Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first satellite to orbit the Earth. It was launched by our Cold War enemy, Russia, and named Sputnik. It caused quite a bit of worry in the USA - we did not want to fall behind Russia in the race for space. Not long after that the U.S. launched its own satellite, called Telstar. The satellite was a fine accomplishment, even if the song Telstar was not quite so fine. Still, if you are interested in this little corner of music history, you can hear Telstar, ...
Nice video of tuba virtuoso James Gourlay in a live performance during the Big Brassfest 1997 (Italy). Learn more about him at his website: web.mac.com/jamesgourlay1956 He also has some downloadable sounds clips on an older version of his site (I assume these will be added to his new site eventually): Gourlay Sound Clips
I have just added a Category called "Videos" to the blog. That category will hold all the posts of videos on the blog. Just scroll down until you see the "Categories" heading, then click on Videos. All previous video posts have been moved to that category. There are currently 3 pages of videos (and counting!). Or you can just click on this link to go there: Videos (tuba and euphonium)
Here and see the great euphoniumist David Childs (yes, he is a son of one of the Childs Brothers) doing A Little Prayer. The British seem to have a real heart for this type of music, and a fine artist like David can make it really great. (Also watch him play Flight of the Bumblebee and Brillante)
Below is a short video of David Childs playing Flight of the Bumblebee in a clever arrangement with brass band accompaniment. (Be sure also to listen to David play Brillant in a previous post from Sept. 23)
Has a euphonium ever played a major part in a pop song that made the top 40? Yes, but it was a long time ago, in the early 1960's. The song was by the Grammy Award winning singer/writer Jackie DeShannon and was called "What the World Needs Now (Is Love, Sweet Love)." This original hit (by Burt Bacharach) starts with a euphonium solo playing a brief intro to the melody. The euphonium is also heard later in the song doing some simple countermelodies. I have researched this a bit and tried to find ...
Here (and see) some brilliant playing by David Childs on the solo "Brillante" by Peter Graham (a sort-of theme and variations on "Rule Britannia"). He shows terrific flexibility in the cadenza especially, but all the playing is great! There is also a really fine brass band accompanying David.
YouTube has a new video of the euphonium soloist Barry Morrison performing A Better World by Norman Bearcroft. If I remember correctly this is one of the solos written by/for the Salvation Army. The accompaniment is provided by the British-style brass band Imperial Brass from New Jersey.