Spirit of the Pioneers (Curnow)

James Curnow

James Curnow

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General Info

Year: 2007
Duration: c. 5:35
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Curnow Music Press, through Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $79.00   |   Score Only (print) - $16.95

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III

(percussion detail desired)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

This tuneful overture is a musical depiction of a determined people setting out to expand the American frontier. There is a nice syncopated motive that recurs throughout the piece, a more lyric middle section, and good dynamic writing with a big, powerful, and effective finale.

- Program Note from publisher

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
• Audio: Reference Recording. U.S. Army Field Band (Mallory Thompson, conductor)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Kalani High School (Honolulu, Hi.) Concert Band (Dennis Kaneshiro, conductor) – 28 April 2019
• United States Army Field Band (Washington, D.C.) (Mallory Thompson, conductor) – 17 December 2008 (2008 Midwest Clinic)

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)
• Winds of Change

Resources

• Curnow, J. (2007). Spirit of the Pioneers [score]. Curnow Music Press: Wilmore, Ky.