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2015 / 2016 SEASON
PRESENTING
THE BEST OF
MUSIC, DANCE,
COMEDY AND
ENTERTAINMENT
FROM AROUND THE
WORLD.
FUN EVENTS FOR
KIDS AND THE
ENTIRE FAMILY.
JORGENSEN
Center for the Performing Arts
jorgensen.uconn.edu | 860-486-4226
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 7:30 pm
University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts
Anne D'Alleva, Dean
Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
Rodney Rock, Director
presents
American Brass Quintet
Kevin Cobb, trumpet
Louis Hanzlik, trumpet
Eric Reed, horn
Michael Powell, trombone
John D. Rojak, bass trombone
American Brass Chamber Music Association, Inc.
45 Perry St., Apt 13
New York, NY 10014
(620) 563-7312
PROGRAM
Elizabeth Consort Music
Almayne edited by Raymond Mase
Joyne Hands--Widowe's Myte Dovehouse Pavan Two Madrigals Allemande--Volta Five Miniatures
Fanfare
Alfonso Ferrabosco II
Thomas Morley-Anthony Holborne
Alfonso Ferrabosco II
Thomas Weelkes
Thomas Simpson-John Dowland
Robert Starer (1924-2001)
Robert Paterson (b. 1973)
Air
Canon
Chaconne
March
Shine for Brass Quintet
I. Ringing Brass Bells
II. Quicksilver
III. Veins of Gold
IV. Bright Blue Steel
Intermission
Brass Quintet No. 1 "Circus"
Entry
Clint Needham (b. 1981)
Clowns
The Ringleader
The Contortionist
Finale
Canons of the 16th Century
edited by Raymond Mase
Vive le roy
Josquin des Prés
Pleni sunt caeli
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
J’ay pris amours
Johannes Martini
Pleni sunt caeli; Agnus Dei
Josquin; Palestrina
Colchester Fantasy (1987)
The Rose and Crown
Eric Ewazen (b. 1954)
The Marquis of Granby
The Dragoon
The Red Lion
– Please hold applause between movements –
AMERICAN BRASS QUINTET
The American Brass Quintet, 2013 recipient of Chamber Music America’s
highest honor, the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award for
significant and lasting contributions to the field, is internationally
recognized as one of the premier chamber music ensembles of our
time, celebrated for peerless leadership in the brass world. The ABQ's
rich history includes performances in Asia, Australia, Central and South
America, Europe, the Middle East and all fifty of the United States; a
discography of nearly sixty recordings; and the premieres of over one
hundred fifty contemporary brass works.
ABQ commissions by Robert Beaser, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Eric
Ewazen, Anthony Plog, Huang Ruo, David Sampson, Gunther Schuller,
William Schuman, Joan Tower, and Charles Whittenberg, among many
others, are considered significant contributions to contemporary chamber
music and the foundation of the modern brass quintet repertoire. The
ABQ’s Emerging Composer Commissioning program has brought forth
brass quintets by Gordon Beeferman, Jay Greenberg, Trevor Gureckis,
and Shafer Mahoney. Among the quintet’s recordings are eleven CDs for
Summit Records since 1992 including the ABQ’s 50th Anniversary release
State of the Art—The ABQ at 50 featuring recent works written for them.
Committed to the promotion of brass chamber music through education,
the American Brass Quintet has been in residence at the Aspen Music
Festival since 1970 and at The Juilliard School since 1987. Since 2000
the ABQ has offered its expertise in chamber music performance and
training with a program of mini-residencies as part of its regular touring.
Designed to offer young groups and individuals an intense chamber music
experience over several days, ABQ mini-residencies have been embraced
by schools and communities throughout the United States and a dozen
foreign countries.
The New York Times has written (12/02/2013) that “among North
American brass ensembles none is more venerable than the American
Brass Quintet,” while Newsweek has hailed the ensemble as “the high
priests of brass” and American Record Guide has called the ABQ “of
all the brass quintets, the most distinguished.” Through its acclaimed
performances, diverse programming, commissioning, extensive
discography and educational mission, the American Brass Quintet has
created a legacy unparalleled in the brass field.
www.AmericanBrassQuintet.org
This performance is made possible in part by the National Endowment for
the Arts and the American Brass Chamber Music Association, Inc.
