Grand Canyon Suite

The Grand Canyon Suite is a suite for orchestra by Ferde Grofé, composed between 1929 and 1931. It was initially titled Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon.^[1]

It consists of five movements, each an evocation in tone of a particular scene typical of the Grand Canyon. Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra gave the first public performance of the work, in concert at the Studebaker Theatre in Chicago on November 22, 1931.^[2]

Grofe, in 1937, described the genesis of his piece: "Although I was born in New York City, I lost all consciousness of being a New Yorker at the age of five. From that age till a few years ago, I lived in California....In writing 'Grand Canyon Suite' I drew from notes I had made during my constant visits to the rim of the mighty work of nature. I had watched the Canyon in all seasons, in all its moods. And my findings were on paper, notes in hieroglyphics that were later transcribed into musical notes."^[3]

Structure

The movements of the suite are:

Sunrise
Painted Desert
On the Trail
Sunset
Cloudburst

Influence

Grand Canyon is a 1958 short Walt Disney film in CinemaScope format directed by James Algar. It features color film footage of the Grand Canyon accompanied by the Grand Canyon Suite, though the order of the movements has been somewhat altered. In the manner of Fantasia, there is no story and no dialogue. The film won an Academy Award in 1959 for Best Short Subject.

On The Trail has been used as the soundtrack for the Grand Canyon Diorama on the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad in Disneyland since the diorama's 1958 debut.^[4]

On The Trail was the theme music for commercials for Philip Morris cigarettes on US radio and television from 1934 until sometime in the 1960s, accompanied by the voice of Johnny Roventini calling "Call For Philip Morris" in the style of a hotel bellhop paging a customer. This movement is also used extensively in the Bob Clark film "A Christmas Story", with the Celesta solo providing the soundtrack music when Ralphie and his younger brother are seen sleeping and dreaming about Christmas morning.

Recordings

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra recorded the movements of the suite in three studio sessions on April 26, April 27, and April 28, 1932 for RCA Victor at their studios in Camden, New Jersey. The suite was released on eight 78 RPM record sides (eight single sided records/four two sided records) in 1932.^[5]^[6]

The work has been recorded many times since, with performances by American orchestras conducted by Arturo Toscanini, Eugene Ormandy, Andre Kostelanetz, Leonard Bernstein, Morton Gould, Arthur Fiedler, Maurice Abravanel, Erich Kunzel, Lorin Maazel, Felix Slatkin, Antal Dorati and Howard Hanson. Performances by non-American ensembles are much rarer, with a recording by the London Festival Orchestra under Stanley Black notable among them.

References

^ Moore, Edward. "Paul Whiteman Gets Big Hand for This Concert." Chicago Tribune, 23 November 1931, 21.
^ "Chicago Hails Grofe Suite: Whiteman Presents Premiere of 'Grand Canyon Suite'." New York Times, 23 November 1931, 25.
^ Grofe, Ferde. "My Own New York City: Grofe Reveals Secrets—Always Has Notes—Tribute to Gershwin." Cohoes (NY) American, 6 August 1937, 4.
^ They Haven’t Gone to Yesterland. Yesterland.
^ Victor 36000 Series.
^ Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. Red Hot Jazz.