CONCERT NOTES
Agincourt
Doug Spata (1975-present)
· Doug Spata is a clarinetist, composer and Orchestra teacher. He really enjoys exploring history in composition, movies and television shows. The historical battle scene of Agincourt in Shakespeare’s Henry V inspired this piece. The Battle of Agincourt occurred in 1415 and was an important English victory over the French in Northern France during the 100 Years War. The English longbows weren’t respected by the French knights. The believed their close combat skills and armor would defeat any archery tactics of their enemy. The valley where this battle occurred became very muddy by recent rains and the heavy armor of the French knights essentially trapped them in the mud. Over 10000 French soldiers died compared to 1500 English soldiers. This composition is in 7/8 time, which adds to the frenetic battle scene painting.
Rimpianto
Enrico Toselli (1883-1926) //Arr. Bob Lipton
· Italian pianist and composer, Enrico Toselli, spent much of his career touring Europe as a concert pianist. He composed chamber music, 2 operettas and a symphonic poem, but his most famous work is Rimpianto. Toselli’s musical fame, however, was overshadowed by a scandal with the Archduchess of Saxony. The Archduchess divorced her husband, who ultimately became the King of Saxony, to marry Toselli. This upheaval in the royalty and ruling political structure of Europe, prior to World War I, was the gossip of the day. Our arrangement is meant to mimic a mandolin ensemble. You will hear all pizzicato with many violins and violas using “guitar” position.
Sally Goodin
Arr. Todd Parrish
· Sally Goodin holds a place in music history as the first #1 country music bestseller. Released in 1923, the recording by Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland has an interesting back story. In 1922, Robertson and Gilliland traveled to New York City. Dressed in a Confederate Uniform and “Indian Fighting Clothes” respectively, they demanded that record executives hear them play. Put off by their appearance, they were denied access to the studios. The persistence, fueled by a desire to get rid of the politically charged visual spectacle, Victor Records finally gave in and recorded the piece. If you have a moment to take a listen to the 1923 recording, you will notice an unusual violin sound. This is created by the violin being tuned AEAE rather than the traditional GDAE.
Smoke on the Water
Ritchie Blackmore (1945-present), Ian Gillan (1945-present), Roger Glover (1945-present), Jon Lord (1941-2012) and
Ian Paice (1948-present) // Arr. Larry Moore
· Deep Purple was formed in Hertford, England in 1968. They were early pioneers in heavy metal and hard rock. They are often grouped with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as innovators in this genre. They have sold over 100 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. Smoke on the Water was composed in 1972. Deep Purple had rented a mobile recording studio from The Rolling Stones in Switzerland to record their new album. They were going to write and record at a casino that was closing down for winter renovations. A fire at a Frank Zappa concert on the final eve before closing in the casino’s theater became the inspiration for the song. The fire began when a few audience members shot flare guns in the ceiling during the show. The fire quickly spread out of control. The “smoke on the water” referenced in the song and title is from the casino fire smoke floating over Lake Geneva, in Switzerland.
Halcyon
William Hofeldt (1952-present)
· William Hofeldt was born in Chicago, IL, but currently resides in the Madison area. He has won National School Orchestra Association composition awards and is often sought after for school commission projects. Halcyon was commissioned by the Appleton East High School Orchestra in 1995. The word halcyon denotes calm, peace and tranquility. It is also related to a mythical bird, which according to the legend has the power to calm the stormy and rough winter seas. “Halcyon Days” refer to a brief period of mild weather occurring near or around the winter solstice. This calming of the seas is attributed to the lore and magic of the halcyon.
Falling Slowly from “Once”
Glen Hansard (1970-present) and Marketa Irglova (1988-present) // Arr. Jim McMillen
· Featured in the 2007 film “Once,” Falling Slowly won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2007. It was also nominated for a Grammy in the same year. The composers of this piece actually star in the movie. Glen Hansard’s character of a street musician mimics the early life of Hansard himself. This Indie film has recently been turned into a successful Broadway Musical.
