In fact, from then on, Germaine entrusted to Dondeyne the task of THE CRANE SYMPHONIC BAND transcribing a number of her symphonic works for the band that he conducted. "It's a child we're creating together," she used to say. Program Notes • 2 March 2017 While guiding him in transcribing her works for winds was a specific choice, her entrusting him to orchestrate subsequent works was a matter of necessity; she M ARCHE could only write out piano sketches due to her debilitating rheumatism. She Germaine Tailleferre specifically conceived her March (1976) for Dondeyne’s Wind Band of the Gardiens de la Paix, originally giving it the title of Marche Burlesque, then Germaine Tailleferre was the only female member of Les Six, a congregation of Marche Militaire. She finally settled simply for Marche, which gives little idea composers founded by poet Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie. Les Six of the facetious nature of the piece, indeed having little to do with things military! opposed the “lofty elegance” of the impressionist composers (Debussy, Ravel & It is a fanciful, elegant composition in which the rhythm contrasts in charming Fauré) and wished to offer a transparent and sober music as a counter-statement ways with the martial metric pattern. to the heavy Germanic influences of Wagner and Strauss. While each had their own individual contributions, Darius Milhaud became the most outspoken S UITE- D IVERTIMENTO character of the group. Milhaud and Honneger followed the principles of the group most directly, while both Poulenc and Tailleferre followed a divergent path, Tailleferre more in line with Erik Satie, preoccupied with classic forms, the transparency of Further collaboration between Talleferre and Dondeyne resulted in Suite- sound, and a preference for the alteration of timbre to create dynamic contrasts. Divertimento for wind band in 1977. This work is reflective of both her th Christopher Anderson details how Tailleferre came to write for winds in his liner fascination with musical forms of the early 17 century, and her penchant for notes to an album of her works for winds, all orchestrated by Désiré Dondeyne: writing distinctively French melodies. The six-movement work is in the model of the late Renaissance dance suite, yet composed with modern, polytonal The story began in 1970, the fiftieth anniversary of the Les Six. The harmonies. While each movement has its own distinct style and melody, the suite musicologist Frédéric Robert proposed a celebration at Issy-les- as a whole unmistakably embodies the compositional ethos of Les Six, sounding Moulineaux. The director of the conservatorium at the time was Désiré in particular like a close cousin of Poulenc’s Suite Française of 1948. Dondeyne who had been a student of the Gallon brothers and of Tony Aubin, under whom he gathered a number of awards. He was now the Above the score, Tailleferre writes the following indication, “just like the noise at conductor of the Wind Band of the Paris Gardiens de la Paix [The Wind a fair.” Dondeyne elaborates further: Band of the Paris “Guardians of the Peace”]. The program for the The Introduction features a mixture of superimposed themes, brought concert was to consist solely of pieces by each of Les Six for wind band, about the utilization of contrasting tonalities between the opposing but one member of Les Six had not composed anything for these forces: instrumental groups, each with its characteristic virtuosity. La Germaine Tailleferre. Frédéric Robert introduced Dondeyne to her; they Barcarolle is simple in its expression and forms – a bright contrast with agreed that the Partita for Woodwinds and Chamber Orchestra would the Introduction. The harmonies are based on the traditional chord be transcribed, replacing the strings with a woodwind ensemble. The progressions, from which the solo instruments draw their themes on a result was a triumph, Tailleferre saying that the transcription had lent natural and balanced melodic line. The Menuet has been composed in new vitality to the work. the classical form, in which the very casual style of scoring has been Two years later, on the occasion of Tailleferre’s eightieth birthday, the preserved throughout the movement without impairing the character of Gardiens de la Paix Wind Band included in their program Dondeyne's the menuet. The counterpoint of the themes can be found between the transcription of the Overture for a Comic Opera, originally written in reeds and the brasses, and in this way Tailleferre’s own style, so clearly 1932. Tailleferre was enthusiastic and declared, "if I had my time again, defined by bold harmonies, becomes apparent. The Nocturne brings to I would write only for wind band!" "What will it take to get you to write mind a Berceuse at first hearing and is written in a clear idiom for the an original work for wind band?" "A discount of twenty years on my reeds; it is alternated by a Rondeau-Allegro, expressed by the brasses in age!" she replied, but then added, looking at Dondeyne, "I'll write for a style with modal character. The orchestrational and rhythmic you." development of this Rondeau brings us back to the mood of the introduction before bringing forward the theme of the Berceuse of the beginning of this movement. In the Finale, we find ourselves back in the mood of the “noses