P R O G R a M N O T

PROGRAM NOTES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | 7:30 P.M. | LIED CENTER OF KANSAS KU WIND ENSEMBLE - PAUL W. POPIEL, CONDUCTOR Amparita Roca (1935) Jaime Texidor (1884-1957) arr. Winters Cheryl Lee, guest conductor Vientos y Tangos (2001) Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956) Anthony Messina, guest conductor Concerto Gaucho (2007) Kevin Walczyk (b. 1964) Joey Tartell, soloist INTERMISSION La ville d’en-haut (1987) Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Han Wang, soloist American Jazz Suite (1992) Allen Vizzutti (1952) Joey Tartell, soloist AMPARITO ROCA (1935) Jaime Texidor (1884–1957) arr. Winter (1870–1955) Jaime Texidor was a composer, conductor and publisher who lived most of his life in Northern Spain. In 1927, he became the conductor of the Baracaldo Municipal band, a position that he retained until 1936. Over this period he composed so much band music that he decided to establish his own publishing company. In addition to his enormous contribution to band music, Texidor wrote many pieces in the Paso Doble style, which are lively march-like dances. Texidor is credited with the composition of Amparito Roco, which is one of the most well-known Paso Dobles in the band repertoire. There is, however, some mystery attached to the composition of this piece, which was reportedly written by British Bandmaster Reginald Ridewood (1907-1942). Texidor arranged for the publication in Madrid, but the piece had already been performed in England prior to the copyright date. It is assumed that Ridewood wrote the music, but failed to apply for copyright before Texidor rearranged it and had it published as his own. Nevertheless, it is still one of the most well-known Paso Dobles in modern band literature. VIENTOS Y TANGOS (2001) Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956) The sensuality and expressivity of the Argentine tango has fascinated people around the world for many years. This dance has been celebrated everywhere from dance halls to television, and is evocative of the inner-most desires of its performers. Finding its roots in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the instrumental tango has gone through many evolutions over the years, each leaving its own distinct fingerprint on the genre. Most notable are the distinct styles of band leaders Juan D’Arienzo, who re-energized the tango around 1935 and Astor Piazzolla, who blended the tango with classical art-music and jazz. Today, the tango still endures, not only on ballroom floors, but also in the music of groups such as Bajofondo Tango Club, an electro-tango collective. It is from these influences that Michael Gandolfi chose to base his workVientos y Tangos (Winds and Tangos). Commissioned as one of four works for the Frank L. Battisti 70th Birthday Commission Project, this is the only piece that still receives regular performance. Gandolfi, who chairs the composition department at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts was approached by Mr. Battisti, who served as the Director of Wind Ensemble Activities at the same institution, in 2001 to write a tango for band. Using the styles of Juan D’Arienzo, Astor Piazzolla and disco/techno tango, the work is set in three main parts, representing influences from each of these three styles. Following a brief introduction, we are immersed in the world of D’Arienzo’s tango, represented by contrasts of staccato melodies with silence and the four-beat pattern first introduced in the clarinet and followed by the horn. Following a foreboding and highly chromatic interlude we are lead into the syncopated style of Astor Piazzolla. The elements of Piazzolla’s jazz influence (having grown up in New York City) and the modernist chromaticism and angular melodies, elements he honed during his studies with Nadia Boulanger, can clearly be heard throughout this section. The final section of the piece bears the driving rhythm and beat of the technotango, heard through the driving bass line and interplay with the middle winds. The work closes just as it began, with a quiet, reflective moment that makes us long for our next dance of the tango. ANTHONY MESSINA, graduate conductor Anthony Messina, a native of Warren, Michigan, is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting. He served as a middle and high school band director in the Detroit and Boston areas, where he also continued to perform on trumpet with the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Wayne State University, and a Master of Music in Wind Conducting from Indiana University. CONCERTO GAUCHO (1987) Kevin Walczyk (b. 1964) Joey Tartell, trumpet A native of Portland Oregon, Kevin Walczyk received a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Pacific Lutheran University in 1987 and a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas where he was the recipient of the Hexter Prize for outstanding graduate student. Walczyk is currently Professor of music at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon where he teaches