11.20.23 Crane Wind Ensemble

Evening Concert Series Helen H. Hosmer Concert Hall

2023 – 2024 Season Monday, November 20th at 7:30 PM

The Crane Wind Ensemble Brian K. Doyle, conductor

A Fanfare for Gaea (c.1972)

Gregoria Karides Suchy (1923-2018) World Premiere

Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan (2006) Duende (2009) Allegro guisto Animato Cadenza a piacere; molto sentito – Lento evocative Tempo di Buleria

Robert Sheldon (b. 1954) Luis Serrano Alarcón (b. 1972)

Intermission

Voices Shouting Out (2023)

Nkeiru Okoye

(b. 1972) Consortium Premiere To Celebrate A Miracle (1999) Maoz Tsur O Chanukah, O Chanukah Mi Zeh Hidlik Chanukah Hu Chag Tov Mi Yemalel Candles in the Night Chanukah Chag Yafeh Maoz Tsur

Samuel Adler (b. 1928)

Dionysiaques, op. 62, no. 1 (1913)

Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)

PERSONNEL Piccolo Emma Fusco * Flute Simone McPartling * Chris Connors Renee Rivers Mark Peragine Matt Williams Oboe Kayla Outman Molly Ronan Mariana Morales English Horn Molly Ronan Bassoon Sophia Markevich Liam Hill Contra Bassoon Jordon Gyarmathy E-flat Clarinet Gianna Montagno Clarinet Nick Alvarez * Libby Sheldon Gianna Montagno Elizabeth Fomenko Brandon McLaughlin Jaelyn Twitchell Ushuaia Diaz Nicholas Derderian David Bobowski

Bass Clarinets Jovany Rivers Abby Rodriguez Evan Mintz

Trombone Tobey Dwyer * Octavia Duvigneaud Victor Mainetti

Soprano Saxophone Claire Ames* Nathaniel Cobb

Bass Trombone Vivian Redmond

Alto Saxophone Claire Ames Nathaniel Cobb Carina Phillips

Euphonium Jennifer Carden * Aidan Sears

Tenor Saxophone Kerri Rauschelbach

Tuba Analiese Meidenbauer * John Lithco Henry Stringer

Baritone Saxophone Celeste LaFlamm

Double Bass Chris Gilbert

Trumpet Ryan Rafferty * Layne Sullivan * Olivia Montagno Andrew Shiebler Molly Collins Dan Isak Joshua York

Percussion Bailey Yeardon * Wyatt Calcote Kameron Balcom Elisabeth Skalski Hailey Gomez Nadav Isak

Horn Heather Murphy Gianna Ingersoll Sophia Randazzo Dario Longobardi David Nesbitt

Piano Jack Jiang Harp Ricky Chui Librarians Ashley Colucci Kayla Outman * Section Principal

PROGRAM NOTES A Fanfare for Gaea

Gregoria Karides Suchy

Gregoria Karides Suchy wrote for a variety of media, including electronics. Her compositions, many of which received awards and prizes, have been performed by eminent artists and groups including the New York Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; the International Society of Contemporary Music; Rudolph Ganz, piano; Leonard Sorkin and Gerald Fischbach, violins; also, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (American Composers Festival); and the National Association of Composers-USA. “Greg,” as she was known, was born into a Greek immigrant extended family of photographers and musicians.

As Professor of Composition and Music Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she taught for over fifty years, she was a passionate teacher. Her own mentors included J. Thomas Oakes, Anthony Donato, Alexander Tcherepnin, Rudolph Ganz, and Ralph Shapey.

Composition for me is sometimes a flurry, a tumultuous engulfing of ideas. More often, it is a painstaking process of inspired crafting guided by a dash of dependable intuition. My best efforts have often come in the middle of the night or in the dark hours of the morning when the world was remote and the ideas buried within could speak more clearly to me. Composing is often a lonely process, the initial nakedness of one's ideas makes retreat seem desirable, but then the musical thoughts are clothed and ready to be set forth into the world. That is an exciting, yet formidable moment. Will others share the beauty I sense? Perhaps it shouldn't matter; I compose neither just for myself nor solely for others, but simply because I must.

In Greek mythology, the goddess Gaea is the personification of the earth. She emerged from Chaos, the proto-god who existed before the universe. Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the god of the heavens, and together they created the twelve Titans. Other than the Greek connection, nothing is known about Fanfare for Gaea, and, as no parts were located with the score in the composer’s calligraphy, this performance is almost certainly its world premiere. The style of writing, including strong atonality, chordal sonorities, and use of mixed meter is similar to that found in The Ass in the Lion’s Skin and Soliloquy sans C, suggesting that it was written in the early to mid-1970s.

Program Note by Jessica Suchy Pilalis

Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan

Robert Sheldon

Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan was Robert Sheldon’s second commission received from director Lisa Preston and the Normal Community West High School Band (Normal, IL). Their first collaboration, A Longford Legend, was written during 1995, the school’s opening year. Metroplex was commissioned to celebrate the band’s spring 2005 performance at Carnegie Hall.

A musical portrait of Manhattan’s cityscape, Metroplex opens with a vision of the New York City skyline, evoking looming buildings and concrete canyons. From there, the melody travels to the heart of an urban jazz scene, characteristic of the city’s famous night clubs. Finally, the piece takes the listener on a wild taxi ride through the heavy traffic of the bustling metropolis. The skyline is seen once more as we leave Manhattan, hopefully to return again soon.

