Dance Variants
MVSR2965
“Dance Variants” op. 146 was a commission to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Honolulu Wind Symphony (Hawaii). James Barnes wrote a composition that combines an overall A-B-A structure in variation form. The work opens with a short ...
Symphonic Requiem
SMC940
I. Prologue - The Hornet's Nest (Shiloh, April 1862)
II. Marye's Heights (Fredericksburg, December 1862)
III. Longstreet's Assault (The Third Day at Gettysburg, July 1863)
IV. Apotheosis (Appomattox, ...
Threnody
MVSR3405
I wrote “Threnody” in memory of an old friend of mine, saxophonist Thomas Liley. We knew each other since high school. We were in university together and even played in the same dance band. He later played in the US Navy Band for four years. ...
Bayerisches Osterfest
MVSR2695
“Bayerisches Osterfest” (Bavarian Easter Festival) was commissioned by the Bishop Ireton High School Band, the band of a private Catholic school in Virginia, USA. The band’s conductor, Randall Eyles, is an old friend of mine. I first ...
Goldene Kameraden
MVSR2696
“Goldene Kameraden” was commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Musikverlag RUNDEL. The title of the piece is a combination of the golden anniversary of the company and all my friends who work there – but it is also a humorous pun on one ...
Alpine Holiday
MVSR2675
Commissioned by the “Bernischer Kantonal-Musikverband“ (Berne County Band Music Association, Switzerland) as the required test piece for their 2014 wind band competition, Alpine Holiday is a large overture for wind orchestra. The work ...
A Prayer for Higashi Nihon
COMS-85065
Commissioned in 2011 by the Zushi High School in Kanagawa, Japan for their 90th year establishment commemoration.
"It is very different in some ways: very sad at the beginning, then a little 'daylight' in the middle before the 'dark clouds' ...
Escenas de los Aztecas
LM550
The Aztecas created a very sophisticated civilization and economy in the area now known as Mexico City.
Much like the Romans of an earlier time, the Aztecs were great mathematicians, enineers and soldiers. They built monumental structures, ...
Scarlet and Silver Jubilee
SMC918
James Barnes created this new eight minute work to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Its sub-title “A Vegas style overture for band” tells us what the composer had in ...
Arioso, Op. 127
SMC917
During more than thirty years of teaching at the university of Kansas, James Barnes has enjoyed working with many graduate students. One of the most exceptional of these was Naoya Takizawa, who came to KU from Tokyo, Japan in 1995. After a couple ...
Tchaikovsky Suite
SMC836
"Tchaikocsky Suite" by James Barnes is taken from Tchaikovsky's "Album for the Young", op. 39 for piano solo. Every effort has been made by the arranger to make this setting sound as much as possible like the orchestral music of ...
Porgy and Bess
WBCB9802
"Porgy and Bess", the first american opera, premiered 1935. The music was written by George Gershwin, texts by Du Bose Heyward and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Its characters speek the language of black Americans in a ghetto of the Southern States. ...
Alvamar Overture
WBBD9541
James Barnes dedicated "Alvamar Overture" to Robert Hollowell and the 1981 Wichita Public Schools Jr. High Honor Band.
"Alvamar Overture" is a wonderful piece for bands playing at grade 6. The syncopated rhythm of the ...
The Wizard of Oz
WBCB9523
"The Wizard of Oz" is a Hollywood fairytale from 1939 and is nowadays one of the great American movie classics. Dorothy, her dog Toto and their three companions - Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow - follow the yellow street to the World of Oz. ...
James Barnes
Professor James Barnes, a member of both the History and Theory-Composition faculties at the University of Kansas, teaches orchestration, arranging and composition courses, and wind band history and repertoire courses. At KU, he served as an ...