by Jack Stamp
Album Title: Gettysburg at 150: 1863-2013 Music of the American Civil War
Recording:Sundeman Conservatory Wind Symphony
Conductor:Russell McCutcheon
Soloists:Brandon Almagro, trumpet; Colin Wise, trombone
Publisher:MARK 50696-MCD
Gettysburg at 150 offers an interesting program of twentieth & twenty-first century music that reflects the Civil War era. Cenotaph (Jack Stamp) is a concert fanfare that might represent the construction of monuments/cenotaphs erected in memory of the human casualties. Unknown Heroes of the Civil War (Craig Thomas Naylor) is based on period hymns and religious music. Gettysburg:The Third Day is Jay Dawson’s vivid portrait of the emotions and tragedies of July 3, 1863. The Ashokan Farewell (Jay Unger/Calvin Custer) was used as the main theme for the Ken Burns PBS documentary The Civil War. Familiar songs of the era are featured in fine settings of Shenandoah (Frank Ticheli) and Clare Grundman’s The Blue and the Grey. Trumpet and trombone display pieces with band were popular with the Civil War bands; Cousins (Herbert Clarke/Ray Cramer) spotlights Brandon Almagro & Colin Wise. The concluding work Gettysburg Triumphal March (F. William Sunderman/Joseph Edison) was composed by the Gettysburg College/Sunderman Conservatory namesake.
