To the Rescue!

Composer: Paul Stanhope
Composed: 2008 Duration: 3.5 mins.
Instrumentation: Concert Band Repertoire
ISMN: 979-0-720083-55-1 Catalogue: RM554
Level: grade 3.5 Country: Australia

Performed live at Melba Hall by Grainger Wind Symphony

I have long been a fan of Warner Brothers cartoons and their music scores from the golden age of the 1950s and 60s. To the Rescue! is my response to an imagined cartoon-like scenario of a rescue with lots of hair-brained schemes, much ridiculous activity but little actual rescuing.

Musically, the piece is full of animated running semiquaver passages, replete with percussion effects straight out of cartoon-scores and lively, exaggerated pastiche elements. In the dying stages of the piece, the full forces of the concert band finally come together as one, and perhaps in a concerted last-ditch effort, a serious rescue attempt is indeed mustered! PS