Yale Concert Band Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director
feat. Frank Morelli Yale School of Music Professor of Bassoon Friday, February 14, 2020, at 7:30 pm, Woolsey Hall, Yale University LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN ed. John Boyd PAUL HINDEMITH NANCY GALBRAITH PERCY GRAINGER ed. Frederick Fennell
Geschwindmarsch I. March in F (1809) Symphonia Serena Movement 2: Paraphrase of Beethoven’s Geschwindmarsch (1947) Audible Images (2014) Lincolnshire Posy (1937) I. Lisbon (Sailor’s Song) II. Horkstow Grange (The Miser and his Man: A Local Tragedy) III. Rufford Park Poachers (Poaching Song) IV. The Brisk Young Sailor (who returned to wed his True Love) V. Lord Melbourne (War Song) VI. The Lost Lady Found (Dance Song) ~ Intermission ~
STEPHEN MICHAEL GRYC
HERBERT L. CLARKE arr. Thomas C. Duffy
Guignol: Concerto for Bassoon and Small Orchestra of Winds and Percussion (2016) I. Disputes II. A Strange Occurrence in the Night III. Running Amok Frank Morelli, bassoon From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (1912) Frank Morelli, bassoon Boola Boola Bassoon Extravaganza (2020) Frank Morelli and friends, bassoons
MICHAEL GANDOLFI
Vientos y Tangos (2002)
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA ed. Keith Brion
The Liberty Bell (1893)
About Tonight’s Music a. Geschwindmarsch I. March in F (1809) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) (ed. John Boyd) b. Symphonia Serena, Movement 2, Paraphrase of Beethoven’s Geschwindmarsch (1947) PAUL HINDEMITH (1895-1963) Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the Geschwindmarsch in its original form in 1809 for the Archduke Anton. Later that year, Beethoven altered the title to March of the Bohemian Militia. The composer rescored the march in 1810, and two years later added a trio and entitled the work Tattoo No. 1. The work eventually became popular under the title of York March, or Yorkscher March. Paul Hindemith composed his Symphonia Serena in 1946. The four-movement symphonic work was written for Antal Dorati and the Dallas Symphony. The second movement of the piece is entitled Geschwindmarsch: Paraphrase, and is written solely for orchestra wind section. For his Geschwindmarsch, Hindemith paraphrases Beethoven’s Geschwindmarsch of 1809, and the themes of Beethoven’s Tattoo can be heard throughout the piece. Geschwindmarsch exploits the sonorities of wind instruments and their various groupings in an ingenious fashion — an identifiable trait in much of Hindemith’s music.
Audible Images (2014) NANCY GALBRAITH (b. 1951) Galbraith says of her piece: “Like most of my instrumental music, this one is entirely non-programmatic and, as always, I was searching for a colorful title but reluctant to name it something that might be misleading or create false expectations. I thought this piece was especially full of ‘musical imagery’ so I called it Audible Images.”
