Winds from the South

04-09 DCINY:GP 3/30/11 12:06 PM Page 1 Saturday Evening, April 9, 2011, at 8:00 Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) Iris Derke, Co-Founder and General Director Jonathan Griffith, Co-Founder and Artistic Director Presents Winds from the South The Grand Street Community Band (Brooklyn, NY) JEFF W. BALL, Director DAVID MASLANKA Mother Earth JOHAN DE MEIJ Symphony No. 1, “The Lord of the Rings” I. Gandalf (The Wizard) IV. Journey in the Dark a. The Mines of Moria b. The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm V. Hobbits Intermission Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony (Atlanta, GA) SCOTT A. STEWART, Director AARON COPLAND An Outdoor Overture JOHN CHEETHAM Concerto Agrariana JAN BERRY BAKER , Alto Saxophone II. Lento pensieroso IV. Vigoroso MICHAEL GANDOLFI Vientos y Tangos HENRY FILLMORE Americans We Intermission University of North Florida Wind Symphony (Jacksonville, FL) GORDON R. BROCK, Director CHARLES IVES Variations on “America” JOHN MACKEY Xerxes (Continued) Please hold your applause until the end of the last movement. Alice Tully Hall Please make certain your cellular phone, Home of The Chamber Music Society pager, or watch alarm is switched off. of Lincoln Center 04-09 DCINY:GP 3/30/11 12:06 PM Page 2 Lincoln Center CLARENCE HINES The Quest BUNKY GREEN, Saxophone SCOTT M cALLISTER Popcopy I. More Cowbell! II. One Time at Band Camp III. Serenity Now Please hold your applause until the end of the last movement. Notes on the Program Mother Earth a personage or an important episode from DAVID MASLANKA the book. Born August 30, 1943, New Bedford, Massachusetts The first movement is a musical portrait of David Maslanka received his B.M. from the the wizard Gandalf, one of the principal Oberlin Conservatory and an M.M. and characters of the trilogy. His wise and noble Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He personality is expressed by a stately motif served over 20 years on the faculty at which is used in a different form in move - Kingsborough Community College of the ments IV and V. The sudden opening of the City University of New York, and has also Allegro vivace is indicative of the unpre - served on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence dictability of the grey wizard, followed by a College and New York University. Dr. wild ride on his beautiful horse Shadowfax. Maslanka has worked solely as a freelance composer since 1990. He attached the fol - The fourth movement describes the labori - lowing as a program note for Mother Earth : ous journey of the Fellowship of the Ring through the dark tunnels of the Mines of Praised be You, my Lord, for our sister, Moria. The slow walking cadenza and the Mother Earth fear are clearly audible in the monotonous Who nourishes us and teaches us, rhythm of the low brass, piano and percus - Bringing forth all kinds of fruits and col - sion. After a wild pursuit by hostile crea - ored flowers and herbs. tures, Gandalf is engaged in battle with a —St. Francis of Assisi horrible monster and plunges into a fath - omless abyss. To the melancholy tones of a Mother Earth was commissioned by and is marcia funèbre, the bewildered compan - dedicated to Brian Silvey and the South ions trudge on. Dearborn High School Band of Aurora, Indiana. The fifth movement expresses the carefree Symphony No. 1, “The Lord of the Rings” and optimistic character of the Hobbits in a JOHAN DE MEIJ happy folk dance; the hymn that follows Born November 23, 1953, Voorburg, Netherlands emanates the determination and noblesse of the hobbit folk. The symphony is con - Symphony No. 1, “The Lord of the Rings” cluded peacefully and resigned, in keeping is based on the trilogy of that name by with the mood of the last chapter, in which J.R.R. Tolkien. The symphony consists of Frodo and Gandalf sail away and disappear five separate movements, each illustrating slowly beyond the horizon. 04-09 DCINY:GP 3/30/11 12:06 PM Page 3 Lincoln Center An Outdoor Overture This evening features the second and fourth AARON COPLAND movements. Movement II is a wide-ranged Born November 14, 1900, Brooklyn, New York theme that leads to a 5/8 section, and the Died December 2, 1990, North Tarrytown, New York finale is a sprightly rondo featuring a virtu - osic cadenza and spirited coda . Copland created An Outdoor Overture for “American Music for American Youth,” a Vientos y Tangos campaign to get more new music written MICHAEL GANDOLFI for use in schools. The work was premiered Born July 5, 1956, Melrose, Massachusetts in December 1938, the same year that Copland completed Billy the Kid . The two Vientos y Tangos (Winds and Tangos ) was pieces share distinct similarities, especially commissioned by The Frank L. Battisti 70th in the opening fanfare of the Overture . This Birthday Commission Project. It was Mr. Bat- fanfare, and an extended trumpet solo, are tisti’s