4th of July

Reflecting on these words today:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

And thinking that these powerful words should be accompanied by appropriate music and beer, I'll skip - today, only today - blues and jazz, which would be the ultimate choices, and instead suggest these three little-heard pieces of AMERICAN orchestral music:

• With a barleywine -
  Roy Harris: Symphony #3


• With a double IPA (I will NOT refer to these as Imperial IPAs on our Independence Day. We discarded royalty and empire in 1776.) -
  Howard Hanson: Symphony #2


• With a smoked Porter -
  Charles Ives: Symphony #4


• With a Steam beer -
  Ellington/Gonsalves: Diminuendo In Blues And Crescendo In Blue

Thank you to the troops in Iraq. May you all come home soon - and safely - from your ill-begotten danger but valiant service.