Sunday, May 12, 2013


                          Soprano Katharine Gunnick, soloist for Humboldt Chorale

 Sacred Music and a Children’s Choir in Mother's Day Concert

 The HSU University Singers and the Humboldt Chorale perform an evening of sacred music, including the Mass of the Children, on Sunday May 12.

 The Humboldt Chorale features a children’s choir along with the main choir and two soloists performing the Mass of the Children by contemporary British composer John Rutter. The soloists are soprano Katharine Gunnick and baritone Carl McGahan.

 HSU University Singers perform Vivaldi’s Beatus Vir, a Baroque masterpiece for double choir, with soprano soloist Ana Margarida Cruz.  Excerpts from American composer Leonard Bernstein’s Mass include “Sing God a New Song” sung by soprano Ana Duchi.

 The Humboldt Chorale is a community group directed by Carol Ryder. The children’s choir is prepared by James Gadd, and Larry Pitts is piano accompanist. The HSU University Singers are directed by Harley Muilenburg. John Chernoff accompanies on piano.

 University Singers and Humboldt Chorale perform on Sunday May 12 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7/3, free to HSU students from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye

University Singers: Additional Notes by Director Harley Muilenburg 

The University Singers will present choral music from the 1700’s to the 1900’s. Vivaldi’s Beatus Vir is a sacred Baroque masterpiece written for double choir and vocal soloist. Its style and form are based on that of the instrumental concerto from the same time period.

 The second work performed tonight will be two excerpts from Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass”. The first excerpt is the solo, “Sing God a New Song” sung by soprano, Ana Duchi. The second excerpt is the Alleluia, often referred to as the jazz movement, “Du bing du bang du bong”.

 The final piece for tonight’s concert is “Alleluia” from “Fanfares” by Daniel Pinkham. “Alleluia” is a rhythmically energized composition with tympani included to provide a 20th century ostinato accompaniment.

 Tonight we have our accompanist, John Chernoff playing piano, substituting piano for brass and organ that occur in the original composition.
Bassist Millie Martin in Faculty Artist Series Concert

 String bassist Millie Martin performs a Faculty Artist Series concert at Fulkerson Recital Hall at noon on Sunday May 12.

 Martin, currently based in San Francisco, teaches bass in the HSU Music department. Her classical music credits include appearances at the Berkeley Early Music Festival, National Gallery of Art Chamber Series and the Kennedy Center in Washington.

 She also plays jazz and popular music, with appearances backing up James Taylor, Roberta Flack and Arlo Guthrie in live shows.

 Millie Martin performs on Sunday May 12 at noon in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $8/$3 from HSU Box Office (826-3728) or at the door. A Faculty Artists Concert produced by the HSU Music Department.

Saturday, May 11, 2013


Reassembling the Horizon with HSU Jazz Orchestra 

From the most famous Mexican bolero and a 1950s torch song to a Stevie Wonder classic, the HSU Jazz Orchestra reassembles jazz horizons in its May 11 concert at Fulkerson Recital Hall. 

 The full Orchestra plays an adaptation of Stevie Wonder’s 1970s hit, “Superstition,” and reinvents a Duke Ellington spoof of the 1940s craze for the conga called “The Flaming Sword.” "Picture Carmen Miranda with a line of people behind her, all with their hands on the hips of the person in front of them," suggests director Dan Aldag.

Vocalist Jo Kuzelka sings a jazz version of the 1950s hit “Cry Me A River,” and sings “Seven Steps to Heaven,” a tune made famous by Miles Davis, which also features solos by trumpeter Andrew Henderson and tenor saxist Nick Durant. 

Kuzelka does a vocal of a different kind on "The Clown," with music by jazz bassist Charles Mingus and a spoken word text by Jean Shepherd, a Chicago radio humorist best known as the author of "A Christmas Story." 

“Besame Mucho,” the most-often recorded Mexican song, is arranged by Jazz Orchestra guitarist Dan Fair, with solos by Fair and pianist Alex Espe. The concert also includes tunes by Mary Lou Williams, the great Argentinean composer Astor Piazolla, and “Horizon Reassembled” by living jazz legend Bobby Watson. 

The HSU Jazz Orchestra performs on Saturday May 11 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7/3/free to HSU students with ID, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by the HSU Music Department. 

