Some of our favorites…

In memoriam, Joel Love

From the composer:

On December 2nd, 2014, my Dad lost his battle with cancer. In memoriam is a piece about the emotions that we all went through after he was diagnosed in 2014. Although the work flows attacca from one movement into the next, the piece is technically “divided” into two halves: “Threnody” and “Adieu.” Threnody’s opening conveys anger, sadness, and confusion with a bold B-flat minor chord in an octave leap, a sigh motive, and a maelstrom of wild altered scales and jagged trills. Most of the movement’s material comes out these fierce opening bars. The movement is written in A-B-A’ form whose middle section features an acrobatic conflict between accented beats of three and four sixteenths. At the final return of the A, I modified the sigh motive by adding a bend between the two pitches to enhance its potency. The final return of the A comes to a climax and then floats into the ether (a sea of timbre trills), transitioning into the second movement. Adieu (goodbye) is a celebration of life

Oh little town of Bethlehem, Traditional/Lennie Niehaus

An excellent saxophonist and jazz arranger in the 1950s (most notably for Stan Kenton), Lennie Niehaus in more recent times won fame for his work scoring the music for Clint Eastwood films. After graduating from college, Niehaus played alto and occasionally wrote for Kenton (1951-1952) before being drafted for the Army (1952-1954). Upon his discharge, Kenton welcomed Niehaus back and he worked for the bandleader on and off for the rest of the decade. Niehaus, who led and played alto on six albums between 1954-1957 (five for Contemporary), had a cool tone a bit reminiscent of Lee Konitz. By the 1960s, his playing had gone by the wayside as Niehaus concentrated on writing for films. Although he largely left jazz at that time, his work on Play Misty for Me, and particularly Bird for Clint Eastwood, allowed one to once again admire his jazz writing.

The Thunderer MArch, John Philip Sousa

Other than the fact that Sousa’s “thunderer” was undoubtedly a Mason, his identity may never be revealed. “The Thunderer” march was dedicated to Columbia Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, of Washington, D.C., and it was composed on the occasion of the Twenty-fourth Triennial Conclave of the Grand Encampment. The conclave was held in October 1889 and was sponsored by Columbia Commandery No. 2. Sousa had been “knighted” in that organization three years earlier. “The Thunderer” was Mrs. John Philip Sousa’s favorite march. This was revealed by their daughter Helen, who also surmised that the “thunderer” might have been her father’s salute to the London Times, which was known as “the thunderer.” It has since been determined that Sousa probably had no association with the newspaper at that time, however. The “thunderer” might have been one of the men in charge of making arrangements for the 1889 conclave–in particular, Myron M. Parker, who worked tirelessly to make the event the spectacular success that it was.
Paul E. Bierley, The Works of John Philip Sousa (Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1984), 43.