Slovak
Symphony Orchestra,
I was surprised and overwhelmed by the reaction to my
arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner
that was
played at this year’s summer Olympics
in Athens. It was quite heartwarming to read all the comments.
It was also somewhat of a surprise to find out that people were able to read
“between the lines” of that arrangement.
This made me think about the power
of music. I was watching the scuffle between the blues and the reds about the
meaning of my arrangement – whether it is “intentionally subdued to soften the
picture of America as a world’s bully” or simply “new and creative“.
Then I read what a descendant of
Francis Scott Key’ said:
“ …
considering the words, when the anthem, this particular version, comes to
the most violent lines of text," And the rockets red glare, the bombs
bursting in air...”, this particular arrangement has the strings playing this
high melody very softly....a most feminine and ethereal quality. The first
reaction I had was that it was incorrect as an interpretation of the
text. But then, going with the feeling which the strings evoke, it is
as if we are beholding the bombing across the harbor...at a distance...and
through a haze of smoke. I find this contrast, between the bombardment
and the image created in sound, to be quite wonderful and unique.”
and the words of
“Peter Breiner has done what all good arrangers do, in that
he has fashioned music to force the words upon us in a new way. The hitch that
caught my breath the first time I heard
this, when I thought about the violent words under those almost-teetering
strings...well, I should say that those strings made me think about the words
again, which is what good arranging will do. This piece makes you stop, and it
whispers in your ear, ‘Attention must be paid.’”
I also realized that there was a
reason why, out of 400 anthems, the Star Spangled Banner was the first one that
I chose to arrange. I have been fascinated by
I am not happy to see, hear and read
the world judging contemporary
One morning, I woke up with a piece of
music in my head. It was about those battles that I had been watching from a
distance, in a similar way as
P.S. Taking into consideration the
reactions to my Olympic arrangement of
ANTHEMS -
AUDIO FILES
US National Anthem *(Olympic version, 1994)
US National Anthem * (version 2005)
Anthems
arranged & conducted by Peter Breiner
*Requirements for
audio:
PC user:
MS Windows 98SE, 2000, XP with MS IE 6.0 / Mozilla 1.7.1
/ FireFox 1PR
/ Netscape 7.1 and Media Player 9.0
(MS IE setting: Privacy = Medium, cookies allowed, Pop-up Blocker = Off;
Sound setting = No Sound)
Mac user:
OS 8.6 / 9.0 with MS IE 5.1 and Media Player 7.1
or OS X 10.2.8 with MS IE 5.2 / Mozilla 1.7
/ Netscape 7.1 / Safari
1.0 and Media Player 9.0
(MS IE setting: Security Zone = Medium, cookies allowed;
Sound setting: Sound Effect = No)