The Four Seasons in the Basque Country Sheet Music | Gregory Fritze | Concert Band
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The Four Seasons in the Basque Country Digital Sheet Music
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The Four Seasons in the Basque Countryby Gregory Fritze Concert Band - Digital Sheet Music

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The Four Seasons in the Basque Country is a 4 movement symphony for concert band. It is the Third Prize Winner of the 2020 American Prize in Composition - Concert Band. Grade 5, duration 27 minutes. The piece depicts four different places in the Basque country that the composer feels best show the changes of season. The first movement is "Winter in the Costa Norte (Galerna)". Galerna is on the northerncoast and is subject to harsh storms in the winter. As the piece starts off with a light-hearted dance in thepiccolo, a storm is approaching from afar. At first the storm seems to be in the distance but as it comes closer it overtakes the festivities in a bluster. For a short time two conductors are needed as the concertband is split into two groups one showing the light-hearted dance led by the piccolo, the other thecacophony of the storm led by the percussion. The storm overtakes everything as it ends the movement with a flourish.

The second movement "Spring in Rioja Alavesa" is a calming contrast to the first movement like the freshness of a spring day. The sun rises and shines beams of light onto the acres of grape vines. After a timea short rain comes to refresh and clean the plants.

The third movement "Autumn at the Guggenheim Museum" is in a traditional 3rd movement form of a symphony, minuet and trio, but the harmonies sometimes use bitonality, having the melody in one key while the accompaniment is in another to suggest surrealism. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbaois one of the worlds most famous museums, not only for the surreal art inside, but also because of the architecture of the building itself.

The fourth movement "Summer in Bilbao" is based on a dance melody composed in the Ezpata- dantza Basque style. It employs a rhythmic element with alternating 6/8 and 34 meters where the eighth notes are basically equal, but in the dance the 34 meter is actually a little bit longer. This type of subtlemanipulation of rhythm is used similarly in the Viennese Waltz, when the 3rd beat would be stretched outto accommodate the dancers. The Ezpata-dantza dance continues until the "Altza Gastiak", the officialsong of the Bilbao Athletic Club, the local soccer team of Bilbao, is heard. After this the Ezpata-dantzamelody is transformed from a happy dance to a triumphant melody and rousing finale.

In The Four Seasons in the Basque Country all of the themes are original except for the short excerpt of"Altza Gastiak"in the 4th movement. Some themes are composed in the style of Basque folk dances.

Gregory Fritze is a prize-winning composer and Fulbright Scholar, as well as an active performer. He recently retired from Berklee College of Music where he was Professor and Chair of Composition, serving on the faculty from 1979 to 2016. He has written over one hundred compositions for orchestra, band, chamber ensembles and soloists. He has won over sixty composition awards both nationally and internationally. His compositions include works published by several publishers in the United States, South America and Europe that have been performed extensively throughout the world. Many of his compositions are available on ITunes, Youtube and Soundcloud.

He has been a frequent traveler to Spain since 1993 and has promoted compositions by Spanishcomposers around the world. He is the only composer who has been commissioned six times by Spanishbands for Certamen competitions, with each band winning first prize.

His compositions are recorded on Albany Records, MSR Classics, Crystal Records, Mark Recordsand others. He has been a guest lecturer, conductor and performer at many colleges, universities and music festivals in the United States, Canada, Japan, South America and Europe. He was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1954 and has Composition degrees from the Boston Conservatory and Indiana University.He now resides in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida

This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.