Alfred Reed | |
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Background information | |
Born | January 25, 1921 New York City, New York |
Died | September 17, 2005 (aged 84) Miami, Florida |
Genres | Classical |
Occupation(s) | Composer |
From Elgar's Variations. By Edward Elgar / arr. Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts. This is among the most noble and stately music in all of band literature. Great for graduation, baccalaureate, memorial, or awards ceremonies. This title is available in SmartMusic. REED, Alfred (1921-2005) • Acclamation (A Global Greeting for Winds) HL HL4001882. • First Suite for Band HL HL6787 • Fifth Suite for Band (International Dances) HL4001592 HL • The Garden of Proserpine LM B3874 • Giligia (A Song of.
Alfred Reed (January 25, 1921 – September 17, 2005) was an American neoclassical composer, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name. He also traveled extensively as a guest conductor, performing in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
- 2Works and arrangements
Life[edit]
Reed was born in New York and began his formal music training at the age of ten. During World War II, he served in the 529th Army Air Force Band. Following his military service, he attended the Juilliard School of Music, studying under Vittorio Giannini, after which he was staff composer and arranger first for NBC, then for ABC. In 1953, he became the conductor of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra at Baylor University, where he received his B.M. in 1955 and his M.M. in 1956. His master's thesis, Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra, was awarded the Luria Prize in 1959. He was a member of the Beta Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music.
From 1955 to 1966, he was the executive editor of Hansen Publications, a music publisher. He was professor of music at the University of Miami where he worked with composer Clifton Williams from 1966 until the latter's death in 1976. Williams' office was across the hall from Reed's office in the UM School of Music, and Reed was chairman of the department of Music Media and Industry and director of the Music Industry Program at the time of his retirement. He established the very first college-level music business curriculum at the University of Miami in 1966, which led other colleges and universities to follow suit. At the time of his death, he had composition commissions that would have taken him to the age of 115. Many of Reed's wind band compositions have been released as CD recordings by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.
Works and arrangements[edit]
Works for orchestra[edit]
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Works for concert band[edit]The concert band is by far the most common medium in Reed's body of work.
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Works for choir and orchestra[edit]
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Chamber music[edit]
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External links[edit]
- Alfred Reed Collection - Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland
- Alfred Reed interview, December 16, 1986
- Alfred Reed: A bio-bibliography at Google Books
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alfred_Reed&oldid=911835446'
Russian Christmas Music is a musical piece for symphonic band, written by Alfred Reed in 1944. It is one of the most frequently performed pieces of concert band literature.
Reed was commissioned to write a piece of 'Russian music' for a concert in Denver, Colorado. The concert's aim was to improve Soviet-American relations; as such, it was to include premieres of new Soviet and American works. Prokofiev's March, Op. 99 was supposed to be the Russian work, but it was discovered that the work had already been performed in the United States, and Reed was assigned to write a new piece a mere sixteen days before the concert. The piece was first performed on December 12, 1944, on nationally broadcast NBCradio.
Although Russian Christmas Music consists of only one movement, it can be readily divided into four sections:
- The opening section, Carol of the Little Russian Children (mm. 1–31; approx. 3 minutes), is based on a 16th-century Russian Christmas carol. It is slow throughout; after a quiet opening by the chimes, contrabass clarinet, and string bass, the clarinets carry the melody. The other voices join in, and the section ends with a series of chords.
- The Antiphonal Chant (mm. 32–85; about 2 minutes) is faster and louder, with the melody initially carried by the trombones, horns, trumpets, and cornets. The woodwinds join in, and the music becomes more and more frenzied until the section ends with a massive cymbal and tam-tam crash.
- The Village Song (mm. 86–165; about 5 minutes) is much gentler by comparison; the Cor anglais has two solos, with soli in the flutes and a solo in the horns at the end of each. The piece enters a time signature of 6/4; the band plays a series of cantabile two-bar phrases back and forth between the woodwinds and brass, with the string bass playing long strings of eighth-notes, which are passed along to the bells. The song becomes quieter again, and the section ends with another English horn solo.
- The Cathedral Chorus (mm. 166–249; about 5 minutes) starts quietly, as the end of Village Song, but a crescendo in the trombones and percussion brings the rest of the band in majestically. The music builds to a climax, but then backs down for a final chorale in the woodwinds; the sound builds once again, and the piece concludes with a thundering chorale marked by liberal use of the chimes and tam-tam as well as soaring horn counterpoint.
A typical performance of Russian Christmas Music lasts 14–16 minutes. As it was written to convey the sounds of Eastern Orthodox liturgical music, which uses the human voice exclusively, the entire piece must be played with some lyrical and singing quality.
Slavonic Folk Suite is Reed's arrangement of Carol of the Little Russian Children (here called Children's Carol) and Cathedral Chorus for a younger, less experienced band.
The song is also the official corps song of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps.
References[edit]
- USAF Band of Mid-America, One of Our Own: Alfred Reed(PDF)
- Program notes by the Foothill Symphonic Winds: Alfred Reed
- Alfred Reed: A Bio-Bibliography by Douglas M. Jordan; ISBN0-313-30333-9
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