Land of Tomorrow

James Curnow

James Curnow

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General Info

Year: 2010
Duration: c. 6:30
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Curnow Music Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $65.00   |   Score Only - $10.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion

(Percussion detail desired)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Framed through variation around the old shaped note melody When I Can Read My Title Clear, this composition is full of expression and emotion. While traversing countless moods, the flow and continuity never falter, and the interest never fades. The band that plays at this level can only gain skill and knowledge through meticulous preparation of this enthralling composition.

- Program note by publisher

The name Kentucky comes from the Cherokee word kentahteh, which has several possible meanings including “the land of tomorrow,” “the meadow land,” and “the dark and bloody ground” (for the many battles fought throughout the state as the population moved west). Kentucky is known for its thoroughbred horses, coal mining, beautiful bluegrass countryside and the love of music. The development of singing schools and the camp meeting singing of the early 1800s (still popular today throughout the United States) brought together thousands of people to sing the great songs of the shaped-note or “fasola” singing tradition. Many collections of songs (Southern Harmony, The Sacred Harp, and Columbian Harmony, to name a few) were published to help teach the general public how to read music. Out of these many collections came hundreds of well-known songs, such as Amazing Grace, Holy Manna, Happy Land, Rock of Ages, etc.

In Land of Tomorrow the composer presents a fantasia depicting the beauty, grandeur, and long musical heritage of Kentucky through the use of one of the great shaped-note songs, When I Can Read My Title Clear (Text: Isaac Watts, Tune: Pisgah, one of the most frequently sung songs in Kentucky), in a free-form set of melodic and rhythmic variations. The tune first appears as a brass chorale (answered by a woodwind chorale) at the end of the first variation, and as a grand finale at the climax of the composition. All motivic and melodic material found in this fantasia is drawn from this classic shaped-note song.

- Program note by Santa Barbara City College Concert Band

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

• Virginia: V

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Santa Barbara City College Concert Band (Eric C. Heidner, conductor) - 12 May 2013

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
• Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• Fanfare and Flourishes (Flex instrumentation) (1995/2013)
• Korean Folk Rhapsody (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• Nathan Hale Trilogy (Flex instrumentation) (1990/2013)
• Renaissance Suite (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (c.1551/1983/2016)
• Valdres (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2015)