at a fair” as indicated above the first movement unfold and eventually dissipate until, at last, the serene introductory material (the superimposed themes of the instrumental groups). Rhythms, returns – the opening chords finally coming to rest. themes, timbres blend time and again in abrupt modulations and lead to Note by Jake Wallace a brilliant and vivid ending of this final musical statement. This collaborative score was commissioned by the French State (Ministry of A NGELS IN THE A RCHITECTURE Cultural Affairs) and dedicated to the Band of the “Gardiens de la Paix de Paris” Frank Ticheli and their bandmaster at that time. Angels in the Architecture was commissioned by Kingsway International, and received its premiere performance at the Sydney Opera House on July 6, 2008 by S HELTERING S KY a massed band of young musicians from Australia and the United States, John Mackey conducted by Matthew George. The work unfolds as a dramatic conflict between the two extremes of human existence–one divine, the other evil. The wind band medium has, in the twenty-first century, a host of disparate styles that dominate its texture. At the core of its contemporary development exist a The work’s title is inspired by the Sydney Opera House itself, with its halo-shaped group of composers who dazzle with scintillating and frightening virtuosity. As acoustical ornaments hanging directly above the performance stage. such, at first listening one might experience John Mackey’s Sheltering Sky as a Angels in the Architecture begins with a single voice singing a 19th-century striking departure. Its serene and simple presentation is a throwback of sorts – a Shaker song: nostalgic portrait of time suspended. I am an angel of Light The work itself has a folksong-like quality – intended by the composer – and I have soared from above through this an immediate sense of familiarity emerges. Certainly, the repertoire I am cloth’d with Mother’s love. has a long and proud tradition of weaving folk songs into its identity, from the I have come, I have come, days of Holst and Vaughan Williams to modern treatments by such figures as To protect my chosen band Donald Grantham and Frank Ticheli. Whereas these composers incorporated And lead them to the promised land. extant melodies into their works, however, Mackey takes a play from Percy Grainger. Grainger’s Colonial Song seemingly sets a beautiful folksong melody This “angel”–represented by the singer–frames the work, surrounding it with a in an enchanting way (so enchanting, in fact, that he reworked the tune into two protective wall of light and establishing the divine. Other representations of light– other pieces: Australian Up-Country Tune and The Gum-Suckers March). In played by instruments rather than sung–include a traditional Hebrew song of reality, however, Grainger’s melody was entirely original – his own concoction peace (“Hevenu Shalom Aleicham”) and the well-known 16th-century Genevan to express how he felt about his native Australia. Likewise, although the melodies Psalter, “Old Hundredth.” These three borrowed songs, despite their varied of Sheltering Sky have a recognizable quality (hints of the contours and colors of religious origins, are meant to transcend any one religion, representing the more Danny Boy and Shenandoah are perceptible), the tunes themselves are original to universal human ideals of peace, hope, and love. An original chorale, appearing the work, imparting a sense of hazy distance as though they were from a half- twice in the work, represents my own personal expression of these aspirations. remembered dream. In opposition, turbulent, fast-paced music appears as a symbol of darkness, death, The work unfolds in a sweeping arch structure, with cascading phrases that elide and spiritual doubt. Twice during the musical drama, these shadows sneak in effortlessly. The introduction presents softly articulated harmonies stacking almost unnoticeably, slowly obscuring, and eventually obliterating the light through a surrounding placidity. From there emerge statements of each of the two altogether. The darkness prevails for long stretches of time, but the light always folksong-like melodies – the call as a sighing descent in solo oboe, and its answer returns, inextinguishable, more powerful than before. The alternation of these as a hopeful rising line in trumpet. Though the composer’s trademark virtuosity opposing forces creates, in effect, a kind of five-part rondo form (light–darkness– is absent, his harmonic language remains. Mackey avoids traditional triadic light–darkness–light). sonorities almost exclusively, instead choosing more indistinct chords with Just as Charles Ives did more than century ago, Angels in the Architecture poses diatonic extensions (particularly seventh and ninth chords) that facilitate the hazy the unanswered question of existence. It ends as it began: the angel reappears sonic world that the piece inhabits. Near cadences, chromatic dissonances fill the singing the same comforting words. But deep below, a final shadow reappears– narrow spaces in these harmonies, creating an even greater pull toward wistful distantly, ominously. nostalgia. Each new phrase begins over the resolution of the previous one, Note by Frank Ticheli creating a sense of motion that never completely stops. The melodies themselves