Download PROGRAM NOTES Overture to “The Hebrides

PROGRAM NOTES
Overture to “The Hebrides” (“Fingal’s Cave”), Op. 26 (1830)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Arr. Diana Appler
Our concert will open with the “The Hebrides Overture”. Also known as “Fingal's Cave”, this piece was composed
by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830. It was inspired by Mendelssohn's visit to Fingal's Cave on the island of Staffa,
located in the Hebrides archipelago off the west coast of Scotland.
As was common in the Romantic era, this is not an overture in the sense that it precedes a play or opera; it is a
concert overture, a stand-alone musical selection, and has now become part of standard orchestral repertoire. It
does not tell a specific story and is not "about" anything; instead, the piece depicts a mood and "sets a scene",
making it an early example of such musical tone poems.
The overture consists of two primary themes; the opening notes of the overture state the theme Mendelssohn
wrote while visiting the cave, and is played initially in the orchestral version by the violas, cellos, and bassoons.
This lyrical theme, suggestive of the power and stunning beauty of the cave, is intended to develop feelings of
loneliness and solitude. The second theme, meanwhile, depicts movement at sea and "rolling waves".
The opening to the overture is unmistakable and immediately recognizable, and has been used in numerous
popular settings. Some may also recognize portions of this piece used as the "chase music" in the radio serial
Challenge of the Yukon, featuring Sergeant Preston of the Mounties and his brave sled dog, Yukon King.
Sea Songs (1924)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1902-1979)
Written for British military band in 1924, Sea Songs is a single-movement composition based on three English
sailing songs. The first of these, Princess Royal, briskly begins the work. The melody is delightful, with a lightly
played eighth-note accompaniment propelling this section effortlessly onward. The second melody, Admiral
Benbow, also referred to as The Brother Tar's Song, is bold in nature, continuing the allegro tempo of the
opening. The melody of the final ballad, Portsmouth, is written in an expressive and flowing cantabile style. A
quick repeat of the first two songs brings the work to its conclusion
Victory at Sea (1952)
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)
Arr. Robert Russell Bennett
Victory at Sea was a documentary television series about warfare in general during World War II and naval
warfare in particular, as well as the use of industry in warfare. It was originally broadcast by NBC in the USA in
1952–1953. It was condensed into a film in 1954. Excerpts from the music soundtrack, by Richard Rodgers and
Robert Russell Bennett, were re-recorded and sold as record albums. The original TV broadcasts comprised 26
half-hour segments—Sunday afternoons at 3pm (EST) in most markets—starting on October 26, 1952 and
ending on May 3, 1953. The series, which won an Emmy award in 1954 as "best public affairs program", played
an important part in establishing historic "compilation" documentaries as a viable television genre.
Richard Rodgers, fresh off several successful Broadway musicals, composed the musical score. Rodgers
contributed 12 "themes"—short piano compositions a minute or two in length; these may be examined in the
Rodgers Collection at the Library of Congress. Robert Russell Bennett did the scoring, transforming Rodgers's
themes for a variety of moods, and composing much more original material than Rodgers. In 1954 Rodgers
recorded the VAS "Symphonic Scenario" medley (scored by Bennett) with the New York Philharmonic for
Columbia Records, but it was Bennett who made the more familiar RCA Victor recordings—the first (1953) with
NBC Symphony Orchestra musicians who played for the soundtrack sessions, and later with members of the
Symphony of the Air, an orchestra created in the autumn of 1954 from former NBC Symphony members,
identified on the albums as the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra.
RCA issued the Rodgers-Bennett musical score in four different album versions, released on LP and CD. The
listing below is based on the 1992 remastered recordings from RCA called Victory at Sea (13 tracks) and More
Victory at Sea (11 tracks).
The score was a favorite of US President Richard Nixon, and part was played at his funeral.
Rodgers's "Beneath the Southern Cross" theme was given words by Oscar Hammerstein, titled "No Other Love,"
and put into their 1953 musical, “Me and Juliet”. The May 1953 recording by RCA Victor recording artist Perry
Como became a "Number One" hit on the pop charts later that year.
Concerto for Clarinet (1955)
Alexander Manevich (1908-1976)
Howard Green, Clarinet
Arr. Kelly Burke
Alexander Manevich’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra was written in 1955. The composer was born in the
town of Starodub, in the Chernogovsky region of the then-Soviet Union, in 1908. He first trained as a cellist and
in1925 began studying composition with A. Alexandrov, who later composed the music for the Soviet National
Anthem. By 1955 Manevich was teaching choral arranging at the Leningrad Conservatory, joining a faculty with
distinguished musicians such as Dmitry Kabalevsky and David Oistrakh. Manevich is best known for his musical
comedy “Girl from Shanghai”; among his other works are two suites for orchestra, two concertos for cello and
orchestra, and a concerto for voice and orchestra.
The Concerto for Clarinet has been described as tonal and accessible, with a bit of both Russian and
“Khachaturian-like” flavor, with a rousing Klezmer-like coda finishing the piece. From its very opening bars, the
concerto reveals a distinctly Russian sound that permeates the work from beginning to end, drawing upon the folk
dance influences of the composer’s homeland.
