Summon the Brass

 We've got one more pop culture reference for you in this series. This time, instead of a movie, we are referencing one of the greatest sporting events of all time -- the Olympics! Every year, during the opening ceremony, there is an opening fanfare which usually has been written by a famous composer of the time and is performed by some of the best musicians in the world. While many of these compositions are named something related to either the word Olympic or the location in which it is taking place, the composition from the 1996 Olympics stands apart. The title of this particular composition is "Summon the Heroes" and was written by John Williams.

Although it has become more popular among wind bands presently, it was originally performed by the Atlanta Symphony. In the original recording, you can see rows of brass musicians surrounding the stadium playing antiphonal parts. This piece heavily features the entire brass section, and as such it follows that a brass band arrangement was only just a matter of time.

This particular arrangement is played by the Morovia brass band. One special thing to note about this recording is that the soprano cornet player is actually playing C trumpet instead. This was most likely done to brighten the color of the cornet section and add that characteristic movie ping to the sound. Typically, cornets have a more round sound and thus playing cornet on this particular piece would not match the heroic sound of a trumpet. Although, to help bridge the difference, the musician is playing a rotary valve trumpet which would fall slightly between cornet and trumpet on the roundness of sound scale. Below I've included both the original recording from the 1996 Olympics and the brass band recording.

1996 Opening Ceremonies -- Summon the Heroes, Atlanta Symphony

Summon the Heroes, Morovia Brass Band