Download appalachian spring - Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

APPALACHIAN
SPRING
CONCERTS OF
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17,
AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016,
AT 7:30 P.M.
TENNESSEE THEATRE
Aram Demirjian, conductor
Jeff Midkiff, mandolin
Proud to support the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
in its 81st season of inspired performances
Sponsored by:
Linda Gay Blanc and Marshall Peterson
This concert is performed in memory of
Dr. Cornelius Greebe
Gina and Fred Buffum
Mary Cushman
Charles Daily
Mardel Fehrenbach
Denise Gough
Lynne and Charlie Harr
Julie Howard and Ted Flickinger
Elizabeth Margriet Koester
Lorna and Dick Kolasheski
INTERMISSION
Stacy and Todd Moody
Elizabeth Offringa
Becky and Bob Paylor
Mary Rayson
Gina and John Rogers
Atie and Bill Rotmeyer
Georgiana Vines
Edie and Gil Volk
Cherie Williams
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Variations on “America”
(1891, orch., William Schuman, 1963)
WILLIAM GRANT Still Symphony No. 1
(1895-1978)(Afro-American Symphony) (1930)
I.
Moderato assai
II.Adagio
III.Animato
IV.Lento, con risoluzione
Janet Mobley
Jeannie and Jim Mungenast
CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
JEFF MIDKIFF Mandolin Concerto
(b. 1963)
“From The Blue Ridge” (2011)
Jeff Midkiff, mandolin
AARON COPLAND
(1900-1990)
Appalachian Spring,
Suite from the Ballet (1944)
This concert will air on WUOT 91.9 FM on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016
and will rebroadcast on Monday, July 31, 2017.
Performances of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra are made possible in part by grants from the City of Knoxville, the
Knox County Government and by contributions to the Knoxville Symphony Society’s Annual Support Drive. This project
is funded under an agreement with the TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION. Latecomers will be seated during the first
convenient pause in the performance. The use of recording devices and/or cameras is strictly forbidden. Please remember to
turn off all electronic devices and refrain from text messaging during the concert, Programs and artists subject to change.
notes on the program
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer
Variations on “America”
(1891, orch., William Schuman, 1963)
Charles Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut
on October 20, 1874, and died in New York
on May 19, 1954. William Schuman was
born in New York on August 4, 1910, and
died there on February 15, 1992. The first
performance of Schuman’s orchestration of
Ives’s Variations on “America” took place
in New York on May 20, 1964, with André
Kostelanetz conducting the New York
Philharmonic. The Schumann orchestration
is scored for two piccolos, three flutes, two
oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four
horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba,
timpani, xylophone, glockenspiel, castanets,
bass drum, snare drum, triangle, cymbals,
tambourine, and strings.
Duration: 8 minutes
Charles Ives originally composed his Variations
on “America” (“My country, ‘tis of thee…”) for
solo organ in 1891, and probably gave its first
performance at the Methodist Church in Brewster,
New York, on February 17, 1892. Even at this
early stage of his life, Ives demonstrated the
boundless enthusiasm for American music and
iconoclastic approach that would make him a
unique force. Years later, Ives recalled that when
the melody of “America” was clearly presented in
his composition, people would join in singing
the anthem, “even if occasionally made the boys
go marching down the aisles.”
In 1963, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI)
commissioned William Schuman to orchestrate
Ives’s 1891 work. André Kostelanetz and the
New York Philharmonic gave the orchestration’s
premiere on May 20, 1964. Schuman’s masterful
orchestration complements—and arguably
even heightens—the ebullient spirit of Ives’s
original. Schuman’s orchestration of Ives’s
Variations on “America” is a worthy tribute by one
great American composer to another.
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notes on the program
Symphony No. 1
(Afro-American Symphony) (1930)
William Grant Still was born in Woodville,
Mississippi, on May 11, 1895, and died in
Los Angeles, California, on December 3,
1978. The first performance of the AfroAmerican Symphony took place in 1931, with
Howard Hanson conducting the Rochester
Philharmonic. The Afro-American Symphony
is scored for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes,
English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, two
bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, drum
set, triangle, vibraphone, tenor banjo, celesta,
and strings.
Duration: 23 minutes
William Grant Still, often referred to as the “Dean
of African-American Composers,” was born in
Woodville, Mississippi. He attended Wilberforce
College and the Oberlin Conservatory. Still
worked with W.C. Handy, and studied privately
George Whitefield Chadwick and Edgar Varèse.
