Mid-Century Modern

About this concert

Program

1. 

   Danzón

   Leonard Bernstein · arr. Jay Bocook · 2:35

   Influenced by the traditional Cuban dance style, here is a brilliant work originally written for the ballet Fancy Free. This skillful adaptation for concert band captures the sensual mood of the original, while offering a unique and appealing programming choice. - Program Note from publisher

2. Simple Song

   Leonard Bernstein

3. 

   Juba Dancefrom Symphony No. 1

   Florence Price · arr. Jay Bocook · 3:55

   Florence Price (1887-1953) is noted as the first African-American female composer of symphonic works, and is only in recent years beginning to receive the recognition so richly deserved. Her Symphony No. 1 was completed in 1932 and first performed in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Here is a sparkling transcription for band of the third movement (Juba Dance). - Program Note from publisher Florence Price (1887-1953) made history as the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. (Symphony No. 1 in E minor, premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933). The "Juba Dance: Allegro" is the third movement from Symphony No. 1 in E minor. The Juba, originating in Haiti and Africa, features a two-cross step that is danced in a circle. The dance was accompanied by hand-clapping, singing, and drums. Enslaved individuals introduced the Juba into the southern colonies, later influencing hambone and ragtime. After the Stono Rebellion in 1739, plantation owners restricted drum use due to fears of secret communication. Consequently, the enslaved utilized their bodies as musical instruments, with "Pattin' juba" referring to the cross-rhythms and angular syncopations produced through body percussion. Florence Price aimed to elevate the African American folk dance into concert halls by boldly replacing the traditional minuet/scherzo with the Juba in each of her three surviving symphonies. - Program Note by Ezekiel Q. Webber

4. 

   Canzona

   Peter Mennin · arr. Justin Tokke · 4:50

   Canzona is a short, brisk work, which opens with a declamatory idea expressed in massed sonorities. Next, a broad melodic line is introduced and supported by powerful rhythmic figurations. This is followed by a cantabile section. These materials are developed and expanded, and the piece closes with the opening statements brought back in a more dramatic presentation. Canzona was commissioned by Edwin Franko Goldman through The League of Composers, and was premiered by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell conducting, in New York on 15 June 1951. - Program Note by Peter Mennin Peter Mennin had a free-spirited approach that fell into no particular school of compositional style. In fact, he disliked the idea of compositional schools and held strong opinions about the compositional process. It was unthinkable for him to write in a style interchangeable with that of another composer. Mennin firmly believed that a composition should state something personal and that it must come from within. He said, “A composer can’t rely on outside stimuli. I would continue to be a composer whether I were here or in Timbuktu.” Mennin's craft was directed toward achieving a dramatic whole. He was adept at his use of motives and their exposition, and did not try to fit his ideas into anything resembling sonata form. His melodies are exceedingly long with no particular antecedent-consequent phrase structure and no strong dependence on the bar line. His sense of harmony restores select triads to important levels of power and gives them contemporary significance by such means as added notes, bitonality, and a kind of inflection unknown in the 19th century. Canzona is the only piece that Mennin wrote for band. - Program note by New Trier High School Symphonic Wind Ensemble concert program, 20 December 2012 Mennin composed his Canzona in 1951 as a part of the continuing series of commissions from Edwin Franko Goldman, in cooperation with the New York League of Composers and it was premiered the same year by the famed Goldman Band. The concept of the canzona as set forth here is not that of lyrical song implied by the name, but rather that of the early Baroque canzona by Gabrieli in the late 16th century in Venice. Using the reeds and brasses of the band, Mennin has created a stunning essay of contrasting sonorities in a 20th-century manner. - Program Note from Lee University Wind Ensemble concert program, 23 November 2015 Canzona was commissioned in 1950 by prestigious band director Edwin Franko Goldman. Goldman believed that the future of the concert band required the development of a significant repertoire from contemporary composers. At the time the work was commissioned, many composers felt that they could not advance their careers by writing for concert band. It is not clear if this was a sentiment shared by Peter Mennin, as Canzona is the only work that he composed for concert band. Mennin chose the title in homage to the late Renaissance instrumental forms of that name. Canzoni were particularly popular with Giovanni Gabrieli, who used the acoustics of the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice to provide contrasting, antiphonal statements from opposing brass voices. Mennin has introduced that same polyphony into his composition and combined it with modern harmony and structure. Woodwinds and brass alternately reinforce and complement each other. Even during the solo passages, the tempo marking of Allegro Deciso underscores the powerful rhythms and themes. - Program Note from Kennesaw State University Concert Band concert program, 19 April 2016

5. 

   The Typewriter

   Leroy Anderson · arr. Floyd Werle · 1:55

   Ernest Stokes, Soloist

6. 

   Of Sailors and WhalesI. Ishmael · II. Queequeg · IV. Ahab · V. The White Whale

   W. Francis McBeth · 16:15

   Dr. Evan Harger, Guest Conductor