Played this piece in high school. Didn't know how powerful the song was until I visited Bosnia. Banja Luka takes through through war, fight, struggle and aftermath. Music can be so powerful to express emotion.
Wow! New goal for my schools band sound this great during the piece. Our band director taught us the story throughout this whole piece and it really helps us put real emotion into this song. I play 3rd clarinet in this piece and I really enjoy playing it. It's like always stuck in my head though I love it so much. I love the dissonance in this peace so much, it sounded weird at first but then I caught onto it as we learned the story this piece tells. I also loved the accidentals and how much they supported the story it's so amazing. What really moves me is when the war is over and they are just playing the sad music telling us that it's over and a lot of people died. That just moves me the most. Well I really love this piece, and for those of you who are playing it good luck. I'm preforming this piece in New York in may with my Bruton High Band.
My band, Oslo Postorkester, from Norway, played this in NM (Norwegian Championship). We played in ther 3rd division and got at great 3rd place of 16 bands. And my group, french horn, got the group price! Banja Luka is a great peace! :)
It is about the war, and the composer saw everything since it was shown on TV. So he wrote this to show the emotions and how it must have been like. So around 8:30, it's an army coming closer and closer, before it's just chaotic and the last part from 11:37 is called Grave, and shows the aftermath. I THINK I remembered it correctly. I played the piece last year, and our conductor would tell the story. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
You are really correct! The opening is showing the alarm and the danger coming by. The Tenor solo after the opening shows the fear those villagers feel. The trumpet and trumbone solo is a prayer. The last part, called grave, I always imagine people are walking over the battlefield collecting dead bodies. As being just a 2nd trumpet player I'm still playing this with tears in my eyes. It's one of the most story-telling pieces in my opinion. Music can do great things with you, can't it?
Mari But you are so wrong (or this composer is). There was no war in Banja Luka at all. There was war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croatia as well) in cities like Sarajevo, Derventa, Brod, Brčko, Mostar etc. but not at all in Banja Luka (there was this situation at the very end of the war when Croatian troops were approacing the city about 100 kilometers from it but they didn't attack). Today Banja Luka is the capital of Republic of Srpska, one of the two entities in Bosnia.
@@Bebish71 Correction: about 40 km. If enemy army was 11 km from Banja Luka that means that they officialy entered closer city zone what is totally incorrect.
I remember as a Tuba player my Band Director always motioning for more power! I especially enjoyed 11:05 coming in blasting the bass so hard my lips cracked
