Sleight Ride (414.01)

Sleight Ride (414.01) (Leroy Anderson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard with Walter Piston and Georges Enescu. He considered becoming a linguist before deciding to follow his favoured career as a musician. His early arrangements brought him to the attention of Arthur Fiedler who engaged him to arrange and write for the Boston Pops. After the war his steady stream of successful compositions established him as the pre-eminent American composer of light concert music and his clever but approachable style has ensured continued performance. Though many of Andersons tunes are played constantly, Sleigh Ride has perhaps taken pride of place; it is impossible to get through the Christmas period without hearing it numerous times; it has rightly become the classic Christmas melody of our time. Performance note: Trumpet 2 requires a piccolo. Trumpet 4 can play some sections, as marked, on the flugel if available.)