Waltzes from a Narrow House
Robert Moore
· Inspired by the music of a ghost show on television, Robert Moore borrowed a fragment of the chord progression he heard and used it as the basis to create this composition. Moore is a cellist who graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Music in Composition. He has composed pieces for Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Voice. His experiences as a computer programmer also influence his music passion. He has taught Computer Applications in Music at the University level and continues to use eclectic interests to inspire his compositions.
Baba Yetu from “Civilization IV”
Christopher Tin (1976-present) // Arr. Douglas Wagner
· Christopher Tin studied music at Stanford and Oxford Universities. During his time at Stanford, his roommate was Soren Johnson, a videogame designer. When Johnson was developing his game, Civilization IV, he asked Tin to compose a piece for the game. The lyrics used in this piece are a Swahili adaptation of the Lord’s Prayer. Tin combined instruments and vocalists in his arrangement. Baba Yetu was the first piece of music composed for a video game to win a Grammy. In 2009, it won in the category of Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists.
Pi Tunes (Opus 3.14159)
Richard Meyer (1957-present)
· Pi is a mathematical constant that expresses the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It is approximated as 3.14159. Because it is an irrational number, it cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction, which means that its decimal representation never ends or never settles into a permanent repeating pattern. What Meyer did in this piece was assign a scale degree pitch to each of the first 32 digits of pi (3.141592653589793238426433832795) which correspond to the musical line of ECFCGDDAGEGCDBDEDECFADAFEECEDBDG. After arriving at this tone row, he used various rhythm and keys to create 5 different themes.
Cast Away Theme
Alan Silvestri (1950-present) // Arr. Levi Olson
· Starting his composing career at 21, Alan Silvestri has been nominated for 2 Academy Awards and 2 Golden Globes for his film score work. Silvestri was tasked in 2000 with providing new material for the movie Cast Away. The title in Cast Away has a double meaning. Chuck Noland (played by Tom Hanks) is cast away on a deserted island, but the cast of the movie is also away, leaving large sections of the movie with only one actor. In this minimalistic approach, music for this film is also absent for much of the film. Besides a few background episodes of Elvis and Russian music, no soundtrack is present until the escape from the tidal surf of the deserted island. Only then is Silvestri’s original music introduced.
Welcome to the Black Parade
Gerard Way (1977-present), Ray Toro (1977-present), Frank Lero (1981-present), Michael Way (1980-present) and
Bob Bryar (1979-present) // Arr. Levi Olson
· My Chemical Romance is a band formed in New Jersey. They decided to become a band after the September, 11th attacks in 2001. Welcome to the Black Parade is their biggest hit and it was released on the 5 year anniversary of September, 11th. It climbed to #1 on the UK charts and reached #9 on the Billboard Top 100. It has sold over 1 million copies to date and is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.
Serenade in Four Movements: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) // Arr. Albert Stoessel
· Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. He was a child prodigy that had already composed pieces at 5 years old. He composed over 600 works (Symphonies, Concertos, Chamber, Opera and Choral) during the Classical Era. This serenade was composed in 1787 and remains one of his most popular pieces. A highlight of our preparation of this work is that the music is not edited or arranged. It is the real deal. The only change from the original quartet is the doubling of the cello part by the bass.
Marche Slav
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) // Arr. Carrie Gruselle
· Marche Slav was commissioned by the Red Cross Society in Russia to raise funds for the Russian support of the Serbia and Ottoman War (1876-1878). Much of the music composed in Russia at this time was very nationalistic. Tchaikovsky usually opposed this trend and many considered his music to be more Western European influenced. Marche Slav, however, was very nationalistic in its intent and design. The piece opens with two Serbian folk songs, depicting the Serbian struggle in the war. After these themes are presented, Russian themes are added and the Russian National Anthem (God Save the Tsar) is incorporated to highlight the Russian aide. The piece ends in a virtuosic coda marked with a sudden shift in key and tempo.
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