The American Brass Quintet appears by arrangement with Stanton
Management, New York. www.StantonMgt.com
And don't miss...
Elias String Quartet
Sun, Nov 15, 3 pm | Concert Talk 2:15 pm
All Beethoven Program
Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1
Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3, "Rasumovsky"
Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132
This soaring young English quartet has made its mark on the
chamber music scene as one of the most vibrant ensembles
of the new generation. Known for their intense and vibrant
performances, the quartet has travelled the globe collaborating with
some of the finest musicians and playing in the worlds greatest halls.
"Few quartets at any stage of their evolution have this much personality."
– The Philadelphia Inquirer
PROGRAM NOTES
ELIZABETHAN CONSORT MUSIC
Edited by Raymond Mase
During the reign of Elizabeth I and continuing with James I, the arts in England
flourished. Literary figures--Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and Bacon--as well
as composers--Dowland, Morley, and Holborne--have irresistible appeal to us
today and easily depict the exuberance of Elizabethan life. English musicians
of the day were in such demand on the continent that many of them took
posts as court musicians and teachers in other countries. This is the case
with the composers Simpson and Dowland. Although Simpson worked his
entire life in Germany, Dowland left England for religious reasons, returning
home in 1604 to publish his important instrumental collection Lachrimae.
This collection, along with Holborne's Pavans, Galliards, etc. for Viols, Violins
or other Musicall Winde Instruments, is among the most extensive of English
instrumental music. Insight into the style of English performance practices
can be gained from Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Music
(1597) and the First Book of Consort Lessons. A composer of incidental
music for Shakespeare's plays, Morley, in his Consort Lessons, includes many
arrangements of popular tunes and vocal pieces to be played by a "broken"
(assorted) consort of instruments. In his madrigals he includes the footnote
"to be sung or played by viols or other winde instruments"--encouraging
instrumental performances of these pieces. Included in our set of pieces
here are Morley's own instrumental setting of Joyne Hands and two madrigals
by one of the most illustrious of English madrigalists--Thomas Weelkes. The
other pieces in this set with "dance" titles (Almain and Pavan) were probably
never danced to at all. These works resemble the earlier dance forms in title
and characteristic rhythm only. Occasionally they even express some of the
most contemporary ideas as in Dovehouse Pavan by the English born Alfonso
Ferrabosco II. As in all of their editions of early music the American Brass
Quintet is adhering to many of the practices of the day. Florid ornamentation
and the use of other brass instruments in producing varied consorts
certainly enhance the vitality and spirit of this music of Elizabethan England.
Elizabethan Consort Music is recorded by the American Brass Quintet on the
Delos label (DDD 3003).
Note by Raymond Mase
FIVE MINIATURES
Robert Starer (1924-2001)
Robert Starer was born on January 8, 1924, in Vienna and received his musical
education at the State Academy in Vienna, the Jerusalem Conservatoire and
the Juilliard School. He became an American citizen in 1957. His stage works
include three operas, two of them with libretti by Gail Godwin, and ballets for
Martha Graham, Herbert Ross and Anna Sokolow. His symphonic works have
been performed by major orchestras here and abroad under Mitropoulos,
Bernstein, Leinsdorf, Steinberg and Comissiona. His violin concerto was
recently premiered by Itzhak Perlman with the Boston Symphony under Seiji
Ozawa. Among his honors are two Guggenheim Fellowships and an award from
the American Academy Institute of Arts and Letters
Note by David Wakefield
SHINE FOR BRASS QUINTET
Robert Paterson (b. 1973)
My father is a sculptor who worked with bronze, so as a child, I was always
hanging around the foundry at the school where he taught, watching him
cast bronze sculptures by pouring crucibles of molten metal into giant molds.
In many ways, this is probably what caused me to have an affinity for brass
instruments and metallic percussion instruments such as bells. There’s just
something about metal, and the sounds metal instruments make, that I find
very captivating.
