gglassmeyer

As with many folks who play in community concert bands, I have my favorites that we've played in the past. My hope is that in sharing lists of favorites, I can learn of music our group hasn't performed yet that others deem worthy.

I'll start with a short list of some of my favs:
Sousa marches are a staple of our concerts and I don't really dislike any we've played.
Percy Grainger also makes our program often and I like most of his work. Childrens March, Shepherds Hey, Irish Tune.
Buglers Holiday, Anderson
Second Suite in F, Holst
First Suite in Eb, Holst
The British Eight
Procession of the Nobles, Korsakov
Armenian Dances, Reed
Farewell to a Slavic Woman, Agapin
Black Granite, Hosay
Sea Songs, Ralph Vaughn Williams

Feel free to add your favorites.

cornetguy

I like a lot of the Persechetti Band pieces. The Ives America Variations works even better for band then it does for Orchestra. There are some very nice transcriptions of Verdi Overtures, Fischer used to have a Carmen Fantasy that was really good. I am a nut for Grainger and would program him regularly if I had the players to do so.

Vulgano Brother

Three others come to mind:

Festive Overture by Shostakovich--at its best played at warp speed.
The 1812 Overture with real cannons.
The Russian's shouldn't have all the fun--
The National Anthem, played with conviction, is darned amazing too.

gglassmeyer

I went to see the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra play the 1812 with cannons back in the summer of 1996. They played in an outdoor venue along the Ohio river. We brought a blanket and picnic dinner and our 6 month old daughter who fell asleep during the concert. Of course she woke up at the finale as they saved the 1812 for last . No sense blowing out people eardrums at the beginning of a concert. I'm sure my daughter is scarred for life, wait a minute I KNOW shes scarred for life she plays percussion in her school band.

Is there a version of the 1812 written for concert band, or just orchestra.

I know we've done the Festive Overture and it's definitely one worth repeating.

We also had David Shaffer guest conduct a new piece he'd written to honor on of his former students at Miami University (Ohio) who had been killed in Iraq. The piece is entitled Purple Heart and it was great to have the composer there to share this young mans story.

The Black Granite piece I mentioned above is relatively new and is awesome, I highly recommend it. It's also a memorial and is named for the black granite wall listing the names of the US service men killed or missing in Vietnam.

Jimi Michiel

When I was in school, we had a very adventurous wind ensemble program. Off the top of my head, I remember enjoying:

Schoenberg-Theme and Variations for band
Magnus Lindberg-Gran Duo
Chou Wen-chung-(can't remember the name of the work, but it was an hommage to Varese)
Ives-Concord Sonata (arranged for band)

Dale Proctor

In addition to the two Holst suites mentioned, Crown Imperial, Folk Song Suite, Valdrez, and Light Cavalry come to mind.

cornetguy

there are several band transcriptions of 1812 by Tchaikovsky. From cut and watered down for middle school bands (basically a themes from) to uncut and full lenghth and difficulty to the Tchaikovsky original which gives the clarinets a big time workout.

patdublc

Poet and the Peasant
Folk Song Suite
Lincolshire Posey
Morning Noon And Night
Light Cavalry
Suite Francaise

JimmyThird

Speaking of Cincinnati Pops - Erich Kunzel premiered my American Fanfare (at the time for orchestra) - back in 1999. I have since scored it for concert band, and in just two years it has already been played by many service bands, including Wright-Patterson AFB and the West Point Army Band, and recorded by USAF Heritage of America Band and the USAF Band of Liberty. Just this week it was performed by the wonderful Birdville High School Band in Texas.
It can be heard at James Stephenson compositions for band
I would invite anyone interested in a short, festive and uplifting concert band work to have a listen.

Thank you!
Jim Stephenson
Music of composer and arranger James Stephenson

Original_Username

Jupiter - Holst
Chaconne - Holst
Anything really from Frank Ticheli
Percy Grainger!

Those are just a few that come up to my mind.