An American Portrait

Dr. Bradley Kent, Conductor

Program

American Salute, Morton Gould (1913-1996)/Lang
An American Elegy, Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)
Suite of Old American Dances, Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981)
Honey in the Rock, Donald Grantham (b. 1947)
The Stars and Stripes Forever, John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)

Program Notes

Written and compiled by Rylon Guidry and Kimberly Tucker

American Salute (1943)
Morton Gould
Trans. by Philip J. Lang

American Salute combines Morton Gould’s unique Americanism in his music and an endless wealth of creativity. In American Salute he uses “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” as his only thematic material. He contrives a brilliant fantasy, which reflects Gould’s uncanny skill in thematic development. Written, quite literally, the night before it was performed, American Salute has become a favorite for both orchestra and wind band.

An American Elegy (2000)
Frank Ticheli

Frank Ticheli writes: “An American Elegy is, above all, an expression of hope. It was composed in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, and to honor the survivors. It is offered as a tribute to their great strength and courage in the face of a terrible tragedy. I hope the work can also serve as one reminder of how fragile and precious life is and how intimately connected we all are as human beings.

I was moved and honored by this commission invitation, and deeply inspired by the circumstances surrounding it. Rarely has a work revealed itself to me with such powerful speed and clarity. The first eight bars of the main melody came to me fully formed in a dream. Virtually every element of the work was discovered within the span of about two weeks. The remainder of my time was spent refining, developing, and orchestrating.

The work begins at the bottom of the ensemble’s register, and ascends gradually to a heartfelt cry of hope. The main theme that follows, stated by the horns, reveals a more lyrical, serene side of the piece. A second theme, based on a simple repeated harmonic pattern, suggests yet another,
more poignant mood. These three moods – hope, serenity, and sadness – become intertwined throughout the work, defining its complex expressive character. A four-part canon builds to a climactic quotation of the Columbine Alma Mater. The music recedes, and an offstage trumpeter is heard, suggesting a celestial voice – a heavenly message. The full ensemble returns with a final, exalted statement of the main theme.”

Suite of Old American Dances (1949)
Robert Russell Bennett

Suite of Old American Dances was inspired by a Goldman Band concert that Bennett attended on January 3, 1948. The performance, honoring the 70th birthday of Edwin Franko Goldman, made Bennett aware of “all the beautiful sounds the American concert band could make that it hadn’t yet made.” Originally entitled Electric Park after the Kansas City park that Bennett frequented as a child, the piece recaptures the style and spirit of dance music at the end of the nineteenth century. Bennett wrote:

“Electric Park…was a place of magic to us kids. The tricks with big electric signs, the illuminated fountains, the big band concerts, the scenic railway and the big dance hall – all magic. In the dance hall all afternoon and evening you could hear the pieces the crowds danced to, and the five movements of my piece were samples of the dances of the day: “Cake Walk, Schottische, Western One-Step, Wallflower Waltz, and Rag”.

Honey in the Rock (2008)
Donald Grantham

Honey in the Rock is written and dedicated to all of the men, women and children who have given to the rich musical heritage of the state of Alabama. Grantham writes:

“Alabama has a rich, varied and wide-ranging musical tradition that is celebrated in Byron Arnold’s “An Alabama Songbook,” edited with an introduction by Robert W. Halli, Jr. From this excellent collection I selected seven highly contrasting and representative songs and presented them in the five movements of From “An Alabama Songbook.” The fourth movement, Honey in the Rock, is excerpted from this piece, and is based on that famous moving and lyrical spiritual.”

The Star and Stripes Forever (1896)
John Philip Sousa
Ed. by Keith Brion and Loras Schissel

The Stars and Stripes Forever was declared the national march of the United States of America on December 11, 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. Since its introduction in Philadelphia on May 14, 1897, The Stars and Stripes Forever has generated patriotic feelings in its audiences. Whenever the Sousa band performed The Stars and Stripes Forever, the audience would begin to rise as though it were the national anthem.