First Suite in E-Flat Major, Op. 28
Gustav Holst
British composer Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat for military band is one of the cornerstones of the wind band/ensemble repertoire. It was completed in 1909 but not premiered until 1920 by an enormous ensemble of 165 players, although it was designed to be performed by as few as nineteen. There are three movements in the suite: Chaconne, Intermezzo, and March.
“Nessun Dorma” from Turandot
Giacomo Puccini (arr. Les Taylor | trombone transcribed by Leo Kim)
“Nessun Dorma” (“Let No One Sleep”) is one of opera’s most beloved and well-known arias, appearing in the final act of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot (1926). The character Calaf (the unknown prince) sings it after he has fallen in love with Princess Turandot. Suitors wishing to wed Turandot must solve three riddles or otherwise be beheaded. Calaf asserts his confidence that he will win the princess (he does). “Nessun Dorma” has been recorded by thousands of performing forces, most famously by tenor Luciano Pavarotti at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.
This transcription for trombone and wind band/ensemble was made by Les Taylor.
Albanian Dance
Shelly Hanson
Inspired by an accordion concerto composed for virtuoso Mark Stillman, Albanian Dance by Shelly Hanson emulates the unique sound and rhythmic nuance of the Eastern European brass band tradition. This piece is a wind band setting of the popular Albanian “Shōta”, which is frequently performed to accompany dancing during festivals. The insistent 3-plus-3-plus-2 ostinato creates a long-long-short pattern commonly found in Balkan folk dance styles. Hanson’s juxtaposition of smooth, melodic lines and staccato-style motives, combined with layered rhythmic textures and accented ornamentation, imparts a distinctive and memorable character.
Grand études de Paganini, S. 141 “ La Campanella”
Franz Liszt
“La Campanella” (the “little bell”) is the third of composer Franz Liszts’s six Grandes etudes de Paganini, S. 141 composed in 1851. It is based on the final movement of Niccolo Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in b minor (1826). The work is a brisk and virtuosic study, capitalizing on elaborate ornamentation, frequent right hand leaps (wider intervals than an octave!) and the imitation of tinkling bells.
Leo Kim is a seventh grade pianist and clarinetist at Riverwatch Middle School (Suwanee, GA).
Amparito Roca
Jaime Texidor
Amparito Roca is a Spanish pasodoble march, written by Spanish bandleader and composer Jaime Texidor. The introduction and first strain are indicative of a bullfighter’s music, whereas the gentle, lighthearted trio section takes on the character of a couples dance, evoking the other essential element of the pasodoble. The powerful brass in the bullfight section and the tutti texture of the coda bring this piece to a grand conclusion.
Portraits of a Moon
Minoo Dixon
Portraits of a Moon was commissioned by Hunter McGee, Katie Larkin, and the Riverwatch Symphonic Band. While writing this piece, I had one main objective from the start: to never sacrifice musicality due to a “Grade Level.” The next decision was to have this piece be uncategorizable, I need the music to live, evolve, and transform drastically, while still being recognizably the same piece. This is where Portraits of a Moon came to fruition. The Moon has been an object of all art forms. An enticing entity in the sky, that has been depicted as being a multitude of characters. I decided to utilize the versatility of music to paint portraits of the 3 main characteristics of the Moon: mysterious, beautiful, and Cool. A “main idea” is kept consistent among these three characters, and the last section of being Cool, is really a synthesization of the first two sections, as in my eyes, the reason the moon is so cool is because it is both mysterious and beautiful. The piece ends on the final most important characteristic of the Moon, the sliver of shimmer it provides to night skies.
--program notes by Minoo Dixon
Minoo Dixon is an alumnus of the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony.
Molly on the Shore
Percy Grainger
Based on two Cork Reel tunes, Molly on the Shore began as a string quartet and was later rescored by Grainger himself for full symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, and finally military band in 1920. In a 1959 letter to Frederick Fennell, Grainger wrote, “I strove to imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying reel tune ... Equally with melody, I prize discordant harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it exerts.”
PROGRAM NOTES
Rocky Point Holiday
Ron Nelson
Conductor Leonard Slatkin described Ron Nelson (b. 1929) thusly: “Nelson is the quintessential American composer. He has the ability to move between conservative and newer styles with ease. The fact that he’s a little hard to categorize is what makes him interesting.” This quality has helped Nelson gain wide recognition as a composer. Nowhere are his works embraced more than in the band world, where he won the “triple crown” of composition prizes in 1993 for his Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H). An Illinois native, Nelson received his composition training at the Eastman School of Music and went on to a distinguished career on the faculty of Brown University.
