Eph-Palooza Program Notes
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Eph‐palooza III Program Notes Benjamin Britten: Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury The twentieth century saw a veritable explosion of British composers commanding the world stage: Gustav Holst’s The Planets and Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance are among the most‐performed works of the twentieth century, while Michael Tippett and Ralph Vaughan Williams are highly regarded for their contributions to a host of genres and ensembles. However, perhaps no British composer is as highly regarded as Benjamin Britten (1913‐1976). Many of his fifteen (15!) operas—including Turn of the Screw and Peter Grimes, described by Alex Ross as “an opera of staggering dramatic force”—have already entered the established repertoire of opera companies across the world. His War Requiem brilliantly synthesized his pacifist ideals, moral outrage, and flair for musical drama in a provocative work of overwhelming intensity. Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra—one of three works popularly used in children’s music education (along with Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Saint‐Saens’s The Carnival of the Animals)—reveals his skill as a master orchestrator. This ability is remarkably apparent even in the Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury for three trumpets. Written in 1959 for the Pageant of Magna Carta held on the grounds of Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral, the Fanfare is “in the form of three separate trumpet fanfares, played attacca, which combine in conclusion” (Britten). James Romig: The Frame Problem (2003) The Frame Problem was commissioned by a consortium of percussion ensembles from ten colleges and universities. The work's instrumentation comprises multiple "trios:” each player performs on a trio of woods, metals, or small drums, while a fourth trio—of larger drums—is distributed between the three parts. The work, a strict circular canon (each part is identical, merely starting from a different point on a looped continuum), also incorporates a paradigmatic "trio of trios" into its large‐scale structure: a particularly explosive and distinct section of the work occurs three times in each part (nine times, therefore, in total), functioning as a kind of "keystone.” Over the span of the work, this short section is heard twice as a solo (once in the metals; once in the small drums), twice as a duet between players (woods and small drums; woods and metals), and finally as a trio that concludes the work. The title refers to a primary difficulty in designing robots and computer programs with "artificial intelligence." Human brains have a remarkable ability to "frame" information: in an instant, we are able to observe and organize an enormous amount of data, sorting and categorizing what is relevant and what is not. When listening to music, one of the primary hierarchical "frames" we create is that of meter. In this percussion trio, multiple distinct meters occur concurrently—in different lines, at constantly shifting dynamic levels, and in different timbral aggregations—providing human listeners with the opportunity to resolve multiple overlapping “frames” simultaneously. Robots in the audience will probably just be confused. ‐James Romig James Romig (b. 1971) composes solo, chamber, and large ensemble works that have been performed at recitals and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Compositional studies with Charles Wuorinen instilled in his musical aesthetic a deep regard for iterative structure and self‐similar form, while theoretical studies with Milton Babbitt reinforced the notion of multi‐level correlation of rhythm and pitch. Interaction with the natural world through hiking and photography has engendered an interest in fractals and chaotic systems, while influences as diverse as Paul Klee, Brian Ferneyhough, and Haruki Murakami have inspired the creation of multivalent artworks that provide performers and audiences with numerous potential cognitive pathways and manners of appreciation. Romig holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and M.M. and B.M. degrees from the University of Iowa. He is currently associate professor of composition and theory at Western Illinois University and has also taught at Rutgers University and Bucknell University. Guest‐ composer visits include Northwestern University, Columbia University, the Cincinnati Conservatory, Juilliard, the American Academy in Rome, and Petrified Forest National Park. Robert Schumann: An die Stern "The best way to cultivate one's feeling for melody,” wrote Robert Schumann, “is still to compose frequently for voice and a cappella chorus. Basically, one must invent and create inwardly as much as possible." For a composer associated primarily with solo songs and instrumental music, this affinity for the choral medium is surprising. But the little known cycle of Four Songs for Double Choir, op. 141 (of which the choir performs no. 1 tonight and the