Crane Wind Ensemble Personnel

Piccolo Bass Clarinet Tuba Victoria Vespucci Matthew Levine Nicholas Soldani* Marco Tomassi Ryan Halson Flute Marianthi Stakos Nicholas Salomone Evening Concert Series 2019–2020 Season Rachel Grohbrugge Ashley Slapo Saxophone Double Bass Helen M. Hosmer Hall Wednesday, February 19, 7:30 PM Samala Rubin Nick Dombroski Robin Tucksmith Trudi VanOmmeren Kanen Nelson Ethan Wetzel Percussion The Crane Wind Ensemble Oboe Stephen Mirandi Patrick Roche Derian Rowe Emma Karp Kevin Gorry Brian K. Doyle conductor Derek Warshauer Zach Cohen William L. Lake, Jr., guest conductor Skye Hamilton-Carranza Trumpet Sofia Coyle Courtnee Waldref Tristan Hayes Elena Mascaro Casey Grev, saxophone Amelia McNamara Hannah Prenevau English Horn Nicholas Vest Joe Malone Derek Warshauer Nolan Ostrowski An Outdoor Overture (1942) Aaron Copland Samuel Taylor Piano (1900–1990) Bassoon Eleanor Burns Julie Miller Matthieu LaPlante Becca Schroeder Horn Harp Quicksilver (2017) Stacy Garrop Jerry Wilkie Emily Quinn Shannon Boyle Antics of a Newborn God (b. 1969) Isaac Newman Guiding Souls to the Underworld Contra Bassoon Joseph Johnson Librarian Messenger of Olympus Rebecca Schroeder Dylan Dukat Tristan Hayes Jerry Wilkie Molly Knapp Courtnee Waldref Casey Grev, saxophone E-flat Clarinet Trombone Brief Intermission Matthew Stroinski Brenden Cope Justin Laurenceau Clarinet Jason Lensky D’un Matin du Printemps (1918) Lili Boulanger Jennifer Belisle Justin Schoeneck (1893–1918) Brianna Linhardt trans. François Branciard Isabella Eberle Bass Trombone Keegan Wallace Jason Birsner William L. Lake, Jr., conductor Alex Gray Laurel Zimlinghaus Euphonium Anthony Justiniano Zachary Coldren Shenandoah (2019) Omar Thomas Kaytie Lamica Andrew Scheiner (b. 1984)