Nelson wrote Rocky Point Holiday in 1969 on a commission from the University of Minnesota Band for its Russian tour. Its title comes from the place of its composition: Rocky Point, Rhode Island, where the composer was on vacation. It was his first major wind band piece, and the first of his series of “holiday” themed compositions for band, all of which are popular and dramatic showpieces. Rocky Point Holiday is notable for its transparent and colorful scoring. This imaginative orchestration is a hallmark of Nelson’s style.
MYSTERIUM
Jennifer Hidden
“Mysterium” is a tribute to the wonderful mystery of how music moves us. Perhaps it is the unexplainable that creates such magic, for both the performer and the listener, but there is no denying the incredible power of a shared musical experience.
Mysterium is based on Higdon’s choral setting of O Magnum Mysterium. This arrangement of this work was commissioned by Scott A. Stewart, Emory University Wind Ensemble, and Scott Weiss, University of South Carolina Bands in 2011.
COLORS
Bert Appermont
Colors for Trombone is a concerto for solo trombone and concert band. It was composed in 1998 by Belgian composer Bert Appermont for trombonist Ben Haemhouts. The piece is in four movements, each based on a color, and characterizes a typical musical quality:
Yellow - inspiring and stimulating, (also: wisdom and light)
Red - dynamic, passionate developing into dramatic, furious and fighting (also: courage and will-power)
Blue - melancholic, dreamy and introvert (also: truth and peace)
Green - hopeful and full of expectation (also: balanced power and harmony)
This evening we will hear the Blue and Green movements.
GRIMM TALES
Bruce Broughton
commissioned by and dedicated to the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony
Dr. Scott A. Stewart, Music Director and Conductor
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, I was speaking with my friend, Scott Stewart, conductor of the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, with whom I had multiple collaborations since 2006. We were reflecting on the surrealism of this early period of the shutdown, especially the isolation experienced around the globe. Holed up in Los Angeles, I asked Scott what music I might compose for him and his group. He told me he would think about this and the next day proposed an intriguing project: a suite of movements based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but not the “Disney-fied” versions with which many of us are familiar; rather, the sinister and grotesque vignettes as they were originally written. After reading through many of these dicey stories, I selected five for musical settings:
1. Rapunzel
2. Little Red Riding Hood
3. The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces
4. Rumpelstiltskin
5. The Musicians of Bremen
Movements may be played as a suite or excerpted in smaller collections as time allows.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales, originally published in 1812-1815 as Kinder-und Hausmärchen (“Children’s and Household Tales”), were collected by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German linguists and cultural researchers. The two volumes were revised seven times between 1819 and 1857, with an English translation (German Popular Tales) appearing in 1823-1826. The tales would become the most influential and famous collections of folklore in literary history.
There are 211 stories in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, including “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Red Riding Hood,” “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “Rumpelstiltzkin,” many of which have become well-known in popular culture through animated features, live action movies, operas, ballet, and theatre. In these recountings we discover magic and trickery, murder and mutilation, talking animals, lost children, evil mothers, giants and elves, and heroes and villains locked in fate and misfortune. First-time readers are often shocked to discover that these often dark, twisted, and often gruesome tales, while appealing, do not match the “happily-ever-after” versions they heard before bedtime or in popular cartoons.
W. H. Auden believed these fairy tales to be central texts in Western culture: “It is hardly too much to say that these tales rank next to the Bible in importance.”
--program notes by Bruce Broughton and Scott Stewart
UN CAFECITO
Dennis Llinas
The phrase "Un Cafecito" means a little coffee. Growing up in Miami in our Cuban culture, it was customary for co-workers to bring to work an 8 oz cup filled with Cuban coffee (basically really strong and sweet espresso) and tiny shot cups. At certain points in the day, they would approach colleagues and pour a quick shot for them accompanied with the phrase, "¿Quieres un cafecito?" translating to "Do you want some coffee?" Needless to say after that shot, you were ready for another few hours of daily activity.
Dennis Llinás is a Cuban-Columbian conductor and composer. He currently is the Director of Bands at The University of Oregon where he conducts the wind ensemble, teaches graduate & undergraduate conducting, and oversees the band area.