ITHACA COLLEGE CHAMBER WINDS
Daniel Cook, conductor
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many folk song arrangements set as hymn tunes, and also influenced several of his own original compositions. Although he also studied abroad with Max Bruch and Maurice Ravel, his style remained individual and English. He was appointed organist at Lambeth, and his interest in English folk music dates from his stay there. He became good friends with Gustav Holst, and they often shared their works in progress with each other.
Scherzo alla marcia is the second movement of Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 8. John Barbirolli conducted the premiere in Manchester, England, in 1956. The first movement is marked Fantasia (Variazioni senza tema). The Scherzo alla marcia is scored only for wind instruments, balancing the following Cavatina, which is for strings alone. The work closes with a bold and percussive Toccata. The Scherzo contains three themes and a fugato section, including a lively trio. Contrapuntal writing permeates the work, reminiscent of the music of his contemporary Paul Hindemith.
- Program note from the Baylor University Wind Ensemble
Gordon Jacob was an English composer who wrote prolifically, with over seven hundred original compositions or arrangements of existing music attributed to his hand. He earned a Doctor of Music degree from the University of London in 1935, was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1946, and was awarded appointment to the Order of the British Empire in 1968. He composed Old Wine in New Bottles in 1959, for the St. Bees Festival of Music. The festival was hosted by the St. Bees School in St. Bees Village on the coast of Cumbria near the English and Scottish border. Earlier that year, music director at St. Bees School Donald Leggat approached his friend Gordon Jacob to compose a piece for the festival, and Jacob obliged. The premiere performance, conducted by Leggatt, was warmly received and successfully reviewed. Membership consisted of mostly members of the St. Bees Symphony Orchestra; however, two of Donald Leggat’s former pupils - Timothy Reynish and Guy Woolfenden - played French horn. Old Wine is a suite of four folk-song settings for woodwind and brass in which the composer displays all the dexterity of instrumental writing and harmonic ingenuity for which his music is well known. “The Raggle Taggle Gypsies,” “The Three Ravens,” and “Begone Dull Care” formed the basis of three well-contrasted movements. The fourth movement “Early One Morning” blends discreet sentiment, wit, and high spirit with a playful craftsmanship in a manner which recalls that of a Haydn finale.
- Program note from the United States Coast Guard Band
We have Johannes Brahms to thank for essentially launching Dvořák’s career. In 1878, Brahms was a judge in a composition contest that awarded Dvořák honor as a contestant. Brahms then continued to champion the young Czech composer and helped him land his first publishing contract. The contract asked of Dvořák a symphony, which we know now as No. 5, as well as some other works, including the delicious serenade for winds (and strings).
The Serenade offers us Dvořák in youthful invention, as well as at his best in beautiful melodies and luscious harmony. Dvořák composed this work in two weeks, the first movement being written in one day. It was written in 1878 and was premiered that same year in Prague with the composer conducting. With its instrumentation of ten winds and two strings and the charm of its melodies, it is reminiscent of the Mozart serenades written a century earlier. The minuet is an example of the native influence on Dvořák compositions. Its trio is a “furiant”, which is a Czech dance in quick triple time with syncopation, and this provides a marked contrast to the surrounding minuet sections of the movement. Also noteworthy is the return of the opening first movement theme toward the end of the final movement, leading into a grand conclusion of the piece. This opus is truly one of the masterpieces for wind ensemble.
Three quotations from Stravinsky on the topic of his Mass are notable. One, that “I had hoped my Mass would be used liturgically.” And in a similar vein, "My Mass was not composed for concert performances but for use in the church. It is liturgical and almost without ornament. In making a musical setting of the Credo I wished only to preserve the text in a special way. One composes a march to facilitate marching men, so with my Credo I hope to provide an aid to the text. The Credo is the longest movement. There is much to believe.”The end of this - “there is much to believe” - is often taken as Stravinsky being glib, but there is considerable evidence that he had a deep theologically based faith, and that he meant this as an indication of the rigor of the tenets as he saw them.Stravinsky was said to have been moved to write this piece after disliking the rococo style in Mozart’s Mass settings. He described his work contrastingly as "very cold music, absolutely cold, that will appeal directly to the spirit.” The instrumentation and vocal writing are indeed austere, but in this combination, new colors come to light.
- Note by Sean Linfors
Flute
Mad Andrus
Madi Connor
Gianna Gassira
Tori Hollerbach
Hannah McAlpine
Oboe
Amanda Haussmann
Clarinet
Anthony Angelillo
Christian Laughlin
Fitz McAlpine
Bassoon
Thomas German
Griffin Harrel
Nearah Sanon
Saxophone
TJ Lanks
Rebecca Wielhouwer
Trumpet
Anthony Reyes
Lamar Williams
Horn
Eliza Ferrara
Finny Keefe
Kate Martin
Madison Stolarski
Trombone/Tuba
Jamie DiSalvo
Isiah Owens
Noah Smith
Percussion
Olivia Okin
Cello
Peter Morales
Bass
Nellie Cordi
SOPRANO
Elizabeth Hercek
Ana Kirsch
Katherine Sochor
Rachel Somers
ALTO
Kaeleigh Banda
Sammi Bullock
Bean Cesari
Bella Mastagni
Jaden Rieck
Kelly Rogers
TENOR
Will Geiger
Luke Ovsag
BASS
Alexander Miller
Paul Narkewich
Jack Patterson
Aidan Zajkowski