Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 7:30pm
Meyerson Symphony Center + Livestream

Fanfare

7:15pm, Meyerson lobby

Exuberance!
Jacob Evarts
Meadows Brass
Brandon Aguillon, conductor

Program

Mock Morris  [4’00”]
Percy Grainger, arr. Merlin Patterson

Lincolnshire Posy  [18’00”]
Percy Grainger, ed. Frederick Fennell
1. Lisbon
2. Horkstow Grange
3. Rufford Park Poachers
4. The Brisk Young Sailor
5. Lord Melbourne
6. The Lost Lady Found

Storm Chasers  [20’00”]
Concerto for timpani and wind ensemble
Catherine Likhuta
1. Supercell
2. Bittersweet
3. Early Warning System
Jacob Hord, timpani

— INTERMISSION —

Church Windows  [29’00”]
Ottorino Respighi, tr. José Schyns
1. The Flight into Egypt
2. St. Michael Archangel
3. The Matins of St. Clare
4. St. Gregory the Great
Bradley Hunter Welch, organ

Dallas Winds Personnel

Livestream

Lydia Amstutz – Titles, Camera
Savannah Ekrut – Switch
Adam Ellard – Director
Ciara Negley – Camera
Todd Toney – Score Reader
Tom Pilkinton – Technical Engineer
Christopher Cook – Remote Cameras
Scott Probst – Recording Engineer
David Lovrien – Title Design

Program Notes

Percy Aldridge Grainger
Born July 8, 1882, Brighton, Victoria, Australia
Died February 20, 1961, White Plains, New York

Percy Grainger was one of the most inquisitive musicians of his generation and among the most eclectic artists in history. Born in Australia, he was primarily homeschooled, but the emphasis of his studies was on languages, world literature, mythology, and the arts. Early in his life, he learned about music and was so impressive at his first formal recital in Melbourne that the community raised the funds to send the 12-year-old boy to Germany for advanced musical instruction. From Frankfurt he moved to London at age 19 and based his activities from there until the outbreak of World War I.

While in Britain, he became known as a pianist, but also embarked upon a long project of collecting British folk music. Grainger was especially interested in transcribing folksongs but emphasized the importance of notating all the inherent imperfections in the performances by the elderly singers that he recorded while roaming the English countryside. His masterful settings of these songs for myriad combinations of voices and instruments went unnoticed until 1911. Settings of folksongs from locations as diverse as Denmark and Polynesia would eventually find their way into his list of works.

Grainger moved to the U.S. in 1914, and his popularity grew. He found himself in great demand as a composer and pianist. However, his fortunes changed in 1922 when his mother committed suicide by jumping from a skyscraper in New York. Grainger’s sorrow was so deep that he left music for nearly five years, returning only after meeting the love of his life, a Swedish woman named Ella Ström. The two were married before a crowd of 20,000 people at a 1928 Hollywood Bowl concert, during which a choir performed a work in her honor. Grainger was Dean of Music at New York University for a brief time in the 1930s and expanded the course of study there to include jazz and music of different cultures. In the years following World War II, his reputation began to wane despite his tireless musical experimentation. Many other aspects of Grainger’s life provide for remarkable reading for those who wish to explore the subject further.

Grainger’s music is a treasure trove of different styles that is often as puzzling as it is rewarding. He was concerned with musical integrity and authenticity, but did not hesitate to seek that ideal in the most unorthodox of instrumentations. His interest in folk music led to the composition of several pieces in the style of folk tunes, but these works are completely the work of Grainger. Many other pieces are settings of authentic folksongs, most of which use his revolutionary idea of “elastic scoring,” in which the music is arranged so any instrument can play any part. Grainger’s works include mostly miniatures or suites comprised of several short
movements.

Mock Morris dates from 1910 and was originally composed for a string sextet. The practice of Morris dancing, an English custom involving sticks, costumes, and dancing, most likely was a cultural appropriation of Moorish dancing that emerged in the years leading up to Henry IV’s reign. The first mention of it is a payment to “Morris men” in the ledger of Sir John Arundell. Other sources claim that it was invented in 1419 by Morris Coppice of Gloucestershire.

