Landmark Suite for Orchestra

Landmark Suite was commissioned by the Metropolitan Wind Symphony of Boston for its 10th Anniversary season 1980-81. It was premiered in April of 1981 in Sanders Theater in the campus on Harvard University with MWS music director Rowland E. Sylvester conducting. The ensemble performed the piece again in 1982 at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library in Boston with the composer conducting. The commission instructions given to Mr. Hazzard in 1980 were that the piece could be in any form, should be no longer than 15 minutes and that the music should clearly identify the ensemble with the city of Boston. In 1983, after requests from two conductors of local orchestras, Mr. Hazzard restructured the piece for the standard orchestra. Mr. Hazzard makes it clear that the orchestra version contains all the sonic material of the original band version; no more, no less. The piece is a composition which stands on its own and is not an arrangement. Op. a9A was premiered by the Hingham, MA Symphony Orchestra in 1983 under the direction of John Corley. The five musical "pictures" of Boston landmarks are Old Ironsides (USS Constitution), Swan Boats in the Public Garden, The John Hancock tower and Copley Square, Old North Church, and Harvard Yard. The performance time us about 11 minutes. The piece is suitable for a strong high school orchestra as we ll as collegiate and community orchestras. It is a terrific piece for a "pops" concert! The audio file contains a short segment of each movement.