Upcoming Events
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2008 Show
After a highly successful 2007 and a return to Drum Corps Associates finalist status, the Rochester Crusaders are proud to announce their 2008 crusade! “The Russian idiom was so successful for us last year,” program coordinator Gene O’Brien said. “The members and audience just loved this music and we figured we still have much to say on the subject. “This music has a great visceral impact and is wonderful educationally. It gives us an opportunity to entertain – which is paramount for us – and to educate both audiences and performers,” O’Brien stated. Crusaders will open with “Cathedral Chorus” from Alfred Reed’s 1944 band masterwork “Russian Christmas Music.” Reed wrote this piece on commission for a concert in Denver, CO intended to improve American-Soviet relations. The “Russian piece” on this concert was intended to be Prokofiev’s “March, Op. 99” but it was discovered that the work had already been performed in the United States. Reed, an experienced studio composer and arranger, was quickly summoned to fill the gap. He had a mere 16 days to compose what would become one of the most popular and frequently-performed pieces of band literature. Crusaders’ quiet moment will be “Gliding Dance of the Maidens” from Alexander Borodin’s 1909 ballet “Prince Igor.” “Gliding Dance” is one of the so-called “Polovetsian Dances,” which are the best-known selections from that ballet. The material Crusaders will be performing was incorporated into the 1953 Broadway musical “Kismet” as “Stranger in Paradise.” “We loved this piece as our ballad moment because it gives the program a populist, just plain beautiful moment,” O’Brien explained. The third segment of Rochester’s show will be music from Modest Mussorgsky’s 1874 piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition.” “The ‘Pictures’ music really worked for us last year,” O’Brien said. “This production will give brass arranger Jim Prime the chance to utilize some material that we didn’t have the opportunity to use last year. It will also be a great chance for the percussion to stretch. ‘Pictures’ was one of our strongest percussion moments in 2007.” The closer will start with the chorale from “Great Gate of Kiev,” then “Hut of Baba Yaga” and a finale of the main “Great Gate” theme. “We are very excited about this music and concept,” O’Brien stated. “We think with Jimmer and Paul Rennick it is going to be excellent music meets great arranging.”
Russian Christmas MusicOne of the all-time drum corps classics is the concert band piece by Alfred Reed. Popular in drum corps since the 1970s, it is one of the first concert band pieces to catch on in an era in which concert band was seldom played in drum corps. Both the Crossmen and Santa Clara Vanguard consider this among their most popular pieces. "Russian Christmas" occurred almost by accident. During World War II there was to be a concert featuring premieres of Russian works. One such work was Prokofiev's March Opus 99. (You'll remember Prokofiev as the composer of last season's "Troika" and "Romance") When it turned out that Opus 99 had been previously performed, the concert organizers quickly turned to Reed, a studio composer/arranger, for a solution.  The result was one of the most beloved and enduring works for concert band. This is a work in four sections. The section we are using is the last, "Cathedral Chorus." This work is based in part on an ancient Russian Christmas carol and various motives from other liturgical music, with considerable original material. It is a setting of beauty, power and sonority. Sonority is the key word here. The piece's modus operandi is volume, but it is volume of breadth and pipe organ-like quality. As the renowned jazz educator Herb Pomeroy used to say, "Even loud needs to have beauty." It isn't about brute force. We must be able to perform with warmth, fluidity and fine sense of phrasing. Much of the music depends on musical nuance to achieve maximum effectiveness. Correct pacing of the final climactic section is essential to the successful conclusion of the work. This is a section of massive sonorities and powerful musical arrival points. Reed was a studio composer for many years. He had a great interest in concert band, and wrote many works for that idiom. He is known for his band transcriptions of the music of J.S. Bach and for his arrangement of "Greensleeves" Reed eventually moved to Florida, and taught at the University of Miami. He died September 17, 2005 |
