Program Notes
Symphony for Brass and Percussion (1952/1967) | Alfred Reed |
The Symphony for Brass and Percussion, originally completed in the summer of 1952, received its first performance in December of that year at the College Band Directors National Association convention in Chicago, by members of the Oberlin Symphonic Band under the direction of Donald I. Moore, to whom the work is dedicated. It is the composer’s second major work for the Wind-Brass-Percussion ensemble, following Russian Christmas Music, and represents an attempt at exploring the possibilities for utilizing brass and percussion sonorities in an extended piece. The music is in three movements. The first opens with a broad introduction in which most of the thematic material of the movement is exposed. The allegro section takes the form of an intensive hard-driven march, but it is in triple rather than the usual duple time. The basic theme, already presented in the introduction, is treated with alternate quartal and tertial harmonies, although it is built mainly in fourths throughout. A quiet, almost chorale-like middle section follows the dying away of this first part, after which the original march-like theme returns and brings the first movement to an ending of great sonority. The second movement, by contrast, is in three-part song form, beginning with a long, lyrical line in baritone, horn and tuba colorings, which is later taken up by the trumpets and trombones. The second part begins as a six-part fugato developing over pedal point in the timpani. This reaches a high climax which dies away in preparation for the return of the original theme. This is now heard in tuned percussion colors, finally to be taken up again by the original baritone, horn and tuba grouping, bringing the movement to a quiet close. The third movement is a rondo built on Latin-American rhythms, with the percussion section augmented by three tom-toms, tuned to low, middle and high pitches. It begins with an undulating rhythmic background over which the tubas state a motive which rises higher and higher in register until it is caught up by full trumpets and trombones. This is developed with rhythmic alterations, then dies away, yielding to the second part, which consists of a long lyrical line in canon between the trumpets, set over an inner pedal point figure in the horns. A basso ostinato is sounded by baritone and tuba in octaves. The horns, first in two and then in four parts, take over this theme in turn, followed by trumpets and trombones returning to the first section and its hard-driving rhythms. A short, broadened version of the first theme forms the coda, bringing the movement, as well as the entire Symphony, to a powerful conclusion. -Program note from score | |
Four Scottish Dances (1957/1978) | Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006) |
These dances were composed early in 1957, and are dedicated to the BBC Light Music Festival. They are all based on original melodies but one, the melody of which is composed by Robert Burns. The first dance is in the style of a slow strathspey -- a slow Scottish dance in 4/4 meter -- with many dotted notes, frequently in the inverted arrangement of the "Scottish snap." The name was derived from the strath valley of Spey. The second, a lively reel, begins in the key of E-flat and rises a semi-tone each time it is played until the bassoon plays it, at a greatly reduced speed, in the key of G. The final statement of the dance is at the original speed in the home key of E-flat. The third dance is in the style of a Hebridean song and attempts to give an impression of the sea and mountain scenery on a calm summer's day in the Hebrides. The last dance is a lively fling, which makes a great deal of use of the open string pitches of the violin (saxophones in the band edition). - Program note from the composer – Malcolm Arnold | |
Variations on “America” (1891/1968) | Charles Ives (1874 – 1954) |
Variations on "America" was originally a composition for organ. Composed in 1891 when Ives was seventeen, it is an arrangement of a traditional tune, known as My Country, 'Tis of Thee, and was at the time the de facto anthem of the United States. The tune is also widely recognized in Thomas Arne's orchestration as the British National Anthem, God Save the Queen, and in the former anthems of Russia, Switzerland, and Germany, as well as being the current national anthem of Liechtenstein and royal anthem of Norway. The variations are a witty, irreverent piece for organ, probably typical of a “silly” teenage phenom like Ives. According to his biographers, the piece was played by Ives in organ recitals in Danbury and Brewster, New York, during the same year. At the Brewster concert, his father would not let him play the pages which included canons in two or three keys at once, because they were “unsuitable for church performance – They upset the elderly ladies and made the little boys laugh and get noisy!” This work was transcribed for orchestra in 1964 by William Schuman and for band in 1968 by William Rhodes. -Program note by composer Charles Ives | |
Epitaph XIV: Harvest of Sorrow (Ukraine) (2022) | Martin Ellerby |
My ongoing series of Epitaphs, begun in 1986, have progressed from being solely concerned with Second World War subjects and moved into a broader theatre of memorial pieces now encompassing any tragedy from the personal to the collective. This is mentioned as number 14 joins the series and might be seen as an allegory on another, later tragedy, in the same nation state, perpetrated by the same aggressor neighbor. In the years between 1932 and 1933 the Soviet Communist Party put in place a system of dispossession and deportation of millions of Ukranian peasant farmers and families, abolishing private property and concentrating those remaining into farms under Party control. There then followed an organised famine on these people, with impossible production targets imposed upon them, all other food sources being removed and all outside assistance denied from teaching them. The result was some 3.9 million deaths, more than the total number of lives lost in the First World War. The chief culprit of these purges was the then Soviet leader Josef Stalin. You may well ask why? This was a plot to substitute the Ukraine’s farms with state administered collectives and punish any independence-minded nationals posing a challenge to totalitarian authority. A salient feature of this, and other such atrocities, is that history has a habit of repeating itself. There is a clear parallel with what became known as the Holodomor (a combination of the Ukranian words for ‘starvation’ and ‘to inflict death’) with the recent 2022 Russian military invasion upon this same, but now, Ukrainian democracy. This connection was not lost on the composer and my Harvest of Sorrow epitaph was written in the days folllowing the 21st century Russian assault and completed whilst the citizens of Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, were bravely holding out against the occupying force’s merciless assault, all instigated by the latter day Russian dictator Vladmir Putin along with state managed misinformation relayed to his own captive citizens, emboldened by brazen lies to the free world. From the musical perspective this particular epitaph is scored for the largest forces to date, effectively a full symphonic wind orchestra or concert band with additional instruments such as harp and piano. It is an emotive reaction to an actual event, reflective rather than graphic whilst, without any text, sounds a musical cri de cour to contemporary events. The work opens in trepidation with a recurring (ritornello) motif that sets a brutal mood. However there follows a series of interludes that represent the more gengle nature of the oppressed people: a foldsong verse and chorus with a brass chorale in swift pursuit - these are repeated in enhanced orchestrations throughout the journey, being occasionally interrupted by the ritornello material, reminding us of the surrounding oppression. The concluding coda (apotheosis) transforms all the previous thoughts from rich textures to unison consolidation, the old adage ‘never again’, clearly suspended in the silent, screaming air… -Program note from the composer – Martin Ellerby | |
Deciduous (2023) | Viet Cuong |
For a long time after my father passed away, I felt like I had “lost my leaves.” In the way that leaves harness light to create energy for trees and plants, I felt like I had so little left to harness creatively. Many days I feared those leaves would never grow back. After struggling for months to write, I finally found some healing while creating Deciduous. This involved revisiting chord progressions that brought me solace as a child and activating them in textures that I have enjoyed exploring as an adult. The piece cycles through these chord progressions, building to a moment where it’s stripped of everything and must find a way to renew itself. While I continue to struggle with this loss, I have come to understand that healing is not as much of a linear process as it is a cyclical journey, where, without fail, every leafless winter is following by a spring. Thank you to the Florida Bandmasters Association for commissioning Deciduous in 2023. -Program note by composer Viet Cuong | |
