LACW NEWS RELEASE
As the weather begins to cool, the Los Alamos Community Winds will present it’s 2022-2023 Season Opener “Musical Gemstones – Rare Works and Transcriptions for Band” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8 at Crossroads Bible Church.
Having just completed a very exciting and busy season which included traveling to Hawaii as New Mexico representatives at the Pearl Harbor 80th Anniversary Celebration, and then co-hosting the 2022 National Convention for the Association of Concert Bands, LACW will be presenting a concert of somewhat lesser-known works. The selections include both original works for band as well as orchestral transcriptions.
Chief among these works is the Ballet Music from Charles Gounod’s 5-act grand opera, Faust.
The complete Ballet Music from the opera (which occurs during the 5th act) was first arranged for band about 1880 – only some 21 years after the opera’s initial performances. Although achieving great recognition in the early 20th century, it is currently rarely performed.
“Charles Gounod’s music is not performed nearly as often as it deserves, “ says LACW director Ted Vives. “While a few of his works such as his Funeral March of a Marionette are more popularly recognized, other than a couple of operas (Faust and Roméo et Juliette) only a comparatively small amount of his music endures in the regular repertoire.”
Additionally, the Los Alamos Community Winds will be performing a seldom heard work that actually explains itself in the title. Edvard Grieg’s Symphony in C minor (The Forbidden Symphony) contains a hand-written notation by Grieg himself on the original manuscript score that says “må aldrig opføres. E.G.” which translates from Norwegian as “must never be performed” – hence it’s designation as “forbidden.” LACW will be performing the 2nd movement of this rare “musical gemstone.”
Other selections on the concert will include music by Percy Grainger, W. Francis McBeth, Roland F. Seitz, and Gordon Jacob.
As a special “preview” of this performance, the Los Alamos Community Winds can be heard at 7:00 p.m. on Oct. 1 at Fuller Lodge as part of Los Alamos County’s “Evening of Arts and Culture”
Again, the formal concert will take place 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 8 at Crossroads Bible Church. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. A donation of $10 per guest is graciously and gratefully requested.
Please put both of these exciting musical events on your calendar.