Karelia Suite - Alle marcia

Title: “Alle marcia” - Karelia Suite, Op.11 Composer: Jean Sibelius Derived from an original midi file by Gary Goldberg Organ: The Hauptwerk Cavaillé Coll organ from Sonus Paradisi Here's a beauty of a piece. When I first heard the orchestral version on classical radio years ago, I couldn't get enough of it. I bought the CD and played this music many times. I think it has two of the best trumpet fanfares I have ever heard. (At 1:15 and at 2:51 in my organ version.) Arranging this for midi pipe organ has been a big challenge. Starting from many orchestral instruments and cutting this down to just three organ keyboards and pedal is a tricky thing. I chose the big French romantic organ because it has such terrific sounding trumpets (Bombardes) and could successfully bring out the fanfares I love so much. My registration doesn't closely follow the orchestral instruments called for, since the organ doesn't have many real orchestral sounds. So, I just did what I thought worked for pipe organ. I start with very few ranks and a very quite sound, and end with a huge full-organ sound including the big 32' Bombarde in the pedals---These French trumpets are VERY impressive, IMHO. According to Wikipedia: ------------------------------------------------- The Karelia Suite (originally titled Karelia Music), Op. 11, is a collection of orchestral pieces composed by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The suite is one of Sibelius's earlier works and remains one of his most popular. He held the Karelia province in particular affection. In earlier years he had found stimulus in its folk music, and later he was to spend his honeymoon there ------------------------------------------------- (Headphones will give the best listening results.)