composition, orchestration, jazz arranging, film scoring, media production, and serves as the Graduate Music Coordinator. Walczyk’s recent composition honors include nominations for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music composition (2011) and the Grawemeyer Award (2012). His recent prizes include the 9th annual Raymond & Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize (2012) and the 2012 Big East Conference Band Director’s Association Composition Contest. He has received grants from Meet the Composer, Argosy Foundation, American Music Center, and Western Oregon University. The composer says of the piece: Concerto Gaucho was composed for Oregon native and trumpet virtuoso Tim Morrison. The work’s central building blocks stem from the African-influenced music of Uruguay, which is the birthplace of Oregon Symphony Music Director Carlos Kalmar, to whom the work is dedicated. The gaucho was traditionally known as a horseman who freely traversed and lived off of the unclaimed lands of Uruguay’s Rio de la Plata region. The gaucho symbolized freedom and mobility during the first half of the Nineteenth Century and came to represent a national heroic archetype in Uruguay and throughout the southern cone of South America. Typically equipped with a guitar, the gaucho was a wandering minstrel of sorts, performing music that described the vagabond’s life. The trumpet soloist is the protagonist of Concerto Gaucho, which features two distinctive musical identities indigenous to the Rio de la Plata region - the milonga and the candombe. The slow, lyrical second movement of the concerto is based on the milonga, a song form that was a hallmark of the payadores (folk singers of improvised verse) who, by the end of the Nineteenth Century, played a vital part in preserving the vanishing image of the world of the gaucho. The lyrics of the milonga often featured political, historical, and patriotic themes that helped chronicle real historical events and pay tribute to local heroes, especially the gauchos. The first and third movements of Concerto Gaucho are created from the energetic candombe - an African-derived rhythm that has been an important influence on Uruguay’s musical culture for more than two centuries. The Candombe’s unique rhythmic structure is achieved by layering three separate drum patterns, each named for the specific drum that performs that pattern - the piano drum, chico drum, and the repique drum. The three short, repetitive drum patterns that comprise the candombe, along with the madera - the rhythmic ‘key’ to the candombe - provide nearly all of the rhythmic elements for the outset movements of the concerto. As with the formal construct found in the concerto’s milonga section, the decima plays a vital role in structuring the two candombe movements. Concerto Gaucho pays tribute to the wealth of historically-enriched music indigenous to Uruguay, which is rarely heard outside of its region. LA VILLE D’EN HAUT (1987) Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992) Han Wang, Piano Olivier Messiaen was a French organist, ornithologist [the study of birds], and one of the major composers of the 20th century. Messiaen’s music is known for its rhythmic complexity, melodic improvisation and its harmonic use of modes which he abstracted from his early composition and improvisations. Messiaen also drew on his Roman Catholic faith for inspiration in many of his compositions. La Ville d’en haut depicts Messiaen’s ideal heaven, the whiteness that in the Bible symbolizes purity or perfection is not an absence of color-what’s left when all the sins are washed away-but rather, the combination of all colors in perfect proportion. Messiaen’s passion for ornithology figures prominently throughoutLa Ville as well, which features thick chorale material contrasted with lyrical and lighthearted birdcalls. After several opening chords stated by the brass and woodwinds signifying the combination of all colors, or whiteness, Messiaen writes a birdsong played by a xylophone trio, with a cymbal roll providing a heaven-like backdrop. As if the birdsong is without meter or beat, the symbolic ‘white’ chords return in exact repetition of the opening. The pianist enters replacing the xylophone trio as the birdcall and is contrasted with thick and thin chords from the brass and woodwinds, thus combining the birdcalls and the divine into one. Perhaps in Messiaen’s mind, the song of birds – “our little servants of immaterial joy” as he described them-is the language of heaven. AMERICAN JAZZ SUITE (1994) Allen Vizzutti (b. 1952) Joey Tartell, trumpet Allen Vizzutti is an American trumpet player, composer, and music educator. He began learning trumpet from his father at a young age and eventually attended the Eastman School of Music on a full scholarship. Today, Vizzutti has performed in 60 countries with a variety of artists and ensembles including Chick Corea, Doc Severinsen, The NBC Tonight Show Band, the Airmen of Note, the Army Blues, Chuck Mangione, and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.

Load more