Marshall University Music Department Presents a Graduate Recital, John Seals, Saxophone John Seals

Marshall University Marshall Digital Scholar 2019 Performances Performance Collection Spring 4-14-2019 Marshall University Music Department presents a Graduate Recital, John Seals, Saxophone John Seals Follow this and additional works at: https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf_2019 Part of the Fine Arts Commons, and the Music Performance Commons School of Music MUSIC presents Graduate Recital John Seals, Saxophone in collaborationwith Dr. Johan Botes, Piano Dr. Julio Alves, Guitar Dr. Adam Dalton, Conductor The Emerald Saxophone Quartet Sunday, April 14, 2019 Smith Music Recital Hall 7:00 PM This program is presented by the College of Arts and Media through the School of Music, with the support of student activity funds. For more information about this or other music events, please call (304) 696-3117, or view our website at www.marshall.edu/music. PROGRAMNOTES Program Yoshimatsu/ Fuzzy BirdSonata Op. 44 (Alto) Fuzzy Bird Sonata Takahashi Yoshimatsu Takashi Yoshimatsu was bornin Tokyo Japan and is considered one of Japan's greatest composers in the WesternClassical style. Growing up, Yoshimatsu had no formal b. 1953 trainingin music but was a fanof rock & roll music and started takinginterest I. Run, Bird in composers such as Mozart and Beethoven around the age of fourteen.He would later II. Sing, Bird on join as the keyboardist fora band calledNOA, who essentially would attempt to emulate the sound of Pink Floyd. Thisturned him on to more jazz, progressive rock and III. Fly, Bird especially electronic music .He started to compose music with stronginfluences in serialism but he became disenchantedwith atonal music and started to compose in a Dr. Botes, Piano neo-romantic style with strong jazzand rock influenceswithin his music. The majority of his work is triadic and contains simple, repeated progressions, or in some cases Histoire du Tango Astor Piazzolla pandiatonicism. 1921-1992 The Fuzzy Bird Sonata is part ofYoshimitsu's "Bird Cycle" of compositions, which II. Cafe 1930 includes the Cyberbird Concerto, Birds are Still ..., and the Age of Birds. Consisting of III. Nightclub 1960 three separate movements, the Fuzzy Bird incorporates numerous extended techniques of the saxophone such as slap tonguing, color tones, the altissimo register (thereally high notes) and so on. The firstmovement entitled Run Bird is themost technically complex Dr. Alves, Guitar and rhythmic movement of the piece as a whole. Differentelements such as the time signature constantly changing, technical passages in the altissimo register, as well as many other things makes this movement a challenge to play yet enjoyable for the listener. The second movement titled SingBirriis a slow adagio. The piano is essentially a drone Adagio Samuel Barber during this pieceand creates a canvas forthe saxophone to create on. The saxophone has 1910-1981 written melodies and phrases to play but no two performancesar:e the same as much of the movement gives the player to improvise with different aspectsof the music such as changingand suspending time, manipulating pitches with glissandos, controlling and Volcanic Ash Christopher Hass changing the color of pitches and more. The third movement titled Fly Bird is the freest b. 1993 movement of the piece .The movement uses verysimilar ideas throughout its TheEmerald Saxophone Quartet duration thatcreates an exciting and driving force throughout leading to the climax, an improvised cadenza with the saxophone creating ideas with the piano still creating a landscape of sound underneaththe horn. TheFuzzyBirriSomta is trulya fantastic piece of music and pushes the saxophone as aninstrument and its player to their limits! *intermission* Piazzolla/Histoire du Tango Fantasia forAlto Saxophone Claude T. Smith Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla, was introduced to jazz, tango, and classical music at an early age and began his musical careeras a child prodigy on the bandone6n (a 1932-1987 button accordion). In the l 940's he performed in Anibal Troilo's band, one of the great tangoensembles of thecentury. Concurrently, he studiedcomposition with the Alberto A Tosca Fantasy Giacomo Puccini Ginastera in Buenos Aires, and later with Nadia Boulangerin France in the 1950' s. Despite his dedicatedefforts in classical composition, Boulanger famously counseled him 1858-1924 to pursue the tango ashis principal art form. This urging was the impetus forhim to fully Arranged by RalphHermann embrace tango music and develop what he called Nuevo Tango, a modem style of tango 1914-1994 infusedwith elements of jazz harmonyand rhythm as well as t�hniques from classical composition. Dr. Dalton, Conductor Histoire du Tango was written in 1986, during a period when he was financially independentand able to write freely.The piece catalogues the