The Poinsett Wind Symphony

Thursday, June 16, 2022

7:30pm, McAlister Auditorium, Furman University

Jay Bocook, Dr. Leslie Hicken and Dr. Sue Samuels, conductors

Main Theme from Star Wars (1977) ……… John Williams (b. 1932), transcribed by Stephen Bulla

When the American Film Institute released their listing of the top twenty-five film scores of all time in 2005, it included the titles Out of Africa, Sunset Boulevard, Ben-Hur, Psycho, The Godfather, and Gone with the Wind. John Williams was responsible for three of those twenty-five selections, and at the very top was his unforgettable score to the original Star Wars movie.

On the heels of his work in the 1970s with Spielberg that produced the blockbusters Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Williams signed on in 1977 to score a new “space western” written and directed by George Lucas. At that time, no one could have predicted the global popularity of this film and its successive chapters, nor could Williams have imagined the impact that his music for the movies would have both in the world of film and well beyond.

There are few pieces of music that are as instantly recognizable as the opening fanfare Williams composed for the Star Wars franchise. After opening the very first film in 1977, this theme has opened all of the major Star Wars films, and won John Williams an Academy Award.

Silverado (1985) ……... Bruce Broughton (b. 1945), arranged by Randol Alan Bass

In 1985, Lawrance Kasden’s film Silverado premiered to rave reviews and was later nominated for Best Original Score at the 58th Academy Awards. A true American Western, the plot follows the journey of three men as they travel to Silverado on horseback. The score was composed by Bruce Broughton who, at the time, was a highly respected TV composer known for his work on Hawaii Five-O and Dallas. Silverado was only his third film, but it helped propel him into a long and successful career in Hollywood. The score is built around two main themes: the heroic theme heard fully in the main title, and the gentler Settler’s theme, which represents the homesteaders and their relationship with the vast open spaces of the American west.

In 2008, Randol Alan Bass arranged a suite that weds these two main themes and takes us all on a journey to Silverado.

Out to Sea and the Shark Cage Fugue (1975) ……. John Williams, transcribed by Jay Bocook

Of all the memorable themes that Williams has composed for film, the one that arguably produces the most visceral response from listeners consists of just two notes. The shark theme from the 1975 Spielberg blockbuster Jaws ranks among the most recognizable music in film history and was an integral part of the score that earned Williams his second Academy Award.

In Spielberg’s words, Williams’ music “was clearly responsible for half the success of the movie,” and not just because of the now famous motif that embodied the film’s terrifying main character. In “Out to Sea,” a trio of shark hunters led by Police Chief Martin Brody head into open water to find the menacing beast. This is followed by the “Shark Cage Fugue,” a classically-inspired and sophisticated accompaniment to a tense underwater scene in which Matt Hooper comes face-to-face with the great white in an all-too-fragile suspended cage.

Three Dance Episodes from On the Town (1944) …….. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), transcribed by Paul Lavender

1. The Great Lover
2. Lonely Town: Pas de Deux
3. Times Square: 1944

Few have contributed more to American music culture than Leonard Bernstein. Equally gifted as a conductor, composer, concert pianist, and teacher, Bernstein excelled at finding a way to connect with many different audiences. In the nearly thirty-five years since his death, both his music and his status as an American icon continue to flourish. As a composer, Bernstein displayed a wide range of talents, writing music not only for the concert stage, but also for film, ballet, opera, and Broadway, with his West Side Story becoming one of the most successful shows in history. Although primarily a classical musician, Bernstein had a great fondness and respect for jazz and popular music. In an undergraduate thesis while attending Harvard University in 1939, Bernstein wrote “jazz in the twentieth century has entered the mind and spirit of America; and if an American is a sensitive creator, jazz will have become part of his palette, whether or not he is aware of it.” Whether overt or carefully woven into the texture, jazz styles do indeed permeate much of Bernstein’s music, including many pieces written for the concert hall.

On the Town is the story of three young sailors on a twenty-four hour shore leave in New York City. One of the young sailors becomes infatuated with a woman and the three friends split up in an effort to find her. On the Town is based on Fancy Free, a ballet by Bernstein based on the same premise, and made its Broadway debut in New York in 1944. Bernstein created three dance episodes from On the Town for orchestra and offered the following about each:

In the Dance of the Great Lover, Gaby, the romantic sailor in search of the glamorous Miss Turnstiles, falls asleep in the subway and dreams of his prowess in sweeping Miss Turnstiles off her feet.