entire cycle at their November 6 concert) demonstrates not just affinity but the same expressive melodic genius, harmonic daring and structural confidence of Schumann’s most familiar songs and instrumental works. This month marks the 160th anniversary of the op. 141 cycle, composed over several days in mid‐October, 1849. An Die Sterne To the Stars Sterne in des Himmels Ferne! Stars in the distant heavens, die mit Strahlen bessrer Welt Brightening the earthly twilight ihr die Erdendämmrung hellt; With the rays of a better world; schau'n nicht Geisteraugen Are not spirit eyes von euch erdenwärts, looking earthwards from you, daß sie Frieden hauchen Breathing peace ins umwölkte Herz? Into the clouded heart? Sterne in des Himmels Ferne! Stars in the distant heavens, träumt sich auch in jenem Raum Is the fleeting dream of a life eines lebens flücht'ger Traum ? Being dreamed in that space as well?? Hebt Entzücken, Wonne, Are delight, bliss, Trauer, Wehmut, Schmerz, Sorrow, sadness and pain jenseit unsrer Sonne Also felt by a feeling heart auch ein fühlend Herz? On the other side of the sun? Sterne in des Himmels Ferne! Stars in the distant heavens, Winkt ihr nicht schon Himmelsruh' Are you not signaling celestial calm mir aus euren Fernen zu? To me from your distant world? Wird nicht einst dem Müden Shall the weary creature not, one day auf den goldnen Au'n On the golden pastures, ungetrübter Frieden See unalloyed peace in die Seele tau'n? Flowing into its soul?? Sterne [in des Himmels Ferne], Stars [in the distant heavens], bis mein Geist den Fittich hebt Until my spirit spreads its wings und zu eurem Frieden schwebt, And soars to your peace, hang' an euch mein Sehnen I cling to you my yearning, hoffend, glaubevoll! In the hope and in faith! O, ihr holden, schönen, O you noble, lovely ones, könnt ihr täuschen wohl? Could you be deceiving? ‐ Friedrich Rückert Orlande de Lassus: Providebam Dominum Orlande De Lassus (c. 1530‐1594) was one of the most influential musicians of the late 16th century. Through his sacred and secular works he helped to develop and define Franco‐ Flemmish polyphony. Providebam Dominum is a sacred motet for seven voices in two antiphonal choirs. In the original voicing, one choir is three sopranos and the other is the traditional Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. In this edition by Robert King, three trumpets play the soprano parts of the first choir, and a trumpet, two french horns, and trombone play the part of the second choir. John Adams: “The Perilous Shore” from Gnarly Buttons (1996) John Adams is one of America's most admired and respected composers. Among numerous awards and honors, he won the Grawemeyer Award (1995) and was named “Composer of the Year” by Musical America (1997). Revealing his status as, perhaps, the unofficial composer laureate for the U.S., in 2002 Adams was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to write a work commemorating the first anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks; his On the Transmigration of Souls received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the Nonesuch recording won a rare “triple crown” at the Grammys, including “Best Classical Recording”, “Best Orchestral Performance”, and “Best Classical Contemporary Composition.” Born and raised in Concord, New Hampshire, Adams grew up in a family that saw no boundaries or distinctions between different styles of music; both his parents were active performers musical (his father played clarinet and his mother sang in church choir and local musical theater productions), and they instilled in young John a love of music ranging from Mozart to Benny Goodman, Bach to Broadway show tunes—and it is this wide range of influences that continues to fire Adams’s musical imagination. As Thomas May remarks: "If Adams has become America's most prominent and in some ways most respected composer, it's because he's found his own voice and his own way beyond the unproductive aesthetic skirmishes of recent decades. He's so past the polarizing arguments of whether music should be tonal or not, or should be easily understood or esoteric, or be 'pop'‐sounding or freakishly original." Adams’s clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons finds it root not only in the world of classical music, but also in folk and vernacular musics. As Adams writes: The clarinet was my first instrument. I learned it from my father, who played it in small swing bands in New England during the Depression era. He was my first and most important teacher, sitting in the front room with me, patiently counting out rhythms and checking my embouchure and fingering. Benny Goodman was a role model, and several of his recordings–in particular the 1938 Carnegie Hall jazz concert and a Mozart album with the Boston Symphony Orchestra–were played so often in the house that they almost became part of the furniture. later, as a teenager, I played in a local marching band with my father, and I also began to perform the other clarinet classics by Brahms, von Weber, Bartók, Stravinsky, and Copland.