The Old and New Worlds

Suites and Variations: The Upper Valley Community Band’s January concert features two suites—by Gustav Holst and William Schuman—and two sets of variations—by Charles Ives and John Barnes Chance. Holst’s A Moorside Suite is a compelling set of three works by this renowned British composer of band and symphonic music; Schuman’s New England Triptych re-imagines 18th-century American tunes in a 20th-century context. In his Variations on “Jerusalem, the Golden”, Ives evokes 19th-century brass band music in an early-20th-century interpretation of another Protestant hymn. And Chance’s composition is a dazzling transformation of a very simple Korean folk tune. Music by Sousa and the Beatles rounds out this adventuresome program!