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FESTIVE OVERTURE In A Major, Op. 96
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Shostakovich wrote the Festive Overture (1954) in just three days, to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution. It was commissioned by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra. Performed by the 1969 Illinois Univ. Symphonic Band.
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Contemporary band compositions, classical music arrangements, marches, jazz, symphonies, overtures. A collection from bands that I have played in throughout hi
Hello and welcome! "Symphonic Band Performances" is a compilation of recordings from several high school and college bands that I played in including the TMEA (Texas) All State Band, the TMEA Region X All Region Band, the Interlochen Arts Academy National Music Camp, the Cal Poly Tech Band, San Luis Obispo, the USAF Golden West Band, and recordings from my h.s. band, Beaumont H.S. and a few band recordings that were passed down to me. Also included are various All State groups and college and university bands. I participated and played in the large majority of these recordings. There are no professional recordings here and every recording is Public Domain. Most are available for free download. Each song has been converted from the original analog or digital source and edited with Audacity or Dak software. In the majority of these recordings, I play the tenor sax or alto sax, b flat or e flat clarinet, or directing. I was drum major for 2 years in high school, I have a BA from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where I studied music ed, composition and theory. I had about 500 more recordings I was planning to digitize and upload, but this past Nov. 20th, my home was completely destroyed by fire, and all the contents, including all my music and instruments. So, this is it. Please feel free to post a comment here or on my member page. If you like, please become a fan by clicking "I'm a fan" below.
Song Info
Genre
Classical • Symphonic
Charts
Peak #82
Peak in subgenre #11
Author
Dmitri Shostakovich - 1954
Rights
public domain
Uploaded
November 03, 2009
Track Files
MP3
MP3 9.7 MB • 220 kbps • 6:09
Story behind the song
The Festive Overture opens with a brass fanfare that continues to build until the first theme. The brass section can also be heard prominently in restatements of the primary theme. In contrast, the secondary theme is a lyrical melody that is played by horns, celli, and strings. After the second climax of the piece, an energetic coda leads to the finish. Shostakovich's Festive Overture (sometimes identified as Festival Overture or Overture Festivo) was composed in 1954 for a concert at the Bolshoi Theatre celebrat- ing the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. At the time things were looking up for the composer, who had recently been hired as an artistic consultant for that company, which naturally turned to him to provide a suitable piece for its celebration (which it unfortunately waited until the eleventh hour to do). He composed the work in the course of one week. A published source asserts that Shostakovich actually wrote the piece seven years earlier, for the 30th-anniversary celebration, but that it was not performed on that occasion and he stashed it away. This seems to be an erroneous claim that somehow confuses the Festive Overture with a work that could not be more different, his pompous patriotic cantata, Poem of the Motherland, which was in fact, broadcast and recorded in connection with the 1947 celebrations, although it is unclear whether or not it was performed in public at that time. It is true that Shostakovich did tuck away quite a few pieces he composed during times of political disfavor, unveiling them only after the clouds had passed. However, the Festive Overture was not one of them, and it is difficult to imagine that anything in the buoyant six minutes of the Festive Overture could be considered either politically objectionable or personally revelatory. On the contrary, it is an irresistible curtain-raiser that sounds equal parts John Williams, Leroy Anderson, Gunsmoke, and a tongue-in-cheek parody of Wagner and Tchaikovsky.
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