SOUSA ON PARADE

posted by James Reel

    The serious-minded among us assail orchestral pops concerts, when we condescend to think about them at all, as showcases of superannuated pop stars cynically programmed to pander to a crowd that will in the end have no reason to support the orchestra’s performances of its core classical repertory. Perhaps I have made such a comment once or twice in the past. But this weekend I am actually participating in a pops concert that showcases a superannuated pop star: John Philip Sousa.
    Every couple of years the Tucson Symphony Orchestra hires Keith Brion to lead a cycle of pops shows. Brion has conducted a great variety of wind ensemble music over his long career, and has strong opinions about serious matters in his field (feed him enough ice cream, and he might tell you what he really thinks about Frederick Fennell). But his greatest love is the music and career of Sousa. Brion doesn’t just conduct Sousa’s music; he re-creates Sousa’s concerts, mixes of marches and theater suites of the day, complete with “encores” after every two or three programmed items. Furthermore, Brion dresses in a 1920s Sousa-style bandmaster’s uniform, imitates Sousa’s stage manner (including his quick shuffle across the stage onto the podium), and does his best to follow Sousa’s own performance style (something of a challenge, since many of the old Sousa 78 r.p.m. records weren’t actually conducted by Sousa himself). It’s a lot of fun—good light music that’s well prepared and played with integrity. If only all pops concerts could rise to this level.
    And what role do I play? Brion likes to have a local come out and narrate the first half of the concert, and I’ve been asked to do the honors Saturday night. At the very least, it gives me a chance to wear my tux, and such opportunities are few and far between in our casual desert pueblo. Tonight’s narrator will be my KUAT colleague Sooeyon Lee, arts reporter for Arizona Illustrated on channel 6. She tells me she’s probably going to wear a “not too revealing” formal dress she got from her sister, an opera singer in Korea. On Sunday the narrator will be my token right-wing gun-nut talk-radio-host friend Emil Franzi, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure classical music of the 19th and 20th centuries, and is actually a much more cultured person than his cultivated redneck persona would lead you to believe. I’d expect Emil to take Brion up on a loan of a bandmaster’s jacket, given his militaristic tendencies.
    Ticket info is available at 882-8585.