In the Pas de Deux, Gaby watches a scene, both tender and sinister, in which a sensitive high-school girl in Central Park is lured and then cast off by a worldly sailor.

The Times Square Ballet is a more panoramic sequence in which all the sailors in New York congregate in Times Square for their night of fun. There is communal dancing, a scene in a souvenir arcade, and a scene in the Roseland Dance Palace.

Symphonic Suite from Star Trek (2009) ……... Michael Giacchino (b. 1967), arranged by Jay Bocook

Begun as a television series in 1966, the original Star Trek series only lasted for three seasons and 79 total episodes. Following the interstellar voyages of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew aboard the starship USS Enterprise, the series has inspired an animated series, five spin-off television series, a film franchise, and several other adaptations. Including spin-offs, games, figurines, novels, toys and comics, it is estimated that by 2016, the Star Trek franchise had generated over $10 billion in total revenue.

In 2009, Michael Giacchino composed the score for a new Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams. Giacchino has been a staple in the animated film industry for three decades, and is known for his scores for the movies Up, Inside Out, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles, which have earned him three GRAMMYs, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award.

Colonel Bogey (1913) ……. Kenneth J. Alford (1881-1945), edited by Frederick Fennel

Frederick Joseph Ricketts was an English composer who often wrote under the pen name Kenneth J. Alford. Composed in 1913 and first published in 1914, Colonel Bogey was an instant hit, becoming a best-seller on the sheet music “charts” when it sold more than a million copies by the early 1930s. The march gained additional worldwide exposure and popularity when it was featured as the musical theme for The Bridge on the River Kwai, an Oscar-winning film which was set during the Second World War.

Although Colonel Bogey proved to be his most famous composition, Ricketts also wrote and published hymns, fantasias, solos for xylophone and piano, and many classical and operatic arrangements. Ultimately, it was his gift for writing marches that earned him the nickname of “The British March King.”

The Wizard of Oz (1939) ……… Harold Arlen (1905-1986), arranged by John Barnes

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy adventure film produced by MGM, and the most well-known and commercial adaptation based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Notable for its use of Technicolor filming technology, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and unusual characters, over the years it has become one of the best known of all films and part of American popular culture. It also featured what may be the most elaborate use of special effects in a film up to that time.

The musical numbers of The Wizard of Oz remain among the most notable and memorable songs of all time in American musical film/theater. This medley includes In the Merry Old Land of Oz, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, We’re Off to See the Wizard, If Only I Had a Brain, and the Academy Award winning song Somewhere over the Rainbow.

Cadillac of the Skies (1987) ……. John Williams, arranged by Jay Bocook

Empire of the Sun is a 1987 coming-of-age war film directed by Steven Spielberg and scored by John Williams. The plot focuses on a young British boy named Jim, played by Christian Bale, whose wealthy family is living in Shanghai after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After Jim is separated from his parents he is captured by Japanese troops and taken as a prisoner of war. Early one morning, the camp is suddenly attacked by a group of American P-51 Mustang fighter planes, and an overjoyed Jim points up and shouts, “The Cadillac of the skies!”

The heroic, soaring melodies in John Williams’ Cadillac of the Skies express Jim’s excitement as he realizes his rescue is imminent, beautifully juxtaposing the surrounding destruction of war.

The Cowboys Overture (1980) ………. John Williams, transcribed by Jay Bocook

The Cowboys was a film directed by the very talented Mark Rydell and featured John Wayne, probably Hollywood’s quintessential cowboy. The movie required a vigorous musical score to accompany virtuoso horseback riding and calf roping, and when my friend André Previn heard fragments of the score, he suggested that a concert overture lay hidden within the film’s music. Several years slipped by, and each time I saw the indefatigable Previn, he would ask, “Have you made an overture of Cowboys yet?”

He kept this up until 1980, when I finally worked out the piece and played it at a Boston Pops concert. Both the orchestra and the audience seemed to enjoy the music to such an extent that it has been part of our repertoire ever since.