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Brass, Reeds, and Percussion: September 2, 2023

The Russian composer Boris Fomin composed the song known in English as “Those Were the Days” in 1924. In Russian, the song is named “By the Long Road.” In 1968, the song, as sung by the British singer Mary Hopkin, became a big hit in the United States and Great Britain. It was produced by Paul McCartney of the Beatles. Fomin was born in 1900 in St. Petersburg and could play the accordion at age 4 even though he had difficulty holding it. He studied piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He joined the Communist Party after the 1917 revolution and became very active in the party before eventually becoming a professional musician. Fomin wrote more than 400 songs, three ballets, and three operettas. He was considered the master of Russian popular music about romance—although he music was called counter-revolutionary at one point. But in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, he once again became popular. He died of tuberculosis at age 48.
   
 

  1. Those Were the Days
    Composer:  Boris Fomin (1900-1948), arranged Roland Smeets
    Performer:  Royal Belgian Navy Band
    Album:  Spanish Trilogy
      
  2. Slowenische Grusse (Slovenian Greetings)
    Composer:  Slavko Avsenik (1929-2015) & Vilko Avsenick
    Performer:  Woodstock Oberkrainer Mob
    Album:  Best of Woodstock der Blasmusik, Vol. 11
      
  3. Fureinander da (To be there for each other)
    Composer:  Martin Hutter & Stephan Hutter
    Performer:  Die Kleine Egerlander Besetzung
    Album:  Best of Woodstock der Blasmusik, Vol. 11
      
  4. All of Me
    Composer:  Gerald Marks (1900-1997) & Seymour Simons (1896-1949)
    Performer:  Coleman Hawkins & Red Allen
    Album:  Standards and Warhorses
      
  5. Overture to "Candide"
    Composer:  Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
    Performer:  Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
    Album:  Wind Master Overtures, Vol. 1
      
  6. Nautical Variations
    Composer:  Jeffrey Taylor (musician in the U.S. Navy Band, 1945- )
    Performer:  U.S. Navy Band
    Album:  Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
      
  7. Concertino for Piccolo and Symphonic Band
    Composer:  Samuel Pascoal
    Performer:  Portuguese Symphonic Band
    Album:  Hamlet
      
  8. Day In, Day Out (1939 song, 1961 recording)
    Composer:  Rube Bloom (music, 1902-1976) & Johnny Mercer (lyrics, 1909-1976)
    Performer:  Terry Gibbs Big Band
    Album:  Too Marvelous for Words
      
  9. Men of the Navy
    Composer:  George F. Briegel (1890-1968)
    Performer:  U.S. Navy Band
    Album:  Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
      
  10. Hands Across the Sea
    Composer:  John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
    Performer:  U.S. Navy Band
    Album:  Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
      
  11. We Are the Navy
    Composer:  Joseph Olivadoti (1893-1977)
    Performer:  U.S. Navy Band
    Album:  Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
      
  12. Before the Mast
    Composer:  Louis-Philippe Laurendeau (1861-1916)
    Performer:  U.S. Navy Band
    Album:  Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
    Also see.