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye
Jazz Orchestra concert May 11: Director's Notes by Dan Aldag

We're playing:

 "Besame Mucho", arranged by the band's guitarist, Dan Fair, with solos by Dan and our pianist, Alex Espe.

 "Scorpio", a movement from Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite. The suite was written for piano trio, but Williams arranged this movement for the Duke Ellington Orchestra, who never recorded it. Features Nick Durant on clarinet.

 "Cry Me A River", arranged by Oded Lev-Ari for clarinetist Anat Cohen. We're having Jo Kuzelka sing in place of the clarinet solo.


 "Seven Steps To Heaven", a Victor Feldman tune made famous by Miles Davis. We're playing a new arrangement by Mike Tomaro to which we've added a vocal, with Jo singing Cassandra Wilson's lyric. Solos by trumpeter Andrew Henderson and tenor saxist Nick Durant.

"The Clown", a spoken word/music hybrid composed by Charles Mingus with text by the writer, raconteur and radio performer Jean Shepherd. Mingus's recording with Shepherd was done with a small group. When Mingus was asked to contribute something to a concert celebrating Duke Ellington in 1969, Mingus had pianist Jaki Byard arrange it for Ellington's band, and that's what we'll be playing, with Jo doing the spoken-word part.





"Superstition", the Stevie Wonder hit from the 1970s, was arranged by Miguel Zenon for the SFJazz Collective. We've adapted that arrangement for a 7-piece group for the full Jazz Orchestra to play.









 "The Flaming Sword", a piece written by Duke Ellington in the early 1940s as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the current craze for the conga line dance. (Picture Carmen Miranda with a line of people behind her, all with their hands on the hips of the person in front of them.)






"Milonga Loca", a composition by the late Argentinian composer Astor Piazolla, the creator of nuevo tango. Arranged for jazz orchestra by Fred Sturm. Features trombonists David Hersh and Josh Foster.




 "Horizon Reassembled" by Bobby Watson, composed by him when he reunited his group Horizon. Arranged for jazz orchestra by the composer.

Friday, May 10, 2013


Fiddling Around with the Humboldt Symphony

 Humboldt Symphony will perform its carefully planned and well-rehearsed final concert of the year on May 10 and 12, with classics ranging from the 17th to the 20th centuries. But there will also be a surprise—even to conductor Paul Cummings.

 A student ensemble of fiddle enthusiasts is preparing its own medley. “There’s quite a movement in America for fiddle music, and these students are part of it,” Cummings said. “I don’t know exactly what tunes they’re doing, so I’m looking forward to being surprised. Every concert ought to have an adventure—something unexpected. This is it.” 

 The fiddle medley follows Percy Grainger’s Molly on the Shore, a string orchestra version of an Irish reel.

 The concert includes a suite based on the first real opera in western music history by Claudio Monteverdi, who is also sometimes credited as the founder of Baroque. “I agree with other scholars that if Monteverdi had lived 200 years later, he’d be of the same stature as Beethoven and Mozart,” Cummings said. “He was that accomplished a composer.”

Capriccio Espagnol by 19th century composer Rimsky-Korsakoff is “one of the great orchestral masterworks,” Cummings said. “It contains probably the most famous clarinet solos in the orchestral literature.”

 The main selection is The Creation of the World, a jazz inflected, Gershwin-like classic by French composer Darius Milhaud. It’s a “fascinating piece and an important work,” Cummings said, that is seldom performed partly because “it’s so difficult to play.” But this semester there was just the right combination of advanced players to perform it, so it became the main musical project. Now after all the hard work preparing it, why not fiddle around a little? 

 Humboldt Symphony performs on Friday May 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday May 12 at 3 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7/3, free to HSU students from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by the HSU Music Department. 

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal 
Notes for Humboldt Symphony concerts of May 10, 12 by Paul Cummings, conductor

These notes are edited from interviews. 

 La Creation Du Monde (The Creation of the World) by Darius Milhaud 

 This piece is very similar in style and musical materials to George Gershwin’s work. Both Milhaud and Gershwin were greatly influenced by jazz. Jazz was the hot new style in the 1920s, not only in the U.S. but in Europe. Milhaud heard jazz in Paris, where a number of American jazz artists toured, and in London. He made a trip to New York to hear jazz in Harlem clubs.

