Crane Wind Ensemble Personnel

Piccolo Bass Clarinet Tuba Victoria Vespucci Matthew Levine Nicholas Soldani*

Marco Tomassi Ryan Halson Tour Concert 2019–2020 Season Flute Marianthi Stakos Nicholas Salomone Rachel Grohbrugge Temple Performing Arts Center February 20, 2020 Ashley Slapo Saxophone Double Bass Samala Rubin Nick Dombroski Robin Tucksmith Trudi VanOmmeren Kanen Nelson The Crane Wind Ensemble Ethan Wetzel Percussion Oboe Stephen Mirandi Patrick Roche Brian K. Doyle conductor Derian Rowe Emma Karp Kevin Gorry Derek Warshauer Zach Cohen William L. Lake, Jr., guest conductor Skye Hamilton-Carranza Trumpet Sofia Coyle Casey Grev, saxophone Courtnee Waldref Tristan Hayes Elena Mascaro Amelia McNamara Hannah Prenevau English Horn Nicholas Vest Joe Malone An Outdoor Overture (1942) Aaron Copland Derek Warshauer Nolan Ostrowski (1900–1990) Samuel Taylor Piano Bassoon Eleanor Burns Julie Miller Matthieu LaPlante Quicksilver (2017) Stacy Garrop Becca Schroeder Horn Harp Antics of a Newborn God (b. 1969) Jerry Wilkie Emily Quinn Shannon Boyle Guiding Souls to the Underworld Isaac Newman Messenger of Olympus Contra Bassoon Joseph Johnson Librarian Rebecca Schroeder Dylan Dukat Tristan Hayes Casey Grev, saxophone Jerry Wilkie Molly Knapp Courtnee Waldref

E-flat Clarinet Trombone Brief Intermission Matthew Stroinski Brenden Cope Justin Laurenceau D’un Matin du Printemps (1918) Lili Boulanger Clarinet Jason Lensky (1893–1918) Jennifer Belisle Justin Schoeneck trans. François Branciard Brianna Linhardt Isabella Eberle Bass Trombone William L. Lake, Jr., conductor Keegan Wallace Jason Birsner Alex Gray Laurel Zimlinghaus Euphonium Shenandoah (2019) Omar Thomas Anthony Justiniano Zachary Coldren (b. 1984) Kaytie Lamica Andrew Scheiner

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 dedicated performer of contemporary music, Dr. Grev was an invited performer at the Hot Air Music A N O UTDOOR O VERTURE Festival, San Francisco Center for New Music, Resonant Bodies Festival, Society of Aaron Copland Composers Inc. National Conference, Northwestern University New Music Conference, The Ohio State University Contemporary Music Festival, and was selected to study at the In the decade between 1935 and 1945, Aaron Copland composed many of his 2016 Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. most notable works, employing what he described as his vernacular style – deliberately accessible, lyric, using simple chords and slowly changing harmonies As a chamber musician, Dr. Grev performs regularly with the Viridian Saxophone Quartet – oftentimes belying much more complicated compositional processes in form. and the Protean Duo. He has received awards at the Coleman, Fischoff, Music Teachers National Association, and North American Saxophone Alliance Chamber Music For much of the country, Copland’s music embodied the sound of American Competitions. music with its evocations of vast wilderness to be pioneered, tapping into what might be called the indomitable spirit of American optimism. Works from this Dr. Grev received both his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Michigan State University, period read like a “greatest hits list:” El Salón México (1936), Billy the Kid (1938), where he was a recipient of the University Distinguished Fellowship and studied with Of Mice and Men (1939), Quiet City (1940), Our Town (1940), Lincoln Portrait Joseph Lulloff. Dr. Grev’s undergraduate degrees in Music Education and Music Performance are from Ohio State University, where he studied with James Hill. (1942), Rodeo (1942), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), Danzón Cubano (1942/46), and Appalachian Spring (1944).

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