Lincolnshire Posy (1937) PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER (1882-1961) (ed. Frederick Fennell) Grainger conceived of Lincolnshire Posy as a “bunch of musical wildflowers” based on folksongs that he collected with a wax-cylinder recorder in Lincolnshire, England, in 1905-1906. Grainger set the folk-tunes exactly as they were rendered by the singers, complete with asymmetrical meters caused by breathing pauses, and “off-tunings” as one would hear in solo folk singing. The first movement, “Lisbon,” is a sailor’s song in a brisk 6/8 meter with “plenty of lilt” and varied accompaniment. The second movement, “Horkstow Grange,” also presents a simple folk tune and a series of re-harmo-
YALE CONCERT BAND nized repetitions. Its shifting accents and changing beats per measure approximate the rhythmic flexibility of English folk songs. The third movement, “Rufford Park Poachers,” is the longest and most complex movement of the piece. An opening piccolo/ clarinet duo offers an asymmetrical melody answered in fugue by an oboe/bassoon duo. The blurring of the line, the four-octave spread of the canons, and the ominous brass figures that fade in and out of the background textures all suggest glimpses of the poachers adrift in their boats in the mist. The fourth movement, “The Brisk Young Sailor,” is a lighthearted sea shanty, suggesting the swagger of a young sailor freshly ashore. “Lord Melbourne,” the fierce fifth movement, begins in free time, “heavy and fierce,” and the beat lengths vary. The final movement, “The Lost Lady Found,” concludes Lincolnshire Posy with a conventional folk song setting in straight 3/4 time. Guignol: Concerto for Bassoon and Small Orchestra of Winds and Percussion (2016) STEPHEN MICHAEL GRYC (b. 1949) The character of Guignol was created at the beginning of the nineteenth century by a dentist in Lyon, France, who attracted customers to his chair by presenting puppet shows. The verbally adept puppet characters were based on those of the Italian commedia dell’arte and the stories were relevant to the social concerns of the day, so the shows attracted adults as well as children. The scenarios inevitably ended with the clever and courageous Guignol evildoers. The satirical music of the concerto epitomizes the witty banter and frenetic action of a puppet show with the soloist playing the part of the comic hero. The titles of the three movements provide a general description of the mood and character of the music though not a specific plot or program. Listeners may imagine their own scenarios suggested by the titles: Disputes, A Strange Occurrence in the Night, and Running Amok. Guignol: Concerto for Bassoon and Small Orchestra of Winds and Percussion was commissioned by conductor J. Thomas Seddon IV and the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse for bassoonist Richard Hoenich. The concerto was completed in December of 2016 and was premiered on April 23, 2017 by soloist Hoenich and the UWL Wind Ensemble conducted by Dr. Seddon. Stephen Michael Gryc’s expertise in writing for orchestral instruments has brought him commissions from some of the world’s leading soloists including principal players of the New York Philharmonic. Gryc’s music has been performed by groups such as the Minnesota Orchestra and the United States Marine Band, and Gryc has won awards such as the Rudolf Nissim Price for orchestral composition from the ASCAP Foundation. The composer’s works are published by companies in New York and Paris and are recorded on compact discs from nine different commercial labels. His music has been performed in 46 states and 34 countries and at 186 colleges and universities worldwide. Gryc earned four degrees in music from the University of Michigan where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom. Dr. Gryc is professor emeritus of music composition at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford where he taught for 35 years. From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (1912) HERBERT L. CLARKE (1867-1945) Herbert L. Clarke is regarded by many as one of the finest cornet players of all time, noted not only for his amazing technique but also for his warm, lyrical tone. He has left a multitude of cornet solos as well as collections of studies which are still very widely used. He was a member of The Sousa Band briefly in 1893, and
then from 1898 to 1917, where he was not only the distinguished cornet soloist, but also became assistant director. From The Shores Of The Mighty Pacific is an all-time favorite rondo-caprice cornet solo and was first published in 1912. Tonight, the part of Herbert L Clarke will be played on the bassoon by Professor Frank Morelli. Boola Boola Bassoon Extravaganza (2020) (arr. Thomas C. Duffy) This unique ensemble asked for an arrangement of some of Yale’s traditional fight songs. The Boola Boola Extravaganza was premiered at a bassoon gala at Yale in December 2019. Joining Professor Morelli on bassoon this evening are Yale Concert Band members Maddy Tung TD ’21 and Bradford Case SM ’20, and Yale School of Music students Tamara Snyder ’21, Andrew Sledge ’20, Dana Brink ’19, Eleni Katz ’20, and Philip McNaughton ’20. Vientos y Tangos (2002) MICHAEL GANDOLFI (b. 1956)