 You hear right away that Milhaud is not going to restrict himself to a traditionally classical approach because you hear a saxophone in the opening measures. Saxophone in a classical piece was unusual in the 1920s.

 It’s called “The Creation of the World” because Milhaud read a book in Paris that summarized many of the African folk legends surrounding that topic. He’s not directly quoting any of the literary material but loosely basing each of the six sections on a part of the creation story.

 This is a fascinating piece and an important work that doesn’t get performed very often, first of all because it calls for an odd combination of instruments—4 string players, a piano, percussion and wind instruments. So symphonic bands can’t do it because they don’t have strings. Orchestras don’t do it if they don’t have all the wind players. It so happens that this semester we had the perfect combination of advanced players on all the required instruments, which we don’t necessarily have in a typical year. The other reason this isn’t performed very often is that it is just difficult to play. But we’ve worked hard on it all semester. We played part of it in our last Humboldt Symphony concert, and this time we’re performing the entire piece.

Tocatta and Ritornelli from the opera Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi


This is a suite, basically portions of the opera Orfeo, based on the Orpheus legend, that have been culled by an arranger (Maurice Perez.)

 Orfeo has the distinction of being the first full blown opera in western music. Monteverdi established a musical genre almost singlehandedly. I agree with other scholars that if Monteverdi had lived 200 years later, he’d be of the same stature as Beethoven and Mozart. He was that accomplished a composer. But when he was writing, in the early 17th century, we’re just coming out of the Renaissance, which was dominated by vocal music, and even more than that, by the Church and vocal music written for sacred occasions. Monteverdi did as much as he could given the period. Monteverdi is also sometimes considered to be the founder of the Baroque era.

This piece also has the distinction of being one of the first works ever written where there is some indication of what instruments should play each part. Previous to this work, instrumental pieces were composed, but composers did not indicate specific instrumentation, so they might say “recorder consort” or label each part soprano alto tenor bass, and said voices can be doubled by instruments. Those were the kinds of indications written in the Renaissance. But Monteverdi actually indicates this part is to be played by a clarino.

 Of course we’re using modern instruments on a work that’s composed for early 17th century instruments—we use trombones for what was originally played on sackbuts, we use oboes for shawms, valved brass instruments for valveless brass, and so on. But even if we can’t capture the 1607 sound exactly, we come as close as possible. It’s such great music we’re not going to deprive ourselves of it because we don’t have those Renaissance or early Baroque instruments. Singers get to do music that’s 400 years old. Instrumentalists usually don’t, so this is our way of performing some of this literature that is normally associated with voices.

Capriccio Espagnol by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakoff


One of the great orchestral masterworks, written for full symphony orchestra. We teach this piece for the same reason that English teachers teach Hamlet: it’s music by a great Russian composer, and it’s one of his best works.

 It’s similar in many ways to his great work, Scheherazade, but that piece is quite a bit longer, it requires more players and it’s quite a bit more difficult—so this is sort of Scheherazade lite. As with many Europeans in the second half the 19th century, Rimsky-Korsakoff was fascinated by what for him would be considered exotica—so anything not from your own country was appealing. This music is his conception of Spanish music, even though he is a Russian he seems to have captured it very well.

 This is especially a tour de force for woodwind players, clarinet in particular. It contains probably the most famous clarinet solos in the orchestral literature. But there’s also a beautiful movement that showcases the French horn section. The strings have their work cut out for them as well. In addition to the clarinet solos, there are solos for our first violin, performed by concertmaster Karen Davie.

 Molly On The Shore by Percy Grainger and the Big Surprise Fiddle Ensemble


 This is a string piece, based on Irish folk music. We pair this with a surprise. Some of our students have organized their own fiddle group. They’re fiddle enthusiasts and several are on the fiddle camp circuit. I encouraged them to form their own group, and I gave them rehearsal time to put together their own medley of fiddle tunes. It's an opportunity for them to perform music that they love.

Fiddle tunes are basically folk tunes for string instruments in many different styles, such as bluegrass, Irish, western-style and so on. Fiddle is another name for violin. This medley is for an ensemble, probably including cello and bass. I don’t actually know, because they’re doing this all on their own. I’m looking forward to being surprised. Every concert ought to have an adventure, something unexpected. This is it.

