Karl King / "The Big Cage"

Описание: Karl L. King (1891-1971)

"The Big Cage" (1934)

Performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble under the direction of Frederick Fennell.

"The most famous writer of circus music is Karl L. King. His is the life story of a man who grew up amidst the color, excitement, and heartbreak of a life under the canvas. He learned about circus music in the hard school of experience, playing the baritone horn in various circus bands for famous names like Robinson, Sells-Floto, and Ringling, becoming bandmaster for Barnum & Bailey, for which he wrote his most famous march, 'Barnum & Bailey's Favorite.' Karl King's way with the music of the Hippodrome is convincingly set forth here in four titles: 'The Big Cage' (written in 1934 for Clyde Beatty's lions), 'Invictus' (a 1921 gem of the march style), 'Circus Days' (1954), and 'Robinson's Grand Entree' (1911), composed for the opening of the Robinson show. After a long life on the road, King settled in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1920, and he remained conductor of the Municipal Band for 50 years. His band played at every fair and rodeo for miles around; between his duties as a conductor he wrote an avalanche of marches, overtures, descriptive pieces, and incomparable circus music such as is recorded here." - Frederick Fennell