazz is a vast genre
of music, represented on our CD by SING SING SING, Louis Prima’s 1936 hit,
given world wide fame by Gene Krupa as drummer for the Benny Goodman
Orchestra. On drums for us is Sam Creamer. Austrian keyboardist Josef
Zawinul wrote BIRDLAND in 1977 as his tribute to Saxophone legend Charlie
Parker; our thanks go to Jamie O’Brien for the Trumpet solo. MINNIE THE
MOOCHER is played by our Bass Trombonist Kevin Hallas. This popular jazz
standard was written by Cab Calloway, the 1930’s band leader famous for
his “scat” singing vocals.
The Salvation Army
movement has produced some of the banding world's finest musicians; their
skills in arranging spiritual music into a variety of styles is second to
none. From the SA stable: AMAZING GRACE, traditional Hymn arranged by
William Himes. MOSES, GET DOWN! by Barrie Gott is a rock arrangement of
the original negro spiritual. William Himes turns his hand to re-scoring
with Jerry Bilik’s AMERICAN CIVIL WAR FANTASY, a musical description of
the mood in the USA before, during and after the American Civil War.
You’ll hear the distant strains of conflict, the battle begin (and end!)
and the peace and unity left behind.
Over the years,
Stage & Screen productions have commissioned the largest selection of
music in the world, such was the demand for new music to intrigue the
viewer. NELLIE THE ELEPHANT was written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter
Hart for a TV series by the same name, arranged for Eb Bass soloist by
Martin Pearce and played by Gary Brown. 'Piano Parchment' was a piece
written by Johnny Pearson, made famous by its selection as the theme tune
in the classic BBC tv series ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL. The 1940’s
children’s radio program 'Big Jon & Sparkie' used the John W Bratton
piece, THE TEDDY BEARS PICNIC as its theme tune. In 1992 Vangelis was
commissioned to write a theme tune for a new movie, 1492: THE CONQUEST OF
PARADISE. The film depicts the story of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of
the Americas; the music is from the epic journey as the crew set sail into
the unknown.
Arrangements from
other sources help make Brass Bands the most versatile of musical groups.
HOW GREAT THOU ART is a traditional Swedish hymn, played on Flugel Horn by
Emma Johns. Antonin Dvorak was inspired during his 4 year visit to the USA
in the late 1800s; the result was FROM THE NEW WORLD his 9th and most
famous symphony. John Golland wrote PEACE for organ, to be played at the
funeral of his niece; he later rescored it as a beautiful Euphonium solo,
played by Keith Lawton.
The most typical
form of original composition for Brass Band is the March. THE BLACK KNIGHT
is one of hundreds from the pen of English March king, William Rimmer.
Rimmer's Welsh equivalent is TJ Powell; CASTELL COCH is the most famous
March from the series he wrote named after Welsh castles. In the 1850s
Circus Marches were being written weekly to satisfy the demand of American
showman and entrepreneur, P.T Barnum. Paul Lovett-Cooper has written a
slightly newer version, THE BIG TOP.
I hope I have been
able to give you a brief guide to the music on our CD, and hope you enjoy
our eclectic musical offerings.
Garry Hallas |
