Sunday, March 4, 2018 • 3:00 P.M. WIND SYMPHONY Erica Neidlinger, conductor DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Sunday, March 4, 2018 • 3:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall WIND SYMPHONY Erica Neidlinger, conductor PROGRAM Ron Nelson (b. 1929) Aspen Jubilee (1984) Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) Mysterium (2011) Michael Colgrass (b. 1932) Winds of Nagual (1985) The Desert: Don Juan Emerges from the Mountains Don Genaro Appears Carlos Stares at the River and Becomes a Bubble The Gait of Power Asking Twilight for Calmness and Power Don Juan Clowns for Carlos Last Conversation and Farewell Percy Grainger (1882-1961); arr. Mark Rogers The Gumsucker’s March (1942) WIND SYMPHONY • MARCH 4, 2018 PROGRAM NOTES Ron Nelson (b. 1929) Aspen Jubilee (1984) Duration: 11 minutes Ron Nelson began studying piano as a child with the ambition of becoming an organist. Due to his great interest in improvisation, his piano teacher insisted that he write his ideas down which eventually led to his first composition at age 6. Nelson studied with Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers at Eastman. After additional studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique and the Paris Conservatory, he returned to Eastman to complete a Doctor of Musical Arts. He spent the rest of his teaching career at Brown University. As an Eastman student, Nelson was influenced by the sound of the Eastman Wind Ensemble under the direction of Frederick Fennell. Many of his works for band are scored in an intricate manner, with the “tight, sinewy sound” of Fennell’s wind ensemble in mind. Aspen Jubilee is Nelson’s nod to his 13 summers spent at the Aspen Music Festival, where he immersed himself in memorable music making experiences. He was inspired by the natural beauty of the place. I was thinking of the stupendous beauty of the Rockies in general, of blinding sunlight of snow-covered peak; of the frontier spirit of old Aspen with its brash, funny dynamism, and its corny ragtag Fourth of July parades and fireworks displays. I was also thinking about indescribably beautiful nights under star-filled skies. The piece is a showcase for band with challenging wind parts, an expanded use of colorful percussion, and the added sonority of the human voice. The result is explosive energy and beautiful lyricism. Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) Mysterium (2011) Duration: 6 minutes Jennifer Higdon is one of the leading 21st century American composers, having received numerous commissions and performances by professional ensembles around the world. She is a recipient of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in music for her Violin Concerto and her Percussion Concerto won a Grammy in 2010 for Best Contemporary Classical WIND SYMPHONY • MARCH 4, 2018 Composition. One of her most recent works is a commissioned opera, Cold Mountain, which recently won the International Opera Award for Best World Premiere. Higdon began her musical studies at age 15 as a self-taught flutist, and later pursued formal musical studies at Bowling Green State University where she played in the band. Through Mysterium Higdon contemplates, “the wonderful mystery of how music moves us. Perhaps it is the unexplainable that creates such magic, for both the performer and the listener, but there is no denying the incredible power of a shared musical experience.” Michael Colgrass (b. 1932) Winds of Nagual (1985) Duration: 26 minutes Michael Colgrass built a professional career as a versatile percussionist. During his time as a free-lance musician in New York he performed with ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Modern Jazz Quartet to name a few. He was also in the original pit orchestra for Bernstein’s West Side Story on Broadway. Colgrass studied composition with Darius Milhaud at Aspen and Lukas Foss at Tanglewood. His accomplishments as a composer are many, including the 1978 Pulitzer Prize in music for Déjà vu. Winds of Nagual is the first piece Colgrass wrote for wind ensemble and is unlike most anything in the repertoire. The piece is based on the writings of Carlos Castaneda’s 14-year apprenticeship with a Yaqui Indian sorcerer from Mexico, Don Juan Matus. Castaneda’s series of books recount his training in shamanism with Don Juan whom he met while researching hallucinogenic plants for his master’s thesis in anthropology at UCLA. Don Juan trained Carlos in pre-Colombian techniques of sorcery, the purpose of which was to explore dimensions beyond the conscious world and find the true creative self, or the nagual. The journey occurs in seven movements but with many event descriptors in each. Carlos and Don Juan have recognizable themes that are never stated the same way twice. Each movement evokes WIND SYMPHONY • MARCH 4, 2018 the mood and action of a scene from the books, sometimes