March "Arnhem"
Albert Edward Kelly was born in Boston in 1914. His most famous march "Arnhem" was composed during his stay in Korea as the band master of Sussex Regiment. Arnhem is the middle-size city of Germany.
"Flower Duet" from "Lacme"
Delibes is a French composer who was active during the same era as Wagner. Above all his pieces, ballet "Copperia" and "Silvia" are often presented on the stage.
"Lacme" is an opera premiered in 1833, which describes a blighted love between a British officer and Indian girl named Lacme. The "Flower Duet" is sung at the beginning of the act 3 when Lacme cures the officer Gerald who is severely wounded by providing a nostrum made by flower juice. This piece is performed by a cornet and a soprano cornet.
La Danza
Rossini, known by "The barber of Sevilla", stopped composing operas for some reason as soon as he finished composing "William Tell" when he was 36 years old. After that, until he died at 76 years old, he did nothing but travel and gourmet spending his enourmous money made by composing. Taking easy life, he sometimes published small pieces for a salon.
This piece "La Danza - Tarantella of Napoli -" is one of the pieces he published at that time. It was originally a vocal solo piece with a lyric saying "Let's dance on the beach under the bright moon....". Tarantella is a typical six-eight time dance music of Napoli district at very fast tempo.
Londonderry Air
Londonderry is the name of a city in the northern Ireland. This piece was included in a folk song book edited in 1855 as a song with uncertain authorship. Later, Percy Grainger, who was a pianist and a composer born in Australia, published this music with the title "Irish Tune from County Derry". It made this music famous, and after John McCormack who was a tenor from Iraland sang this music as "Danny Boy" this music spread all over the world. Many arrangements titled "Londonderry Air" or "Danny Boy" with several different lyrics have been published since then.
Trittico for Brass Band
James Curnow is a composer of the United States born in 1943. He is well known in Japan as a composer of wind band music. But, he has taken part in the Salvation Army Band and he played the euphonium himself when he was a university student. So it is natural that he composed many brass band music. "Trittico" means three consecutive music pieces (trilogy). This piece consists of three variations on the theme of "Consolation" included in an old hymn book named "Southern Harmony" that was published in the United States during the 19th century. The theme of this piece comes from a hymn book, but religional expression is scarcely used. On the other hand, Curnow made full use of techniques of variation. This piece was composed for a test piece of Swiss Brass Band Championship in 1988 by the request of Swiss Brass Band Association (S.B.B.A.). It achieved popularity after that, so it was adopted as a test piece for the European Brass Band Championship in 1988 held in Norway.
Jewel,Sword and Mirror
This piece is a precious present from Philip Harper, our best mentor and friend. This piece is based on following three sacred treasures of Japan.
The Mirror of Yata (Yata-no-Kagami)
Amaterasu-omikami, who is the god of the sun (Japanese traditional religion [Shinto] has so many gods.), hid himself in a cave. They used the "Mirror of Yata" to get him out of the cave. He ordered his grandson Ninigi-no-Mikoto to dedicate the mirror instead of Amaterasu-omikami, and gave the mirror to Ninigi-no-Mikoto. Today, the mirror is the "goshintai" (devine object in which the god is believed to exist) of Ise-Jingu Shrine. Also the imitation of this mirror is dedicated in the most sacred room in the Imperial Palace.
The Sword of Kusanagi (Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi)
When Susano'o-no-Mikoto beat back the Yamata-no-Orochi (enormous eight-headed snake), the Sword of Kusanagi was found in the tail of Yamata-no-Orochi. At first, it was called "Amenomurakumo-no-Tsurugi". Later, Yamatotakeru-no-Mikoto brought the sword with him during the expedition to the east. When he was attacked by fire, he swept the grass around him and attacked the enemy by fire in reverse. After that this sword was named "Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi" (The Sword of Kusanagi, "Kusanagi" means to sweep the grass). Today, this sword is the goshintai of Atsuta-Jingu Shrine in Nagoya.
The Jewel of Yasakani (Yasakani-no-Magatama)
When Amaterasu-omikami hid himself in the cave, the jewel was dedicated with the Mirror of Yata. There is no special record except that matter. The detail of this jewel is still unknown.
They say these three sacred treasures were inherited from Amaterasu-omikami to Ninigi-no-Mikoto. Since then they have been the symbol of the imperial family of Japan. It is amazing that Philip Harper went into the world of profound Japanese myth which even Japanese people know little about and made up a brilliant piece of music.
All Through the Night
Welsh people were once banned to use their mother language when Wales was ruled by England. However, they made their language alive in their lyrics, which are sung even today. This music is a cradlesong with a beautiful lyric.
Four Scottish Dances
Arnold is a composer born in Britain in 1921. He has composed many pieces from symphonies to film music. He won the Academy Award for the music of the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" in 1958. He commented about this piece as follows. This dance music was composed for the BBC Light Music Festival in the beginning of 1957. These melodies are all original, but one of them is based on the music of Robert Burns. The first dance is in the style of a slow strathspey. The second, a lively reel, begins in the key of E flat, and rises a semitone each time it is played until the bassoon plays it, at a greatly reduced speed, in the key of G. The final statement of the dance is at the original speed in the home key of E flat. The third dance is in the style of a Hebridean song and attempts to give an impression of the sea and mountain scenery on a calm summer day in the Hebrides. The last dance is a lively fling which makes a great deal of use of the open strings of the violins.
