WindSync
P R O G R A M
Dieterich Buxtehude/arr. LaMoure: Passacaglia in D
Minor, BuxWV 161
W.A. Mozart/arr. Rechtman: Serenade in C minor, K. 388
Allegro
Andante
Menuetto in canone
Allegro
–intermission–
Nadia Boulanger/arr. LaMoure: Three Pieces
No. 1 Modéré
No. 2 Sans vitesse et à l'aise
No. 3 Vite et nerveusement rythmé
Philip Glass/arr. LaMoure: Etude no. 17
Viet Cuong: Flora
Century Plant
The Governess
Joshua Tree
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Dieterich Buxtehude: Passacaglia in D minor, BuxWV 161
With its repeating bass line and subtle unfolding, Dieterich Buxtehude’s Passacaglia in D minor is a musical meditation. Like many musicians in 17th century Europe, Buxtehude worked primarily as a church musician, and he practiced a spirituality influenced by numerology and the cosmos. Originally for organ, the D minor passacaglia is broken up into four different sections, each changing key. Within each section, there are seven variations on a seven-note ostinato. Historians have posited that the four sections may be inspired by the four phases of the moon, which were illustrated on a clock at the back of the church where Buxtehude worked.
W. A. Mozart: Serenade in C minor, K. 388
In a letter dated July 27, 1782, Mozart wrote to his father that he was composing a piece of Nacht musique (night music), a designation typically given to music for evening social events. While historians are unsure about the exact chronology of the Serenade in C minor, most likely it is the work mentioned in Mozart’s letter. The manuscript, however, shows that Mozart ultimately titled the work Parthia (partita) before changing his mind again and inscribing Serenada (serenade).
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Mozart’s difficulty in classifying the Serenade in C minor speaks to its weight. Dramatic, profound, and at times even ominous, the piece proceeds more like a symphony than like party music. Particularly notable are the third movement, a clever canon, and the fourth movement, a virtuosic theme and variations.
The 1780s were the heyday of Harmoniemusik, small wind bands employed as entertainers by arts patrons like Habsburg Emperor Joseph II, Viennese noble Prince Schwarzenberg, and music connoisseur Prince Aloys Joseph Liechtenstein. The Serenade in C minor, scored for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons, was likely written for one of these Harmoniemusik patrons. WindSync performs an arrangement by bassoonist and conductor Mordechai Rechtman, who used both the original score and Mozart’s own quintet arrangement for strings as references.
Nadia Boulanger: Three Pieces
A towering figure of twentieth century music, Nadia Boulanger was born in 1887 to a family of musicians and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the remarkable age of nine, where she and her sister Lili stood among Gabriel Fauré’s most promising students. Lili’s untimely death in
1918 caused Nadia to abandon composing in favor of teaching composition to the next generation of musicians. The career shift, while tragic in origin, ultimately earned Boulanger cult-like status. Composer Ned Rorem described her as the “greatest teacher since Socrates,” and her influence was particularly acute on American music, with the likes of Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Quincy Jones, and Philip Glass citing her as an important influence. While brief and self-critical, Boulanger’s compositional period yielded works that could serve as master classes in and of themselves for their rigor and harmonic interest.
Boulanger’s Trois Pièces were composed for organ over a number of years, but they are best known in a version for cello and piano published in 1914. Folk-like melodies and old-style counterpoint filter through modes and harmonies associated with French “Impressionist” composers like Fauré and Debussy. Rather than feature a single solo instrument, WindSync’s adaptation is scored for a more organ-like mixture of instrumental colors.
Philip Glass/arr. LaMoure: Etude no. 17
Philip Glass is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. His family’s record store influenced his early listening as much as did
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conservatory-style training at Peabody, the University of Chicago, and Juilliard. His career has similarly bridged several worlds, including the founding of the Philip Glass Ensemble, high-profile opera and film commissions, and jobs as a crane operator and a taxi driver.