Despite its nebulous origin, Grainger composed Mock Morris to reflect on the tradition. He wrote,

“No folk-music tune stuff s at all are used herein. The rhythmic cast of the piece is
Morris-like, but neither the build of the tunes nor the general layout of the form keeps to the Morris dance shape.”

Lincolnshire Posy dates from 1937 and is perhaps Grainger’s masterpiece. Described by the composer as a “bunch of musical wildflowers” in his lengthy program notes, this work is an arrangement of folksongs sung by various residents of Lincolnshire, England. However, Grainger’s approach is to reharmonize the melodies as a “musical portrait of the singer’s personality no less than of his habits of song.

The work is in six movements and displays astounding skill at orchestration or, a Grainger called it, “bandstration.” Lincolnshire Posy opens with “Dublin Bay,” as sung by a Mr. Deane, features modal harmony in which each statement of the melody is reharmonized. Grainger is careful to allow each family of instruments a chance to display their unique characteristics.

“Horkstow Grange” was relayed to Grainger by George Gouldthorpe. The composer related, “In recalling Mr. Gouldthorpe I think most of the mild yet lordly grandeur of his nature, and this is what I have tried to mirror in my setting of “Horkstow Grange.” The setting is truly grand beginning as a chorale but growing into a towering climax.

“Rufford Park Poachers” is easily the most complex movement. The mixed meter follows the recording of Joseph Taylor who sang the song for Grainger in 1908. It exists in two versions with either flugelhorn or soprano saxophone solo in the middle section. The remainder is a canon at the octave and one measure apart.

“The Brisk Young Sailor” was related in 1906 by Mrs. Thompson, born in Liverpool, but living in Lincolnshire. Its character is, well, brisk with constant variation of accompaniment. This movement is rollicking and jolly.

“Lord Melbourne” is designated as a “War Song” and, according to Grainger, was actually about the Duke of Marlborough. The opening section for brass alone has no specified meter, and the conductor is encouraged to “vary his beat-lengths with that rhythmic elasticity so characteristic of many English folksingers and especially characteristic of George Wray, the
singer of this song. The remainder of this movement is mostly concerned with the varying timbres of the wind ensemble.

“The Lost Lady Found” is a dance of bottled energy. As the movement proceeds, the accompaniment becomes more animated until the final chord.

Storm Chasers, Concerto for timpani and wind ensemble
Catherine Likhuta (born May 28, 1981, Kyiv, Ukraine)

Catherine Likhuta is a Ukrainian-Australian composer, pianist and recording artist. Her music exhibits high emotional charge, programmatic nature, rhythmic complexity and Ukrainian folk elements. Catherine’s pieces have been played extensively around the world, including highly prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage), Glyndebourne Opera House (Organ Room), Meyerson Symphony Center and several International Horn Symposiums and World Saxophone Congresses, as well as many festivals and conferences. Her works have been commissioned and performed by prominent symphony orchestras (such as Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Ohio State University Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine), chamber ensembles (such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Ensemble Q, ICE, Lyrebird Brass, NU CORNO and U.S. Army Field Band Horns) and soloists (including former presidents of the North American Saxophone Alliance Griffin Campbell and the International Horn Society Andrew Pelletier). Catherine has held residencies at Tyalgum Music Festival, North Carolina NewMusic Initiative, University of Missouri Kansas City, University of Georgia, thee Ohio State University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Cornell University, Syracuse University and other institutions. She is a two-time winner of the International Horn Society Composition Contest (virtuoso division) and a recipient of several awards, including two grants from the Australia Council for the Arts. Her music can be heard on Albany, Cala, Common Tone, Equilibrium, Mark and Summit Records. Horn virtuosa Denise Tryon’s album Hope Springs Eternal featuring Catherine’s piece Vivid Dreams was awarded the 2022 American Prize in Instrumental Performance.