Shine is in four movements and explores colorful aspects of four different types
of metal: brass, gold, mercury and steel. The first movement, Ringing Brass
Bells, is bell-like from beginning to end, with brief episodes of repeated note
flourishes, creating a sort of brief fanfare. The title of this movement is also a
double entendre, referring the the bells of the brass instruments. The second
movement, Veins of Gold, is a slow movement that begins and ends softly,
and focuses on the melodic capabilities of each instrument, almost like a mini
concerto for brass quintet. The third movement, Quicksilver, is scherzo-like and
fast. In this movement, I explore colorful, metallic sonorities using a variety
of mutes and fast trills, and the movement gradually rises in tessitura from
beginning to end like mercury rising in a thermometer. The last movement,
Blue Steel. is powerful and fast from beginning to end, and contains runs that
emulate something moving at a very fast speed. The term ‘blue steel’ refers to
the color steel blue, and also refers to a tempering process in metallurgy used
to reduce brittleness and increase toughness in objects made of steel.
Robert Paterson's music is praised for its elegance, wit, structural integrity,
and a wonderful sense of color. Paterson was named The Composer of The
Year at Carnegie Hall from the Classical Recording Foundation. His music has
been on the Grammy® nomination ballot for the past three seasons, and his
works were named ‘Best Music of 2012' on National Public Radio. His works
have been played by the Louisville Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, American
Composers Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, New York New
Music Ensemble, BargeMusic, the Albany Symphony Dogs of Desire, among
others. His opera, Safe Word, was part of the Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers
program, and The Companion, was performed at the Roulette in Brooklyn by
American Opera Projects and AME. Paterson’s choral works were recorded by
Musica Sacra and maestro Kent Tritle, and the album is being released in 2015
at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
Current commissions and world premieres include the American Brass Quintet,
being performed at Aspen and Juilliard in 2015. The Whole Truth is being
commissioned by UrbanArias and showcased at Opera America in 2015.
Notable awards include winner of the Utah Arts Festival 2014, the Copland
Award, two ASCAP Young Composer Awards, a Music Alive! grant from the
League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, and yearly ASCAP awards.
Fellowships include Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Aspen Music Festival,
and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Paterson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana
University (MM), and Cornell University (DMA). Paterson gives master classes
at colleges and universities, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music, New
York University, James Madison University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
He resides in New York City with his wife, Victoria, and son, Dylan.
Program note by Robert Paterson
For more info, visit robertpaterson.com
BRASS QUINTET NO. 1 "CIRCUS"
Clint Needham (b. 1981)
Brass Quintet No. 1 “Circus” was premiered in August of 2003 in Harris Hall at
the Aspen Music Festival. The work won the 2004 Brass Chamber Music Forum
Composition Competition and was performed by the American Brass Quintet
at the conference held at Appalachian State University. It is published by Brass
Chamber Music Press, Midland, TX.
I drew inspiration for my brass quintet from not so fond memories of a
circus I was forced to attend when I was younger. The first movement, Entry,
depicts the overwhelming chaos as one enters the tent; the noisy crowd, the
sights, and the smells mesh together to create a disenchanted ‘welcome to
the circus.’ The second movement, Clowns, portrays these creatures as the
vile beings they are through use of a demonic waltz. The third movement,
The Ringleader, is a grotesque fanfare for the master of (evil) ceremonies
himself. The fourth movement, The Contortionist, portrays the only calm
and beautiful happening I remember from the circus. The fluid motion of the
musical lines and the pauses at the end of phrases are an attempt to bring
to realization of the slow movements and frozen positions of a contortionist.
The fifth movement, Finale, is a quick and feverish gallop. The frenzied circus
performers, in a sudden surge of mass confusion, all come back into the ring
as I make a mad dash for the door. Ironically, the door I ran out of faced an old
Spanish mission… a sight which brought much needed comfort!
Needless to say this was a traumatic experience for me.
Clint Needham currently serves as Composer-in-Residence/Assistant Professor
of Music at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. He has served as an
Associate Instructor at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as well as
Assistant Professor of Music at Ohio Wesleyan University. He holds degrees
from Indiana University, where he was a four-year Jacobs School of Music
doctoral fellow in composition, and from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of
Music. His principal teachers include Claude Baker, Loris Chobanian, David
Dzubay, Michael Gandolfi, Per Mårtensson, Sven- David Sandström, and
Richard Wernick. He has also studied with Robert Beaser, Syd Hodkinson,
Christopher Rouse, and George Tsontakis at the Aspen Music Festival as a
Susan and Ford Schumann composition fellow and with Mario Davidovsky at
the Wellesley Composers Conference as a composition fellow.
