 |
| Courtesy
Photo |
| Keith
Brion will be conducting the Phoenix Symphony in Anthem
May 25 in the persona of quintessential American band
leader, John Philip Sousa. Brion and his own New Sousa
Band tour the country, much like Sousa’s did, recreating
Sousa’s concerts–from the music, to the program style
of frequent rapid‑fire encores, right down to
the band uniforms. |
| |
 |
| Courtesy
Photo |
| Born
in 1854, John Philip Sousa became America’s most popular bandleader, band conductor
and composer of band music. He led the U.S. Marine Band
for 12 years beginning in 1880 and
in 1892 he formed his own national band and toured
the country until his death in 1932. |
| |
 |
| Courtesy
Photo |
| John
Philip Sousa aficionado and bandleader in his own right,
Keith Brion resurrects the band‑style concert
Sousa’s national band was famous for in the early 20th
century. On May 25 in Anthem, he will conduct the Phoenix
Symphony for such favorites as “Stars and Stripes
Forever,” “The Washington Post March” and “Hands Across
the Sea.” |
| (Click
pictures for full size images) |
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Anthem
a la Sousa, molto con Brion
Phoenix Symphony oompah‑pahs a ‘Tribute to America’
in Anthem
by
Chris Moore
ANTHEM
– It’s what Memorial Day is all about–fireworks, “The
Star Spangled Banner,” a color guard presenting the flag–a
night under the stars and under the baton of John Philip
Sousa.
Almost
literally, because when the Phoenix Symphony comes to
Anthem Community Park May 25 to conclude Anthem’s Music
in May concert series with a “Tribute to America,” guest
conductor Keith Brion, who has appeared with many of America’s
major symphony orchestras, will be inhabiting the uniform
and the persona of Sousa himself to restage, with a good
deal of historical accuracy, what it would have been like
to attend a concert by Sousa’s national band in the early
20th Century.
“It’s
a style that’s been forgotten. But it’s incredible,” Brion
says, “to see and hear what they would have experienced
100 years ago. It’s a real historical visit to something
that was terrific at one time and still is today.”
Brion
recreates Sousa’s national band with his own, The New
Sousa Band, which he began in 1979 to take his music to
American towns. “Sousa toured the country for 40 years,”
Brion says, “going everywhere the trains stopped. I do
it on airplanes–it’s a lot easier.”
According
to Brion, Sousa and his band played in Phoenix seven times
between 1902 and 1928 at the Dorris Theater and the Elks
Theater, although more regularly at the Masonic El Zaribah
Temple.
Brion’s
New Sousa Band is a “national” band made up of players
from all over the country that come together for the band’s
concerts. “My national band is not located any place,
but everyplace,” Brion says, “just like Sousa’s.”
Musicians
from major orchestras, military bands, university faculties
and freelance musicians form the ranks of Brion’s national
band, who wear authentic replicas of the band uniforms
that would have been used in the 1920s. Some period instruments
are incorporated and even Brion’s podium and conductor’s
rack are facsimiles of Sousa’s original set‑up.
“It’s
a tremendous job,” Brion explains. “He turned out a huge
amount of music and going through it all you discover little
oddball pieces that turn out to be really neat. They emerge
from the pile and you say, ‘Wow!’”
Occasionally,
Brion says, he will incorporate some of those unearthed
gems into his concerts, as he will be doing when he conducts
the Phoenix Symphony in Anthem on May 25. The program will
feature a song called “In Flanders Fields,” which Brion
describes as “a mixture of descriptive music and warlike
things, funereal things and poignant and touching things.
It’s quite dramatic.”
“Sousa
was the most famous band director in America,” says Brion.
“And he is the most important bandmaster and band composer
in American history.”
“With
a figure like that,” Brion continues, “the myth grows and
grows until it’s all myth. I wanted to take a realistic
look at what made this music important in Sousa’s lifetime.”
In
line with that goal, Brion is also working with Naxos Records
to record the entire cannon of Sousa’s music on 16 CDs.
The “John Philip Sousa: Music for Wind Band” series features
Brion conducting the Royal Artillery Band of London, about
which he says “we’re just over the hump of the middle” with
Vols. 9 and 10 currently in the works.
The little known song is actually a poem by a Canadian serviceman,
Col. John McCrea, written during World War I after the second
battle of Ypres. Col. McCrea sent the bandleader the poem
asking that he set it to music in 1917, which Sousa did.
The poet never heard the piece because by the time the orchestration
was finished in 1918, Col. McCrea had been killed in battle.
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Singing
this special Sousa song, which Brion calls “a great soprano
solo,” will be Lee Merrill, who often performs with Brion and
the New Sousa Band and in 1989 was presented with the Spirit
of the American Woman Award in Opera by Beverly Sills. She will
also sing selections by another American musical icon, George
Gershwin, and melancholy Russian composer Sergey Rachmaninov.
The
musical program for the concert replicates the type of program
Sousa would have performed in his day. “It’s a little unusual,”
says Natalie Whitehouse, who does publicity with the Phoenix
Symphony, “but it is set up like Sousa.”
“It’s
a potpourri of programming,” Brion says, “with rapid‑fire
encores.” Like Sousa’s own programs, “there are about 10 pieces
on the program, with an encore after each one. It moves lickety‑split–only
an average of 10 seconds between pieces–with each encore announced
on a painted sign, usually held up by someone in the percussion
section.”
For
Brion, it’s about the love of the music and the carrying on
of tradition. “There’s a natural succession from the band music
of Sousa to Arthur Fiedler and the rise of the Boston Pops,”
Brion explains, “which began around the time of Sousa’s death
in 1932. It’s the original American Pops concert, and it still
works.”
“It’s
historically correct,” Brion says, “but the important thing
is that it’s fun. So it’s stars and stripes forever, hands across
the sea and hail to the spirit of liberty–just add an opening
performance by ProMusica Arizona, a fireworks show at the end
and some oompah‑pahs in the middle, and this “Tribute
to America” sounds like a Memorial
“Tribute
to America” will take place on May 25 at Anthem Community Park
on the stadium softball field. ProMusica Arizona will perform
at 6:30 p.m. and the Phoenix Symphony at 7:30 p.m. Reserved
seating (chairs provided) is $25; general admission (with own
blanket/chair) is $18; children under 12 are free. Tickets are
available at the Anthem Community Center, 41130 N. Freedom Way,
Anthem, by calling (623) 879‑3011, and at the gate the
night of the show. The Music in May concert series is sponsored
by AZDance Group, O’Neill Printing, Boates and Crump, the Arts
Council of the North Valley, Century 21 and The Desert Advocate.
For further information, call (623) 879‑3011.
Reach
the reporter at cmoore@thedesertadvocate.com.
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