Sunday, May 05, 2013

                                                              MadRiver Transit
From Dowland to the Beatles with Madrigal and MRT

 Songs from the Renaissance to the Beatles are given voice in the Madrigal and Mad River Transit Singers spring concert on Sunday May 5. 

 The concert also features a new a cappella group called the Humboldt Tones that starts off the second half with four songs, including “Discipline” by Bobby McFerrin, and Kerry Marsh’s musical version of an e.e. cummings poem, “Love Is More Thicker Than Forget.”

 Then the Mad River Transit Singers perform songs from the 1940s, including “Knock Me A Kiss” and “All the Cats Join In.” The Beatles tunes are “Norwegian Wood” arranged by MRT and Madrigal Singers’ director Harley Muilenburg, and the lush harmonies of “Because” from the Abbey Road album.

  MRT is accompanied by the rhythm section of Joseph Welnick and John Chernoff on piano, Steven Workman on bass and Dylan Williams on drums.

 The evening begins with the Madrigal Singers, performing works by John Dowland, Emma Lou Diemer and Orlando di Lasso, as well as anonymous Renaissance love and drinking songs. Two senior music majors, James Gadd and Daniela Godinez, each conduct a movement from Cecelia McDowall’s “A Fancy of Folksongs.”

 HSU Madrigal and MRT singers perform their spring concert on Sunday May 5 at 8 p.m. 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $7/$3 seniors & children. HSU students admitted free. Tickets:826-3928 or at the door.  Directed by Harley Muilenburg, produced by the HSU Music Department.
Madrigal and MRT Singers Concert

Madrigal Singers

 Come Away, Sweet Love by Thomas Greaves
 Say Love Is Ever Thou Didst Find by John Dowland
 A Fancy of Folksongs
 1. Green Bushes conducted by James Gadd
2. O No, John! conducted by Daniela Godinez

 Down Among the Dead Men by anon
 Take O Take Those Lips Away by Emma Lou Diemer
 I Know A Young Lady by Orlando di Lasso


Madrigal Singers  (not in order shown): Daniela Godinez, Ana Ceja, Rebecca Ashbach, Kayleigh Lindquist, Natalie Whiting, Robyn Strong, Danielle Murray, Julia Whelpton, Rosemary Torres, Kenneth Bridges, James Gadd, Fidel Garcia, Jason Garza, James Adams, JoeBoy Kitzerow, Edrees Nassir, John Pettlon, Christian Rosales, Joseph Saler, Matt Walton and Greg Willis.

 Humboldt Tones 
Discipline by Bobby McFerrin
 Love is More Thicker Than Forget arr. Kerry Marsh
 Land of Pure Imagination arr. Greg Murai
We Love You Madly by Terry Winch

 The Humboldt Tones are Olivia Bright, Sandy Lindop, Jessie Rawson, Laura Emerson, Lorena Tamayo, Kenny Bridges, Nick Durant, Alberto Rodriguez, Corey Tamondong and Joseph Welnick.

 Mad River Transit 
 Knock Me a Kiss arr. Steve Zegree
 Norwegian Wood by Lennon-McCartney arr. Harley Muilenburg
 Everything I Have Is Yours by Burton Lane
All the Cats Join In arr. Kirby Shaw
And So It Goes arr. Bob Chilcott Spain arr. Rare Silk
Because by Lennon-McCartney arr. Kerry Marsh
Vine Street Bar and Grill arr. Sharon Broadly

Mad River Transit Singers: Oliva Bright, Trina Garrett, Dani Godinez, Hannah Fels, Katie Wolter, Jacqui Hernandez, Jessie Rawson, Lorena Tamayo, Steven Eitzen, Cristian Lesko, Ken Montalvo, Maxime Tanti, Alberto Rodriguez, Jason Hall, Dolan Leckliter, Jerry Olofsson and Eric Taite.

 Rhythym Section: Joseph Welnick, John Chernoff, Piano
 Steven Workman, Bass
 Dylan Williams, Drums

Saturday, May 04, 2013


Springing Percussion at the Van Duzer Theatre

Important work in the percussion ensemble repertoire, plus Bantu music from Cuba and calypso dance rhythms are all featured in the shared HSU Percussion Ensemble, World Percussion Group and Calypso Band spring concert on Saturday May 4 in the Van Duzer Theatre.

 Edgard Varese’s preeminent Ionisation requires 14 performers playing over 47 instruments, and is an “ extremely revolutionary work” according to Percussion Ensemble director Eugene Novotney. 

