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Handel in the Strand (arr Rohrer)

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Percy Aldridge Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger (trans. Rohrer)


General Info

Year: 1912 / 2015
Duration: c. 3:35
Difficulty: IV-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $78.00; (digital) - $78.00   |   Score Only (print) - $11.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Flugelhorn
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Snare Drum
  • Triangle
  • Wood Block
  • Xylophone (2)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

My title was originally Clog Dance. But my dear friend William Gair Rathbone (to whom the piece is dedicated) suggested the title Handel in the Strand, because the music seemed to reflect both Handel and the English musical comedy (the "Strand" - a street in London - is the home of London musical comedy) - as if jovial old Handel were careering down the Strand to the strains of Modern English popular music.

- Program Note by composer


Although performance and teaching of the piano were Grainger’s primary sources of income, he preferred writing musical arrangements of folk music from the British Isles during a time when Holst and Vaughan Williams also made use of the musical heritage of England. Originally entitled Clog Dance, the existing title was suggested by a Grainger friend who felt the music reflected Handel and the light whimsy of English musical comedy. The work, then, is meant to reflect “jovial old Handel . . . careening down the Strand [the street that is the home of London musical comedy] to the strains of modem English popular music.”

-Program note by Utah State University Wind Ensemble


Handel in the Strand is one of Grainger’s early light orchestral pieces, written in 1911, before he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I. Grainger had no trouble allowing other musicians to arrange his music to suit their needs, so Handel in the Strand has existed in several different versions. After its original massed piano and string orchestra setting came versions for full orchestra, piano (solo and four hands), organ, trombone choir, and two different settings for band (Goldman and Sousa). Grainger gives an amusing anecdote on the piece’s origin:

My title was originally “Clog Dance”. But my dear friend William Gair Rathbone (to whom the piece is dedicated) suggested the title “Handel in the Strand”, because the music seemed to reflect both Handel and English musical comedy [the “Strand” – a street in London – is the home of London musical comedy] – as if jovial old Handel were careening down the Strand to the strains of modern English popular music.

Given the original instrumentation and label as a chamber piece in Grainger’s original publication, this transcription is taken directly from Grainger’s “four-some” edition of 1912, transposed down a step from G to F major. It is scored to best depict the light (and sometimes percussive) quality of the piano along with the lyrical flow of the strings and the general character of chamber music without excessive doublings. The orchestration is standard band instrumentation with the addition of soprano saxophone and flugelhorn. Ultimately, the “room music” quality of the original is the first priority in this transcription while the characteristic tones of each wind and percussion instrument are carefully selected to best depict the spirit of the piece in a way that Grainger might have chosen for indoor concert performance.

- Program Note from Broken Arrow High School Wind Ensemble concert program, 16 December 2015


Media


State Ratings

  • Alabama: Class A


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

None discovered thus far.

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