I think I will taks Sundays, and post a few musical numbers, some serious, some with a message, some just cause I like them. Today's will be a bit longer than the upcoming ones, but who's counting. So sit back, pop up another tab, and enjoy the mix.
The introduction goes on for a while...but it's worth it. This is for all my double reeders out there, especially bassoonists.
From Aaron Copland's opera "The Tender Land". It's all about the community as in Cummunity Choir.
One of my favorite marches. Note that it's not all loud and brassy. Sousa at his best.
Next is the immortal Finlandia. Lloyd Stone wrote the following words to the hymn in this piece
This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.
For all my french horn players out there.
Get your hankies ready. This was my tribute to Teddy. Wait till you get to the end...
Finally, and how apropos, we conclude with two pieces from Holst's "The Planets" with video from NASA
One more. This is "The Golden Star March" by Sousa, written in 1919, dedicated to Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and the Gold Star Mothers in memory of Quentin Roosevelt, who died in World War I