San Jose Wind Symphony

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Program Notes

Sunday, June 1, 2008, 3:00 PM

McAfee Center, Saratoga
Dr. Edward C. Harris, conductor
Kenta Akaogi, clarinet

Festal Scenes

Yasuhide Ito (b. 1960)

Yasuhide Ito is an award-winning composer, pianist and conductor. In 1997, he was described by Frederick Fennell as “the best composer in Japan.” At the 1995 WASBE conference in Hamamatsu, Ito’s lecture on “Japanese Band Music” and three of his band works were among the program highlights. Ito became interested in music as a child, with piano as his major instrument. He majored in composition at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Ito currently teaches at the same university and is also an instructor at the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, the Sakuyo College of Music and the Senzoku College of Music. In addition, Ito directs the Tsukuba University Band and is an active member of the Japanese Society for Contemporary Music and the Japanese Bandmaster’s Association.

Festal Scenes was commissioned by the Ominato Band of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces in 1986. It was Ito’s first major work for wind band and was premiered on October 8, 1986, under the direction of Shoji Iwashita. In the United States, Festal Scenes was premiered by the University of Illinois Band, guest conducted by the composer, in March 1987. It is a collage of four Japanese folk songs. By adding two Japanese percussion instruments—the tebiragane and the nebuta-daiko—to the symphonic band instrumentation, the composer is able to enhance the folk song material and create an authentic festive atmosphere.

Irish Tune from County Derry

Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)

The son of an architect in Australia, Percy Aldridge Grainger was a precocious pianist. He gave a series of concerts at the age of twelve, the proceeds from which enabled him to study at Frankfurt for six years. After this he began his European career as a concert pianist, settling in London in 1901. He came to the United States in 1915 and became a United States citizen in 1919. It was during his stay in England that he became passionately involved in collecting and arranging folk songs and country dances. Grainger was a picturesque nationalist who tried to retain the original flavor of British folk songs and their singers by strictly observing their peculiarities of performance, such as varying beat lengths and the use of techniques such as parallelism.

Irish Tune from County Derry is based on a tune collected by Miss J. Ross of New Town, Limavaday, County Derry, Ireland, and published in 1885. The original setting was an a capella version for mixed voices, which was much admired by Edward Grieg, with whom Grainger developed a strong friendship. Grainger’s knowledge of instrumental voicings lends richness to the sound and a blending of the interwoven melodies. This tune is familiar to many of us as “Danny Boy.”

Variations on a Korean Folk Song

John Barnes Chance (1932-1972)

A Texas native, John Barnes Chance played percussion in high school before he began composing. He studied under Clifton Williams at the University of Texas and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. After graduation he joined the Army service bands as a percussionist and arranger. After his discharge he received a grant from the Ford Foundation’s Young Composers Project and wrote seven pieces for school ensembles. The following year he joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky, where he was later appointed head of the theory and composition program.

While stationed with the U.S. Army in Korea in the late 1950s, Chance became fascinated by the popular folk melody “Arirang,” using it as the basis for his Variations on a Korean Folk Song. “Arirang” is a traditional Korean song of love and heartbreak, possibly originating 1000 years ago. The pentatonic (five-tone) theme is heard at the outset of this composition and is contrasted with five variations. In 1966, this piece received the Ostwald Award from the American Bandmasters Association.

“The Gum-Suckers” March

Composed by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961), edited by R. Mark Rogers

The eucalyptus trees that are common in Victoria, Australia, are called “gums,” and the young shoots that spring up at the bottom of the tree trunks are suckers. The term “gum-suckers” has become a nickname for young native sons of that area, like Grainger. He originally conceived this work for orchestra, with important parts for piano and mallet percussion. The work is lively, spirited and exuberant, spiced with bitonal passages that contrast with the jaunty march tune and the flowing lyric melodies. Grainger himself played the piano part with many bands.

Armenian Dances (Part I)

Alfred Reed (1921-2005)

Alfred Reed’s formal music training began at the age of 10, when he studied the trumpet. As a teenager, he played with small hotel combos in the Catskill Mountains. His interests shifted from performing to arranging and composition. In 1938, he started working in the Radio Workshop in New York as a staff composer/arranger and assistant conductor. With the onset of World War II, he enlisted and was assigned to the 529th Army Air Corps Band. During his three and a half years of service, he produced nearly 100 compositions and arrangements for band. After his discharge, Reed enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music and studied composition with Vittorio Giannini. While earning his Bachelor of Music degree at Baylor University, he served as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, and a year later received his Master of Music degree. Reed’s interest in the development of educational music led him to serve as executive editor of Hansen Publishing from 1955 to 1966. He later became a professor of music at the University of Miami, where he served until 1993. After retirement, he continued to compose and made numerous appearances as guest conductor in many nations, most notably in Japan.

