John Philip Sousa Lives Again In The Work Of Conductor Keith Brion. BY EMIL FRANZI THIS YEAR CELEBRATES the 100th anniversary of America's greatest march, John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever". Tucson will celebrate most appropriately with three Tucson Symphony Pops Concerts led by Keith Brion. Brion is very nearly a Sousa reincarnation. Following extensive research, he's re-created the historical sounds and sights of Sousa and his band, including original performance techniques and conducting mannerisms along with replicas of Sousa's baton, uniform and white gloves. These were garnered from recordings and films made during the end of Sousa's career (he was active until his death at 78 in 1932), as well as interviews with former Sousa band members and their descendants, several of whom are Tucson residents. Brion is a former director of the Yale University Band, where he began the Sousa recreations in 1978. He's recorded Sousa's music with his own New Sousa Band and the Rochester Philharmonic. There are two new releases of Sousa's orchestral music on the Marco Polo label, and Brion has also recorded the music of Percy Grainger and Alan Hovhaness for Delos. The arrangements for orchestra of Sousa's band music are either Sousa's or Brion's. The authenticity of a Brion performance goes all the way to the program, which is formatted as Sousa did them at the beginning of the century, and which contain musical items similar to what Sousa actually performed at his own concerts. Which means more than just Sousa marches--he wrote 15 operettas, 11 suites, 77 songs and vocal works, and a host of other compositions as well as 136 marches. And more than Sousa compositions--those attending the TSO performances will hear, besides the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Stars and Stripes Forever," the Overture to Nicolai's Merry Wives of Windsor, Grainger's "Over the Hills and Far Away," Sousa's Variations on George Gershwin's "Swanee" and vocal, cornet and piccolo solos, as well as a George M. Cohan sing-along. What Brion has successfully shown with years of Sousa concerts goes far beyond a mere portrayal of American nostalgia. He's proved that American music and American performers were of a far higher quality than was generally accepted by musical snobs, many of them Americans. When, in 1889, Sousa left the Marine Band after nine years as its director to form his own organization, there was only one American orchestra in existence then, the Boston Symphony. Sousa's band pre-dated all other major American orchestras, at least in their present configurations. Sousa paid well and attracted some of the greatest performers of the era. And the quality of what was performed, both of American and European music, rivaled what went on in supposedly more sophisticated Europe. The great orchestras of America, and many of Europe's, had yet to be formed. During the 43 years Sousa directed it, the Sousa Band traveled over 1 million miles--in the days before airliners--including numerous European tours. It was capable of playing, within a different format, much of the music Europeans of that era were used to, as well as American pieces. Sousa's place was comparable to Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain, Offenbach and Waldteufel in France, and Suppe and the Strauss family in Austria. Brion points out that Sousa was programming Wagner, Respighi and Richard Strauss well ahead of many orchestras both here and abroad. But Brion brings more than history lessons. He produces a great show, something that reminds us what a "pops" concert is all about. His approach is highly entertaining, as the many thousands who have attended his concerts over the last 20 years or watched his PBS specials already know. Brion combines his scholarship and expert musicianship with the same flair for real entertainment that Sousa himself possessed in abundance. Joining Brion will be soprano Virginia Croskery in Juliet's Waltz Song from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet and selections from Jerome Kern's Showboat. Cornetist Edward Reid will perform "From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific" by H. L. Clarke. Clarke was Sousa's lead cornet player for years. And Pamela Watson-Brown will play the piccolo solo in Damare's Through the Air. All of the solos are items from original Sousa programs. Discover what several generations of Americans considered real music--attend a genuine pops concert. It's almost a patriotic duty. Keith Brion conducts the Tucson Symphony Pops Concerts at 8 p.m. on Feb. 28 and March 1, and at 2 p.m. on March 2, at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall.

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