Hodgson Wind Ensemble

Hodgson Wind Ensemble The work’s difficulty stems from its wide Hodgson Wind Ensemble Program Notes stylistic range and expansive color pallette. By 1943, the nearly 70-year-old Schoenberg had lived through (and variously contribut- Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) ed to) the eras of Romanticism, Modernism, Friday Theme and Variations, Op. 43a (1943) Impressionism, Serialism, and Neoclassi- cism. His life’s work in developing twelve- March 2 2018 • 8:00 p.m. We either regret or take delight in inform- tone music made him a master manipulator ing you that you will not be hearing a typical of melodies and timbres. All of these influ- Schoenberg piece this evening. Theme and ences and genres can be heard in the piece’s conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner Variations, Op. 43a stands out as a master- theme and seven variations, which include guest conductor H. Robert Reynolds piece of tonalism and traditional form, and a waltz, canon, and fugato. And it all ends guest composer Joel Love is especially notable because it was written in G major! well after the Second Viennese School of – Program note written by Matthew Sadowski guest composer Xi Wang 1903-1925, during which the composer Ar- alto saxophone Connie Frigo nold Schoenberg and his pupils developed the atonal, twelve-tone compositional tech- Joel Love (Born 1982) nique later labeled “serialism.” Depending Solace (2018) PROGRAM on your tastes, this may be very welcome or unwelcome news! Fewer composers are Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951) Theme and Variations, Just before I began composing Solace, I had more divisive among both casual and stud- a great set of conversations with the leader of Op. 43a (1943) ied listeners. But tonal music was Schoen- its consortium-commission, Connie Frigo. H. Robert Reynolds, Conductor berg’s first love – a love he held throughout During our discussions, we talked about how his entire life – and it is more than evident well the saxophone can imitate vocal music Joel Love (b. 1982) Solace (2018) *World Premiere* in his only piece written for band. and both expressed interest in a new concer- to with a significant lyrical element. Early on, I. Joy Theme and Variations, Op. 43a was written she suggested I read David Whyte’s Consola- in 1943 at the repeated request of Carl En- II. Besieged tions: The Solace, Nourishment, and Underly- gel, then-president of the publishing com- III. Gratitude ing Meaning in Words. Whyte’s work medi- pany G. Schirmer Music. Engel desired a tates on words themselves, illustrating their IV. Hiding piece for band from a world-famous com- deeper meaning, often revealing connec- V. Work poser, and also wanted to help Schoenberg tions between difficult situations and their out of his financial difficulties. Like many Connie Frigo, Alto Saxophone unexpectedly positive outcomes. Similarly, European composers in the 1930’s, Schoen- each movement meditates on a mood and is berg had emigrated to the United States to (Born 1979) (2017) inspired by either a selection of text or title Xi Wang Winter Blossom *World Premiere* escape the rise of Nazi Germany. Although word from five consolations, picked by either l. he was hired to teach music at both the Uni- Connie or me. Throughout the concerto, I versity of Southern California and the Uni- ll. challenge the soloist to play lyrically in ex- versity of California-Los Angeles, he and lll. treme registers (called the “altissimo” regis- his wife continued to struggle financially. ter, which is above the typical, written range In memory of Steven Stucky Unfortunately, Engel proved to have bad of the instrument) and while playing virtuo- timing. The piece’s difficulty made it play- sic passages in five unique sound worlds. Percy Grainger (1882 - 1961) Colonial Song (1919) able only by the top military bands, who H. Robert Reynolds, Conductor were all preoccupied with World War II. Whyte describes joy as the “the sheer intoxi- An orchestral transcription was completed cating beauty of the world inhabited as an Oscar Navarro (Born 1981) Downey Overture (2011) a few months later and premiered by Kous- edge between what we previously thought sevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orches- was us and what we thought was other than tra in 1944, but the original band version us,” which is where “Joy” takes its inspiration. did not receive its premiere until 1946 by This movement highlights the soloist’s abil- the Goldman Band in New York City. HODGSON CONCERT HALL ity to play difficult syncopations, made even 38 Performance UGA February March 2018 39 Hodgson Wind Ensemble more challenging by their dissonance with “Work”: “Work among all its abstracts, is a better musician, more importantly, the accented beats in mixed, irregular meters. actually intimacy, the place where the self they taught me how to be a better meets the world…We make what we