MIT Concert Band Director: Thomas Reynolds Spring Concert Saturday, May 19, 2007 8:00 PM Kresge Auditorium Program
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MIT Concert Band Director: Thomas Reynolds Spring Concert Saturday, May 19, 2007 8:00 PM Kresge Auditorium Program Gavorkna Fanfare ................................................... Jack Stamp Essay for Band ................................................. William Maloof Trumpet Concerto ................................Johann Nepomuk Hummel Trumpet Soloist: Matthew Putnam ’09 Le Journal du Printemps ................. Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer I. Overture II. Menuet III. Gavotte IV. Chaconne Armenian Dances (Part I) .........................................Alfred Reed Mannin Veen ................................................... Haydn Woon Finale from Symphony No. 1 in G Minor ................. Vasily Kalinnikov 2 Program Notes Gavorkna Fanfare (1991) Jack Stamp Jack Stamp is Professor of Music and Conductor of Bands at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Stamp received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education from IUP, a Master’s in Percussion Performance from East Carolina University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Conducting from Michigan State University, where he studied with Eugene Corporon. In 1996, Dr. Stamp received the Orpheus Award from the Zeta Tau Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha for service to music, and in 2000, he was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. Gavorkna Fanfare exploits the idea of a fanfare for full wind band, rather than the tradi- tional brass and percussion instrumentation. The opening pyramids lead to the melodic minor third cluster heard in original and inversion simultaneously. A polychordal tran- sition based on the upcoming “fugato” subject leads to a minimal accompaniment to the four-part counterpoint. The opening idea returns with a coda based on the melodic minor third. Gavorkna Fanfare was composed for and dedicated to Eugene Corporon and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony. Essay for Band (1959) William Maloof William J. Maloof served as the Chairman of the Composition Faculty at the Berklee College of Music from 1967 to 1989. Born in Boston on May 19, 1933, he is a graduate of Boston University and an author of textbooks on theory, counterpoint, and notation. Essay for Band was one of the first works dedicated to John Corley and the MIT Concert Band and was premiered at MIT on December 3, 1960. Since then, the piece has received over one hundred performances by numerous concert bands. The composer provided the following notes: The Essay’s title can be taken literally. The work is no more and no less than an attempt to work with and develop abbreviated musical materials. The essay opens with a declamatory statement of a four note motif–G, E, A, B♭. The motif forms the core for the entire structure. Although it is later contrasted with other brief motifs and a longer, more vigorous theme (in unison woodwinds), it runs throughout the entire work in various disguises. Harmony per se is more or less forsaken here and manifests itself mainly through contrapuntal juxtapositions of the main motif. Trumpet Concerto (1803) Johann Nepomuk Hummel Hummel was a virtuoso pianist born in Pressburg (then in Hungary but now in Slo- vakia). One of his first teachers was Mozart, who offered the eight-year-old Hummel 3 free lessons after being impressed with his ability. Hummel’s first concert appearance was at the age of nine in one of Mozart’s concerts. Throughout his musical develop- ment Hummel was also a pupil of Albrechtsberger, Haydn, and Salieri, and he became friends with Ludwig van Beethoven, who was a fellow student of his. Felix Mendelssohn is among Hummel’s many prominent students. Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto was written for Anton Weidinger, a trumpet virtuoso and the inventor of the keyed trumpet. Hummel’s teacher Haydn had written a trumpet concerto for Weidinger seven years earlier, in 1796. Hummel’s concerto was first per- formed in 1803 to mark Hummel’s entrance into the Esterh`azy court orchestra, where he succeeded Haydn as Kapellmeister (the person in charge of music-making). Le Journal du Printemps (1695) Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer was born in Bohemia in 1656, and attended a gram- mar school run by Piarist friars. His first lessons in composition were at this school, and there is an early work by him in the monastery archive. In the 1690’s, he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Baden court in Rastatt, a position he maintained until his death in 1746. Fischer’s work showed a strong influence from the French Baroque style. Both Bach and Handel knew and appreciated his work, and Bach even borrowed some of the themes he used in his Well-Tempered Clavier Part I from Fischer’s organ cycle Ariadne Musica. Le Journal du Printemps is a collection