by Douglas Balliett, using:
“Why do the Nations so Furiously Rage” by George Frederic Handel
The Federal Overture by Benjamin Carr

 Federal Nations combines two works of 18th-century music: Handel’s rage aria from Messiah and Benjamin Carr’s concert overture celebrating the birth of the Republic. Composer Douglas Balliett weaves both together to form an unhinged, madcap ride of rage and pomp. Carr’s “Federal Overture” has all the elements you’d expect from one of the earliest uniquely American symphonic works: a yankee doodle fugue, folk song arrangements, and late classical “sturm und drang.”