“Vientos y Tangos (Winds and Tangos) was commissioned by The Frank L. Battisti 70th Birthday Commission Project and is dedicated to Frank Battisti in recognition of his immense contributions to the advancement of concert wind literature. It was Mr. Battisti’s specific request that I write a tango for wind ensemble. In preparation for this piece, I devoted several months to the study and transcription of tangos from the early style of Juan D’arienzo and the ‘Tango Nuevo’ style of Astor Piazzolla to the current trend of ‘Disco/Techno Tango,’ among others. After immersing myself in this listening experience, I simply allowed the most salient features of these various tangos to inform the direction of my work. The dynamic contour and the various instrumental combinations that I employ in the piece are all inspired by the traditional sounds of the bandoneon, violin, piano, and contrabass. “I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Battisti for his inspirational leadership as director of the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble for over thirty years. I first heard Mr. Battisti’s work when I was a student at the New England Conservatory in the late 1970s. I was instantly moved by his high artistic standards, ability to motivate young musicians, and the respect for the composers, past and present, that he always eloquently expressed to his students. I would also like to thank Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr., for his professionalism, collegiality and adept work in organizing the commission project.” — Michael Gandolfi The Liberty Bell (1893) JOHN PHILIP SOUSA (1854-1932) (ed. Keith Brion) Known as the March King, Sousa is one of the most widely respected figures in the American band movement. His many compositions for military and concert band remain staples of the band repertoire. The Liberty Bell has been attributed to three inspirations: Sousa and his manager seeing a huge portrait of the Liberty Bell at a show in Chicago; a letter from Sousa’s wife describing their son’s march in a Philadelphia parade honoring the Liberty Bell; and Sousa’s unashamed patriotism, which predisposed him toward any title with a jingoistic ring — he was sometimes called the Pied Piper of Patriotism.
YALE CONCERT BAND
About Tonight’s Guest Artist Introduced to the bassoon in the Massapequa, NY public schools, Frank Morelli studied with Stephen Maxym at the Manhattan School of Music and later became the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by the Juilliard School. He has made nine appearances as soloist in New York’s Carnegie Hall playing concertos, Sinfonias concertantes, and even a solo ballad with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. The Miami Herald has hailed his “breathtaking virtuosity” and the Toronto Globe and Mail proclaimed his performance: “the kind of Mozart even the most tireless concertgoer is lucky to hear once a year.” Morelli has four solo compact discs on MSR Classics: From the Heart: 20th Century Music for Bassoon and Piano and Romance & Caprice, with pianist Gilbert Kalish, Bassoon Brasileiro with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and guitarist Ben Verdery and Baroque Fireworks, which features harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper and bassoonist Harry Searing. Gramophone magazine proclaimed: “Morelli’s playing is a joy to behold.” The American Record Guide stated: “the bassoon playing on this recording is a good as it gets.” Of his DG recording of the “Mozart Bassoon Concerto” with Orpheus, Gramophone noted the “delicacy of articulation and colouring, [and] the lyrical warmth of the Andante.” Fanfare Magazine added that this recording “reset a reviewer’s standards at too high a level for comfort in a world more productive of ordinary music making.” The Orpheus CD titled Shadow Dances, which features Frank Morelli, won a 2001 Grammy Award. A prolific chamber musician, Frank Morelli appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on numerous occasions, including at the White House for the final State Dinner of the Clinton Presidency. He has participated in many major music festivals, including the Norfolk and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals, Marlboro, Banff, Angel Fire, Casals Festival (France) and Music@Menlo. He is a member of Festival Chamber Music and the woodwind quintet, Windscape, in residence at the Manhattan School of Music with whom he has recorded two recent CDs, one featuring the music of Antonin Dvorak and the other music of Maurice Ravel (which includes his transcriptions of “Mother Goose” and “Valses Nobles et Sentimentales,” both published by TrevCo). Chosen to succeed his teacher, Stephen Maxym, Mr. Morelli serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Yale School of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook, and is Distinguished Lecturer in Woodwinds at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY. Morelli’s students are active in major orchestras and on esteemed faculties throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Far East, and Europe. He is editor of Stravinsky: Difficult Passages for Bassoon, a landmark excerpt book for bassoon and contra bassoon, published by Boosey & Hawkes, and has several transcriptions for bassoon, woodwind quintet and other ensembles to his credit, published by Trevco Music. His unprecedented edition, The First Complete Weissenborn Bassoon Method and Studies Op. 8 Vols. 1&2 and Ludwig Milde’s Scale and Chord Studies Op. 24, is now available worldwide (published by Carl Fischer). Mr. Morelli performs exclusively on the Leitzinger Bassoon Model 1.