specific request that I write a tango contrasted with a march-like theme and a for wind ensemble. In preparation for this lyrical melody for strings, all of which are piece, I devoted several months to the study cleverly woven into the final, joyous conclu - and transcription of tangos from the early sion. Copland’s contemporary, composer style of Juan D’arienzo and the “Tango Nuevo” Elliott Carter, wrote that the work “…con - style of Astor Piazzolla, to the current trend tains some of the finest and most personal of “Disco/Techno Tango,” among others. Afte r music. Its opening is as lofty and beautiful immersing myself in this listening experi - as any passage that has been written by a ence, I simply allowed the most salient fea - contemporary composer.” tures of these various tangos to inform the —Note by Barbara Heninger direction of my work. The dynamic contour and the various instrumental combinations Concerto Agrariana that I employ in the piece are all inspired by JOHN CHEETHAM the traditional sounds of the bandoneon, Born 1939, Taos, New Mexico violin, piano and contrabass. Concerto Agrariana is the second work by I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. composer John Cheetham written especially Battisti for his inspirational leadership as for saxophonist Kenneth Tse, professor at director of the New England Conservatory the University of Iowa. It pays tribute to the Wind Ensemble for over 30 years. I would rugged determination and inherent resource - also like to thank Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. for fulness of the pioneers who settled the rural his professionalism, collegiality and adept Midwest during the early 19th century. The work in organizing the commission project. composer has attempted to represent —Note by Michael Gandolfi musically what painters like Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton portrayed visually. Americans We Folk-like melodies and harmonies, often dia - JAMES HENRY FILLMORE JR. tonic or modal, give the piece an “American Born December 3, 1881, Cincinnati, Ohio ruralist” character. This quality is further Died December 7, 1956, Miami, Florida enhanced by punctuated rhythms that are sometimes asymmetric and unpredictable. Fillmore had problems deciding on a title The versatile saxophone with its inherent for this march. His band was giving a series ability to “sing” offers an ideal instrument of concerts at the local zoo, so he would with which to express these ideas. introduce the new work as The Cincinnati —Note by John Cheetham Zoo one day and as Pure Food and Health 04-09 DCINY:GP 3/30/11 12:06 PM Page 4 Lincoln Center the next! Finally, realizing that it was prob - Athens to the ground). Xerxes was assas si - ably his finest march, he published it in nated by Artabanus, who in turn was mur - 1929 as Americans We and dedicated it to dered by Xerxes’ son, Artaxerxes I. It was, “all of us.” Vivacious, solid, and appealing, to put it lightly, a violent time. What better this march has the qualities that character - subject matter for a march? Xerxes was ized Fillmore’s long life as an irresistible commissioned by Midlothian High School public performer. in Midlothian, Texas, Larry Doran, director. —Note by John Mackey Variations on “America” CHARLES IVES The Quest Born October 20, 1874, Danbury, Connecticut CLARENCE HINES Died May 19, 1954, New York City Born 1974, Pelham, Georgia Charles Ives was a great American com - Clarence Hines completed a doctor of poser whose original, universal, and deeply musical arts in jazz studies and contempo - national inspiration changed the direction rary media degree at the Eastman School of American music forever. Ives often Music of the University of Rochester. His incorporated hymn tunes, school songs, music has been commissioned and/or per - patriotic melodies, and elements of rag - formed by The Commission Project, U.S. time into his compositions, all coalesced Army Blues, U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors, into a daring and singular musical language. Sarasota Orchestra, and the North Bay Variations on “America” is a satirical, irrev - Symphony Orchestra. Recent premieres erent piece for organ completed in 1891. include performances at the Midwest Later that year, Ives performed the work on Clinic, the International Association for Jazz organ recitals in Danbury and in Brewster, Education Conference, and the International New York. This is the music of a youthful Tuba Conference. Dr. Hines is an assistant Charles E. Ives at his best: rebellious, professor of Jazz Studies at the University unfettered, and willing to apply humor just of North Florida and his music is available for the pure joy of the response. at UNC Jazz Press and eJazzLines. —Note by Gordon R. Brock The Quest is inspired by acclaimed saxo - Xerxes phonist Bunky Green.

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