World of Pageantry

Everyone has a list of their favorite concert pieces, but what one or two pieces which you absolutely love have you never gotten the chance to perform?

For me it would have to be Holsinger's Armies of the Omnipresent Otserf which I think is one of the most underrated works in the band repertoire. It'd make my Top 3 list of Holsinger's best works (along with Liturgical Dances and To Tame the Perilous Skies).

Number 1 is:

Flag of Stars-Gordon Jacob

Also:
Hammersmith-Gustav Holst
Variations on a Theme by Nicolo Pagannini-Barnes
Circus Overture-Schuman
School for Scandle Overture-Barber
Fiesta Del Pacifico-Nixon
Variants on a Medieval Tune-Dello Joio

I listed my #1 above, here's my also list:
Four Scottish Dances (Malcolm Arnold)
Overture to La Forza del Destino (Guiseppe Verdi)
Dionysiaques (Florent Schmitt)
Looking Upward Suite (John Philip Sousa)
Belle of the Ball (Leroy Anderson)

Phantom Phan wrote:I listed my #1 above, here's my also list:
Four Scottish Dances (Malcolm Arnold)
Overture to La Forza del Destino (Guiseppe Verdi)
Dionysiaques (Florent Schmitt)
Looking Upward Suite (John Philip Sousa)
Belle of the Ball (Leroy Anderson)

Nuts, I forgot all about "Dionysiaques". I still remember hearing it the first time. CMEA conference on the Queen Mary, played by CSU Northridge. It was one of those pieces that was an instant "WOW". They also played a big fantasia of a Wagner opera.

I have never been good at naming pieces off the top of my head. I have dozens of music lists that I constantly refer to. Just in the past three hours I have come up with more great titles that I would love to do.

I was glad to see "Belle of the Ball" on your list. Not all band musicians appreciate Leroy Anderson and what he has to offer.

PGOK wrote:I was glad to see "Belle of the Ball" on your list. Not all band musicians appreciate Leroy Anderson and what he has to offer.

Anderson arranged the band version himself, so there's virtually nothing lost from the original orchestra version.

Leroy Anderson was a great composer, I don't care if he wasn't a "serious" composer. I was fortunate enough to have an orchestra director in high school and college that liked "pops" and introduced me to several of Anderson's works.

I'm sure most kids would only recognize "Sleigh Ride," "Bugler's Holiday," and "Trumpeter's Lullaby," is kind of a shame. They're all terribly over-played, and only Sleigh Ride (composed during a HEAT WAVE in July of 1948, ironically enough) would make my short list for the best of Anderson's works. Too many of his works don't get played nearly enough. My Top 10 of Anderson's works (in no particular order):

Sleigh Ride
Belle of the Ball
The Phantom Regiment
The Typewriter
Forgotten Dreams
Home Stretch
The Golden Years
The Girl in Satin
The Penny-Whistle Song
Saraband

And speaking of Dionysiaques, I'm VERY surprised to have never heard that piece on the field, Marching Band or Drum Corps. It's got zest and life to it. And considering it was written in 1911... it's due.

I can't believe you included typewriter on your Leroy Anderson list. We played that novelty piece in the Army Band I'm in and substituted computer sounds for the sound of the typewriter to "modernize" it and I still could have done without it.
You also forgot to mention the classic "Instant Concert" for all of those ADD concert goers out there.

When it comes to unplayed pieces I like, I have to go with John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and La Procession Du Rocio by Joaquin Turina.

Most of these are symphony orchestra pieces, but I still really want to play them:

-Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Pritemps
-Dukas's "The Sorceror's Apprentice"
-Resphighi's "The Pines of Rome"
-Colgrass's "Urban Requiem"
-Whitacre's "Ghost Train"
-Holsinger's "Abram's Pursuit"
-Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima"
-Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra"
-Adams' "Short Ride on a Fast Machine" (we played this in marching band, but I would love to play the original)
-Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess Overture"

symphony #3 ("Slavyanskaya")
-Boris Kozhevnikov/Bourgeois
canzona
symphonic metamorphesis (sp?)
-we might play this with maria corrio HS (sp?)
there's alot more too much to type.................

Chsbando07, our band is playing Slavanskaya currently. It's a cool piece.

I played the Porgy and Bess Overture with the community band I'm in... it is a really cool piece (awesome bassoon part... the woman that plays bassoon for the band is like a god *dies* she's awesome)

There are a lot of pieces I would love to play... so naturally I can't think of one to list...
errr...
I've always wanted to play Symphonic Dances #3 by Clifton Williams ever since I heard RCC play it lol
there are others... and if I think of any really good ones I'll post it later ^^

Do Not Go Genle Into That Good Night

I've been trying to find a recording for months

Rick_James wrote:Do Not Go Genle Into That Good Night

I've been trying to find a recording for months

Check:
http://www.markcustom.com/

They have 3 recordings of. I't also on "Music for Winds & Percussion" Vol. 2, but that does not seem to be available any longer.

Just ordered Greater Rochester Music Educators Wind Band Cd and can't wait untill I get it, thanks so much PGOK!

I would just have to say Pirates of the Carribean:The Curse of the Black Pear, but that was last year