Winter Concert 2006

"Gone But Not Forgotten"

Thursday, February 9, 2006 - 7:30 PM
Benson High School
Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 3 PM
Vancouver School of Arts and Academics
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 7:30 PM
Glencoe HS, Hillsboro

This series: Free Admission!

PROGRAM NOTES

Armenian Dances, Part 1
We open our concert with this homage to Dr. Alfred Reed, America's most prolific and widely performed composer. A former Army Air Corps bandsman, he served as staff composer/arranger at the Radio Workshop and for the National Broadcasting Company in New York. From 1966 until his retirement in 1993 he was professor of music at the University of Miami, and after retiring remained in great international demand as a guest lecturer and conductor. In his Armenian Dances, Reed captured many of the styles, tempos, and subtleties of the Armenian folk songs and dances. In an interview with The Instrumentalist magazine he named "Armenian Dances" and his Second Symphony as his best works, and stated that he hoped to be remembered for those compositions.

From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific
Herbert L. Clarke was considered by many musicians, including John Philip Sousa, to have been the world's greatest cornetist. A legend in his own time, Clarke traveled over 800,000 miles with such musical organizations as Gilmore's Band, Innes' Band, Victor Herbert's Band, and John Philip Sousa' Band. He performed over 6,000 cornet solos including 473 in one season. Clarke made 34 tours visiting 14 different countries. In April of 1934, he was elected President of the American Bandmasters Association. Clarke composed and arranged over 240 works, including "From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific," one of his most popular cornet solos. The work has been transcribed for numerous other instruments, and our rendition features Andy Harris on the euphonium.

A Movement for Rosa
"A Movement for Rosa" tells the story of Rosa Parks, who sparked one of the biggest political struggles in U.S. history. On December 1, 1955, she refused to relinquish her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white man. This act and her subsequent arrest began the civil rights movement in the United States. Composer Mark Camphouse pays tribute to Rosa Parks in this tone poem. The piece is centered on the hymn "We Shall Overcome". As this three part "musical biography" progresses, we hear fragments of this theme until it is finally played in it's entirety on solo horn. The piece fittingly ends with a lack of resolution as we are reminded that the battle for racial equality continues to this day. Mrs. Parks' courageous and dangerous act of civil disobedience marked her as "the mother of the civil rights movement" and changed the face of our nation.

Washington Greys
This classic march is Claudio Grafulla's most widely known composition, and it has been arranged and rearranged for countless contemporary bands. The edition performed here was written by the beloved Frederick Fennell. Widely regarded as the leader of the wind ensemble movement in the United States, Fennell was a true giant in the classical wind band music world for creating the Eastman Wind Ensemble in 1952. Since that time there can hardly be a wind performer or conductor who has not been affected by the innovations of Fennell and his Eastman Wind Ensemble. He broke open the long-standing traditions of large bands and sought to create a new original repertoire from major composers of the day. These activities, plus his own indomitable spirit and enthusiasm for performance, made him well known to thousands of performers throughout the United States and the world.

Concord
Clare Grundman was one of the 20th century's most prolific and high respected composers for band. During a span of 50 years he wrote more than 100 compositions for school, university, and professional bands, and his music has become standard repertoire throughout the world. "Concord" was commissioned for The United States Marine Band and its conductor, Colonel John Bourgeois. Grundman uses three American Revolution songs in succession in the work. The first is "The White Cockade," a fife and drum marching tune. The second is William Billings' composition, "America" a popular hymn during the American Revolution. The last section is probably one of the most well known Revolutionary tunes, "Yankee Doodle," with a rhythmic twist. The three pieces combine to represent the pride and spirit of America during the time of the revolution.

Symphonic Dance Music from West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein achieved instant conducting fame when, at the age of twenty-five, with sixteen hours notice, he conducted a broadcast of the New York Philharmonic Symphony after the scheduled conductor became ill. It was his fate to be far more than routinely successful. Bernstein wrote symphonies, ballets, an opera, a film score, works for violin and chorus with orchestra, four Broadway musicals, and several smaller works for solo and chamber music groups. He incorporated the element of jazz in many of his compositions, including the score to "West Side Story." His music to the play brought a new dimension to Shakespeare's classic love story of Romeo and Juliet and the underlying dynamics of social and racial strife. In 1990, the musical world lost both Bernstein and his teacher and friend, Aaron Copland.

An Ellington Portrait
The dynamic and mesmerizing music of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is forever etched in jazz history. Ellington was one of the few jazz artists whose style never seemed to become dated. He was always able to blend his own art with new influences and trends. During Prohibition, thanks to the rise in radio receivers, Duke's band was broadcast across the nation live on "From the Cotton Club." The band's music, along with their popularity, spread rapidly and they became the most sought-after band in the United States and even throughout the world. By the end of his 50-year career, he had played over 20,000 performances worldwide, and now is considered among the world's greatest composers and musicians. "An Ellington Portrait" includes eight, but by no means all, of his best songs.

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