William Grant Still composed successfully in a
wide variety of genres, including symphonies,
operas, sacred musical, assorted instrumental
works, and popular songs, as well as television and
film scores. William Grant Still also conducted,
and made arrangements of spirituals.
The Afro-American Symphony was one of Still’s
early large-scale compositions. As he noted:
Afro-American Symphony’s 1931 premiere. It
marked the first time that a major American
orchestra had performed a symphony by an
African-American composer. Still’s Afro-American
Symphony quickly received numerous further
performances, including a 1935 Carnegie Hall
concert by the New York Philharmonic.
The Afro-American Symphony is in four
movements, each with a subtitle provided by the
composer: “Longings,” “Sorrows,” Humor,” and
“Aspirations.” William Grant Still masterfully
synthesizes his blues-oriented material with a
traditional symphonic ensemble, augmented by
such instruments as the banjo, vibraphone, and
drum set. The end result is a beautiful, uplifting,
and quintessentially American work, that sounds
as fresh as the day it was first performed.
Mandolin Concerto
“From The Blue Ridge” (2011)
Jeff Midkff was born in Roanoke, Virginia, in
1963. The first performance of the Mandolin
Concerto, “From the Blue Ridge,” took place at
the Roanoke Performing Arts Theater, October
3, 2011, with the composer as soloist, and
David Stewart Wiley conducting the Roanoke
Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the solo
mandolin, the Concerto is scored for two flutes,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four
horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba,
timpani, percussion, and strings.
Duration: 20 minutes
Like so many works which are important to
their creators, the Afro-American Symphony
was forming over a period of years. Themes
were occurring to me, were duly noted,
and an overall form was slowly growing. I
knew I wanted to write a symphony; I knew
that it had to be an American work; and I
wanted to demonstrate how the blues, so
often considered a lowly expression, could be
elevated to the highest musical level.
American composer and conductor Howard
Hanson led the Rochester Philharmonic in the
Composed in 2011 in a commission from Music
Director David Stewart Wiley and the Roanoke
Symphony Orchestra. The first performance
was opening night of the Roanoke Symphony
Orchestra’s Fall 2011 season.
My love for playing the mandolin, and a lifetime
doing so, began to take on new meaning
and motivation just a few years ago. After
decades of also performing as a clarinetist,
and countless orchestral concert situations, I
felt a deep-seated desire to bring my favorite
instrument in line with that experience. I
truly enjoy the color, language and structure
of the symphony orchestra, and my many
years as a clarinetist made me very familiar
with it. At the same time, I enjoyed a highly
improvisational approach to the mandolin that
was uniquely my own. I had struggled to keep
the two — orchestra and mandolin — a
“safe” distance apart. But I knew I could say
something with the mandolin on a symphonic
scale. Deep down, I wanted to bring my most
natural companion to the orchestra — two
seemingly different worlds, together.
The first movement, begins with the mandolin
on swirling sixteenth notes, setting the stage
with excitement and anticipation, as does
the entire movement. The commission for
the piece came to me in November when the
falling leaves drew this opening scene. Indeed,
the Blue Ridge’s beauty and importance to
me would form the piece. The middle of the
first movement moves to major tonality with
woodwinds in a waltz-like dance before a
return to the opening theme.
The lyrical second movement, draws on
more typical and familiar bluegrass melodies.
Having grown up in Roanoke, moved away, and
returned to Roanoke, I wanted the concerto
to echo the emotions associated with home,
and with going home. To get there, I looked
no further than the Blue Ridge Mountains
and the Roanoke Valley. “Wildwood Flower”
by The Carter Family and Bill Monroe’s
“Roanoke” are the thematic inspiration.
The third movement is an upbeat, exciting,
spontaneous and dynamic affair. It draws
strongly upon jazz and bluegrass themes in
a series of ideas in a sort of “controlled jam
session” — one idea smoothly leading to
another. Every section of the orchestra has a
role to play with particularly expanded use of
percussion setting up the different groves.
—Jeff Midkiff
http://www.jeffmidkiff.com/concerto.html
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notes on the program
Appalachian Spring, Suite
from the Ballet (1944)
Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New
York, on November 14, 1900, and died in
Tarrytown, New York, on December 2, 1990.
