We heard from David Di Salvo, representing the Milpitas, CA Community Concert Band, with an offer of commission to do an arrangement of “Hot Cross Buns” as a piece within a food-themed program.
In response to his request for some program notes regarding this arrangement, I replied with the following:
When David Di Salvo contacted me about this assignment, my first reaction was “Food! Great!” My second reaction was “wait, it’s a 4-bar tune! What the heck am I gonna do with that?” so I thought about Beethoven and what he did with just 4 notes… (“bum bum bum baaaaam”)… then I said to myself “Wait, what am I complaining about? This is a job here!!”So, in the spirit of the occasion, I went for the fun of it, and tried some different things in different styles, made some pencil sketches sitting at the piano, and ended up with this kaleidoscopic little mini-suite! I hope it’s as fun for you as it was for me in the writing!
The styles in the piece are:
- Fife and Drum March
- Brass Chorale
- Comedy March
- Woodwind Fantasy Transition
- Ballad
- Fugue
- Gospel
- Coda into the Big Finish
Here it is!
