Jazz Concert

Artist Series Ingrid Eliassen & Ekaterina Isayevskaya The Arctic Trumpet and Piano Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 8pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center Pacific Lutheran University School of Arts and Communication / Department of Music presents Artist Series Ingrid Eliassen & Ekaterina Isayevskaya The Arctic Trumpet and Piano featuring Ingrid Eliassen, trumpet Ekaterina Isayevskaya, piano Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 8pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center Welcome to Lagerquist Concert Hall. Please disable the audible signal on all watches, pagers and cellular phones for the duration of the concert. Use of cameras, recording equipment and all digital devices is not permitted in the concert hall. PROGRAM Four Preludes ................................................................................................................................... Arild Plau (1920-2005) Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, op. 103 .................................................................................... Wolfgang Plagge (b.1960) Lyrisk Suite ......................................................................................................................................... Ketil Vea (1932-2015) Andante espressivo Lento Allegro The Ancient Bells of La Dierde ............................................................................... Alexander Aarøen Pedersen (b. 1933) Holberg Suite ............................................................................................................................... Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Sarabande Gavotte Trompetuum Perpetuum .................................................................................................................. Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939) Elegi, for Elma ...................................................................................................................................... Rolf Wallin (b. 1957) Program Notes Arild Plau, Four Preludes Allegretto - Andante - Allegro non troppo - Andante Four Preludes are short character pieces that express four different moods within the duo texture of trumpet and piano. Plau made his living at first playing the piano in various restaurants in Oslo for eleven years. He got a job as a bassoonist at the Norwegian Opera after a successful audition in 1958. He wrote the Four Preludes on commission from his colleague, Lars Næss, the solo trumpeter in the opera orchestra. Four Preludes was written for the record The Nineteenth-Century Trumpet Concertos. Wolfgang Plagge, Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, op. 103 Wolfgang Plagge is a well known Norwegian composer and pianist. Plagge’s list of works ranges from liturgical music to symphonic, while chamber music and piano solo pieces constitute a main portion of his output. Plagge has also focused on writing for wind instruments and has penned a number of works for woodwinds and brass in chamber settings. The Sonata for Trumpet and Piano is dedicated to Plagge´s good friend, the world-known trumpeter, Ole Edvard Antonsen, and they have recorded the Sonata on the CD, Ars Nova: The Medieval Inspiration. Time is an important issue in this piece, time as a dimension, and as a storyteller. You can also hear bells ringing, and it all ends up in a chorale, “Inbrugk ich muse rich lassen,” by Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517). Ketil Vea, Lyrisk Suite (Lyric Suite) Ketil Vea (1932-2015) is a Norwegian composer whose music is inspired by the landscapes of northern Norway where he lived most of his life. As a cultural organizer, performing musician, and composer, he greatly influenced the development of musical life in northern Norway which today includes professional ensembles, a music conservatory, and a multitude of non-professional initiatives. As a composer from northern Norway he also had an affinity with Sami culture. In Norway, the 1970s were a decade that focused on local culture and history, and local communities developed feelings of worth and cultural pride. This also affected the Sami communities in the north, and led to a renaissance of interest in Sami cultural identity, including the native Sami song tradition, called joik. The Lyric Suite was written in 1978. The first movement (Andante espressivo) is reminiscent of bird’s screeching alongside the sea coast, snow avalanches in the mountains or northern lights dancing in the clear winter sky. The third movement (Allegro) of the piece has a repetitive element which sounds like an attempt to imitate joik. The second movement (Lento) tends toward the poetic mood, where the music is painted with Arctic colors and peaceful harmonies. Ketil Vea also played an important role in Norwegian music education. He taught at all levels, but is perhaps particularly remembered for his work with Norwegian teachers and at music conservatories. He was, among other things, principal of the Music Conservatory of Northern Norway in Tromsø. His many textbooks are still used in Norwegian music education, and in 1983 he was awarded the Lindeman Prize for his pedagogical achievements. Alexander Aarøen Pedersen, The Ancient Bells of La Dierde The Ancient Bells of La Dierde tries to depict the atmosphere and the surroundings of an old church in the countryside of Spain. The rather open and spacious architecture of the music are meant to augment a sense of timelessness and vastness. These bells have probably rung for centuries, whose sound is now perhaps dwelling in cosmic and celestial spheres. Alexander is a passionate and versatile composer, arranger and pianist. Despite his young age, his fiery love for musical storytelling has pushed him around the world, and acquired him a vast artistic experience. His recent projects include recording and conducting his own music with the Hollywood Studio Orchestra at Warner Brothers, Los Angeles; “The Wrath of The Music God” – a 18 minute animated short, where Alexander wrote both the music and the script; “The Blue Note” – a theatrical piece in which he wrote the script and a jazz score; “The Thief and the Kaleidoscope” – a concept album for big band and actor, where he composed music and played piano himself. In 2017, Alexander graduated with first class honors from the prestigious Pulse College, where he received his Master’s in film scoring. His studies were supported by a large-scale scholarship from Norway. The Ancient Bells of La Dierde is commissioned for this tour. Edvard Grieg, Holberg Suite op. 40 This piano suite was composed in 1884 to mark the bicentennial of the birth of the Norwegian-Danish playwright Ludvig Holberg. It was Holberg’s multifaceted genius, his humor, satire, and sober philosophy that inspired Grieg to compose the Holberg Suite. The piece is based on the French dance suite forms favored by Couperin, Rameau, and Bach. In Grieg’s hands these old dance movements receive a new, personal garb. The suite was performed in Bergen a few days after the unveiling of the Holberg statue, and it was an immediate success. One year later Grieg arranged this suite for string orchestra. The suite opens with a firework display of a “Preludium”. The same intensity is to be found in the last movement, “Rigaudon”. The two dances in the middle of the suite, “Gavotte” and “Musette”, run into one another. The “Gavotte”, with the accent on the third beat characteristic of this dance, is an elegant piece, while Grieg takes the French “Musette” and turns it into something that sounds more like a Norwegian folk dance on the traditional instrument the Hardanger fiddle. In the slow movements “Sarabande” and “Air” the composer demonstrates his mastery of melody and harmony. Ketil Hvoslef, Perpetuum Trompetuum Ketil Hvoslef is the son of the famous composer Harald Sæverud. Hvoslef has written a number of solo concertos for different instruments including piano, trumpet, double bass, violin, bassoon, cello as well as a double concerto for flute and guitar, a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano, and a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra. Perpetuum Trompetuum is dedicated to the Norwegian trumpet player Erlend Aagaard-Nilsen, and it was premiered at the BrassWind Festival in Bergen in 2010. He has written a wandering bass line which goes through the whole piece. The descant part and the trumpet eventually merge into a rhythmically intense drive and an effective ending. This piece is first of all characterized by great rhythmic ingenuity. Rolf Wallin, Elegi Rolf Wallin is considered one of Scandinavia’s leading modern composers. Educated in Norway and America, Wallin’s music combines an intuitive freedom with a rigorous mathematical approach, and you can often hear the influence of Ligeti, Xenakis and Berio in his music. In the Elegi, from 1979, he is taking another direction. It was written in memoriam for his sister, to be performed by Rolf on trumpet at her funeral. Strongly influenced by jazz harmonies, it is a simple, melodic and beautiful work. .

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