Program Notes Egmont, opus 84, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture and nine separate subsequent pieces for soprano and full orchestra. Beethoven wrote it between October 1809 and June 1810, and it was premiered on 15 June 1810. The subject of the music is the history and the heroism of the Count of Egmont. In the music Beethoven expressed his own political concerns, particularly the heroic exaltation of the sacrifice of a man condemned to death by having taken a strong stand against oppression.

The music was accompanied by eulogistic praise, in particular by E.T.A. Hoffmann, for its poetry and Goethe himself declared that Beethoven had expressed his intentions with "a remarkable genius".

The overture, powerful and expressive, is one of the last works of his middle period; it has become as famous a composition as the Coriolan Overture, and is in a similar style to the Fifth Symphony which he completed two years earlier.

Pure White – Fang, Man. As colors have been the main source for Fang’s writing music, most of her compositions are based on the imagination of colors. Pure White for Mallet Quartet (two vibraphones and two marimbas) was rearranged from the second movement of Fang’s piano suite Three Colors for two pianos. The main theme of Pure White was composed during a beautiful night when the stars were embellishing the sky and the moon was round and bright. It consists of a pentatonic melody divided into two parts for each piano. Later, each part develops independently and the patterns of the rhythmic phrases are gradually shortened toward the end.

Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 was composed in the summer of 1877 during a visit to the Austrian Alps and the premiere was given on December 30, 1877 in Vienna under the direction of Hans Richter. A dark four‐note figure in the cello and bass introduces the first theme of the Allegro non troppo on horns and woodwinds. A lively second theme falls downward before rising upward in a triumphant arpeggio in the full orchestra. The third theme, a variation of the Lullaby Brahms composed in 1868, is sung expressively by violas and cellos. These three tunes form the basis of the development of the movement, which is largely rich and lyrical. The orchestra is well blended (quite a contrast with the harsher colors of last year’s Shostakovich performance) with the trombones and timpani kept in reserve until the bigger climaxes. The coda to the movement is surprisingly not triumphant, but gentle and tranquil.

Meadowlands is a fantasy on the Russian Folk song, Polyushko Pole. This song was originally written during the Russian Civil War and was sung by the Red Army.

Lev Knipper incorporated the song in his 4th symphony with chorus (lyrics by Gusev) "A Poem about a Komsomol Soldier" (Поэма о бойце‐комсомольце) composed in 1934:

Meadowlands, wide meadowlands. Heroes cross the fields, heroes of the Red Army. Girls are crying. Today the girls are downhearted. Their dear ones have gone away, away to the army. Girls, look there. Look there, out on our road. The long road is winding, the jolly road, but out there we see. We see a grey storm cloud. The enemy's evil in the forest, the enemy's evil, like a storm cloud. Girls, look there. We're ready to take the enemy. Our quick‐legged steeds, our quick moving tanks. Let the work bubble gaily in the kolkhoz, we’re supervisors today, today we're sentries. Polyushko Pole was used to very dramatic effect in the 1967 film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, covered instrumentally on Hammond organ by Steven Stills on Jefferson Airplane's 1969 album Volunteers as an interlude between A Song For All Seasons and the title track, and used as the basis for a Glenn Miller and Jerry Gray song called Russian Patrol.

Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34, is the common Western title for an orchestral work based on Spanish melodies and written by Nikolai Rimsky­Korsakov in 1887. Originally intended for a solo violin against an orchestra, Rimsky‐Korsakov later decided that a purely orchestral work would do better justice to the lively melodies. The Russian title is Каприччио на испанские темы (literally, Capriccio on Spanish Themes). The work has five movements:

The first movement, Alborada, is a festive and exciting dance, typical from traditional asturian music to celebrate the rising of the sun.

The second movement, Variazioni, begins with a melody in the horn section. Variations of this melody are then repeated by other instruments and sections of the orchestra. The third movement, Alborada, presents the same asturian dance as the first movement. The two movements are nearly identical, in fact, except that this movement has a different instrumentation and key.

The fourth movement, Scena e canto gitano ("Scene and gypsy song") opens with five cadenzas — first by the horns and trumpets, then solo violin, flute, clarinet, and harp — played over rolls on various percussion instruments. It is then followed by a dance in triple time leading attacca into the final movement. The fifth and final movement, Fandango asturiano, is also an energetic dance from the Asturias region of northern Spain. The piece ends with an even more rousing statement of the Alborada theme.

