April 11, 2014 -- The April installment of the Marine Band’s Chamber Music Series, which will take place at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 13 in the John Philip Sousa Band Hall of the Marine Barracks Annex, features an eclectic array of selections for winds. Coordinated by trombone player and section leader Master Sgt. Chris Clark, the program commences with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fantasia in G, BWV 572. Originally composed for organ, the Fantasia was transcribed by Richard Franko Goldman and Robert L. Leist for wind band as a memorial to Richard’s father, Edwin Franko Goldman, the legendary bandmaster who was first to include the works of Bach regularly in concert band repertoire. Their transcription attempts to recapture the sound of the Baroque organ through the medium of the modern band.

Marine Band trumpet/cornet player Master Sgt. Michael Mergen took it one step further and arranged the transcription for brass quintet. “I was curious if reducing the band transcription to brass quintet would offer enough colors to achieve the same impact as performing it with a symphonic band,” Master Sgt. Mergen said. “The first chord grabbed my attention and I was swept along by the colorful orchestration and the fascinating chord progressions. [Solo Cornet Master Gunnery Sgt.] Matt Harding and I drew on our experience in the cornet section … and experimented with the use of flugelhorns and trumpets to find the right mix of timbres to fit the music.”

The One, The Only by Chuck Mandernach is distinct in its own way. Written for a trombone sextet, this performance will feature two-thirds of the Marine Band’s trombone section. It was commissioned by Randy Morrison for the Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMUC) trombone ensemble, dedicated to the memory of the legendary TAMUC teacher the late Dr. Neill Humfeld, and written in honor of current professor of trombone, Jimmy Clark. With movements titled, Mr. T (Jack Teagarden), Outside the Lines (“Tricky Sam” Nanton and Duke Ellington), How Sweet the Sound (Tommy Dorsey and Jack Jenney), The Joker (Frank Rosolino), Bigger and Better (George Roberts, Nelson Riddle, and Stan Kenton), and Bebop and Beyond (J. J. Johnson and Carl Fontana), Mandernach said, “These pieces are not attempts to recreate or copy the playing of those who inspired them. Rather, they are tributes in styles generally like these men played. They were all unique and incomparable in their own ways - each a ‘one and only.’ ”

The Chamber Music Series performance will take place at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 13 in the John Philip Sousa Band Hall at the Marine Barracks Annex in Washington, DC. The concert is free; tickets are not required. Free parking is available in the garage under the overpass across the street. For more information please visit www.marineband.marines.mil or call (202) 433-4011.