Categories: OPENERS - Grade 4.0, Music from the CLASSICS - Grade 4.0 Composer: G.F. Handel Material: Ted Ricketts
Canadian Brass Concert Band Works – Grade 4
An instrumental movement from the 1749 oratorio Solomon by George Frideric Handel, this bright and bustling music is a Baroque favorite, often played at festive occasions. The distinctive Howard Cable brass quintet arrangement, on which this concert band arrangement is based, has long been in the repertory of the Canadian Brass. The group first recorded it for their RCA release Fireworks: Baroque Brass Favorites, and it was more recently recorded for the CD Amazing Brass. (3:45)
Category: Music from the CLASSICS - Grade 4.0 Composer: Jacques Offenbach Arranger: Wil van der Beek
Grade 4 Duration 10:20
Offenbach (1819 – 1880), who was born in Germany, moved to Paris when he was a teenage boy and remained there for much of his life. He became especially famous as a composer of numerous operettas. and of one famous opera: Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann). His operettas (or ‘musiquettes’) were often based on comical, or satirical librettos. He makes fun of Parisian daily life, dignitaries, the military, the pretentiousness of the Grand Opéra, and so on. In that respect, Offenbach’s operettas are not really comparable with those of his German-speaking contemporaries, for example, Franz Lehár and Johann Strauss the Younger. Musically speaking, we could call Offenbach’s operettas lively, funny, melodious and catchy.
For La Belle Hélène, Offenbach drew from Greek mythology. The story is based on that of Helen of Troy, but is set in France, halfway through the 19th century; it has been turned into a satire on the élite of that time.
The overture to La Belle Hélène was (and still is) very successful. Offenbach combined a number of arias and choruses from the operetta to give a taste of what is to follow. Many overtures which follow this form lack unity and structure. However, in this case the composition has been well thought-out.
Category: Music from the CLASSICS - Grade 4.0 Composer: Georgc Friedrich Händel Arranger: Robert Longfield
Grade 4 Duration 4:30
Handel's Passacaglia from Suite No. 7 in G minor was originally written for harpsichord and consists of a series of variations over a repeating four-measure harmonic progression. In this masterful transcription by Robert Longfield, Handel's Baroque gem serves as a vehicle to showcase the colors and timbres of the modern concert band.
To view