JOY!
Saturday 7 December 2024, Leichhardt Town Hall
Festive Overture
by Dmitri Shostakovich (transcribed by Donald Hunsberger)
Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was commissioned to write Festive Overture as part of a celebration for the 37th anniversary of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution. He was reportedly given just three days to compose the work, but the pressure must have suited Shostakovich who produced one of his most enduring works, a rollicking explosion of musical joy filled with brass fanfares, long flowing melodic passages and driving rhythms. This arrangement for wind orchestra is a popular choice for ensembles across the world.
Baba Yetu
by Christopher Tin (arranged by Henk Ummels)
In the 19th century, missionaries used Swahili to spread Christianity across East Africa, fostering a vocal music tradition that combined European harmonies with African call-and-response. “Baba Yetu” (“Our Father” in Swahili) is a Swahili rendition of The Lord’s Prayer and the title theme of the 2005 computer game Civilization IV. It merges African choral music with Western symphonic elements, symbolising humanity’s origins in the cradle of civilisation.
The Hounds of Spring
by Alfred Reed
American composer, conductor and educationalist Alfred Reed here uses the wind band to paint a magical picture of young love in springtime. The inspiration for the piece was the poem “Atalanta in Calydon” by the English poet Swinburne. The ebullience of galloping hearts and flourishing nature is balanced with an interlude of tenderness, calling on all the textures of wind, brass and percussion, and making it a favourite of bands across the globe.
Choose Joy
by Randall Standridge
Choose Joy was commissioned by an American school to celebrate a young woman who had played in the school’s band along with her siblings, and was now battling brain cancer. Her family had adopted a motto to help them focus on their time together: “Choose Joy”. The piece includes elements of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” combined with motifs and instrumentation Randall Standridge crafted to represent the family and their love, happiness and pain.
Blue Skies
by Irving Berlin (arranged by Roger Holmes)
Irving Berlin wrote this swinging ode to romance for the 1926 musical Betsy. The song’s minor key and references to the colour blue (often associated with sadness) are juxtaposed against carefree, optimistic lyrics. “Blue Skies” is ubiquitous in popular culture: it was used in the 1954 film White Christmas, given a new styling by jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald in 1958, and transformed into a country music hit by Willie Nelson in 1978.
INTERVAL
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
by Freddy Mercury (arranged by Paul Murtha)
Freddy Mercury wrote this song in the bathtub between recording sessions with Queen in Munich in 1979. It was a hit in the UK, US and Australia, where it topped the ARIA charts for seven weeks. The song was a tribute to Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard and a celebration of the joy of simplicity: Mercury felt the limitations of his skills as a guitarist helped to focus the song and give it strength.
Vulnerable Joy
by Jodie Blackshaw
Australian composer Jodie Blackshaw was inspired to write Vulnerable Joy by the remarkable journey of the mother humpback whale. Each winter, Humpback whales migrate from their Antarctic feeding grounds, up the east and west coasts of Australia, to birth and nurse their calves in warmer waters. During this time — more than half of the year — the pregnant and new mother humpback whales do not eat. Mother and calf remain near each other for the first year of the calf’s life, including on the long journey back to the Southern Ocean.
Music from The Polar Express
by Alan Silvestri & Glen Ballard (arranged by Jerry Brubaker)
Robert Zemeckis’ 2004 film The Polar Express featured revolutionary motion capture technology to create a new style of animation. The result was — depending on who you ask — either completely charming or completely creepy. Either way, the film’s effervescent score was a hit and earned composer Alan Silvestri an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. This medley captures the joy of the children on Christmas Eve as they journey towards the North Pole.
Southern Hymn
by Samuel Hazo
Contemporary American composer and music educator Samuel Hazo wrote this reflective piece in the tradition of spirituals like “Amazing Grace” and “Shenandoah”. At the same time it is thoroughly modern and written for the colours of the wind ensemble, leaning into many moments of musical suspense and peaceful resolution.
Sleigh Ride
by Leroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson was a master of American light orchestral music whose compositions made the sounds of the symphony widely accessible. “Sleigh Ride” premiered as an instrumental piece for orchestra in 1948. Mitchell Parish later wrote wintertime lyrics to accompany the music, and the Andrews Sisters recorded the first vocal version of the song in 1950. The song is a Christmastime favourite, despite no specific holiday being mentioned in the lyrics.
Sir Duke
Stevie Wonder (arranged by Naohiro Iwai)
Released in 1977 as part of Stevie Wonder’s iconic album Songs in the Key of Life, “Sir Duke” is a joyous celebration of music and its universal power to inspire and connect. Stevie Wonder wrote this song as a tribute to the great jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, who deeply influenced Wonder’s own artistry. Naohiro Iwai’s arrangement for concert band captures the lively spirit of the original while adding a fresh dynamic, making it a showcase of rhythmic drive and melodic interplay.