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O Magnum Mysterium


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Too much syrup in your Noel notes?

May I please recommend these holiday gems:

  • South Park's Mr Hankey's Christmas Album
  • RuPaul
  • John Waters
  • Karen Carpenter
  • Disco Noel
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Rather unlikely, since Lauridsen's version was composed in 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morten_Lauridsen

This is the one the Bucs played...same title different composer...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1qj4gl3mIs

Edited by G-Rott
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Marilyn,

I share your sentiments totally but wish to correct some historical memories.

The Garfield Cadets were the first to play O Sacred Head a la Jim Prime and Donnie Van Doren. They played it for warm-up for the several seasons that the dynamic brass duo worked there before Bill Cook hired them away to Bloomington; there they continued with the tools and methods which brought success in DCI whether in NJ or Indiana. While Star definitely played on better and newer instruments, and Jim Prime had tweeked just a note here and there between the East and Indiana, the reaction of all who heard what was being played was as affective and moving as you experienced and as J.S. Bach presented it in his St. Matthew's Passion. When Michael Klesch, who knows something about church organs and organic sound, replaced his mentor Jim Prime at Garfield, Michael eased off the piece as a warm-up out of respect for his friend and said so to the horn arc.

The season Regiment played Ave Maria, I was friendly with one of their Buick players whose Dad had also marched early Regiment. Seeing the corps on the field for my first time that season, I was kidded by the young man to have my box of hankies ready and a spare. I certainly used them to wipe my eyes when I heard them live but had to share the spare when the Dad replayed the tape of the show for the heir. It too is a very beautiful piece and certainly befitting their holy family plus phamily.

Edited by xandandl
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Actually, the original composer of O Magnum Mysterium was a Medieval nun, mystic and polymath, Hildegard of Bingen. It's been around since the 11th Century or so, adapted countless times, including the well-known Gabrielli version, created about 500 years later.

The piece is about as "Public Domain" as it gets, I believe. This means that arrangements of it can be copyright protected, but nothing prevents someone from creating still another one. What would require permission is the use of a pre-existing version.

Edited by ironlips
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He allowed H Robert Reynolds to score an arrangement for concert band and there's also one for brass band.

And that version was put on at the Midwest Clinic last week, and was absolutely beautiful. Amazing what a top group and conductor can do. Reynolds barely conducted at all, just let the musicians do the work.

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And that version was put on at the Midwest Clinic last week, and was absolutely beautiful. Amazing what a top group and conductor can do. Reynolds barely conducted at all, just let the musicians do the work.

A little aside here...H Robert Reynolds was my college band director way back in the day at Cal State Long Beach, and in addition to being a fantastic conductor, even as a young pup, he also arranged the last movement of Mahler 2 for symphonic band and choir...really cool to perform that arrangement. Any opportunity to watch Reynolds rehearse a group was a master class in musicianship :-)

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And that version was put on at the Midwest Clinic last week, and was absolutely beautiful. Amazing what a top group and conductor can do. Reynolds barely conducted at all, just let the musicians do the work.

Check the interpretation by the Northwestern University SWE with Mallory Thompson. iTMS has it.

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Check the interpretation by the Northwestern University SWE with Mallory Thompson. iTMS has it.

Awesome performance by those kids......also the University of Michigan Symphony Band with Michael Haithcock has a worthy recording of that piece up at ITMS.

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O Nata Lux - from Lux Aeterna - is another Lauridsen gem I'd love to hear played by a drum corps hornline. Maybe it's been done? Dunno.

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