In Armenian Dances, Reed captured many of the styles, tempos and subtleties of the Armenian folk songs and dances. Part I, completed in 1972, is based on five authentic Armenian folk songs drawn from the vast collection of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935). Vartabed has been credited as the founder of Armenian classical music for his work on preserving and documenting over four thousand folk songs. The opening (“The Apricot Tree”) is a sentimental song with a declamatory beginning. “The Partridge’s Song” is an original song by Vartabed with a simple, delicate melody intended for a children’s choir and is symbolic of that bird’s tiny steps. A young man sings the praises of his beloved (named Nazan) in the love song “Hoy, My Nazan.” Part I ends with a delightful and humorous laughing song (“Go, Go!”) with an ever-accelerating tempo.

Huapango

José Pablo Moncayo (1912-1958), transcribed for band by Leroy Osmon

As a composer, performer, and conductor, Moncayo was at the vanguard of Mexican music in the early 20th century. He studied piano with Hernandez Moncaya and earned his living in his early years playing in jazz orchestras throughout Mexico City. He was appointed pianist and percussionist with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mexico and later became its conductor. Moncayo also studied composition with the orchestra’s founder, Carlos Chavez. Inspired by Chavez’s commitment to indigenous material, Moncayo formed the “Grupo de los Cuatro” (Group of the Four) with three other composers, which dedicated itself to the cause of modern Mexican music. The group’s goal was to express music from their native folklore, using contemporary harmonic and contrapuntal techniques.

Moncayo’s earliest attempt at this synthesis was Huapango. Sixty years after its completion, it remains one of Mexico’s most popular compositions. The Huapango is a Mexican song form incorporating voice, dance and instrumental accompaniment. The melodies and structure are generally derived from the music of 16th century Spain, yet the rhythms of the form are distinct to the Americas. Alternating between time signatures, the Huapango offers a brilliant display of complex cross-rhythms. Moncayo’s Huapango is based on three folk songs. Its vitality, variety of textures, melodic grace and the lively, spacious and powerful material particularly illustrate Moncayo’s brilliance as an orchestrator. In addition to the graceful scoring for percussion, the work offers numerous solo opportunities, notably for trumpet, trombone and harp.

Second Concerto for Clarinet: Allegro

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Kenta Akaogi, clarinet

As a boy, Carl Maria von Weber studied piano and violin in Salzburg and Vienna. His father arranged performance tours for him all over Europe until the death of his mother. He later joined the choir boys school in Salzburg. Weber became known as the founder of German romantic opera.

The Clarinet Concerto No.2 in E Flat, Op.74, is a lively and majestic piece that explores the sonorities and technical capabilities of the clarinet. The opening two notes of the solo clarinet part span an interval of three octaves, immediately showing off the range of the instrument.

The San Jose Wind Symphony would like to thank Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for sponsoring our third annual Youth Solo Competition.

Folk Dances

Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), edited by H. Robert Reynoldst

Shostakovich studied at the Leningrad Conservatory under Glazunov and others. He gained international fame at the age of nineteen when his powerful and mature First Symphony was performed in Leningrad and later in Moscow. Following this success, his subsequent works were attacked by the Soviet press as a product of “bourgeois decadence.” Like many Soviet composers, Shostakovich found himself under restrictions imposed by the Soviet musical world, with its concern for the moral and social rather than the purely aesthetic aspects of music. He had even been formally censured for “anti-democratic tendencies.” The musical style of Shostakovich varies widely, with works containing simple parodies and programmatic devices, as well as works of tremendous originality, distinction, and significance.

The vibrant Folk Dances was assembled from native folk melodies collected by Shostakovich. Originally appearing in 1942 as the third movement of the orchestral suite Native Leningrad, the music was subsequently arranged for Russian bands.

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SJWS program notes are edited by Karen Berry from the composers’ notes, Band Notes by Norm Smith, The Pepper Music Catalog and:

Foothill College Symphonic Band

Wikipedia

Pasadena Symphony

BBC

International Percy Grainger Society

Wikia Music