Our summer band director’s highbrow musical taste does not match mine (or many of the other members). However, our opinions are not solicited, and if offered, are politely ignored. Recently things have taken a turn for the worse. With rehearsal attendance poor and musicianship lacking, our director decided to introduce Percy Grainger’s “Lincolnshire Posy,” a six-movement ‘masterpiece’ notorious for its difficulty!
From Wikipedia:
“Rufford Park Poachers [third movement] opens presenting an asymmetrical melody between Bb clarinet and piccolo followed two eighth notes later by Eb clarinet and alto clarinet. This movement is noted for being extremely difficult to count between the counterpoint, rapidly shifting and odd time signatures, and unusual rhythms.”
“The Brisk Young Sailor [fourth movement] begins with a clarinet choir playing the simple melody. The melody is then expanded upon by the entire band in several viciously difficult ways. One notable occurrence of this is when a solo baritone horn is given the melody while the first clarinets, flutes, and piccolos play an incredibly fast sextuplet pattern and arpeggios before it resolves into a fugue like reiteration of the melody through a solo soprano saxophone and oboe. This is considered one of the most difficult movements of the piece due to its speed and need for immaculate accuracy.”
“Lord Melbourne [fifth movement] A fierce and heavy war song that opens in free time, where the conductor marks every beat with a different length (this portion tends to be memorized) and then moves into a trumpet solo followed by a heavy, repeating motif. This movement slides rapidly into different time signatures including unusual times such as "2.5/4" and "1.5/4" as well as in and out of "free time." Many of the bandmembers' range abilities are also tested in this movement, as the clarinets are forced to hit a top-of-their-range high G, the flutes have to hit a high B, and on the final chord the top trumpet must hit a high C sharp.”
From Wikipedia:
“Rufford Park Poachers [third movement] opens presenting an asymmetrical melody between Bb clarinet and piccolo followed two eighth notes later by Eb clarinet and alto clarinet. This movement is noted for being extremely difficult to count between the counterpoint, rapidly shifting and odd time signatures, and unusual rhythms.”
“The Brisk Young Sailor [fourth movement] begins with a clarinet choir playing the simple melody. The melody is then expanded upon by the entire band in several viciously difficult ways. One notable occurrence of this is when a solo baritone horn is given the melody while the first clarinets, flutes, and piccolos play an incredibly fast sextuplet pattern and arpeggios before it resolves into a fugue like reiteration of the melody through a solo soprano saxophone and oboe. This is considered one of the most difficult movements of the piece due to its speed and need for immaculate accuracy.”
“Lord Melbourne [fifth movement] A fierce and heavy war song that opens in free time, where the conductor marks every beat with a different length (this portion tends to be memorized) and then moves into a trumpet solo followed by a heavy, repeating motif. This movement slides rapidly into different time signatures including unusual times such as "2.5/4" and "1.5/4" as well as in and out of "free time." Many of the bandmembers' range abilities are also tested in this movement, as the clarinets are forced to hit a top-of-their-range high G, the flutes have to hit a high B, and on the final chord the top trumpet must hit a high C sharp.”
I learned that the original (professional) band that introduced “Lincolnshire Posy” to the public in 1937 refused to play two of the completed five movements because of their difficulty and “unusual ingredients!” So, naturally this would be a good choice for a group of amateurs to polish up in a couple hours to entertain nursing home residents. Let’s hope everyone can turn their hearing aides off quickly.
Percy Grainger’s life story is worth a read--visit here or here to find out more (some of the details are not suitable for a family blog). A few of his more humorous eccentricities:
He hid under an old lady’s bed to hear her sing a folk song after she refused to do so for him.
He kept a daily record of his weight although it never varied from 145 pounds.
He became a vegetarian, but hated vegetables and lived on nuts, cheese, bread, fruit, cakes, fruit pieces, and ice cream.
He would walk or run between concert venues (even between different cities) and sometimes arrived on stage in his gym shorts. When traveling by ship, he’d keep in shape by shoveling coal.
He was a gifted pianist who hated playing the piano (he was disappointed when cutting off the tip on a finger working on a bicycle chain didn’t end his concert career).
He designed clothing out of towels, including a forerunner of a sports bra.
The sad and really weird stuff you can read for yourself!
2 comments:
i will say that pdh's penchant for the man makes a little more sense now.
Wow, a terry cloth sports bra. Do you think they are still being made because I want one! Actually, I think that John's band did play that piece. I don't know if they left out any movements. You'll have to ask him.
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