Prelude, Siciliano, and Rondo (1963) Malcolm Arnold I. Prelude (1921–2006) II. Siciliano trans. John P. Paynter III. Rondo P ROGRAM N OTES C ASEY G REV Casey Grev is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the Crane School of Music. A A N O UTDOOR O VERTURE dedicated performer of contemporary music, Dr. Grev was an invited performer at the Aaron Copland Hot Air Music Festival, San Francisco Center for New Music, Resonant Bodies Festival, Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, Northwestern University New Music In the decade between 1935 and 1945, Aaron Copland composed many of his Conference, The Ohio State University Contemporary Music Festival, and was selected most notable works, employing what he described as his vernacular style – to study at the 2016 Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. deliberately accessible, lyric, using simple chords and slowly changing As a chamber musician, Dr. Grev performs regularly with the Viridian Saxophone harmonies – oftentimes belying much more complicated compositional Quartet and the Protean Duo. He has received awards at the Coleman, Fischoff, Music processes in form. For much of the country, Copland’s music embodied the Teachers National Association, and North American Saxophone Alliance Chamber Music sound of American music with its evocations of vast wilderness to be pioneered, Competitions. tapping into what might be called the indomitable spirit of American optimism. Works from this period read like a “greatest hits list:” El Salón México (1936), Dr. Grev received both his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Michigan State Billy the Kid (1938), Of Mice and Men (1939), Quiet City (1940), Our Town University, where he was a recipient of the University Distinguished Fellowship and studied with Joseph Lulloff. Dr. Grev’s undergraduate degrees in Music Education and (1940), Lincoln Portrait (1942), Rodeo (1942), Fanfare for the Common Man Music Performance are from Ohio State University, where he studied with James Hill. (1942), Danzón Cubano (1942/46), and Appalachian Spring (1944). At this same time, Copland also began writing works expressly meant for performance by young musicians for young audiences. In 1936 he wrote an W ILLIAM L. L AKE, J R . opera – his first – commissioned by the Henry Street Settlement in New York Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., is Associate Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music City where it premiered the following year. The Second Hurricane was to be Education at the Crane School of Music where he conducts the Crane Symphonic Band sung by children in school performances (along with a chorus for their parents!). and the Campus-Community Band. His additional academic responsibilities include Alexander Richter, director of music for the High School of Music and Art in teaching conducting and facilitating the practicum for beginning instrumental music New York City, was involved in his own campaign for new music written for education. Previously, Dr. Lake taught at Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL and in his students and ensembles. After hearing Hurricane, he contacted Copland and the public schools of Prince George’s County, Maryland. asked him to be a part his program. Richter’s campaign, called "American Dr. Lake received the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Instrumental Conducting from Music for American Youth," would feature music that was "optimistic in tone, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the mentorship of Drs. John R. which would have a definite appeal to the adolescent youth of this country." Locke and Kevin Geraldi in May of 2018. As a graduate student, Dr. Lake was principal Copland agreed to the project, interrupting composition on Billy the Kid to conductor of The University of North Carolina University Band and guest conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Casella Sinfonietta Chamber Ensemble, and create An Outdoor Overture. The work was premiered at the High School of Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Lake also taught undergraduate courses in conducting. Music and Art in December of 1938. Copland himself re-scored the work for band in 1948. In his own program note to An Outdoor Overture, Copland offers Dr. Lake is the recipient of two master’s degrees, the first from Boston University in the following description: Music Education (2011), and the second from the University of Maryland, College Park in Wind Conducting (2014) under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Votta, Jr. In May 2006, The piece starts in a large and grandiose manner with a theme that is Dr. Lake received the Bachelor of Music Liberal Arts -Jazz Studies Piano Performance immediately developed as a long solo for the trumpet with a pizzicato Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park as a student of Jon Ozment and accompaniment. A short bridge passage in the woodwinds leads imperceptibly Christopher Vadala. to the first theme of the allegro section, characterized by repeated notes. Shortly afterwards, these same repeated notes, played broadly, give us a Dr. Lake maintains an active performance and clinician schedule across the country. He second, snappy march-like theme, developed in a canon form. There is an was a finalist for the 2017-2018 Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of abrupt pause, a sudden decrescendo, and the third, lyric theme appears, first in American Music and the Band Conducting Division of the American Prize. In March the clarinet, then the flute, and finally, high up in the woodwinds. Repeated 2018, Dr. Lake was invited to present a position paper, "The Oak is Inside the Acorn: notes on the bassoon seem to lead the piece in the direction of the opening Fostering Potential through Mentorship" for the Eastern Division of the College Band allegro. Instead, a fourth and final theme evolves another march theme, but this Director Association at Yale University in New Haven, CT. He is a member of the New time less snappy, and with more serious implications. There is a build-up to the York State School Music Association, New York State Band Directors Association, the opening grandiose introduction again, continuing with the trumpet solo melody, College Band Directors National Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, National Honorary Band this time sung by all the woodwinds in a somewhat smoother version. A short Fraternity, Inc., an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma, National Honorary Band bridge section based on steady rhythm brings a condensed recapitulation of the Sorority, Inc., Phi Mu Alpha, Sinfonia, and Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity, Inc. allegro section. As a climactic moment all the themes are combined. A brief coda ends the work on the grandiose note of the beginning. Q UICKSILVER D’UN M ATIN DU P RINTEMPS Stacy Garrop Lili Boulanger In addition to being a colloquial term for the element mercury, “quicksilver” is It was in her final winter days, in 1917-1918, that Lili Boulanger imagined a used to describe something that changes quickly or is difficult to contain. My piece, brimming with life, for violin, cello and piano. This bouncy morning concerto of the same name was inspired by the Roman god Mercury, as well as reminder, contemplating soft spring sunshine, was performed for the first time in the mercurial nature of the saxophone: unpredictable, very lively, and volatile. February 1919 at the Societe Nationale de Musique. This posthumous act was Mercury (known as Hermes in Greek mythology) is best known for his winged sister Nadia’s initiative (1887-1979) who herself played the piano part. The little shoes, which allowed him to fly swiftly as the messenger of his fellow sister of the “Boulangerie” would live decades perpetuating her sister’s memory Olympians. Mercury had other duties too, including serving as the god of via the transmission of legacies of this older sibling who died much too soon, merchants, travelers, and tricksters; he also ushered souls of the departed to the and worked throughout her lifetime scrupulously on the publication of different Underworld. versions of D'un Matin de Printemps. Quicksilver tells three tales of the Roman god. The first movement (Antics of a The piece presents a traditional A-B-A format with an obstinate rhythm, using Newborn God) opens with the birth of Mercury; after he takes his first steps, he an energetic theme notes as gay and light, followed by a mysterious episode in toddles around, gleefully looking for mischief. He stumbles across a herd of which we see the sun piercing through, blazing and happy, then concluding with cows that belong to his brother Apollo; Mercury slyly lets the cows out of their a triumphal return of the first episode. Looking with a close eye shows a great pen before toddling onward with his mischief-making. In the second movement deal of subtleties and rich harmonies in this miniature, astounding for the work (Guiding Souls to the Underworld), Pluto, god of the Underworld, bids of a young 24-year-old woman. Her older sister Nadia championed this work Mercury to bring him fresh souls. The movement begins with death-knells and eventually worked an orchestration for symphonic orchestra in the final tolling for humans who are about to die; Mercury picks up these souls and leads days of Lili’s short life. However, this orchestral version was not published until them down to the gates of the Underworld. The third and final movement 1993. (Messenger of Olympus) depicts Mercury as he is busily running errands for In 2008 François Branciard, while studying with Denis Cohen at the Paris various gods and goddesses. We first encounter him mid-flight as he dashes to conservatory, took up a proposal directed at Cohen’s students to write earth to find Aeneas, a Trojan lieutenant who had been run out of Troy by the orchestrations for French piano and chamber music. Branciard imagined a invading Greeks. Aeneas is on a quest to find land on which to establish a new brilliant and luminous version of Lili’s work. It was a work perfectly in line with city that would eventually become Rome. While traveling, he is distracted from the great transcriptions of the French school. His orchestration is tailored with his quest when he meets the beautiful queen Dido. They live together for many great finesse and draws inspiration from the sparkling colors of the Fetes or de years before Mercury intervenes; he chastises Aeneas for giving up on his quest la Mer from Claude Debussy, showcasing the woodwind and saxophone parts in and persuades him to pick it up again. As Aeneas mournfully resumes his this whirling sound of the reveille. journey, we hear Dido perish of a broken heart. Mercury then takes to the skies Program Note by the Publisher & Jeff Girard to seek out Perseus, who is preparing to kill the Medusa, the hideous gorgon who has snakes for hair and a gaze that turns those who catch her glance into S HENANDOAH stone. Mercury advises Perseus on how to slay Medusa and lends Perseus his Omar Thomas sword to do the deed. We hear Perseus victorious in the beheading of Medusa, after which Mercury takes to the skies once more to fly home to Olympus. Shenandoah is one of the most well-known and beloved Americana folk songs. Originally a river song detailing the lives and journeys of fur traders canoeing Quicksilver was commissioned by a consortium of fifteen colleges and down the Missouri River, the symbolism of this culturally-significant melody universities, organized by Brian K. Doyle and the Crane Wind Ensemble. The has been expanded to include its geographic namesake – an area of the eastern CWE, with Brian K. Doyle, conductor, and Casey Grev, soloist, premiered United States that encompasses West Virginia and a good portion of the western Quicksilver on Wednesday, 18 October 2017 with the composer in attendance. part of Virginia – and various parks, rivers, counties, and academic institutions Program Note by Stacy Garrop found within.

