Jan 04, 2011 First Suite for Military Band in Eb.Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. Duration: 10:25. Pablo Leal 401,510 views. First Suite for Band by Alfred Reed. Composed by – written by: Alfred Reed: 0 reviews. Write a review. Concert Band Hal Leonard Concert Band Series. Product type Set (Score & Parts). Concert Band Alfred Reed Edward B. Marks Music Company Concert Band Set (Score & Parts) € 87,20. Add to basket. Dedicatory Overture.
Russian Christmas Music is a musical piece for symphonic band, written by Alfred Reed in 1944. It is one of the most frequently performed pieces of concert band literature.
Reed was commissioned to write a piece of 'Russian music' for a concert in Denver, Colorado. The concert's aim was to improve Soviet-American relations; as such, it was to include premieres of new Soviet and American works. Prokofiev's March, Op. 99 was supposed to be the Russian work, but it was discovered that the work had already been performed in the United States, and Reed was assigned to write a new piece a mere sixteen days before the concert. The piece was first performed on December 12, 1944, on nationally broadcast NBCradio.
Although Russian Christmas Music consists of only one movement, it can be readily divided into four sections:
- The opening section, Carol of the Little Russian Children (mm. 1–31; approx. 3 minutes), is based on a 16th-century Russian Christmas carol. It is slow throughout; after a quiet opening by the chimes, contrabass clarinet, and string bass, the clarinets carry the melody. The other voices join in, and the section ends with a series of chords.
- The Antiphonal Chant (mm. 32–85; about 2 minutes) is faster and louder, with the melody initially carried by the trombones, horns, trumpets, and cornets. The woodwinds join in, and the music becomes more and more frenzied until the section ends with a massive cymbal and tam-tam crash, suddenly dropping into calmness by the trombones, low clarinets and bassoons.
- The Village Song (mm. 86–165; about 5 minutes) is much gentler by comparison; the cor anglais has two solos, with soli in the flutes, piccolos, and oboes and a solo in the horns at the end of each. The piece enters a time signature of 6/4; the band plays a series of cantabile two-bar phrases back and forth between the woodwinds and brass, with the string bass playing long strings of eighth-notes, which are passed along to the bells. The song becomes quieter again, and the section ends with another English horn solo.
- The Cathedral Chorus (mm. 166–249; about 5 minutes) starts quietly, as the end of Village Song, but a crescendo in the trombones and percussion brings the rest of the band in majestically. The music builds to a climax, but then backs down for a final chorale in the woodwinds; the sound builds once again, and the piece concludes with a thundering chorale marked by liberal use of the chimes and tam-tam as well as soaring horn counterpoint.
A typical performance of Russian Christmas Music lasts 14–16 minutes. As it was written to convey the sounds of Eastern Orthodox liturgical music, which uses the human voice exclusively, the entire piece must be played with some lyrical and singing quality.
Slavonic Folk Suite is Reed's arrangement of Carol of the Little Russian Children (here called Children's Carol) and Cathedral Chorus for a younger, less experienced band.
The song is also the official corps song of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps.
References[edit]
- USAF Band of Mid-America, One of Our Own: Alfred Reed(PDF)
- Program notes by the Foothill Symphonic Winds: Alfred Reed
- Alfred Reed: A Bio-Bibliography by Douglas M. Jordan; ISBN0-313-30333-9
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russian_Christmas_Music&oldid=923484689'
This is a list of some of the standards of concert band repertoire.
- 1Original works
Original works[edit]
This is an inclusive list of the accepted standard works written specifically for concert band or wind ensemble.
Cornerstone works[edit]
The following works are some of the most universally respected and established cornerstones of the band repertoire. All have 'stood the test of time' through decades of regular performance, and many, either through an innovative use of the medium or by the fame of their composer, helped establish the wind band as a legitimate, serious performing ensemble.[citation needed]
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Respected works[edit]
These pieces may not necessarily be quite as universally acknowledged as the above list, but occupy an extremely important place in the repertoire nonetheless. Like the previous works, they have proven themselves through many performances, most over a span of decades.[citation needed]
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Recent works[edit]
The following works are rapidly gaining acceptance as standard repertoire. Most have been composed within the last 30 years.
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Transcriptions[edit]
There are thousands of transcriptions of pieces from other media (mostly orchestra) available for the concert band; however, some transcriptions are performed so often that they can be said to have achieved a place of their own in the concert band repertoire.
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Recordings of concert band literature[edit]
The Klavier Wind Recording Project, begun in 1989 by Eugene Corporon while he was director of bands at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, has helped provide recordings of many of the most important and more recent pieces in the wind band literature. The recording project continues today, having followed Corporon to the University of North Texas. The project continues to this day under the label GIA. Corporon's recordings exist in the form of the Teaching Music Through Performance In Band Series, Windworks Series and Composer's Collections. Still more recordings have been released by The Keystone Winds, conducted by Jack Stamp. The Keystone Winds consists of faculty, alumni and students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The Concordia University Chicago Wind Symphony, under Dr. Richard Fischer, has just released its twelfth recording of sacred wind music. Since the series began in 1991, the ensemble has made many premiere recordings of now widely known and played wind literature.
See also[edit]
- List of works commissioned by Kappa Kappa Psi or Tau Beta Sigma – a list of all concert band works commissioned by Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, National Honorary Band Fraternity and Sorority, or chapters of either organization.
External resources[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_concert_band_literature&oldid=934726626'