make, person. So when Cynthia asked if I In “Besieged,” the music expresses a darker we give a gift, not only through what we would write a wind ensemble piece in sentiment. Whyte’s poem states that “Con- make or do, but in the way we feel as we memory of Steven Stucky, I was hon- scious or unconscious, we are surrounded do, and even, in the way others witness us ored and thrilled. not only by the vicissitudes of a difficult in our feeling and doing, giving to them as world but even more by those of our own they give to us…” An outcry of enormous sorrow, the making.” The saxophone is often pitted first movement is a profound lament. – Program note written by the composer. against or is competing back-and-forth with Two melodic motives are quoted the wind ensemble, striving and fighting to from Stucky’s music – the opening overcome. The piece ends just after the cli- Xi Wang (Born 1979) melody from his “Symphony,” and max and segues into the third movement, the minor second descending mo- echoing Whyte’s sentiment that we must Winter Blossom (2017) tive from his Elegy of August 4, 1964. sometimes go through difficult challenges The movement arrives at its climax to be aware and grateful of what we have. Chinese-born composer Xi Wang has been with heavy and dark harmonies. The considered one of the most talented and second movement juxtaposes mul- The third movement is the heart of the con- active composers of her generation. Her tiple musical ideas and contrasting certo. Whyte states that “Gratitude is not original concert music has been performed characters vertically while each idea necessarily something that is shown after the worldwide by notable orchestras and en- evolves and develops horizontally. event, it is the deep, a priori state of atten- sembles such as the Minnesota Orchestra, This reflects the richness and depth tion that shows we understand and are equal Atlanta Symphony, American Composers of Stucky’s personality and spirit. to the gifted nature of life.” In “Gratitude,” Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Spokane The last movement, beginning with first at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt my goal was to create the most beautiful Symphony, Voices of Change, Soli Chamber chimes, is an adagio that unfolds pa- and later in London where he established and lyrical music I could to showcase the Ensemble, and the Tippet String Quartet. tiently. The turbulent and anguished himself as a pianist and collector of original gorgeous vocal-like sounds of which the motives from the second movement folk melodies. saxophone is capable. Xi Wang has been the recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy eventually evolve to tranquility and In 1914, Grainger moved to the United the serene. I would have been remiss to neglect any noir of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment States, where he lived for the rest of his life, or jazz-influenced sounds, as the saxophone for the Arts award, Meet the Composer, New Stucky died on February 14, 2016 though he traveled widely in Europe and in is oft-associated with the sounds of jazz and Music USA, American Music Center, Mac- – a cold winter’s day in Ithaca, NY, Australia. He served briefly as a bandsman blues. “Hiding” is a scherzo that explores Dowell Colony residency, as well as seven but also a day of “warmth” and love in the United States Army during 1917-18 the jazz/funk idiom. Whyte states that Hid- prizes from the American Society of Com- – Valentine’s Day. His spirit, through and took American citizenship thereafter. ing is “creative, necessary and beautifully posers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). his incredible music, shall radiate After his mother’s suicide in 1922, he be- subversive of outside interference and con- with his students and audiences ever came increasingly involved in educational trol…Hiding is the radical independence Xi Wang received her B.M. from the Shang- work. A decade later, he became Dean of hai Conservatory of Music, M.M. from the after. May Steven Stucky forever rest necessary for our emergence into the light in peace and love. Music at New York University, and under- of a proper human future.” This movement University of Missouri-Kansas City, and scored his reputation as an experimenter is all about groove and its manipulation and D.M.A. from Cornell University. Currently, by putting jazz on the syllabus and inviting the saxophonist, at times, gains a bit of “in- she is an Associate Professor at the Mead- Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961) Duke Ellington as a guest lecturer. At the ow School of Arts of Southern Methodist dependence.” ed. Mark Rogers same time, he set up the Grainger Museum University. in Melbourne, his birthplace, as a monu- Finally, “Work” is a perpetual-motion tech- Colonial Song (1919) ment to his life and works and as a future nical showpiece.

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