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Musical pieces featuring variations on song-like forms will be highlighted in Songs for an Olden Season, the winter concert of East Stroudsburg University’s Concert Band, Sunday, December 9 at 3 p.m. in Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of the university’s Fine & Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg. The performance is open to the public at no cost.

“All of the pieces are based on songs, and the first three showcase variations on chant styles,” said Brian Hodge, M.M., program conductor and director of Warrior Bands, who selected the works for the program.

“The concert mixes classical selection and well-known Christmas pieces,” added Warrior Bands president Caitlyn McAtee, a senior from Wilkes-Barre, Pa. majoring in history.
“Technically, this is one of the most challenging programs we’ve played in my four years in band.”

Excerpts from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana will begin the program. Hodge explained that the work was composed “to reflect the medieval stylings of the original 11th-13th century collection of poetry on which it is based. Orff uses a variety of chant styles and influences from secular medieval music to craft the aural image of life in the period.”

The program also features an iconic work for symphonic winds, Chant and Jubilo, by H. Francis McBeth. “This work is in two connected yet contrasting movements” Hodge noted. The first is reminiscent of early church music in its simplicity, and followed by an energetic fanfare-like finale.”

Alfred Reed’s Russian Christmas Music features a variety of styles derived from the liturgical music of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The piece is “a musical impression of Old Russia during the jubilant Christmas season” Hodge said. “To help us capture the mood of this piece, Professor Hodge told us to think of the Russian monks chanting these songs in the dead of winter,” McAtee added.

Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival will conclude the program. Hodge described the piece as “a modernized American take on music for the winter seasons” and “the quintessential medley for the holiday, featuring numerous seasonal songs both old and new.”

For more information on the concert, please email esuarts@esu.edu or call 570-422-3483.