Needham’s music has been recognized with numerous awards including
the International Barlow Prize, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Project 440
Commission, Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts
and Letters, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the William Schuman Prize/
BMI Student Composer Award, the Jacob Druckman Prize from the Aspen
Music Festival, First Prize in the International Ticheli Composition Contest, the
Heckscher Prize from Ithaca College, a Lee Ettelson Composer Award and the
coveted Underwood New Music Commission from the American Composers
Orchestra. Clint is also the recipient of a 2014 Cleveland Creative Workforce
Fellowship with funding from the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Needham’s music is published by the Theodore Presser Company with
additional works published by Manhattan Beach Music and Triplo Press.
CANONS OF THE 16TH CENTURY
Edited by Raymond Mase
Note by Clint Needham
By definition, the canon is the strictest form of musical imitation - a polyphonic
composition in which all the parts have the same melody throughout, but
start at different points. Both written and improvised canons existed as early
as the 14th century, but in the mid-15th century, important Franco-Flemish
composers - like Ockegem, Isaac, and Josquin des Prés adopted the canon in
both sacred and secular music. This 15th century tradition of canonic writing
culminated in the 16th century with the works of the great choral composer
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Palestrina’s works have long served as the
model of the discipline of counterpoint, but by 1600 the canon had become an
old form of polyphony.
Josquin des Prés was the most illustrious composer of his day, and highly
respected by his contemporaries. In Vive le roy, likely written for King Louis
XII of France, he uses a three-part canon to accompany the cantus firmus.
Martini’s setting of the popular J’ay pris amours juxtaposes the canonic parts
so closely together, that at times they seem in danger of becoming unison.
But while these two secular pieces show canonic techniques in the most
obvious way, it is in masses of the period, like those of Palestrina, where
canons are used in the most expressive and beautiful way. Both the Josquin
and Palestrina settings of Pleni sunt caeli are canons at the interval of the
major second that mask their strict imitation and create unusual harmonies.
Agnus Dei, from Palestrina’s Missa ad fugum (a mass entirely composed of
canons) is a beautifully developed double canon that supports the notion that
the perfect canon, like the perfect crime, must not be suspected, much less
detected.
Note by Raymond Mase
COLCHESTER FANTASY (1987)
Eric Ewazen (b. 1954)
Colchester Fantasy was written for the American Brass Quintet while I was
teaching at the Estherwood Music Festival, held in Colchester, England
during the summer of 1987. Colchester is the oldest recorded town in
Britain. It has an old Roman wall, a massive Norman castle, picturesque
homes and churches and, as in all decent English towns, colorful old pubs.
Each movement in this work is named after an old Colchester pub. The first
movement, "The Rose and Crown", is filled with bright, sonorous chords,
energetic rhythmic patterns, and constantly changing and fluctuating motives.
The second movement "The Marquis of Granby" (a name which I associated
with a distant, faded aristocracy) is a stately, chorale-like movement with
somber, plaintive themes. The third movement "The Dragoon" brings forth
the sounds of battle with dissonant, clashing harmonies, agitated rhythms
and fragmented melodies.To close the work, the fourth movement, "The Red
Lion" (a name with its intimations of royalty and nobility) is a resonant fugue,
propelled forward with motoric motion, and a rapid, spinning fugue theme.
These old English pubs of Colchester were a fine source of inspiration. Their
names brought to my mind images of ancient and historical traditions, and
impressions of the grandeur and majesty of time past.The beer was good, too!
Note by Eric Ewazen
Eric Ewazen, Composer-in-Residence of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble in
New York City, studied under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller,
and Joseph Schwantner at the Eastman School and The Juilliard School
(where he received numerous composition awards, prizes, and fellowships).
His works have been performed by numerous ensembles and orchestras
in the U.S., overseas, and at festivals such as Woodstock, Tanglewood,
Aspen, Caramoor, Tidewater, and the Music Academy of the West, among
others. Mr. Ewazen's music is published by Brass Ring Editions, Triplo Press,
Encore Music, Southern Music, Boosey & Hawkes, Seesaw, and Eric Ewazen
Publishing.
Currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School and lecturer for the New York
Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, he has also served on the faculties
of the Hebrew Arts School and the Lincoln Center Institute. He served as Vice
President of the League of Composers - International Society of Contemporary
Music from 1982-1989.
This work has been recorded by the American Brass Quintet on their CD “New
American Brass,” Summit DCD133