“Other composers wrote solely for percussion before Varese composed Isonisation,” Steve Smith noted in the New York Times in 2010, “but none with his sophistication and subtlety.” The piece is in conventional sonata form, but (Smith writes) “Varese’s use of timbre, texture and density, rather than melody and harmony, as organizational tools pointed the way towards more radical future propositions like musique concrete and electronic music.”

 Another work for multiple and unusual instruments (including Chinese water gong and prepared piano) is Second Construction by John Cage. In addition to works by Nigel Westlake and others, the Ensemble also performs a cult classic by HSU alum and founding member of the Mr. Bungle group Trey Spruance, as featured on the hit album Disco Volante.

 The World Percussion Group performs a suite of traditional Mandeng drumming from West Africa as well as Cuban "Bantu" folkloric music. Then fresh from acclaimed concerts in Los Angeles, the Calypso Band takes over with its authentic rhythms and high energy dance music from the Caribbean.

 HSU Percussion Ensemble, World Percussion Group and Calypso Band perform on Saturday May 4 at 8 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. $7/$3 students & seniors, with first 50 HSU students admitted free. Tickets: 826-3928 or at the door. Directed by Eugene Novotney and Howard Kaufman, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal
Percussion Ensemble, World Percussion Group & Calypso Band Concert Notes by Eugene Novotney


As the centerpiece of this concert, the Humboldt State Percussion Ensemble will be performing an extremely revolutionary work by Edgard Varese entitled Ionisation. Written in 1931, Ionisation is widely considered to be the most important composition in the entire history of the percussion ensemble repertoire.

 Featuring 14 performers playing over 47 different instruments, the sound mass and texture fields heard in the piece are both colorful and dense. As well as a grand piano and all of the standard instruments of the percussion family, Varese also calls for Afro-Cuban instruments such as maracas, guiros, cow bells and bongos, and exotic instruments such as gongs, sleigh bells, castagnettes, a glockenspiel, a lion's roar, two anvils, and, perhaps the most unique of all, two hand crank sirens. The low-pitched siren used by the Humboldt State Percussion Ensemble is the exact Sterling type II hand crank fire siren that Varese specified in his 1931 score. The high-pitched siren is an authentic combat field siren issued by the US military and made by the Federal Electric Company in Chicago, Illinois.

 Often considered a radical futurist, Varese claims that he was interested in sound for sound's sake alone, and for that reason, considered all sounds as valid. As early as the 1930s, Varese heard the sound of the siren as a result of the modern world, and as such, he used it as a musical instrument in his composition. Many scholars have noted that Varese’s ideas and experiments with sound, which predated the invention of the first synthesizer by almost 40 years, had an extensive effect on the development of electronic music.

The Percussion Ensemble will also be presenting one of John Cage’s most famous and innovative works from the 1940’s entitled  Second Construction. This highly experimental work calls for percussionists playing traditional Western percussion instruments combined with exotic instruments from around the world, including Balinese Gongs, Indian Oxen Bells, African Pod-Rattles, and Chinese Temple Bells. One of the more unusual instruments employed is Cage’s infamous “water gong,” where the percussionist submerges a Chinese “Feng” gong in water to alter and manipulate its pitch.

 Also featured in this work is Cage’s famous “Prepared-Piano,” an instrument created by taking a classical grand piano and adding nuts, bolts, washers, rubber, and other objects to the piano strings and sound-board. The effect creates an instrument that sounds more like an electronic synthesizer than an acoustic piano, and the effect is both stunning and surprising.


Another special feature on the first half of the show will be a fascinating performance of the Mr. Bungle hit,
Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz, composed by HSU alumni and Mr. Bungle founding member, Trey Spruance. Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz was featured on the 1995 Mr. Bungle album entitled, Disco Volante, and soon became a cult classic. This arrangement calls for 18 percussionists playing almost every percussion instrument imaginable, and will be sure to bring down the house.


 Additional works on the concert include Nigel Westlake’s Kalabash, Michael Udow’s Strike, and Austin Wrinkle’s Wart Hog #3. The first half of the show will end with a suite of traditional Mandeng Drumming from West Africa, and a special presentation by the HSU World Percussion Group of the the folkloric “Bantu” music of Cuba.