Catherine’s wind band works have been played by dozens of wind ensembles, including prominent groups such as Dallas Winds, the Band of HM Royal Marines (Portsmouth) and the Royal Australian Navy Band. Her music has enjoyed performances at the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival (Sydney), the Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference (Perth), the Midwest Clinic (Chicago, IL) and several CBDNA conferences.

Catherine holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz piano from Kyiv Glière Music College, a five-year post-graduate degree in composition from the National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory) and a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland. She is a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award from the University of Queensland.

Catherine is an active performer, often playing her own music. She was the soloist on the premiere and the CD recording of Out Loud, her piano concerto commissioned by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble, and the pianist on Adam Unsworth’s CD Snapshots.

“Storm Chasers is a concerto for timpani and wind symphony, written in close
collaboration with percussionist Brent Miller. the piece features extensive interaction between the soloist and the percussion section. A quiet tremolo on timpani resembles an ominous roll of thunder somewhere in the distance.

“The idea of Storm Chasers came to me during the summer of 2021–2022, when
we had a rather turbulent storm season in my home state of Queensland. Many
people, including myself, relied on our local storm chasers for information about the
upcoming weather patterns. It felt as if they were always just one step ahead of the
next weather event, which enabled them to bring communities some confi dence and
reassurance.

“The piece is written in three movements:
1. Supercell
2. Bittersweet
3. Early Warning System

“Each movement tells its own story about the many faces of weather, both wild and
calm.”

Biography and program notes courtesy of the composer.

Ventrate di Chiesa (Church Windows)
Ottorino Respighi (born July 9, 1879, Bologna, Italy; died April 18, 1936, Rome, Italy)

Though he later appeared in public, both as a conductor and a pianist, Respighi began his career as a violinist shortly after he graduated from the Liceo Musicale Rossini in Bologna in 1901. Around 1905 Respighi turned his attention to the historic viola d’amore and he became quite adept at the performance of early Italian scores for the instrument. In time his interest was extended to the arrangement of a considerable amount of Renaissance and early Baroque music. He transcribed Frescobaldi’s Toccatas and Fugues for piano, and created a modern edition of Monteverdi’s Lamento di Arianna. He made orchestral arrangements of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D Major, of his famous Passacaglia in C Minor, and of three of his chorales. The year before he died, he re-edited and orchestrated Monteverdi’s Orfeo.

Respighi was not content merely to rearrange and transcribe old music. However, many of his mature works employ the antique church modes. Two of his most successful efforts were his twin suites of Ancient Airs and Dances. His trilogy Thee Fountains of Rome, Thee Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals, original works not based in antiquity, are probably his best traveled works, holding important positions in the concert repertoire to this day.

Occasionally the line between old and new music can become blurred. Respighi’s Church Windows is a musical depiction of stained-glass windows in Italian churches. In order to create these modern portraits, the composer turned to the thousand-year-old melodies of Gregorian chant. Respighi’s own Three Piano Preludes on Gregorian Melodies from 1919, the product of
a short but intense study of this music, served as the basis for the fi rst three movements of Church Windows. The fourth was newly composed. The result is a revolutionary and completely new orchestra work, using his own piano works inspired by ancient music. Everything old
becomes new again.

For the premiere of the piece in Boston in 1927, Respighi provided brief descriptions of the individual movements, each inspired by images of their subjects on windows of Italian churches:

“I. The Flight into Egypt: A tonal representation of the little caravan on a starry night carrying the Treasure of the World.

“II. The Archangel Michael: Michael, with flaming sword in hand, drives from heaven the rebellious angels.

“III. The Matins of St. Clare: It is told in the “Little Flowers of St. Francis” how Saint Claire, being gravely sick and lamenting that she could not attend the matins at the church at Portiuncula, was transported miraculously so that she could take part in
the service.

“IV. St. Gregory the Great: clothed in pontifical vestments, blesses the throng; he is represented in all his splendor at ceremonial services of the Church.”