Sunday, October 14, 2007 - 4:00pm
Donald Hunsberger (b. 1932) arranged Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor, a member of the Baroque canon, by Bach (1685 - 1750) for band as a work to honor Frederick Fennell, the founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. The passacaglia theme is introduced and then elaborated on twenty different ways. Hunsberger takes advantage of this framework and experiments with the different tonal possibilities of a wind ensemble with each new variation. The fugue, which follows, is derived from the first half of the passcaglia theme. Bali was written after Michael Colgrass (b. 1932) spent two summer is Ubud, the arts-and-crafts center of Bali. The sounds of gamelan instruments, as well as a depiction of the 2002 terrorist bombing, find their way into the work. Colgrass is a 1978 pulitzer prize winner in music for his work Déjà vu. Tim Mahr (b. 1956) composed Into the Air! as a commission by the United States Air Force Band, Colonel Lowell Graham, conductor. Inspired in part by the thrill of flying, the listener is treated to soaring melodies and thick harmonies. Mahr is the director of bands of the College of St. Olaf in Northfield, MN where he also teaches courses in composing, conducting, and music education. Paul Dukas (1865 - 1935) could not have possibly dreamed how well-known this scherzo would be in the twentieth century. For better or for worse, The Sorcerer's Apprentice will always be associated with Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney. That being said, Fantasia continues to introduce new generations to the world of classical music and to the possibilities available in the listener's imagination. The Immovable Do by Percy Grainger (1882 - 1961) is classic Grainger in that it takes a simple idea and becomes incredibly intricate, making it very fun to listen to. This work uses the solfege concept of 'do' always being a concert c pitch. Grainger sustains that note through the entire piece. The story goes that Grainger was playing an organ when a key stuck open, commonly called a cipher, and was left to find a way to create music around that note. And so, in that manner the wind ensemble essentially improvises its way around the immovable do.
|
||||||||||