Con Sabor Español

Lewis J. Buckley served as conductor and music director of the United States Coast Guard Band (New London, CT) for 29 years, and now serves as Music Director of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. When auditions were held to choose Captain Buckley's successor as Conductor of the Coast Guard Band, part of the conducting audition was a sightreading session. As most of the candidates were members of the Coast Guard Band, it was virtually impossible to find anything in the Band library that was unknown to all of them; so Captain Buckley wrote a short piece for the audition, then titled “Conducting Exercise.” Into this piece, Captain Buckley put many of the knotty little conducting problems he had dealt with over the years, including mixed meter, tempo changes, instrumental cadenzas, and fermatas in difficult places. Though written as an exercise, this piece was popular with the band members so Captain Buckley expanded it into a concert work. Thus was born Con Sabor Español (With a Spanish Flavor). It has since been performed widely, to the delight of audiences and players alike. (Source: Lewis J. Buckley)