Altissimo! Recordings - MilitaryMusic.com - The Lord of the Rings (Digital Only)

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The Lord of the Rings (Digital Only) - U.S. Air Force Band

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The US Air Force Band and Colonel Alan L. Bonner present on this album "Symphony #1 'The Lord of the Rings' " by Johan de Meij, "Diamond Variations" by Robert Jager, Percy Grainger's "Irish Tune from County Derry" and "Molly on the Shore," and "Tulsa" by Don Gillis. "Symphony #1 'The Lord of the Rings' begins a mythical adventure in an imaginary land called "middle-Earth" and this serves as the inspiration behind the piece. The symphony describes the unfolding story of Gandalf, the Hobbits and their efforts to destroy the Ring to save the world. The first movement is a musical portrait of the wizard Gandalf. The second movement is an ompression of Lothlorien, the Elvenwood with its beautiful trees, plants, and exotic birds. The third movement describes the monstrous creature Gollum, a slimy, shy being, represented by the soprano saxophone. The fourth movement describes the laborious journey to the Fellowship of the Ring, headed by Gandolf, through the dark tunnels of the Mines of Moria. The fifth movement expresses the carefree and optiistic character of the Hobbits ina happy folk dance. "Diamond Variations" was composed in 1967. It is a set of five "free" variations on the "trio" melody of the march "Illinois Loyalty." "Irish Tune from County Derry" is based on a tune collected by a Miss J. Ross of New Town, Limavaday, County Derry, Ireland. It was written by Grainger in 1909 and dedicated to the memory of Edward Grieg. The "perfect" melody and rich sonorities of the arrangement have kept the Irish Tune popular for decades. "Molly on the Shore" is an Irish Cork Reel tune, and was written in 1907 in memory of his mother. "Tulsa" was commissioned by the First National Band and Trust Company of Tulsa, OK in 1950. Gillis describes "Tulsa" as "a symphonic poem in four sections, the first of which is a pastoral movement depicting the land before the settling of the white man. This moves without pause into a rather violent struggle for possession of the land. This struggled, filled with the energy and passion of frontier civiilization, end in victory as the land is transformed from wilderness to homestead and thence to a modern city. The third movement attempts the 'bring in' an oil well, and is graphic is its protrayal of the violence of a 'gusher.' The final selection is a celebration in which the whole population joins in a shirt-tail parade and square dance in the street."

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