Program Note by Robert Sheldon

Duende

Luis Serrano Alarcón The duende…. Where is the duende?

Through the empty archway a wind of spirit enters, blowing insistently over the heads of the dead, in search of new landscapes and unknown accents: a wind with the odour of a child’s saliva, crushed grass, and medusa’s veil, announcing the endless baptism, of freshly created things.

Federico García Lorca Theory and Play of the Duende, 1933

The term duende is used in flamenco to refer to this state of inspiration and supreme perceptiveness, almost magic, which is only reached by the performer in few occasions. It’s also used, in extension, to define a person when someone has a special grace, something difficult to define but that makes him different from the rest.

The use of the work Duende as the title of this collection of symphonic preludes, independently of its poetic significance, is mainly based on the fact that I found my principal inspiration for the composition in the Spanish popular music. Listening to the piece, one can hear, among other features, the symphonic energy of de Falla’s scores, the intimacy of Iberia by Albinez, the magic of the guitar played by Tomatito or Paco de Lucía, the festive happiness of Granadian Sacromonte (a popular flamenco neighborhood in Granada), but specifically – and I insist in this one – the obvious presence of winks to other musical styles, such as jazz or Latin music. With this style fusion, I want to reflect in a symbolic way where our Spanish society stands nowadays: a society with many traditions, but at the same time a cosmopolitan and modern community, which cannot be different in these modern times we are living.

Note by Luis Serrano Alarcón

Voices Shouting Out

Nkeiru Okoye

A native New Yorker, Nkeiru Okoye penned the initial sketches of what would become Voices Shouting Out on New Year’s Eve, 2001/02. The completed work premiered six weeks later by the Virgina Symphony and has continued to delight and captivate audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

I wrote Voices… in the wake of September 11th; however, in my grieving process, I failed to find music within. It was though my muse crumbled with our twin towers. So, though I originally attempted to compose a piece – Voices Crying Out – in response to the destruction…I could not. As this nation recovered, we were united in a response: we would resume our lives, using normalcy to defy the terrorism. In the end, rather than “crying out,” my official response was “Voices Shouting Out” in freedom, as it were, through the music. It was a march to acknowledge those fighting on behalf of our safety, and yet sparking a celebration of life for those of us who continue living.

The Virginia Symphony commissioned Voices Shouting Out for a multicultural program titled, “Of Heroes and Human Rights,” conducted by Wes Kenney. The wind ensemble version was commissioned in 2023 by a consortium led by Jonathan Caldwell, director of bands at UNC Greensboro.

Program Note by Nkeiru Okoye

To Celebrate A Miracle

Samuel Adler

Samuel Adler’s To Celebrate A Miracle for large wind ensemble incorporates the melodies of nine of the most popular and bestknown Hanukka-related songs and hymns (seven secular and two liturgical), creatively developing their constituent motives and phrases, and judiciously exploiting the various timbres and technical possibilities of the individual instruments. The number nine here was intended by the composer to represent the nine candles or lights in the Hanukka m’nora (candelabrum) on the last night of the festival. All but one -Y’mei ha’hanukka – are also featured in Adler’s choral work The Flames of Freedom.

Program Note by Neil W. Levin

Dionysiaques, op. 62, no. 1

Florent Schmitt

Florent Schmitt was a French composer, pianist and music critic. Throughout his life, Schmitt was valued for his independent spirit and refusal to be identified with any “school” or group. In a time when many composers embraced Impressionism, his music – albeit influenced by Debussy – was admired for its energy, dynamism, grandeur and virility, and for its union of French clarity and German strength. Schmitt was a pioneer in his lifetime, rejected by some and embraced by others for a style that influenced and helped prepare for later innovations by Stravinsky, Ravel, Honneger and Roussel. Long associated with Stravinsky, Schmitt attended the historically scandalous premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps, rising in support of the composer, but only adding to the mayhem by accosting socialites (from the 16th Arrondissement) trying to deride and heckle the performance, shouting, “Taisez-vous garces du seizième!”

Dionysiaques, op. 62, no. 1 is a symphonic tone poem in the manner of Strauss, but it contains a distinctly French harmonic language.

At times the sonority is reminiscent of Ravel, and at other times the intense energy evokes shades of Stravinsky. The work was written in 1913 for the Garde Republicaine Band but was not premiered until 1925. The Garde’s membership was 100 players strong, including a brass band of eighteen, twenty-eight B-flat clarinets and 12 percussionists. Other instruments were paired – even those normally considered “solo” instruments - piccolo, E-flat clarinet, and tenor & baritone saxophones. Also included were uncommon instruments such as sarrusophone (now played by contrabassoon) and bass saxophone.

The title, Dionysiaques, is derived from the festivals held to honor Dionysus, the mythological Greek god of fertility, wine and drama.

The music does not contain an explicit program, but Schmitt clearly conveys a sensual and exotic atmosphere that gradually builds in intensity, finally revealing a primal, orgiastic musical climax. The work is in two large formal sections ABAB – slow and fast –

with the second part recalling elements from the first. The opening section is scored more transparently – with many solos woven into a tapestry that is rhythmically and chromatically fluid. Schmitt writes that this section should have a character of “Oriental nonchalance…” The second section is far more structured and intense, with its fast tempo and thicker scoring. Melodies and rhythms often flow from section to section, entwining with seductive flair. While intense, Schmitt alternates massive sonorities with more thinly scored expressive passages, describing the ecstatic energy of the Dionysian ritual.