From 1964-1966, Glass studied harmony and counterpoint with Nadia Boulanger, and in his autobiography he writes, “I have not written a note of music that wasn’t influenced by her.” Glass’s interest in composing etudes calls back to the intensive training he received in Paris, building musical skills from the ground up.
The 20 etudes for piano were composed between 1991 and 2012, all in characteristic style with repetitive structures. Glass composed the first ten etudes (Book 1) to explore varied tempi, textures, and piano techniques, and as a way to improve his own piano playing. Glass describes the following ten etudes (Book 2) as “ a series of new adventures in harmony and structure.” Etude No. 17, taken from Book 2, was commissioned for the 25th Anniversary of the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, and premiered in 2012.
Etude #17 by Philip Glass 2012 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc. Used by Permission.
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Viet Cuong: Flora
As a child I was a standard grade explorer, catching bugs and traipsing around in the yard of our suburban Georgia home. But, somewhere along the way, I developed a fear of insects and a dislike for dirt. At the start of adolescence, I became a decidedly indoor kid. This remained true for many years, until as an adult I returned to Georgia and rented a home with a yard to take care of. Like so many people during the pandemic, I became a gardener. I shed some of that aversion to worms, got back in the dirt, and came to love tending to our little patch of earth. It also served to make me more aware of all the plant life around me, wild and otherwise. When life brought me from the lush environs of the southeast to the deserts of the southwest, I didn’t leave behind my interest in the flora. This piece, commissioned by Chamber Music Tulsa for WindSync, features three musical vignettes dedicated to some of the plants that make it work here in the Mojave, my home.
Century Plant
The American agave can live for decades, giving birth to “ pups ” that share its wide and spiny leaves. In a brief and bittersweet finale, it sends up a magnificent, towering flower stalk before withering.
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The Governess
Larrea Tridentata, or creosote bushes, are ubiquitous in the Mojave, with one stand of bushes said to be nearly twelve thousand years old. Having stood watch in the desert for so long, it’s no wonder it’s called “gobernadora” in Mexico. Its perfume, drawn forth by the monsoons, is the smell of desert rain.
Joshua Tree
An emblem of the Mojave. This contorted, wooly looking native tree has its own national park, but also peppers the highways of the Las Vegas Valley and my commute. It’s world famous, yet still one of the locals.
P E R S O N N E L
Garrett Hudson, flute
Noah Kay, oboe
Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet
Anni Hochhalter, horn
Kara LaMoure, bassoon
Versatile and vibrant, the musicians of WindSync “play many idioms authoritatively, elegantly, with adroit technique, and with great fun” (All About the Arts), showing off the uniquely wide-ranging sounds of the wind quintet. WindSync’s charismatic and personal performance style, combined with a three-pronged mission of artistry, education, and community-building, lends the group its reputation as “virtuosos who are also wonderful people, too" (Alison Young, Classical MPR).
WindSync has enjoyed an international touring career since winning the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The group has regularly appeared on notable chamber music stages throughout the United States and abroad, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, Ravinia, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Rockport Music, and Emerald City Music. Building a new repertoire, WindSync’s recent
premieres include works by Marc Mellits, Ivan Trevino, Mason Bynes, Nathalie Joachim, and Pulitzer finalist Michael Gilbertson.
WindSync has also served in residencies with the Grand Teton Music Festival, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and the Lied Center, and they work with local partners to craft musical events for cities out of range of large arts organizations. Winner of the 2022 Fischoff Ann Divine Educator Award, the ensemble regularly coaches at training programs nationwide, collaborates with youth orchestras, and performs for thousands of young people each year.
On the heels of “All Worlds, All Times,” WindSync’s 2022 release that “will make you want to get up and dance” (The Whole Note), the quintet’s second commercial album, recorded with composer Miguel del Aguila at Abbey Road Studios, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart in 2024.
More information: www.windsync.org
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Instagram: @windsync
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