Down in the valleys: "Death Valley Suite" (Grofe) excerpts: "Desert Water Hole," "Sand Storm," and "Valley of the Sun Suite" (also Grofe)

 

Cold weather coming on, and Christmas arriving in 32 days--so, as a reminder of the summer days of late June to late September, Ferde Grofe's 1949 gem, Death Valley Suite.  The occasion for this post is my eBay acquisition of the Purdue Symphony Band performing the third and fourth movement--a performance I predicted would be terrific--and I was correct.  

So, first off, Desert Water Hole and Sand Storm, from the 1962 A.B.A. Concert, which Google's AI describes as "the American Bandmasters Association (ABA) convention concert program, which the Purdue Symphony Band performed in."  The conductor is Al G. Wright.  

Then the same two movements as conducted by Grofe himself with the Capitol Symphony Orch., which was quite an outfit, despite a cutting review by (I think) Stereo Review when the Angel label reissued Death Valley.  Or maybe the review was in Hi-Fidelity magazine.  I never count on my memory much, since I recall it's pretty vague at times.

Meanwhile, Death Valley will be heading for nice summer-style highs just right for tourists eager to find solace from Jack Frost.  And I have no idea why I typed "solace from Jack Frost," but I did, and I only have myself to blame.  (Or maybe society itself.)

As an added bonus (forgive the redunadncy; bonuses are always "added"), Grofe's wonderful Valley of the Sun Suite, with Ferde conducting the Arizona State College (Tempe) Symponic Orchestra.  And this was my essay when I last posted the work (the zip file since deleted by Workupload): 

"From the mysterioso first movement to the joyous, Johann Strauss-esque (am I allowed to type that?) conclusion, this is mood music of the highest class. Making things more interesting are Grofe's reuse of cues from his 1950 movie score for Rocketship X-M (in The Dam Builders) and the insertion of a chord sequence from his very first work, Broadway at Night (1924), at the beginning of the last movement. Grofe was not shy about reusing material, and why not?  X-M itself reuses a portion of his Symphony in Steel (1935), and his score for The Return of Jesse James (1950) uses the opening section of his Tabloid Suite (for a telegraph office scene)." 

And Google's AI notes that Grofe premiered Sun in 1952, though he composed it in 1957.  That was quite a trick.  Enjoy, and stay warm...

DOWNLOAD: Death Valley; Valley of the Sun.zip

Death Valley Suite (Grofe, 1949)

Desert Water Hole 

Sand Storm

Valley of the Sun Suite (Grofe, 1952 or 1957)

Valley of Ditches

The Dam Builders

Masque of the Yellow Moon

Reclamation's Golden Jubilee 

The Purdue Symphony Band, c. Al G. Wright, 1962; The Capitol Symphony Orch., c. Grofe, 1951; Arizona State College (Tempe) Symphonic Orch., c. Grofe, prob. 1957.

Lee