 The second half of the show will feature the festive dance music of the Humboldt State Calypso Band. One of Humboldt County’s favorite ensembles, the Calypso Band will feature several high-energy dance compositions from the Caribbean in their set. The Humboldt State Calypso Band prides itself in maintaining an accurate and authentic connection to the roots of the steel band movement and the innovative musicians of Trinidad, the island on which this unique percussion phenomenon was born. The band is dedicated to the performance of traditional and contemporary music from the Caribbean, Africa, Brazil, Cuba and the United States. The band has just returned from their spring tour, where they played to packed houses and standing ovation audiences in Fresno and Los Angeles.

Friday, May 03, 2013

From Led Zep to Rome with the HSU Symphonic Band

The clarinet is a versatile instrument—but can it really sound like an electric guitar? Blake McGee, visiting clarinetist from the University of Wyoming, will put it to the test when he plays with the HSU Symphonic Band on May 3.

 McGee performs on Black Dog by Scott McAllister, a symphonic band interpretation of the iconic Led Zeppelin song of that title. “The composer calls for the clarinet to take the part of the lead singer, and also perform solos in Jimi Hendrix fashion,” said HSU Symphonic Band conductor Paul Cummings. “It’s pretty clear from the first measures that the clarinet is imitating a rock and roll guitar.”

 McAllister, a composer and clarinetist who currently teaches composition at Baylor University, “is known for using rock music as the basis for his work,” said Cummings. “He’s definitely a composer who takes in all of modern culture and tries to reflect that in his work.”

 For Cummings and clarinetist McGee, this piece is also a reunion. They have known each other since graduate school at the University of Oregon. “I conducted one of the works he played for his doctorate,” Cummings said. “It was also by Scott McAllister.’” 

The Led Zeppelin song “Black Dog” is on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs. It opens Led Zeppelin’s fourth album (released in 1971) and is likely to be recognized even by those who don’t know it by its title. The McAllister Black Dog, said Cummings, is "a fascinating amalgam of classical and hard rock music.”  


 The Symphonic Band plays another work by a young composer-- John Mackey’s Hymn to a Blue Hour—as well as a piece by Virgil Thomson and Luigi Zaninelli’s Three Dances of Enchantment.

 “John Mackey is certainly among the most prominent young American composers,” Cummings said. “He has a real gift for melody, and even though this is a slow piece it has a lot of melody for listeners to hang their ears on.” Hymn for a Blue Hour refers to the unique qualities of light between twilight and complete darkness, which filmmakers call the Magic Hour.  According to Mackey, he wrote it when challenged to compose a slow piece, in contrast to his usual loud and fast works.

 A Solemn Music is by 20th century American composer Virgil Thomson. Thomson spent formative years in Paris and collaborated with Gertrude Stein on two operas, the second of which (The Mother of Us All) was produced in 1947, after her death. In 1949 Thomson wrote A Solemn Music in memory of Stein and of French artist and fashion designer Christian Bérard, who had died earlier that year. “It’s a great piece of music--one of the standard works for the wind band, by a very important American composer,” Cummings said. 

"Three Dances of Enchantment is not yet a standard work, since it’s only been around since 2006,” Cumming said, “but it gets a lot of performances across the country.” This piece by Italian-American composer Luigi Zaninelli evokes memories of Rome, Ireland and an Italian-American festival from his childhood where he first heard a live band. “All three are audience-friendly with very tuneful passages,” Cummings said, “ but they also have a definite 21st century harmonic vocabulary.”

 HSU Symphonic Band performs on Friday May 3 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7/3/free to HSU students with ID, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye
Symphonic Band Concert Notes by Paul Cummings

This is an edited version of an interview.

Black Dog by Scott McAllister
This piece is based on the Led Zeppelin song. Scott McAllister is known for using rock music as the basis for his work, whether directly borrowing as in this case, or loosely paraphrasing a rock piece, or the style of the piece, as he’s done in other works. He’s definitely a composer who is taking in all of modern culture, and trying to reflect that in his work.

 So that’s an interesting subtext in itself, because composers tend to work in a more isolated artistic environment where they may be influenced by other classical music or earlier art forms, earlier musical styles, but Scott McAllister is clearly immersed in modern American culture, and it comes through in this piece. So the piece gives us all--players and audience—a chance to reflect on the question, what should band music be like? Should it be a more esoteric art form, to be played only by the most sophisticated musicians in conservatories, or should it be more a music for the people? That’s one of many subtexts to the music.