The first performance of the ballet, Appalachian
Spring, took place at the Library of Congress
in Washington, D.C., on October 30, 1944.
The premiere of Appalachian Spring, Suite
from the Ballet, occurred in Carnegie Hall
in New York City on October 4, 1945, with
Artur Rodzinski conducting the New York
Philharmonic. The Suite from Appalachian
Spring is scored for piccolo, two flutes,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons,
two horns, two trumpets, two trombones,
timpani, xylophone, snare drum, bass drum,
suspended cymbals, tabor, wood block, claves,
glockenspiel, triangle, harp, piano, and strings.
Duration: 23 minutes
In 1943, the legendary American dancer and
choreographer Martha Graham accepted a
commission to stage new works for the Festival of
the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, held
at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
For that event, Graham, in turn, commissioned
music by three prominent contemporary
composers—Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud,
and Aaron Copland.
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featured performer
It was Graham who chose the title for Copland’s
piece—Appalachian Spring, taken from the
heading of a poem by Hart Crane. Copland began
work on the score in June of 1943. Because of
various delays, the premiere of Appalachian Spring
(as well as of the Hindemith and Milhaud ballets)
did not occur until October 30, 1944. Graham
and Eric Hawkins danced the principal roles.
Copland scored the original ballet for a chamber
group of thirteen instruments. Subsequently,
Copland arranged a Suite from Appalachian
Spring for a larger ensemble. The Suite received
its premiere in 1945. That same year, Appalachian
Spring won both the Pulitzer Prize for music and
the Music Critics Circle of New York award for
outstanding theatrical work of the 1944-5 season.
Appalachian Spring takes place in the early part
of the 19th century, in the hills of Pennsylvania.
The story concerns the wedding of a young
farmer and his bride. The Suite is divided into
eight sections, performed without pause. The
penultimate section, depicting “Scenes of daily
activity for the Bride and her Farmer-husband,”
is Copland’s beloved set of variations on the
Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts.” The closing portion
depicts the couple, “quiet and strong in their
new house.”
JEFF MIDKIFF
A mandolinist and fiddler raised on bluegrass
and a professional clarinetist, Jeff Midkiff is an
outstanding musician who feels comfortable in
more than one setting—musically and personally.
“I feel at home in the Blue Ridge Mountains
playing fiddle tunes,” Jeff Midkiff says, “but then
again, I feel at home in a professional orchestra
as well.”
Jeff grew up where bluegrass and traditional string
band music thrived. Given his first mandolin
at the age of 7 by a neighbor (Sherman Poff, to
whose memory Partners In Time is dedicated),
he moved quickly into the world of fiddlers’
conventions and contests, winning his first
mandolin competition before reaching his teens.
As he grew older, he added the fiddle to his
instrumental arsenal and joined the New Grass
Revue—yet at the same time, he took up the
clarinet and began to perform with his high including its self-titled Rebel Records debut in
1987. Shortly after that, he enrolled in graduate
school’s symphonic band.
school at Northern Illinois University, earning
By the time he graduated he had his sights firmly his Master’s degree in clarinet at the end of the
set on a musical career, and in 1981 Midkiff decade—but though the move meant leaving the
began studies at Virginia Tech, eventually earning LRB, he continued to perform with an Illinois
a degree in music education and performance. Yet bluegrass band, Bluegrass Express.
even as he was immersing himself in the classical
repertoire, he continued to gain attention as a Jeff Midkiff ’s concerto for mandolin and
mandolin and fiddle player with the McPeak orchestra, “From the Blue Ridge,” was composed
Brothers, a widely respected bluegrass group in 2011 in a commission from Music Director
with whom he made his first serious recording David Stewart Wiley and the Roanoke Symphony
in 1982 (five selections from that album are Orchestra. The first performance was opening
included on Rebel Records’ McPeak Brothers: night of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s
Fall 2011 season, and the Concer to has
Classic Bluegrass CD).
subsequently been performed with the Rochester
In 1983 he joined the Lonesome River Band, Philharmonic, the Shreveport Symphony, and the
which would eventually become one of bluegrass’s Williamsburg Symphonia and the Northwest
most acclaimed groups. For the next five years, as Florida Symphony. Performances are scheduled
he completed his education and started working with the Boulder Philharmonic and the Symphony
as a music instructor, he performed with the of Southeast Texas, Beaumont.
LRB, recording two albums with the group,
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