Because of copyright agreement changes between the United States and Russia, this piece has not been
available in the United States for over twenty years. Mr. Green was able to obtain this transcription of the
accompaniment for band from Professor Kelly Burke, Clarinet Professor on faculty at the University of North
Carolina, Greensboro since 1989, who arranged the piece in 1994.
While many people may have heard clarinet concertos by composers like Mozart and Weber, Green believes this
will be a welcome departure from the standard clarinet solos and one that few will have heard before now.
Four Scottish Dances, Op. 59 (1957)
Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)
Arr. John P. Paynter
I. Strathspey
/
II. Reel
/
III. Hebridean Song
/
IV. Scottish Fling
Malcolm Arnold has composed a number of 'national dances'. Perhaps the best known of these are the two sets
of English Dances composed in 1950 and 1951. The Cornish Dances Op.91 was composed much later, in 1966.
The Irish Dances Op.126 followed in 1986. The Welsh Dances Op. 138 of 1989 is quite a late work. The last set
of dances is the 'Little Suite No. 3' or the Manx Suite Op. 142 (1990). This is atypical in relation to the other works
as it is actually based on Manx folk tunes. Once again it is music that is much more 'simple' than the earlier
suites.
The Scottish Dances Op. 59 was composed in 1957, having been produced for the BBC Light Music Festival.
This work was written two years after the composition of Tam o' Shanter Op. 51 (1955) and retains some of the
vitality of that most exuberant of works.
There are four dances or movements. The four dances are all based on original melodies but one, the melody of
which was composed by Robert Burns. The first dance is in the style of a slow strathspey– a slow Scottish dance
in 4/4 meter — with many dotted notes, frequently in the inverted arrangement of the ‘Scotch snap’. The name
was derived from the Strath valley of Spey. The second, a lively reel, begins in the key of E-flat and rises a semitone each time it is played until our bassoonist Joanne Goluszka plays it, at a greatly-reduced speed, in the key of
G. The final statement of the dance is at the original speed in the home key of E-flat. The third dance is in the
style of a Hebridean Song, and attempts to give an impression of the sea and mountain scenery on a calm
summer’s day in the Hebrides. The last dance is a lively fling, which makes a great deal of use of the open-string
pitches of the violin (saxophones in the band edition). It is performed “con brio”, a lively pace in 2/4 time with
tremendous energy. A mere one minute and sixteen seconds long, the movement is sure to take the breath away
from both audience and musicians.
The first performance of this piece was at the Royal Festival Hall on June 8, 1957, with the composer conducting
the BBC Concert Orchestra. The Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band will be an arrangement for band by John P.
Paynter, director of bands at Northwestern University until his death in 1996.
Mountain Thyme (2013)
Samuel R. Hazo (b. 1966)
“Mountain Thyme” was written as a commission in 2011-2013 as a memorial for their young son. It is based on
the folk song “The Braes of Balquhidder” (also known as “Wild Mountain Thyme”). The lyrics of the folk song
reference a boy asking a girl if she will go to the mountain to pick the flower Wild Mountain Thyme that grows
around the purple heather, the final line being, “Will ye go, lassie, go?”. Hazo wrote this setting from the viewpoint
of young Garrett, waiting in heaven for his mother, asking her if will go to the mountain with him. The piece exists
in that moment.
Symphonic Highlights from “Frozen”
Robert Lopez
Arr. Stephen Bulla
Frozen Heart
/
Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
Epilogue / Let It Go
/
For the First Time in Forever
Fitting in nicely with our theme of “Water”, the Symphonic Band will be playing “Symphonic Highlights from
Frozen.” Using segments from the Disney movie soundtrack in addition to the familiar hit songs, arranger
Stephen Bulla has created a dramatic and exciting medley showcasing the best musical moments from this hit
movie. The medley includes “Frozen Heart”, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”, “For the First Time in Forever”,
“Epilogue”, and, of course, the Academy Award winning song “Let It Go.” This arrangement, only just published,
is certain to become a standard for bands for many years to come.
Rising Dragons
Robert W. Smith (b.1958)
Robert W. Smith is one of the most popular and prolific composers of concert band and orchestral literature in
America today. He has over 600 publications in print with the majority composed and arranged through his long
association with Warner Bros. Publications.
As a conductor and clinician, Mr. Smith has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe and
Australia. In addition, he has been awarded numerous commissions from professional and school ensembles
throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Korea. He has recently released Symphony #2 (The
Odyssey): The Symphonic Music of Robert W. Smith Volume 3, the third in a series of compact disc recordings of
his best-known works for concert band. Mr. Smith is currently teaching in the Music Industry program at Troy
University in Troy, AL. His teaching responsibilities are focused in music composition, production and publishing.
About Rising Dragons:
Commissioned by the Korean Navy Symphonic Band under the direction of Lt. Commander Joon Hyung Park,
Rising Dragons pays tribute to the legacy of Yi Sun Shin and his impact on naval operations throughout the world.
Beginning with a commanding fanfare, the authoritative statement gives way to the lone flute representing the
solitude and reflection that any great leader must endure. The mechanized sounds of the turtle ships are brought
to musical life through melody that rises and falls like the sea. The sea battle is depicted with opposing forces of
percussion giving way to a final victorious fanfare. A line from a poem written by Yi Sun Shin inspires the title: I
call to the sea, and the dragons are moved.
~ Compiled by Howard M. Green