 According to the composer: ‘This work is inspired by classic hard rock music, particularly Led Zeppelin’s rhapsodic style song, “Black Dog.” The clarinet solo takes the role of the lead singer in a hard rock band, with its extreme range and emotions juxtaposed with pyrotechnic solos in true Jimi Hendrix fashion.” So you don’t have to be a trained musician to notice—even in the first few measures—that the clarinet is imitating a rock and roll guitar. That’s exactly what it sounds like, and I know that Dr. McGee will put that across.

 The soloist interacts with the band in a way that soloists often do with large ensembles, almost like a concerto. There are passages of solo material for the clarinet, passages where the clarinet is playing with the full ensemble, and passages where it’s only the band playing. So it has musical variety. There are slower sections that are a little more meditative, but mostly it’s a fascinating amalgam of classical and hard rock music.

 A Solemn Music by Virgil Thomson


A Solemn Music is a very slow, rather dark piece. It is atonal, meaning it is not in a key. It is not a 12 tone work per se, where you would find a row of 12 tones being used as the structural basis for the piece, but nevertheless it is in the atonal category, where all 12 notes of the scale are considered to be equal.

 This is really an ensemble piece with a few solo passages. It is varied in use of instruments but they are frequently combined into fairly large groups, so the texture does not ever thin out too much. There’s a big emphasis on dynamics, as you might expect with atonal music, since composers often use other musical elements to create variety and interest. So dynamics and tone color are important elements in this work. It’s as if Virgil Thomson is making a concession to listeners who may be searching for a melody or a key center-something familiar—and so he uses these other devices to create interest.

It’s a great piece of music—one of the standard works for the wind band, by a very important American composer. He may not have the same stature as Charles Ives, George Gershwin or Aaron Copland, but Virgil Thomson was a big part of the American music scene in the 1940s and 50s especially.

Three Dances of Enchantment by Luigi Zaninelli

 This is not a standard work for wind band—it’s only been around 2006—not long enough to become a standard-- but it’s gotten a lot of performances across the country. According to the composer, “It’s a suite of three dances inspired by personal experiences in my life, which through the years continue to resonate in my memory.”

 The first movement is “Via Veneto”, which is a musical reminiscence of what he calls “those La Dolce Vita days I spent while in Rome on one of the fashionable streets, as a young film composer. There I watched and learned with great fascination about the world of Italian filmmaking.”

 The second movement, “She Walks Through the Fair," is based on “a haunting, bittersweet melody which I discovered on my visit to Ireland.” So there’s a little Irish flavor in this work, including the opening piccolo solo, piccolo being closely related to traditional Irish instruments such as the penny whistle and the fife.

 The third movement is called “The Feast of St. Rocco”: “a joyous Italian American celebration dedicated to St. Rocco held every summer in my hometown of Raritan, New Jersey. It was here in my fathers arms at the age of 5 that I first experienced the vibrant bold tartness of an Italian band. It was so loud and so wonderful.”

 These are very audience-friendly. All three of them have tuneful passages, but it’s interesting that the melodic material is couched in a very modern harmonic language—this is definitely a 21st century harmonic vocabulary. So it’s great for college students to experience music where you have these traditional elements and vibrant rhythm, but written in the context of modern compositional techniques.

Hymn to a Blue Hour by John Mackey

 John Mackey is certainly among the very prominent young American composers. He’s a Julliard graduate who studied with composer John Corigliano of The Red Violin fame. This piece is rather new—2010.

 Again it’s a slow, plaintive work, similar to Thomson’s A Solemn Music but with a very different harmonic language. This is very tonal music, unlike the Thomson, but Mackey has a real gift for melody, so even in this slow piece there is a lot of familiar melodic material for the listeners to hang their ears on.

 The demands on performers are extensive, not because of the technique, but for intonation, for blend, for balance, for knowing your musical role—when your part is primary, when it’s secondary, when it represents a top layer versus a bottom layer in the musical fabric—those elements are really challenging.