Back in May of 2018, after hearing a really lovely duo arrangement of Shenandoah while adjudicating a music competition in Minneapolis, I asked myself, after hearing so many versions of this iconic and historic song, how

would I set it differently? I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it, and before I realized it, I had composed and assembled just about all of this arrangement in my head by assigning bass notes to the melody and filling in the harmony in my head afterwards. I would intermittently check myself on the pian7 to make sure what I was imagining worked, and ended up changing almost nothing at all from what I’d heard in my mind’s ear. This arrangement recalls the beauty of Shenandoah Valley, not bathed in golden sunlight, but blanketed by low-hanging clouds and experiencing intermittent periods of heavy rainfall (created with a combination of percussion textures, generated both on instruments and from the body). There are a few musical moments where the sun attempts to pierce through the clouds, but ultimately the rains win out. This arrangement of Shenandoah is at times mysterious, somewhat ominous, constantly introspective, and deeply soulful. Program Note by Omar Thomas

P RELUDE, S ICILIANO, AND R ONDO Malcolm Arnold Inspired by recordings and the opportunity to hear Louis Armstrong live in the 1930’s, Malcolm Arnold was a fine trumpet player in his youth before he moved on to the career he always knew he was destined to have. “Composers are born, not made,” he often remarked. It is no wonder, then, that brass music and brass writing in general loom large in his compositions and that he is known best for music that has broad appeal. Arnold composed several fanfares and three separate Little Suites for brass band. His Fanfare for Louis of 1970 features two trumpets and is dedicated to his lifelong inspiration, Louis Armstrong. Malcolm Arnold wrote Little Suite No. 1 for Brass Band, op. 80 in 1963 on commission from the Scottish Amateur Music Association for the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland. Bryden Thomson, then conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra, conducted the premiere in July of the same year at Aberdeen’s High School for Girls. In 1979, John P. Paynter, longtime director of bands at Northwestern University, transcribed the work for concert band, giving it the title Prelude, Siciliano, and Rondo. Wholly without pretense, the three-movement set is immediately accessible through its use of harmony, melody, and form. Each movement has a distinctive mood, cast in five-part song form, A-B-A-C-A. While having folk song like qualities, the themes are all original. The Prelude begins with a fanfare full of energy and anticipation only to wind down into a quiet return of the opening measures, which fade to silence. The Siciliano is true to its name: a slow, lilting movement in six-eight time with its characteristic and oft-repeated dotted rhythm. Due to its mood and transparency, solo and smaller choirs of instruments are featured. The boisterous Rondo provides an exuberant finale to the little suite, but not before showing its lyrical side as well.