All Wind Works

• African Sketches (1992)
• Album for the Young (Op. 39) (as arranger) (1878/2007)
• Amber Waves of Grain (1994)
• Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
• Appalachian Dances (2008)
• Apple Island Legend (1997)
• Beyond the Stars
• Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair (as arranger) (1985)
• Blazon (1997)
• Bridge of the Gods (2012)
• Canadian Sketches (1996)
• Canterbury Coronation (1996)
• Canticle at Christmastide (2006)
• Canticle of the Creatures (1984)
• Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• The Carnival of the Animals (as arranger) (1886/2008)
• Celebration Fanfare
• Celebration (1994)
• Ceremonial Flourishes (1988)
• Chinese Folk Fantasy (2013)
• Christmas Classics (1993)
• Christmas Fancies (2000)
• Christmas Flourish, A (1998)
• Christmas Prelude (as arranger) (1989)
• Christmas Travelogue (as arranger)
• Classical Suite for Piano and Band (as arranger) (2006)
• Concertino for Tuba and Band (1978/2001)
• Concertpiece (1990)
• Concertpiece for Clarinet, Winds and Percussion (1990)
• Dance Episodes (2006)
• Day at the Circus, A (1998)
• Day at the Museum, A (1997)
• Day in Space, A
• Dialogues for Saxophone Quartet, Winds and Percussion (2005)
• Dimensions of Seven
• Dublin Sketches
• Fanfare and Flourishes (1995)
• Fanfare and Flourishes (Flex instrumentation) (1995/2013)
• Fanfare for Christmas (2004)
• Fanfare for Spartacus (1996)
• Fanfare Prelude: "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (1999)
• Fanfare Prelude on "God of Our Fathers" (1876/1983)
• Fanfare Prelude on "Joy to the World" (1985)
• Fantasia di Falcone
• Fantasy on a Colonial Air
• Festive Fanfare for the Holidays (2006)
• Festivity (1993)
• Festivo Fantastico (1998)
• Fiddle Tunes (as arranger) (2002)
• Finale for a Winter Festival (2004)
• Folk Dances (as arranger (1942/2000)
• Freedom Road (1994)
• Freedom's Song (2009)
• French Christmas Carol Fantasy (1989)
• Golliwog's Cakewalk (as arranger)
• Guadalcanal March (as arranger) (1952/1989)
• Heroic Tribute (2006)
• Illini Fantasy (2006)
• In Storm and Sunshine (as arranger) (1884/1986)
• In the Valley of the Sun (2013)
• International Christmas Salute (1996)
• Inventions from the Sacred Harp (2005)
• Irish Legends (1994)
• Journey (2009)
• Jubilee (2012)
• Kentucky Kaleidoscope
• Korean Folk Rhapsody (1988)
• Korean Folk Rhapsody (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• Land of Tomorrow (2010)
• Lion of Lucerne (1986)
• Lone Star Celebration (1995)
• Megaforce (1997)
• Midway March (as arranger)
• Moment in Time, A
• Mutanza (1981)
• Nathan Hale Trilogy (1990)
• Nathan Hale Trilogy (Flex instrumentation) (1990/2013)
• Nexus (2015)
• Nulli Secundus (Curnow)
• Nutcracker Suite (as arranger) (1891/1987)
• Overture to a Winter Festival (1995)
• Peter and the Wolf (as arranger) (1936/1986)
• Praetorius Variations
• Prelude and Celebration (1996)
• Prelude on a Hymn of Praise (1996)
• Prelude on Lobe Den Herren (1982/1997)
• The Promise of Living (as arranger) (1954/2012)
• Quintessence
• Rejouissance (1988)
• Renaissance Festival (as arranger) (2008)
• Renaissance Suite (as arranger) (c.1551/1983)
• Renaissance Suite (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (c.1551/1983/2016)
• Rhapsody for Euphonium and Band (1978/1999)
• Rhapsody on American Shaped Note Melodies (1996)
• Romanza (2017)
• Russian Christmas Music (as arranger) (1944/1990)
• Russian Folk Fantasy (1992)
• Sea to Shining Sea (2006)
• Seacliffe Overture (1983)
• Selections from "Slavonic Dances," Op. 46 (as transcriber) (1878/)
• Selections from "Suite of Old American Dances" (as arranger) (1950/2005)
• Selections from Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1992)
• Slavonic Dances, The (as transcriber)
• Songs of the West (as arranger) (1907/1986)
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice (as arranger) (1897)
• Sovereign Variants
• Spirit of the Pioneers (2007)
• Suite from "Messiah" (as transcriber) (1741/1989)
• Suncatcher (2000)
• Symphonic Chorale for Band (1989)
• Symphonic Suite from "The Right Stuff" (as arranger) (1983/1984)
• Symphonic Triptych (1978)
• Symphonic Variants (1998)
• Three Colonial Ballads (as arranger)
• The Three Drummers (2004)
• Toward the Sunrising (1999)
• Turkish March (as arranger) (1809/2001)
• Valdres (arr Curnow) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2016)
• Valdres (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2015)
• Vanguard (2003)
• Voluntary on Old Hundreth (as transcriber) (/2000)
• A Wexford Reverie (as arranger) (2005)
• When the Morning Stars Sang (2005)
• Where Never Lark or Eagle Flew (1993)
• Whirlwind (2012)
• Winds of Change

Resources

• Curnow, J. (2010). Land of Tomorrow [score]. Curnow Music: Milwaukee, Wisc.