Symphonic Wind Orchestra

Shelley Hanson ‘Tocata’ and ‘La Tumba de Alejandro Garcia Caturla’ from Islas y Montañas

 

‘Tocata’

‘Tocata’ (the Spanish spelling of the familiar Italian word) is a fanfare based on the music of Caribbean people of African descent. Many traditional rhythms of the Santeria religion are incorporated in this piece. Although toccata is the word used in Spanish for ‘fanfare’, it is also used here in the sense of its root meaning, ‘touch’.

 

This was originally the first movement of the suite Islas y Montañas commissioned by the Minnesota Youth Symphonies.

 

‘La Tumba de Alejandro Garcia Caturla’

Like so many other composers from the Americas, [Alejandro Garcia] Caturla studied briefly in Paris with famed teacher Nadia Boulanger. Fascinated with Afro-Cuban music and especially that of the Santeria religion, Caturla used complex folk rhythms, polytonality, dissonant chords often build in fourths or fifths, pentatonic scales, and a very limited melodic range such as that used by Santeria singers. In the tradition of the French tombeau, a memorial piece, this piece pays tribute to Caturla [who died at the age of 34] by incorporating many of the elements of his style. The Spanish equivalent term, “tumba,” also is used for the large conga drum. Programmatically, this tumba seeks to intermingle the tragic loss of Caturla with references to the Santeria bembé, funeral rites, and particularly the characteristics of the goddess Oya. She is the goddess of the wind, and of the cemetery; she can be the gentlest of breezes, or the angriest of hurricanes. Traditional poetry of praise to Oya refers to her as one who guards the frontier between life and death; she can be a nine-headed apparition, associated with nine flashes of lightning. The first part of the piece depicts mourners calling out to Oya, the fast section that follows shows the results of her appearing to them in earthly form. The ending refers to the conclusion of the Santeria mourning process, which involves taking a plate outside and publicly smashing it nine times to free the spirit of the deceased. Musically some of Oya’s rhythms are quoted, as is the Christian Dies Irae; and the two eight-bar themes on which the piece is built incorporating a rising interval of a fourth associated with an invocation to Oya, as well as the initials AGC.

 

Programme note by Shelley Hanson

 

Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite 

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English Folk Song Suite was commissioned by the band of the Royal Military School of Music. It was premiered on 4 July 1923, at Kneller Hall, H.E. Adkins conducting. In three movements, the suite contains many different folk songs from the Norfolk and Somerset regions of England, including Seventeen Come Sunday, Pretty Caroline, Dives and Lazarus, My Bonny Boy, Green Bushes, Blow Away the Morning Dew, High Germany, and The Tree So High. Historically, the suite is considered (along with Gustav Holst’s two suites for military band) to be a cornerstone work in the literature, and one of the earliest ‘serious’ works for the wind band.

 

Programme note by Nikk Pilato

 

Adam Gorb Dances from Crete

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Dances from Crete is in four movements and is intended to celebrate the good things in life, drawing much of its material from the dance music of the Greek Island of Crete, where many of the ancient Greek myths take place. The first movement, ‘Syrtos’, is intended to serve as a portrait of the Minotaur, the famous creature, half bull, half man, that fed upon the young men and women sacrificed to him every year, before being killed by the hero Theseus. The character of the movement is harsh and ruthless.

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The second movement, ‘Tik’, is a more graceful dance, but is also characterized by a certain roughness: it is in 5/8 time. Tim Reynish writes “in this movement the whole orchestra should feel the pulse like a Cretan peasant on the threshing floor”.

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Following this, the third movement is in a slow 7/4 time, is darker in mood and inspired by a steep and perilous walk down the Samaria Gorge, one of the most spectacular of all walks. The movement eventually achieves a triumphant peroration, depicting a welcome plunge into the Libyan Sea.

 

Following distant offstage fanfares, the finale is a modern Greek dance, ‘Syrtaki’, which bursts in with the offstage trumpeters swaggering back on stage playing a deliberately vulgar theme. The music soon becomes very fast and eventually ends in a total festive anarchy, though before the final apotheosis the ghost of the Minotaur can briefly be heard joining the party.

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Programme note by Adam Gorb

 

Julie Giroux Paprikash

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The altered Phrygian Dominant Scale (altered by raising the 3rd scale degree in the Phrygian mode) is one of my favorite scale/modes to compose in. Also known as the Freygish or Fraigish scale, this fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale is used in many forms and nationalities of music. We hear this most often with Jewish, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Flamenco and some forms of Russian music. When using this scale it is almost impossible to sound like anything other than the aforementioned types of music. I like all of those types of music, so composing in this mode is nothing but fun. With this particular piece, I decided to go with a Jewish, Greek, Hungarian and overall Slavic flavor. 

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Growing up, I played all of the Hungarian rhapsodies on the piano. I found them energetic, fascinating and most of all passionate. I did not want to put this piece into a specific ethnic category, so I went with the title Paprikash referring to the chicken dish which uses lots and lots of paprika. It is a dish that is prepared and enjoyed by most if not all of the countries whose musical styles I was going to compose in. I like to think of this piece as my own personal recipe combined with lots and lots of Freygish paprika. 

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Programme note by Julie Giroux