history of tango in 30 year intervals. The four movements are entitled Bordel 1900, Cafe 1930, Nightclub 1960 and Concert d'aujourd'hui. The Cafe 1930 is the tango forthe smoky cafes where it was it was-created forlistening rather than dancing. It is filled with melancholic harmonies and flexibility of tempo. The Nightclub 1960 is the tango perfonned in venues much like composition Flight was adapted as the OfficialMarch of the National Air and Space contemporaneous jazz. This piece exemplifies many of Piazzolla's mature tangos in its Museum of the Smithsonian Institute. Sacred music was also a deeplove of Mr. Smith's striking changes of tempo and aggressive rhythms and in its fonn. and he conducted church choirs wherever he lived. He had just finishedconducting a Christmas concert at his church when he collapsed and died of a heart attack. Barber/ Adagio This work was composed forrenowned saxophonistDale Underwood and was premiered Samuel OsborneBarber II was one of the most frequentlyperformed composers both in at the 1983 InternationalSaxophone Symposium hosted by the United States Navy Band. the United States and in Europeduring themid-twentieth century. Knownfor his Fantasia is technicallydemanding throughout forthe soloist and displays contrasting trademark lyrical style, Barber never abandoned his expressive voice throughoutthe technique and lyrical tonality. Closing the piece, an extensive cadenza displays the full course of his compositional career.Unlike many of his fellowcomposers who had to skill of the perfonner and range ofexpression available from the instrument. perform or teach to make a living, Barber had the privilege of dedicating nearly all his time to composition. In addition, Barber was unusually fortunateto have virtuoso Puccini/A Tosca Fantasy performers premiere virtuallyall his works. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was bornin Lucca, Italy, and his educationincluded the Instituto Musicale Pacini in Lucca and the Conservatoryin Milan. Puccini's musical Barberarranged his famousAdagio forStrings fromthe second movement of his String development was influencedby the Italian composer Verdi, the Germancomposer Quartet No I, Op. 11, in 1936, the same year he wrote the quartet. It also forms the basis Wagner, and the French opera composers Bizet and Gounod. Puccini was most known forhis Agnus Dei (cl 967) for chorus and organ. This piece has also been arrangedby forhis operas including, LaBoheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. Puccini faced others for organ, clarinets and woodwinds. In the quartet the adagio is placed between a pressure from the Italian people to become the most influentialcomposer and revivalist violently contrastingfirst and third movements; you may envision it as a small stream of Italian opera in succession to Verdi. The premier of Tosca in 1900 was expected to be that grows into a river in a bucolic countryside.The piece is considered by many to be the the production that would makePuccini and Tosca, the musical icons that people of Italy most popular of all 20th-centuryorchestral works, and many recognize it fromsundry desperately wanted. motion pictures.The dynamics range frompianissimo to fortissimo.A climax is followed by resolution and dynamic change. After climaxing and a long pause, the piece reiterates Tosca Fantasy for solo alto saxophone and wind ensemble is based on Puccini's opera, the beginning and fades away on a sustained tone. Tosca, which was set in Rome in 1800, and firstpremiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1900. The Tosca Fantasy will take you through the opera's storyline: Angelotti (former consul of the Roman republic) escapes and fleesto his family's church; Mario and Floria Hass/ VolcanicAsh Tosca sing about their love for each other; Scarpia (chief of police) orders Mario to be Chris Evan Hass (b. 1993) is a composer and conductor hailing from Ann Arbor, tortured as a result of his concealment of information about Angelotti; Tosca surrenders Michigan. Chris' music has been performed across the United States, and has recently herself to Scarpiain order to save Mario; Mario is marched to the scaffold; Tosca prays received internationalrecognition, with performancesin Taiwan, Belgium, and New and then murders Scarpia; Mario sings a final goodbye to Tosca; Mario is killed; and Zealand. His music has been performed by ensembles including the New York finally,Tosca leaps to her own death. Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet, the Donald Sinta SaxophoneQuartet, and the Third Coast Trombone Choir. His saxophone quartet pieces have beenperformed at new music festivalsincluding Society forComposers, Inc. Conferencesand New Music Detroit's StrangeBeautiful Music, as well as performances at the National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in 2017 and 2018.

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