About the Music Director Thomas C. Duffy is Professor (Adjunct) of Music, Director of University Bands, and Clinical Professor of Nursing at Yale University, where he has worked since 1982. He has established himself as a composer, a conductor, a teacher, an administrator, and a leader. His interests and research range from non-tonal analysis to jazz, from wind band history to creativity and the brain. Under his direction, the Yale Bands have performed at conferences of the College Band Directors National Association and New England College Band Association; for club audiences at New York City’s Village Vanguard, Birdland, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, and Iridium; Ronnie Scott’s (London); the Belmont (Bermuda); as part of the inaugural ceremonies for President George H.W. Bush; and concertized in twenty-one countries in the course of eighteen international tours. Duffy produced a two-year lecture/performance series, Music and the Brain, with the Yale School of Medicine; and, with the Yale School of Nursing, developed a musical intervention to train nursing students to better hear and identify body sounds with the stethoscope. He combined his interests in music and science to create a genre of music for the bilateral conductor – in which a “split-brained conductor” must conduct a different meter in each hand, sharing downbeats. His compositions have introduced a generation of school musicians to aleatory, the integration of spoken/sung words and “body rhythms” with instrumental performance, and the pairing of music with political, social, historical and scientific themes. He has been awarded the Yale Tercentennial Medal for Composition, the Elm/ Ivy Award, the Yale School of Music Cultural Leadership Citation and certificates of appreciation by the United States Attorney’s Office for his Yale 4/Peace: Rap for Justice concerts – music programs designed for social impact by using the power of music to deliver a message of peace and justice to impressionable middle and high school students. From 1996 to 2006, he served as associate, deputy and acting dean of the Yale School of Music. He has served as a member of the Fulbright National Selection Committee, the Tanglewood II Symposium planning committee, the Grammy Foundation Music Educators Award Screening Committee, and completed the MLE program at the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. He has served as: president of the Connecticut Composers Inc., the New England College Band Directors Association and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA); editor of the CBDNA Journal, publicity chair for the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles; and chair of the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s Professional Affairs and Government Relations committees. For nine years, he represented music education in Yale’s Teacher Preparation Program. He is a member of American Bandmasters Association, American Composers Alliance, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Connecticut Composers Incorporated, the Social Science Club, and BMI. Duffy has conducted ensembles all over the world, including the National Association for Music Education’s National Honor Band in the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (More extensive data is available at www.duffymusic.com, including a high resolution downloadable photo.) Upcoming Yale Bands Performances • Monday, February 17, 2020: Yale Jazz Ensemble Winter Concert, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Celebrating the legacy of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Music by Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, and more. 7:30 pm, Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall. Free. • Saturday, February 29, 2020: Yale Jazz Ensemble (Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director) and Harvard Jazz Band (Yosvany Terry, Music Director) in Boston, with special guests saxophonists Wayne Escoffery and Yosvany Terry. 8:00 pm, Scullers Jazz Club, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA. Tickets: www.scullersjazz.com or call (866) 468-3399. • Sunday, March 29, 2020: Contemporary Music Festival. Yale Concert Band (Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director) and Yale Glee Club (Jeffrey Douma, Music Director). Folk Impressions (Sandy Mehinovic), 5523 Luminet 1991 PH8 (Thérèse Brenet). 2:00 pm, Woolsey Hall. Free. • Saturday, April 4, 2020: Yale Concert Band Concert, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (Paul Hindemith/arr. Keith Wilson), Profanation, Symphony No. 2 (Leonard Bernstein), High Water Rising (Sally Lamb McCune), 5523 Luminet 1991 PH8 (Thérèse Brenet). 7:30 pm, Woolsey Hall. Free. • Tuesday, April 21, 2020: Yale Jazz Ensemble in New York, feat. Wayne Escoffery and Michael Mossman. Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm. Dizzy’s Club, 10 Columbus Circle, New York. Tickets: www.jazz.org/dizzys or call (212) 258-9595. • Sunday, May 17, 2020: Yale Concert Band Annual Twilight Concert. Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Celebratory music on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. 7:00 pm, outside on the Old Campus (chairs provided). Free.
