BOSTON UNIVERSITY WIND ENSEMBLE Tuesday, October 8, 2019 Tsai Performance Center BOSTON UNIVERSITY Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 33,000 students, it is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 16 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective, think broadly, and master relevant 21st century skills. CFA offers a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Learn more at bu.edu/ cfa. BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS SCHOOL OF MUSIC Founded in 1872, Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Music combines the intimacy and intensity of traditional conservatory-style training with a broad liberal arts education at the undergraduate level, and elective coursework at the graduate level. The school offers degrees in performance, conducting, composition and theory, musicology, music education, and historical performance, as well as artist and performance diplomas and a certificate program in its Opera Institute. PERFORMANCE VENUES CFA Concert Hall • 855 Commonwealth Avenue Marsh Chapel • 735 Commonwealth Avenue Tsai Performance Center • 685 Commonwealth Avenue Boston Symphony Hall • 301 Massachusetts Avenue October 8, 2019 Tsai Performance Center BOSTON UNIVERSITY WIND ENSEMBLE David Martins, conductor Festive Overture, Op. 96 Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Trans. Donald Hunsberger An Elegent Sufficiency Shawn W. Davern (CFA’17) (b. 1994) (Boston Premiere) Flourishes and Meditations Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956) on a Renaissance Theme Intermission Fanfare After Donal R. Michalsky (1928–1975) Seventeenth Century Dances I. Paul Peurl: “Newe Padouan, Intrada, Däntz, und Galliarda” (1611) II. Johann Hermann Schein: “Banchetto Musicale” (1617) III. Isaak Posch: “Musicalische Ehrnfreudt” (1618) October Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) Trittico Václav Nelhýbel (1919–1996) I. Allegro maestoso II. Adagio III. Allegro marcato PROGRAM NOTES Festive Overture, Op. 96 The Festive Overture was composed in 1954, in the period between Symphony No. 10 and the Violin Concerto. Its American premiere was given by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra on November 16, 1955. In 1956, the New York Philharmonic under Dmitri Mitropoulos presented the overture in Carnegie Hall. A Russian band version of the overture was released in 1958 and utilized the standard instrumentation of the Russian military band, i.e., a complete orchestral wind, brass and percussion section plus a full family of saxhorns, ranging from the Bb soprano down through the Bb contrabass saxhorn. This new edition has been scored for the instrumentation of the American symphonic band. The Festive Overture is an excellent curtain raiser and contains one of Shostakovich’s greatest attributes—the ability to write a long sustained melodic line combined with a pulsating rhythmic drive. In addition to the flowing melodic passages, there are also examples of staccato rhythmic sections which set off the flowing line and the variant fanfares. It is truly a “festive overture.” —Donald Hunsberger Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian composer who lived under the Soviet regime. Shostakovich had a complex and difficult relationship with the Soviet government, suffering two official denunciations of his music, in 1936 and 1948, and the periodic banning of his work. Shostakovich’s response to official criticism and, more importantly, the question of whether he used music as a kind of abstract dissidence is a matter of dispute. It is clear that outwardly he conformed to government policies and positions, reading speeches and putting his name to articles expressing the government line. It is also generally agreed that he disliked the regime, a view confirmed by his family and his letters to Isaak Glikman. Shostakovich prided himself on his orchestration, which is clear, economical, and well-projected. This aspect of Shostakovich’s technique owes more to Gustav Mahler than Rimsky-Korsakov. His unique approach to tonality involved the use of modal scales and some astringent neo-classical harmonies à la Hindemith and Prokofiev. His music frequently includes sharp contrasts and elements of the grotesque. His most popular works are his 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets. His works for piano include 2 piano sonatas, an early set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Other works include two operas, six concertos, and a substantial quantity of film music. —The Wind Repertory Project PROGRAM NOTES An Elegent Sufficiency Shawn William Davern is an American composer, arranger, conductor, trombonist and educator. He currently serves as Director of Bands at Forest Park High School in the Prince William County Public School system, where he oversees the instruction of three concert bands, jazz band, percussion ensemble, AP music theory and the Forest Park High School Marching Bruin Band, a fourteen-time Virginia Honor Band. Davern received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education at Boston University in 2017, where he studied trombone with Don Lucas and conducting with David Martins. He also studied abroad at the Royal College of Music in London. Davern received his master’s degree in wind conducting at James Madison University in 2019, where he served as the graduate assistant of the university’s concert and athletic band program under the direction of Dr. Stephen Bolstad. Shawn is also a proud alumni of the Gamma Alpha Chapter of the Brotherhood of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. During his time in Massachusetts, Shawn was the recipient of the 2017 Massachusetts Music Educators Association Promising Young Music Educator Award. He also served as Coordinator of Jazz Ensembles at Boston University and Manager of the Boston University Big Band. Shawn has appeared as a guest conductor with the Boston University Trombone Choir, James Madison University Trombone Choir, Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony in concert. An Elegant Sufficiency derives its namesake from an old-fashioned line that my grandfather, Clark Edward Briggs, was famous for quoting. At any given family gathering or meal, whenever my grandfather was finished eating, he would state aloud “I have had an elegant sufficiency, any more would be a vulgar superfluity.” There was something about the quote that has always resonated with me, whether it was the eloquent syntax of the line or just the sheer finesse of how he spoke. I have always thought that this quote best encapsulated the grace, sophistication, and ingenuity of my grandfather, his generation, and the time of which he grew up in. From a life well lived of 91 years, An Elegant Sufficiency focuses on a specific moment in my grandfather’s life that he shared with his greatest love, my grandmother Betty Mahaffy Briggs. In 1945, World War II was well under way when Clark received his deployment orders to ship out from Boston, Massachusetts to France as an Army Engineer. During this time in history, the date and location of deployment of American troops was highly classified; not even loved ones were privy to this information. Having been married for only a few months, Clark was determined to say goodbye to his new bride, not knowing what the future would hold. In a long-distance phone PROGRAM NOTES call to Betty, he was able to convey that he would be attending church, The Mother Church, with his friend on Sunday. Betty, knowing in her heart that it was somehow code, realized that his friend was a Christian Scientist and that The Mother Church was in Boston. With the help of her parents, Betty got on the first train to Boston to reunite and say goodbye to Clark. In its essence, An Elegant Sufficiency serves as a musical narration of my grandparent’s journey through Boston to reunite with each other at the First Church of Christian Science. I have often envisioned their subsequent journeys through the dark streets of 1940’s Boston through the lens of a noir film and in my composition, I attempted to emulate the most popular musical idiom at this time in history, American Jazz. Within the piece, the flugelhorn and flute family act as musical representations of my grandparents, embodying their separate experiences as they eventually come together on the steps of the church. The piece centers around the pitches C, Eb and Bb, a collection of both of Betty and Clark’s initials. The crystal glasses make many appearances as well, as my cousins, brother and I traditionally would annoy our elders at family gatherings with the high-pitched hums. Whether it’s saying goodbye to a loved one before a long journey or eating a delicious meal until reaching satisfaction, An Elegant Sufficiency celebrates those tender moments that we all share with the people we care for most. With time ever fleeting, these brief instances in life are truly enough; to remember who we fight so hard for and who makes the briefest of moments so special. I hope you find some form of contentment with An Elegant Sufficiency. —Shawn Davern Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme Michael Gandolfi was born on July 5, 1956 in Melrose, Massachusetts. A self-taught guitarist, he started experimenting with rock and jazz improvisation at the age of eight.