 I don’t know if  I’ve done a concert where I have two very slow works on the same program, as we have with the Mackey and the Thomson. So in a way we’re asking the audience to be very patient and take in this more pensive kind of music. But it’s very rewarding, and I think the students are enjoying it-–in seeing the richness that’s possible in slow works. When you’re not worried about technique and moving your fingers all over your instrument quickly, you can do more listening, and appreciate the harmony and the colors. So we’re enjoying that experience.

Thursday, May 02, 2013


The Bling of Clarinet with Guest Artist Blake McGee

In the first of two concert appearances this week, clarinetist Blake McGee performs classics and cutting-edge works in his Guest Artist concert on Thursday May 2. 

Dr. McGee is a West Coast native who performed with the Portland Opera, Oregon Mozart Players chamber orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony. He is a member of Lights Along the Shore, a trio specializing in eclectic music from around the world. He currently teaches at the University of Wyoming.

 In this concert he will perform Introduction, Theme, and Variations by Gioachino Rossini, a clarinet work that adapts themes from his operas La Donna del lago and Mose in Egitto. By using elements of the Italian bel canto tradition, Rossini suggests the human voice in the clarinet.

 Dr. McGee also plays a modern classic, the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano by Leonard Bernstein. Written when he was in his early 20s, it was Bernstein’s first published work. The jazz-influenced elements of this popular piece are said to prefigure Bernstein's music for West Side Story

 Pleistocene Epoch: The Great Ice Age is a more contemporary and cutting-edge work, composed for unaccompanied bass clarinet by Jenni Brandon in 2008. It refers to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, with suggestions of the gurgling and oozing of the Tar Pits, and the ancient animals buried beneath.

 Bling Bling is a 2006 work by Scott McAllister, a composer known for adapting popular music forms and tunes. In this case he explores hip hop in a piece for clarinet and piano.

 Accompanying Dr. McGee on three of these works is North Coast pianist Jennifer Heidmann. 

Dr. McGee’s second concert appearance is with the HSU Symphonic Band on Friday, where he’ll play another Scott McAllister composition. While on campus this week, he also will give a clarinet master class and a single reed workshop. He is an avid reed-maker and researcher, having presented his research methods to the International Clarinet Association conference in 2009. 

Blake McGee performs on the clarinet on Thursdays May 2 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $8/$3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Guest Artist concert produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye
Guest Artist Blake McGee: The Program

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano  by Leonard Bernstein
  1. Grazioso - Un poco piu mosso
2. Andantino - Vivace e leggiero

 Introduction, Theme, and Variations by Gioachino Rossini

 Pleistocene Epoch: The Great Ice Age by Jenni Brandon
 I. Asphalt
 II. Smilodon Fatalis: Sabertoothed Cat
III. Mammuthus Columbi: Columbian Mammoth
 IV. Canis Dirus: Dire Wolf

Bling Bling by Scott McAllister
 I.
 II.
 III.


Blake McGee: Bio

Dr. Blake McGee is assistant professor of clarinet at the University of Wyoming. A native of the West Coast, Dr. McGee performed as a member of the Portland Opera and Vancouver Symphony, as well as with several regional orchestras.

 He is a highly active chamber musician performing regularly with the Oregon Mozart Players’ Chamber Music and Chocolate series and as a member of Lights Along the Shore, a trio specializing in eclectic music from around the world.

 Dr. McGee maintains an active schedule of performance engagements, masterclasses, and clinics in the Rocky Mountain region and throughout the West Coast. He regularly collaborates with active living composers on new solo works for the clarinet and performs several premiers each year. His interest in a multitude of styles ranging from traditional classical, to folk, to free improvisation and avant-garde has made McGee an extremely versatile performer.

 As an avid reed-maker and researcher, Dr. McGee has begun developing new methods for evaluating clarinet reeds based on design parameters. In 2009, McGee was invited to present his research methods and findings at the International Clarinet Association's conference in Portugal. He is currently working on a book highlighting his methods for working on commercial and handmade reeds.

 Dr. McGee is featured on two albums. Plastic Critters (Edgetone Records, 2013) is an eclectic compilation of works for electronically manipulated clarinet and unusual instruments built and performed by San Francisco instrument maker, Tom Nunn. A new recording project with Lights Along The Shore (lightstrio.com), titled Excursion, showcases original arrangements and compositions based on world folk music. McGee is working on an album of original compositions for clarinet and Atari due to be complete in the fall of 2014.

 For more information, visit www.mcgeeclarinet.com.