Posted by Mark Heter on June 26, 2003 at 15:23:53:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Holst 2nd Suite - Dargason posted by Rick Denney on June 26, 2003 at 10:38:43:
I got my first job as a circus bandmaster as a result of a recomendation from Karl L. King, so you have an inkling of where I come from in terms of marches. Sousa's great, but there are so many others! My favorites are guys like King, Russ Alexander, Woody English, Harry Alford, SOME of the 17 Kenneth Alford marches - Vanished Army, especially, and guys like Paris Chambers, Arthur Pryor (wrote GREAT marches), etc. Also REAL paso dobles, etc.
We did Leroy Anderson to death on the Asbury Band - I think a couple of the guys were about to walk off into the surf after we played "Fiddle Faddle" - with a band!
The Harold Walters tunes were most dreaded things we played. Every chart had the tenor sax, euphonium, bass clarinet, alto sax and 1st trombone in unison. Yikes!
I have never been able to perform Toccata Mozzarella except in college - and it's a still a challenging piece. I once read a piece by a British critic who said Vaughan Williams made a lot money wandering the English countryside with a little basket picking up local tunes and passing them off as his own when he got back to London. And that he was followed around by Gus Holst... A little unfair, when you consider Sinfonia Anarctica and the Planets... but still funny, nonetheless.
BTW, where is it chiseled in stone that every band concert must conclude with Stars and Stripes?