of eight orchestral suites, each beginning with an introductory overture and ending with a chaconne or passacaglia. It was one of the first orchestral suites published in Germany. Tonight the Band will perform XXXXX’s transcription of the third of these eight orchestral suites. Armenian Dances (Part I) (1972) Alfred Reed Born in New York City on January 25, 1921, Alfred Reed received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Baylor University. His composition teachers included Vittorio Giannini and Paul Yartin. He has composed many works for band, including Russian Christmas Music and Symphony No.2. Armenian Dances is based on authentic Arme- nian folk songs from the collected works of Gomidas Vartabed, who is often credited as the founder of Armenian classical music. It was completed in the summer of 1972, and was first performed by the University of Illinois Symphonic Band on January 10, 1973, in Urbana, Illinois. Dr. Violet Vargramian of Florida International University has written the following historical notes: “The movements...of the Armenian Dances are built upon Armenian folk songs which were first notated, purifie, researched and later arranged by Gomidas for solo voice with piano accompaniment, or unaccompanied chorus. “The Apricot Tree consists of three organically connected songs which were transcribed in 1904. Its declamatory beginning, rhythmic vitality and ornamentation make this a 4 highly expressive song. “The Partridge’s Song is an original song by Gomidas; it was published in 1908 in Tiflis, Georgia. He originally arranged it for solo voice and children’s shoir, and later for solo voice with piano accompaniment. It has a simple, delicate melody which might, perhaps, be thought of as depicting the tiny steps of a partridge. “Hoy, Nazan Eem was published in 1908, in a choral version by Gomidas. This livelt, lyric love song depicts a young man singing the praises of his beloved Nazan (a girl’s name). The song has dance rhythms and ornamentation which make it an impressive, catchy tune. “Alagyaz (name of a mountain in Armenia), was first written by Gomidas for solo voice with piano accompaniment, and also in a choral arrangment. It is a beloved Armenian folk song, and its long-breathed melody is as majestic as the mountain itself. “Go Go is a humorous, light-textured tune. In performance, Gomidas coupled it with a contrasting slower song, The Jug. Its repeated note pattern musically depicts the expression of laughter. This song also is in recitative style.” Mannin Veen (1933) Haydn Wood Haydn Wood was born in Slaithwaite, England, on March 25, 1882. At age two his family moved to the Isle of Man, a British island situated in the Irish Sea. Wood lived on the Isle of Man until he was 15, when he left to study violin and composition. The title of this piece, Mannin Veen, translates to “Dear Isle of Man.” Using four Manx folk songs from this heritage, Wood paints an enchanting tone poem, creating a remarkable work that demonstrates many of the nationalistic characteristics of English composers of this period. The first theme, The Good Old Way, is an old and typical air written mostly in the Dorian mode to produce a somber feeling. A portion of the tune in the major key is attributed to Primitive Methodism introduced into the Isle of Mann about the time of Wood’s birth in 1882. The second tune, introducing the lively section of the work, is based on the reel The Manx Fiddler. Chaloner, writing in the middle of the seventeenth century, remarked that the Manx people were “much addicted to the music of the violyne, so that there is scarce a family in the Island, but more or less can play upon it; but as they are ill composers, so are they bad players.” Sweet Water in the Common, the third tune, relates to the old practice of summoning a jury of twenty-four men, comprised of three men from each of the parishes in the district where the dispute took place, to decide questions connected with watercourses, boundaries, etc. The fourth and last tune is a fine old hymn, The Harvest of the Sea, sung by the fishermen as a song of thanksgiving after their safe return from the fishing grounds. 5 Finale from Symphony No. 1 in G minor (1895) Vasily Kalinnikov Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov was born in Russia in 1866. He studied at the seminary in Oryol, and became the choir director there by the time he was fourteen. He was too poor to study at the Moscow Conservatory, but he studied at the Philharmonic Society School in Moscow, where he studied composition and bassoon playing under Alexander Il’yinsky. In 1892, Tchaikovsky recommended Kalinnikov for the position of conductor at the Mal¨ıy Theater in Moscow, and a year later for the same position at the Moscow Italian Theatre. Kalinnikov, however, suffered from tuberculosis, and was soon forced to resign his position to move south to warmer climates. He spent the rest of his life in Yalta, where he composed two symphonies and several other instrumental works before passing away in 1901.