Gustav Holst "A Somerset Rhapsody" (arr. Concert Band) скачать в хорошем качестве

Gustav Holst "A Somerset Rhapsody" (arr. Concert Band)

Music tells a story. When you hear the word “rhapsody,” you probably think of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, or perhaps Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody. While those are two very different examples of music, they are both rhapsodies because they both tell a story; the rhapsody is a narrative genre of music. Gustav Holst’s A Somerset Rhapsody is likewise a narrative piece of music; however, it is uniquely constructed, using three folk songs from the Somerset area of England as the basis for the melody and story. Holst uses the three folk songs – “Sheep Shearing Song” (alt. “It’s a Rosebud in June”), “High Germany,” and “The Lover’s Farewell” – not as a literal word for word text for the story, but more of a general setting of each scene, to which he adds the colour and mood by his harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. For example, the “Sheep Shearing Song” is not meant to be taken in context of shearing sheep, but rather to set an idyllic, pastoral scene, peaceful and untouched. And that is indeed where Holst begins the tale: a solo oboe with minimal accompaniment presents the “Sheep Shearing Song,” as if a storyteller beginning a story with “Once upon a time…” Following this, the first scene opens up in the countryside. Everything is peaceful and quiet, and almost romantic – you can imagine a young shepherd courting a shepherdess. All is as it should be. But then you hear it: the distant drums and herald trumpets, the sound of marching footsteps! The soldiers have come to enlist the young shepherd. The narrator returns, punctuated by the while by the ever-growing sound of war, until finally “High Germany” debuts in full – a military march, disrupting the stillness of the countryside. At the first respite from the marching, we get our third and final song: “The Lover’s Farewell.” This haunting melody is exactly as the title suggests, a lover’s farewell. It almost acts as a final plea from the shepherdess for her courter to stay home with her. The second iteration is even more poignant than the first – a quartet between two flutes and two bassoons – a dialogue between the two characters. Yet this is prematurely interrupted by the re-introduction of “High Germany.” The two themes play tug-of-war over an ever more unstable harmonies, culminating in a very forceful recap of the marching tune. Yet this is not the climax; nor are any of the other tunes. We get instead a new tune, a Holst original, with aspects of all three of the others combined, as if there are both to many and not enough words to express the scene. The un-texted music has taken over. And then it all begins to unravel: the harmonies become evermore chromatic, while “The Lover’s Farewell” sails overtop, slowly dwindling away. And when it feels most bleak, as far from the home key as possible (a tri-tone away), two solo trombones enter, playing a melancholy rendition of the “Sheep Shearing Song,” as if trying to remember the idyllic scene from the start – one last attempt to convince the young shepherd to stay. But it is in vain: the melody continues overtop Holst’s song without words, as the harmonies march off into the distance, slowly fading, until the shepherdess is all alone. The narrator returns at this point, and for a moment we get a tease of a happily ever after: perhaps the soldiers have returned! But alas, this brief swell is answered by a somber clarinet, unanswered, fading into silence. While that is perhaps my own personal take on the story, based on the subtext of the folk songs, Holst himself remarked something similar to a colleague: “Into a quiet country scene comes the sound of approaching soldiers. A youth who is courting a girl is persuaded to enlist and go to war. The soldiers march into the distance and the pastoral quietness returns. The girl is left alone.” Holst wrote A Somerset Rhapsody in 1906, and it is considered to be his first success in composition. While he originally wrote it for orchestra (and please, check out a recording of the original!), I arranged it for concert band in the style of his other two suites, as that better suited my abilities. Big thank you to Highwood Lutheran Church for letting me use their building to record in! Also to Heritage Christian Academy, Calgary Christian School, and Festival City Winds for lending me the instruments I used. (P.S. If you’re still bored after all that, just watch me playing the Bass Drum – I’m also clearly bored…)