PROGRAM NOTES
Shimmering Sunshine Kevin Day
Shimmering Sunshine is a composition that depicts the sun whenever it is positioned at high noon, at its brightest point during the day. Throughout the piece, there are different "shimmers" of bright light that bounce around from instrument to instrument, depicting moments of sunshine both beautiful and, at the same time, powerful.
This work was written in conjunction with the M.O.T.I.F triptych consortium, including Across a Golden Sky by Quinn Mason and Midnight Skyline by Josh Trentadue.
Program Note by Kevin Day
Cajun Folksongs
Frank Ticheli
Cajuns are descendants of the Acadians, a group of early French colonists who began settling in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) around 1604. In 1755 they were driven out by the British, eventually resettling in south Louisiana. Today there are nearly a million French-speaking descendants of the Acadians living in Louisiana and parts of Texas, preserving many of the customs, traditions, stories, and songs of their ancestors.
Although a rich Cajun folk song tradition exists, the music has become increasingly commercialized and Americanized throughout the twentieth century, obscuring its original simplicity and directness. In response to this trend, Alan and John Lomax traveled to south Louisiana in 1934 to collect and record numerous Cajun folk songs in the field for the Archive of Folk Music in the Library of Congress. By doing so, they helped to preserve Cajun music in its original form as a pure and powerful expression of Louisiana French Society. La Belle et le Capitaine and Belle can both be heard in their original versions on the Lomax recordings (Swallow LP-8003-2, Swallow Records Co., Ville Platte, Louisiana). La Belle et le Capitaine tells the story of a young girl who feigns death to avoid being seduced by a captain. Its Dorian melody is remarkably free, shifting back and forth between duple and triple meters. In this arrangement the melody is stated three times. The third time an original countermelody is added in flutes, oboe, clarinet, and trumpet.
Belle is about a man who goes away to Texas only to receive word of his sweetheart's illness, forcing him to return to Louisiana. Finding her unconscious upon his return, he pawns his horse to try to save her, to no avail. The folk melody is sometimes varied rhythmically, texturally, and coloristically, and an original melody is added for variety.
Cajun Folk Songs is composed as a tribute to the people of the old Cajun folk song culture with hopes that their contributions will not be forgotten. The work is dedicated to the Murchison Middle School Band, Austin, Texas, Cheryl Floyd, director, who commissioned the work and gave its premiere on May 22, 1990.
Program Note by Frank Ticheli
MoonscapeAwakening Joni Greene
Moonscape Awakening came to life not long ago during the Oregon Bach Festival. During the festival I was approached by band director James Geiger who was looking to commission a work for his band at West Laurens High School in Dublin, Georgia. Mr. Geiger specifically asked for a work in the spirit of my choral piece Autumn Reflections, which focuses on warm colors and scenic imagery.
Thus the inspiration for Moonscape Awakening begins with the presentation of color and texture within the choirs of the wind ensemble. The title is descriptive of a shimmering moon that slowly rises and bursts into an awakening of full presence and intensity. The process of progression to the moon's zenith is presented musically as a slow building of melody, texture, note duration and range
Moonscape Awakening comprises several layered melodic strands. The work's motivic fragments are derived from a solo in the bass clarinet. The full presentation of this main theme is embedded at several points in the work and serves as a melodic echo throughout. Along with the theme's motivic fragments, rising flourishes of sixteenth notes add to the progression of intensity and arrival. After the apex, a journey of releasing tension begins through a spinning out of melodic ideas in the brass and woodwind choirs. The work comes to a close after a final resonating chord with the return of the solo flute.
Moonscape Awakening received its premiere on May 6, 2008, by the West Laurens Wind Ensemble, conducted by James Geiger.
Program Note by Joni Green
Into the Sun
Jodie Blackshaw
Into the Sun is a scrapbook of stories told by many of their passage to Australia, whether it be as free settlers in the 1800s, post World War II immigrants or refugees seeking asylum with a focus on those who came to the Western Sydney region. It is roughly in six sections: Arrival; A New Land, a New Life; Camps & Confusion; Acculturation: A Yearning for Home and All That is Familiar; Opportunity: With New-Found Enthusiasm; Reflection: With a Feeling of Inner Peace of Calmness.
Into the Sun was written to raise awareness regarding be plight of refugees. Whilst the stories used pertain to people gaining residency in Australia, they remain universal. Students are able to read real-life stories that the composer has used as inspiration and directors have the opportunity to explore more localized stories within the context of their own country with their students. Tolerance comes from understanding and it is the composer’s desire for all people to love one another. This piece was written to encourage all children to gain an understanding of the desperate situation so many refugees are placed in and how important it is to help them when and where possible.
Program Note by Jodie Blackshaw
Shortcut Home
Dana Wilson
Shortcut Home is a rousing, rather elaborate fanfare that features each section of the ensemble. Drawing upon various jazz styles, the music proclaims and cascades, always driving towards the "home" of the final, C Major chord.
Shortcut Home was commissioned by the Hillsborough (New Jersey) High School Band, Mindy Scheierman, director.
Program Note by Dana Wilson
Ye Banks and Braes O’Bonnie Doon
Percy Aldridge Grainger Grainger considered the folk singers the "kings and queens of song...lords in their own domain -- at once performers and creators." He once described concert singers as slaves to tyrannical composers. It was for the wind band, a "vehicle of deeply emotional expression, that Grainger made some of his most memorable folk song settings, several of which are now cornerstones of band repertoire. Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon is a slow, sustained Scottish folk tune.
Grainger's original setting of this was done in 1901 for "men's chorus and whistler," and the present version for band was published in 1936.
Program Note from Program Notes for Band
Mock Morris
Percy Aldridge Grainger
Grainger produced several versions of Mock Morris for different media. This transcription is based on the string orchestra version, composed in 1910, but takes several scoring ideas from the 1950 version which Grainger made for Leopold Stokowski. The composition is best described by Grainger in the preface to the string orchestra score: "No folk-music tune stuffs at all are used herein. The rhythmic cast of the piece is Morris-like, but neither the build of the tunes nor the general lay-out of the form keeps to the Morris dance shape."
Program note by Joe Kreines
Instinctive Travels Michael Markowski
The title, Instinctive Travels, was somewhat influenced by the 90s hip-hop album People's Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm by the group Tribe Called Quest. One of the things I love about the hip-hop genre is an attraction to complex rhythms and metric design. While there are no traditional hip-hop beats in this symphonic work, the piece is incredibly infected by rhythm, particularly a primary ostinato and other small fragments.
For me, there is something primal about rhythm that inspired a more animalistic and chaotic musical landscape. For the listener (and especially the musicians!) there is little breathing room among the tension. As the musical action reaches its peak, the brass choir recites a quotation of the hymnal All Things Bright and Beautiful. This comes as a brief release, but remains plagued by the primary rhythmic motif, stated sharply in the upper woodwinds. The evolution of the piece continues to modulate and expand, never officially reaching a traditional climax. Instead, the ending is abrupt and open (in fifths) until the search for resolution and climactic payoff can start again, perhaps in another piece.
Program Note by Michael Markowski
