Musical pieces featuring variations on song-like forms will be highlighted in Songs for an Olden Season, the winter concert of East Stroudsburg University\u2019s Concert Band, Sunday, December 9 at 3 p.m. in Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of the university\u2019s Fine & Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg. The performance is open to the public at no cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the pieces are based on songs, and the first three showcase variations on chant styles,\u201d said Brian Hodge, M.M., program conductor and director of Warrior Bands, who selected the works for the program. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe concert mixes classical selection and well-known Christmas pieces,\u201d added Warrior Bands president Caitlyn McAtee, a senior from Wilkes-Barre, Pa. majoring in history.
\n\u201cTechnically, this is one of the most challenging programs we\u2019ve played in my four years in band.\u201d<\/p>\n
Excerpts from Carl Orff\u2019s Carmina Burana will begin the program. Hodge explained that the work was composed \u201cto 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program also features an iconic work for symphonic winds, Chant and Jubilo, by H. Francis McBeth. \u201cThis work is in two connected yet contrasting movements\u201d Hodge noted. The first is reminiscent of early church music in its simplicity, and followed by an energetic fanfare-like finale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alfred Reed\u2019s Russian Christmas Music features a variety of styles derived from the liturgical music of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The piece is \u201ca musical impression of Old Russia during the jubilant Christmas season\u201d Hodge said. \u201cTo 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,\u201d McAtee added.<\/p>\n
Leroy Anderson\u2019s A Christmas Festival will conclude the program. Hodge described the piece as \u201ca modernized American take on music for the winter seasons\u201d and \u201cthe quintessential medley for the holiday, featuring numerous seasonal songs both old and new.\u201d <\/p>\n