in consciousness and sometimes in a trance-like state. Musical gestures might represent voices, emotions, actions, or visions to convey the content of the scene. An exotic introduction sets the image for the ancient religion that permeates the story. Don Juan’s theme soars in the brass as he emerges from The Desert. Carlos’ theme is also introduced, naïve and awkward as stated by the clarinet. By the end of movement one, Don Juan’s theme is already altered in the alto flute, showing his ability to transform himself. In the second movement a friend of Don Juan’s, Don Genaro (a comical character who can disappear and reappear) is introduced and he mocks Carlos in a satirical dance section. The end of the movement musically evaporates as Don Genaro disappears. In a trance-like state, movement three submerges Carlos’ theme in water imagery as he stares into the river. Colgrass uses the alto flute again to carry much of Carlos’ theme, until Don Juan jolts Carlos awake with material drawn from the introduction of The Desert. The Gait of Power refers to the ability to run in the dark. In this movement, Don Juan is agile while Carlos is awkward. Trombone smears indicate something moving in the dark. A terrifying creature leaps at Carlos who runs and is chased. Suddenly, a harmonized version of Carlos’ theme resounds as he exerts his will to stop the creature. A recurring topic in Castaneda’s writing is twilight as a source of power. In movement five, Carlos calls to the desert from a hilltop at twilight. His theme is transformed in this movement, moving through many solo voices as he gains calmness and power. As the final solo passage ends, night falls, the mist rolls in and the moon rises. In the following movement a seemingly more equal relationship is explored as Don Juan Clowns for Carlos. Colgrass combines the themes of the two characters into a Mexican dance. Carlos’ theme later appears in a comically fragmented way and then seemingly falls apart in awkwardness, as if Carlos has learned to laugh at himself. The Last Conversation and Farewell is a final dialogue in which the two characters literally trade phrases, with Don Juan in tenor and bass voices and Carlos in soprano and alto voices. The piece ends with Carlos leaping off a cliff to mark his graduation from disciple to man of knowledge. He has finally reached the nagual. WIND SYMPHONY • MARCH 4, 2018 Percy Grainger (1882-1961); arr. Mark Rogers The Gumsucker’s March (1942) Duration: 4 minutes Percy Grainger studied piano as a child in Australia and in 1900 began his career as a concert pianist, enjoying great success around the world. Grainger immigrated to America in 1914, and became a citizen in 1919. He enlisted as an army bandsman at the outbreak of World War I, an experience that led to his appreciation for most wind and percussion instruments. The soprano saxophone became his favorite because he believed it was the closest instrument to the human voice. The Gum-Sucker’s March was originally the fourth movement of Grainger’s In a Nutshell suite for symphony orchestra written about 1916. He completed the band version in 1942. In the score, Grainger explains: A Gum-Sucker is a nickname for Australians born in Victoria. The eucalyptus trees that abound in Victoria are called gums and the young shoots at the bottom of the trunk are called suckers. Gum-Sucker came to mean a young native son of Victoria, just as Ohioans are nicknamed Buckeyes. Grainger employed what he called “tone-clashfulness” by scoring portions of the march in a bi-tonal fashion. As is common in his orchestrations, he also brings forward double reeds, saxophones, and “tuneful” percussion. Grainger employs his original Australian Up-Country-Song, meant to typify the folk tunes of Australia. He also set this lyrical theme in two other popular band works, Australian Up- Country Tune and Colonial Song. Notes by Erica Neidlinger WIND SYMPHONY • MARCH 4, 2018 BIOGRAPHY Erica Neidlinger is Associate Professor and wind conductor at DePaul University in Chicago. Additional responsibilities include teaching courses in wind history and repertoire, conducting courses, and instrumental music education courses. Dr. Neidlinger’s conducting experiences are broad, ranging from chamber ensembles, contemporary ensembles, symphonic bands, and wind ensembles. She has traveled to Singapore and Canada as an ensemble adjudicator and clinician and has been featured as a guest conductor and clinician in Riga, Latvia and Moscow, Russia. Presentations at international conferences include the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Killarney, Ireland and the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. She has conducted honor bands and presented at many conferences across the United States. She also maintains a highly active schedule as a clinician for ensembles visiting Chicago. Before her teaching at DePaul, Dr.