The Mat-Su Concert Band Presents “Winds in the Willows”
Contributed by Sara Bowen
On the edge between winter and spring, the Mat-Su Concert Band will perform a broad selection of music on their March program. The variety of music will include rousing marches, hymns that invite in the chill of glacier winds, and other songs full of dance and joy, promising that spring will come.
The “Winds in the Willows” concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at the Glenn Massay Theater at Mat-Su College. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $5 for students. Children under 5 get in free. Tickets can be purchased online at www.matsuconcertband.org.
Florentiner March, a piccoloist’s dream, by Julius Fućik is one of several marches featured in this performance, characterized by a chatty melody, brass fanfares, and a sprite piccolo obbligato. Other marches include Sousa’s Presidential Polonaise and The Vanished Army by Kenneth J. Alford. Shawn Campbell returns to the podium as assistant director to conduct Hymn of St. James by Reber Clark. Based on the hymn Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, this piece is a haunting exploration of dissonance. Sometimes the theme is exposed, as a handful of instruments play over each other in close harmony, or disharmony. Other times, the melody presents as a bombastic gathering of voices amid chromatic chaos.
Based on the Gaelic melody, Morning Has Broken, David R. Holsinger’s Fantasy on a Gaelic Hymnsong begins with a gentle introduction of its melody before charging on with a rhythmic vitality. Listen for how duple and triple rhythms play against each other in this lively tune. More lighthearted pieces in the program are Brant Karrick’s Bayou Breakdown and Luther Henderson’s The Saints’ Hallelujah. Richard Wagner’s Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral, arranged by Lucien Cailliet, is a stately and expressive piece from operatic literature. Every melodic phrase moves with delicate timing, hesitating just so at harmonic crossroads. Elsa’s Procession is truly the crowning jewel of this concert.
Mat-Su Concert Band started in 1984 as the Mat-Su Community Band, formed by Matanuska Music owner Hank Hartman. Other directors have included Neil Long and Phil Munger. Under the baton of Gleo Huyck, the band is made up of more than 60 musicians and performs a wide-ranging selection of challenging music. Huyck is a retired music educator and private instructor. The band rehearses every Monday night at Teeland Middle School.