Klarinet Archive - Posting 000778.txt from 2002/03

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Dan Leeson on Percy Grainger and the Soprano Sax
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 16:33:01 -0500

I met Grainger in 1957. We were playing some of his music in an Army
band that I was conducting, and one of the players had been working at
Schirmers in NY. He spoke of Grainger and I asked when he died. The
answer was that he was alive and well, living in White Plains, NY and
was anything but dead.

I wrote to him (getting his address from Who's Who) and the next thing I
knew my (at that time) girlfriend (later my wife) were invited to visit
him. I wrote a very extensive article for the Journal of Band Research
(Fall 1980, Troy, AL, Volume 16, Number 1, pp. 40-6, "Some Reminiscences
About a Friendship with Percy and Ella Grainger") and documented a whole
pile of stories about the several years we had together.

I don't want to rattle on but if you have any specific questions, ask
them. And read the article if you can find it in a good University
Library's research material.

Dan

Patricia Alison Smith wrote:
>
> Dan, I really love to hear about your acquaintances with composers!
> Grainger wrote so many wonderful things for wind ensemble, and, when
> rehearsed and played well, it is, at least in my opinion, some of the most
> wonderful music in the repertoire.
>
> Can you enlighten us any on the background of "Lincolnshire Posy" as well as
> any of his other works? Do you have any other recollections of Mr. Grainger
> you'd like to share? I for one would love to read about him. He sounds
> fascinating. And, all joking aside, the soprano saxophone can be a lovely
> instrument when played well. Branford Marsalis does a marvelous job, I
> agree. i am simply one of those folks that prefers to hear a saxophone
> played with a little less of that nanny goat vibrato and a little more of
> the vibrant full tone its design (partially) makes possible.
>
> Patricia A. Smith
> pattiesmith@-----.net
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
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