Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Paganini - James Barnes (b. 1949)

The SCM Wind Symphony conducted by Dr. Steven Hillinger perform James Barnes's Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Paganini.

Friday, 7 May 2021
Verbrugghen Hall

James Barnes is an American composer, conductor and educator and taught orchestration, arranging and composition at the University of Kansas where he also served as Assistant, then Associate Director of Wind Ensembles for 27 years.
Barnes has twice received the coveted ‘American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Award’ and has been the recipient of annual ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Awards for composers of serious music for over 30 years, along with other numerous honours and grants. His numerous works for concert band and orchestra are widely performed throughout the world and Barnes has travelled extensively as a guest composer, conductor and lecturer throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore. He has guest conducted in Japan over 35 times, with the world-famous Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra recording three compact discs of his music.
Commissioned by John R. Bourgeois the United States Marine Band, the set of twenty variations is based on the famous theme of Paganini’s 24th Caprice in A Minor; for solo violin, which, of course, is the same theme used by Brahms and Rachmaninoff for their famous compositions, as well as by more contemporary composers (such as Lutoslawski and Blacher).
I decided that, like Brahms and Rachmaninoff, I would stay with the basic harmonic progression that Paganini used. The reason I wrote the piece in A minor is because Paganini’s Caprice (which is itself a set of nine virtuosic variations) is in A minor. I did this out of respect for the composer’s original intentions. My overall concept was to use the variation technique to showcase every solo instrument and/or every instrumental section of the modern wind band. In doing so, it was my intent to give the Marine Band a work they could play almost anywhere for almost any kind of audience: a piece full of energy, drama, and even a little humour.
Program note © James Barnes