William Walton / Paul Noble

The "Suite from Façade - An Entertainment" presents a new opportunity for Concert Bands to experience an important piece in the history of music. Begun in 1921, William Walton set about composing music to accompany a recitation of poetry. The original music was written for five instruments, later expanded to six. The Reciter spoke through a megaphone. The poems were very new creations by Edith Sitwell, stirring quite a controversy at the time. As many as forty-three numbers were composed between 1921 and 1928. The numbers have been added to, some discarded, and some revised. Over the years a few movements have been arranged for band, but without the important Reciter part. Those are now out of print. Also, some of the numbers have been adapted for full orchestra, again without the Reciter parts. Therefore, this edition for Concert Band is unique to the repertoire.
Paul Noble has selected eight of the movements to comprise the Suite, offering a delightful variety of style: fanfare, march, tango, polka, waltz, ballad, fox trot, and finale to round out the fourteen minute suite. The Concert Band arrangements are written to be faithful representations of the original compositions, expanding only as it may be suggested in the original works. The arrangements are written for full ensemble, but because of considerable doubling, the arrangements may be successfully performed with a smaller ensemble. The arrangements are also written in a way that they may be successfully performed without the Reciter, though this is not the desired performance method. Some groups may choose to use two reciters for variety, but the reciter is the essence of the suite. Obviously, the separate movements of the Suite may be performed individually if desired.

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