YALE CONCERT BAND 2019-2020 THOMAS C. DUFFY, Music Director STEPHANIE HUBBARD, Business Manager
Piccolo Sarah Guan ES 23 Jeremy Goldwasser MC 21* Flute Jeremy Goldwasser MC 21* principal Rosa Kleinman BF 23* Julia Cai BR 20 Seb Seager SM 23 Melissa Leone GH 21 Joan Gomez-Aguilar BK 21 Yaa Owusu JE 22 Katie Handler TC 21 Sarah Monahan MY 21 Alto Flute Jeremy Goldwasser MC 21 Oboe Miranda Margulis-Ohnuma BR 23* principal Marcos Barrios ES 23* Ryan Tie-Shue SM 22 English Horn Ryan Tie-Shue SM 22 Eb Clarinet Jessica Oki TC 20 Bb Clarinet Jalen Li PC * ** Keith L. Wilson Principal Clarinet Chair Joshua Nguyen GH 23 Joshua Rothbaum TD 23* Daphne Zhu ES 22 Catherine Zhang SM 23 Heather McClure MY 20
Bassoon Maddy Tung TD 21* principal Bradford Case SM 20
Euphonium Alexandra Griffith BF 23 principal Fernando Trejos Suarez ES 22†
Soprano Saxophone Nick DeWalt SY 21
Tuba Josef Lawrence TC 20 principal Adam Wolnikowski TC 21 Kevin Im PC 23
Alto Saxophone Nick DeWalt SY 21 principal Michael Chen GH 23 Alina Martel TC 23
String Bass Ying-Yin Chia YSM 21
Bb Tenor Saxophone Tilden Chao ES 23
Piano/Celeste Jack McArthur MY 22
Eb Baritone Saxophone Flynn Chen TC 20
Percussion David Zuckerman DC 20* principal Meshach Cornelius ES 22 Ari Essunfeld GH 23* Ryan Haygood BF 21 Alexandria Wynn TD 22* Andrew Zheng TD 22
Cornet/Trumpet Melissa Munoz YSM 20* principal Connor Jenkinson YSM 21 Izzy Lopez MC 23 Noah Montgomery GH 20* Joseph Cho BR 22 French Horn Henry Bond YSM 21* Ally Hammer DC 20* Miriam Huerta BF 22 Michael McNamara TD 20 Trombone JT Mullins MY 23* principal Matt Kirschner ES 23 Andy Pantoja BK 22 Robert Howard GH 21 Ella Lubin SM 23†*
Music Librarian Joseph Cho BR 22 * performing on Guignol ** Friends of Keith L. Wilson (Director of Yale Bands from 1946-1973) honored him by endowing the principal clarinet chair in the Yale Concert Band in his name. If you would like information about naming a Yale Concert Band chair, please contact the Yale Bands Office.
† playing on Lincolnshire Posy only
Bb Bass Clarinet Christian Fernandez BF 20* YALE CONCERT BAND OFFICERS
President: Sarah Monahan General Managers: Ari Essunfeld, Jalen Li Social Chairs: Izzy Lopez, Alex Wynn
Personnel Manager: Alina Martel Publicity Chair: Miriam Huerta Assistant Publicists: Joseph Cho, Seb Seager
YALE UNIVERSITY BANDS P.O. Box 209048, New Haven, CT 06520-9048 ph: 203-432-4111; fax; 203-432-7213 stephanie.hubbard@yale.edu; www.yale.edu/yaleband