Saturday 7.00pm 30 March 2019 at St Peter’s Anglican Church, 1038 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill, Victoria 3128
To book a ticket through TryBooking click here.
To download a poster click here.
PROPOSED PROGRAM
Festive Overture by Dimtri Shostakovich transcribed by Donald Hunsberger – completed in 1954, this popular overture has Shostakovich’s distinctive talents – the ability to write a long sustained melodic line combined with a pulsating rhythmic drive. A truly “festive” overture. For more information about Festive Overture and Shostakovich click here.
Suite Francaise for band by Darius Milhaud – this work was originally written for band. The five parts of this Suite are names after French Provinces, the very ones in which the American and Allied armies fought together with the French underground for the liberation of France: Normanby, Brittany, Ile-de-France (of which Paris is the centre), Alsace-Lorraine, and Provence. he used some folk tunes from these Provences. Published in 1956. For more information about Darius Milhaud click here.
Duke Ellington! arr. Calvin Custer – Duke Ellington was a member of the inner circle for friends of Percy Grainger. In October 1932 Grainger invited Duke to co-present music lectures at the New York State University along with his Cotton Club Band. It was thought that this was the first time a Jazz musician was invited to perform in an academic context in a university. This medley features the following tunes: Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me, Sophisticated Lady, It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). For more information about Duke Ellington click here.
Caravan by Duke Ellington arr. Barry McKimm from the arrangement of Reg Owen – is one of the most popular songs from the vast songbook of Duke Ellington, though the exotic sound of this famous work is likely due to the contributions of co-composer Juan Tizol. Tizol was a member of Ellington’s band and a trombonist. Initially introduced during a 1936 recording session nominally under Barney Bigard’s leadership, but in essence, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, it was taken at a slow tempo, emphasizing the subtle shadings of the leader’s arrangement. Numerous recordings of Caravan” by Ellington exist because it essentially remained in his playbook for the rest of his career, with the potential of being performed during any given concert. The piece found favour right away with other jazz musicians, with broadcasts or recordings by Benny Goodman, Bunny Berrigan, Charlie Barnet, and many others. Solo pianists tend to perform up at often blazing tempos, to showcase their technique, as heard in the many recordings of it by Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, though the subtle textures within the original work are sacrificed in the process. The vocal version, with bland lyrics by former Ellington manager Irving Mills, is recorded rather infrequently by comparison. Ella Fitzgerald enjoyed performing it on stage, though like many of the solo pianists who interpreted the song, she also tended to romp through it at blazing tempos to give her a chance to show off her abilities as an improviser. Reg Owen and his jazz orchestra published this version in 1954. From All Music Guide. For more information about Caravan and Duke Ellington click here.
Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger – as the composer himself has written, this is a “bunch of musical wildflowers” based on folksongs collected from Lincolnshire, England, in 1905-6. Grainger was a picturesque nationalist who tried to retain something of the original flavour of British folk songs and their singers by strict observance of peculiarities of performance such as varying beat lengths and the use of “primitive’ techniques such as parallelism. The six movements are: Lisbon Bay (Sailor’s Song), Horkstow Grange (The Miser and his Man: a local Tragedy), Rufford Park Poachers (Poaching Song), The brisk young Sailor (returned to wed his True Love), Lord Melbourne (War Song), and The Lost Lady Found (Dance Song). For more information about Lincolnshire Posy, click here. For more information about Percy Grainger click here.
Concertino For Wind Orchestra by Ralph Hultgren – Tee composer writes “My endeavour with this work was to write a work that had a feature for each section (of the band) only with a finale embracing them all. What developed was a work that featured brass and percussion (sections), in the main, to begin, woodwind (section) next and then everyone in a flurry at the end. What I have written is less programmatic than my usual output and that was part of my aim. I also wanted to write a work that gave time for the player to focus on making music and not scramble to acquit all the notes. My success is all these areas is best decided by your, the listener.” Ralph Hultgren was born in Box Hill (where we are staging this concert) and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. The Concertino for Wind Orchestra was published in 2018. For more information about Ralph, click here
Trittico by Vaclav Nelhybel – Trittico was composed in 1963 for Dr. William D. Revelli who gave the first performance of the work in the spring of 1964, in Ann Arbor, with the Symphonic Band of the University of Michigan.
The first and third movements are, in several ways, related to one another: their character is brilliantly forward-moving and energetic; the main theme of the first movement reappears in the culmination point of the third movement, and the instrumentation of the movements is identical (standard), with the individual instruments themselves being used quite similarly.
The second movement is a strongly contrasting dramatic scene with turbulent recitatives and expressive woodwind solos, punctuated by low brass and percussion. The emphasis is on the woodwinds and the low brass; cornets and trumpets enter only at the very end with an extremely intense phrase to conclude the movement. The dramatic character is underlined by the strong use of percussion which is extended by a second timpani player, piano and celesta. Program Note from score. For more information about Trittico and Nelhybel click here.