The piece is often lauded for its orchestration, which features a large percussion section and many special techniques and articulations, such as in the fourth movement when the violinists, violists, and cellists are asked to imitate guitars (the violin and viola parts are marked "quasi guitara"). Despite the critical praise, Rimsky‐Korsakov was annoyed that the other aspects of the piece were being ignored. In his autobiography, he wrote: The opinion formed by both critics and the public, that the Capriccio is a magnificently orchestrated piece — is wrong. The Capriccio is a brilliant composition for the orchestra. The change of timbres, the felicitous choice of melodic designs and figuration patterns, exactly suiting each kind of instrument, brief virtuoso cadenzas for instruments solo, the rhythm of the percussion instruments, etc., constitute here the very essence of the composition and not its garb or orchestration. The Spanish themes, of dance character, furnished me with rich material for putting in use multiform orchestral effects. All in all, the Capriccio is undoubtedly a purely external piece, but vividly brilliant for all that. I was a little less successful in its third section (Alborada, in B‐flat major), where the brasses somewhat drown the melodic designs of the woodwinds; but this is very easy to remedy, if the conductor will pay attention to it and moderate the indications of the shades of force in the brass instruments by replacing the fortissimo by a simple forte.

Julius Wirth received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Francis Tursi, Jefrey Irvine and Marcus Thompson. Mr. Wirth also acquired a Master of Music Degree from Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Karen Tuttle. He has been a winner of numerous awards and made solo appearances with the St. Cecilia Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Concertante Chamber Ensemble, and the Lakeland Symphony. He is presently Principal Violist of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra. From October 2002 to March 2003, Mr. Wirth was the violist/violinist for the Broadway production of the "Flower Drum Song."

Ben Denne is a graduate of Northwestern University where he studied Euphonium performance with Rex Martin and conducting with Mallory Thompson. Mr. Denne has been on the conducting staff of this orchestra for the past 8 years and is our brass specialist. In addition to conducting with the HSGTO, he also directs the orchestra programs at Ellicott Mills Middle School and Howard High Schools. He has held conducting positions with the Peabody Preparatory Chamber Orchestra, at Patapsco Middle School, and at Dunloggin Middle School. Mr. Denne currently performs as a bass soloist at the Zion Lutheran church, has performed with the Greenspring Valley Orchestra on trombone and string bass, performed with the Mount Vernon Brass Consort, and still finds time for freelance work on occasion. He maintains a small studio of students studying low brass instruments and his private students are consistently recognized in county and state honor groups for their ability.

Tim Reinhardt graduated from the University of Cincinnati College‐Conservatory of Music and has since taught orchestra in Harford and Howard Counties. Mr. Reinhardt also presently conducts the Harford String Orchestra in Bel Air, Maryland. In the past he has conducted the Cincinnati Junior Strings, the Harford Youth Orchestra, and various summer camp orchestras. As a violinist, Mr. Reinhardt has performed with the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Community Orchestra, and was a member of the Lucca Opera Theatre Orchestra in Lucca, Italy. He studied violin with Anne Lane Vosough, Zoltan Szabo, and Piotr Milewski. Mr. Reinhardt is a frequent adjudicator for the Maryland All‐State Orchestra and for various county Solo and Ensemble Festivals. He also composes music for orchestras of all ages and ablities and has composed over thirty pieces for steel drum band.

The Percussion Director Tim McKay received a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Maryland where he studied with John Tafoya, and a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Michael Rosen. Mr. McKay is an active teacher and freelance musician in the greater DC area. He currently serves as adjunct faculty at Howard Community College, as the percussion instructor at George C. Marshall High School in Fall Church, VA, where he works with the marching and concert percussion sections, percussion ensemble, and methods class. Mr. McKay also works with the percussionists from Reservoir and River Hill High Schools, the Potomac School in McLean, VA, and the DC Youth Orchestra Program in Washington, DC. Mr. McKay maintains a strong private teaching studio, where many of his students have participated in regional and state‐level bands and solo competitions. He has given masterclasses and clinics throughout the area, including the 2006 MD/DE Day of Percussion. Mr. McKay has performed with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the Mid‐Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, the Soulful Symphony in Baltimore, and multiple other local orchestral and chamber ensembles.