Concord Band Performs to Nearly Full House

Review by Grant Anderson

To a nearly full house on October 22, the Concord Band gave a very musical and unusual concert at 51 Walden in Concord center. Musical because of the skill of the band’s Music Director Jim O’Dell and the band’s many skilled musicians. Unusual because the marches were both embedded within larger compositions: the Third Suite of Robert Jager and the Suite on Celtic Folk Songs of Tomohiro Tatebe. I missed Sousa, but these two movements tapped my feet and tickled my ears—including the unmistakable bagpipe sounds in the Celtic march.

The concert started with Boston Liberties, a band commission from 2002. Many band members were featured here by composer Julie Giroux—especially Ken Troup on orchestra bells, Carol Messina on trumpet, David Southard on alto sax, and Dave Purinton on clarinet. The entire brass section really bounced in the final movement, "A Penny a Ton."

David Purinton
clarinet

Being a clarinet player myself, von Weber’s Clarinet Concertino was my favorite of the program. That’s biased, isn’t it? Dave Purinton bravely attacked and performed this difficult solo piece. I admire him for that. Bravo, Dave: lyrical and musical playing throughout.

Dan Diamond
percussion

The night’s second soloist was Dan Diamond, on snare drum in Ravel’s Boléro. Ravel once said that his Boléro theme has an “insistent quality,” and Dan’s snare drum emphasized that insistence. Dan’s forty-seven years in the band have not reduced his percussion stamina, that’s for sure. Bravo, Dan. In addition to Dan’s overarching snare, the whole composition was beautifully played by the full band, especially the solo licks that start it out and the rousing full-band conclusion.

La Fiesta Mexicana of H. Owen Reed was another audience favorite. The entire percussion section played with full confidence to start the composition’s "Prelude and Aztec Dance." The joint solo by bass and contra-bass clarinets had a chilling and throaty blend to it. Cam Owen performed well on French horn in the "Mass" section, while the "Carnival" section was bouncy, syncopated and fun.

Fall Concert 2016

Suite Spots

The Concord Band

James O’Dell, Music Director

Program
Boston Liberties	Julie Giroux
Boston Harbor Facts Are Stubborn Things Granary Grounds A Penny a Ton
Concertino, Opus 26	Carl Maria von Weber; arr. Reed; ed. McCathren
David Purinton, clarinet soloist
La Fiesta Mexicana	H. Owen Reed
Prelude and Aztec Dance Mass Carnival
Intermission
Danzon	Leonard Bernstein; arr. Krance
Third Suite	Robert E. Jager
March Waltz Rondo
Boléro	Maurice Ravel; arr. Bocook
Dan Diamond, snare drum soloist
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis	Ralph Vaughan Williams; arr. Bocook
Suite on Celtic Folk Songs	Tomohiro Tatebe
March Air Reel

View all notes for this program...

Boston Liberties

Boston Liberties was commissioned by the Concord Band in 2002. Composer Julie Giroux wrote this four movement work in recognition of Boston as the maritime center of America in Colonial days. The first movement, “Boston Harbor,” is set in a traditional seafaring, swashbuckling style with a “touch of the Irish.” The second movement, “Facts are Stubborn Things,” is based on a quote from a speech John Adams made to a jury in Boston while defending the British soldiers involved in “The Boston Massacre.” The third movement is Julie Giroux’s personal reflection of her own time spent wandering on the grounds of historical cemeteries and wondering about the lives of the people buried there. The final movement depicts the mishaps, fires, fog cannon, explosions, ship horns, and other noises of Boston Harbor and the rebuilding and constant operation of the Boston Lighthouse. (Source: published score)