Saturday, February 21, 2009
Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra
Re-live the Obama Inaugural (sort of) when the HSU Symphonic Band plays Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,”and return to the golden jazz year of 1959 with the Jazz Orchestra in their joint concert on Saturday, February 21 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Symphonic Band directed by Kenneth Ayoob, Jazz Orchestra directed by Dan Aldag. Production of the HSU Department of Music.
Re-live the Obama Inaugural (sort of) when the HSU Symphonic Band plays Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,”and return to the golden jazz year of 1959 with the Jazz Orchestra in their joint concert on Saturday, February 21 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Symphonic Band directed by Kenneth Ayoob, Jazz Orchestra directed by Dan Aldag. Production of the HSU Department of Music.
Historic Sounds in Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra Joint Concert
In their joint concert on Saturday, February 21, the HSU Symphonic Band and HSU Jazz Orchestra pay tribute to history.
Under the direction of Kenneth P. Ayoob, the Symphonic Band will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth by performing Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” This work was part of the pre-Inaugural concert for President Barack Obama. Narrating the text derived from Lincoln’s letters and speeches is Bernadette Cheyne, chair of the HSU Theatre, Film and Dance department.
In its half of the evening, the Jazz Orchestra celebrates an historic moment of another kind: the 50th anniversary of 1959, which director Dan Aldag calls “one of the most significant years in jazz's history.” Albums released that year include classics by jazz greats Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus and Bill Evans.
In this first concert of the spring semester, the Jazz Orchestra will play selections from the Mingus album ("Open Letter to Duke") and from “Portrait in Jazz” by the Bill Evans Trio ("Peri's Scope".) In its second performance in May, the Orchestra will feature more music from 1959.
In addition to the Lincoln tribute, the Symphonic Band will perform “Original Suite” by 19th century English composer Gordon Jacob, “Intermezzo” by Monte Tubb, Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Oregon; and “Vesuvius” by Frank Ticheli, Professor of Music at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. This last work, Ayoob said, “portrays the last days of Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius with a combination of driving rhythms, brilliant colors, and a lovely dance-like interlude.”
The Jazz Orchestra plays Duke Ellington’s “Rockin’ In Rhythm” and an original piece by the Orchestra’s drummer, Jonathan Kipp, called “Chased By A Wolf Down a Mountain.” Concluding their program is “Déjà Vu" by Tom Frederickson. “The title refers both to Frederickson's conscious evocation of the big band era,” Aldag said, “and how, in the latter part of the piece, he brings back musical material from earlier in the composition.”
The HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra joint concert on Saturday, February 21 begins at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID.
Media: HSU Now.
In their joint concert on Saturday, February 21, the HSU Symphonic Band and HSU Jazz Orchestra pay tribute to history.
Under the direction of Kenneth P. Ayoob, the Symphonic Band will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth by performing Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” This work was part of the pre-Inaugural concert for President Barack Obama. Narrating the text derived from Lincoln’s letters and speeches is Bernadette Cheyne, chair of the HSU Theatre, Film and Dance department.
In its half of the evening, the Jazz Orchestra celebrates an historic moment of another kind: the 50th anniversary of 1959, which director Dan Aldag calls “one of the most significant years in jazz's history.” Albums released that year include classics by jazz greats Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus and Bill Evans.
In this first concert of the spring semester, the Jazz Orchestra will play selections from the Mingus album ("Open Letter to Duke") and from “Portrait in Jazz” by the Bill Evans Trio ("Peri's Scope".) In its second performance in May, the Orchestra will feature more music from 1959.
In addition to the Lincoln tribute, the Symphonic Band will perform “Original Suite” by 19th century English composer Gordon Jacob, “Intermezzo” by Monte Tubb, Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Oregon; and “Vesuvius” by Frank Ticheli, Professor of Music at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. This last work, Ayoob said, “portrays the last days of Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius with a combination of driving rhythms, brilliant colors, and a lovely dance-like interlude.”
The Jazz Orchestra plays Duke Ellington’s “Rockin’ In Rhythm” and an original piece by the Orchestra’s drummer, Jonathan Kipp, called “Chased By A Wolf Down a Mountain.” Concluding their program is “Déjà Vu" by Tom Frederickson. “The title refers both to Frederickson's conscious evocation of the big band era,” Aldag said, “and how, in the latter part of the piece, he brings back musical material from earlier in the composition.”
The HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra joint concert on Saturday, February 21 begins at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID.
Media: HSU Now.
Jazz Orchestra Program Notes: Dan Aldag on Fabulous 1959
This semester, we're going to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of 1959, one of the most significant years in jazz's history, and some of that music will be part of our program on the 21st. 1959 was the year of:
Kind Of Blue--Miles Davis
The album that established modal jazz (very few chord changes) as a viable alternative to the bebop approach of very complex and fast-moving chords. Maybe the best-selling jazz album of all time. Renowned for its combination of surface beauty and extraordinary depth.
Giant Steps--John Coltrane
The album that was the apotheosis of the aforementioned bebop approach. The title tune remains today a kind of test piece for jazz improvisors.
The Shape of Jazz To Come--Ornette Coleman
The album that established free jazz (no pre-set, fixed chord progressions.) The beginning of jazz's avant-garde revolution of the 1960s.
Time Out--Dave Brubeck
The album that first popularized unusual time signatures in jazz. Up to this point, almost all jazz had been in a meter of 4. This album included tunes in meters of 3, 5 ("Take Five"), 6 and 9 ("Blue Rondo a la Turk")
Portrait In Jazz--Bill Evans
The first album from the Bill Evans Trio, the group most responsible for freeing bass and drums from their timekeeping, accompanimental roles. In the Evans Trio, the piano, bass and drums operated as nearly equal musical partners, with often no one explicitly stating the pulse.
Mingus Ah Um--Charles Mingus
The album where Mingus first put together in a coherent and unified way his many and disparate influences, including blues and gospel, Ellington and the complex counterpoint of cool jazz. This album also introduced several of Mingus's best-known and most-performed compositions, including "Better Git It In Your Soul," "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" and "Fables of Faubus."
On this concert, we'll be playing tunes from the latter two albums, Mingus's "Open Letter to Duke" and Evans's "Peri's Scope". In May, we'll feature more music from 1959.
This semester, we're going to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of 1959, one of the most significant years in jazz's history, and some of that music will be part of our program on the 21st. 1959 was the year of:
Kind Of Blue--Miles Davis
The album that established modal jazz (very few chord changes) as a viable alternative to the bebop approach of very complex and fast-moving chords. Maybe the best-selling jazz album of all time. Renowned for its combination of surface beauty and extraordinary depth.
Giant Steps--John Coltrane
The album that was the apotheosis of the aforementioned bebop approach. The title tune remains today a kind of test piece for jazz improvisors.
The Shape of Jazz To Come--Ornette Coleman
The album that established free jazz (no pre-set, fixed chord progressions.) The beginning of jazz's avant-garde revolution of the 1960s.
Time Out--Dave Brubeck
The album that first popularized unusual time signatures in jazz. Up to this point, almost all jazz had been in a meter of 4. This album included tunes in meters of 3, 5 ("Take Five"), 6 and 9 ("Blue Rondo a la Turk")
Portrait In Jazz--Bill Evans
The first album from the Bill Evans Trio, the group most responsible for freeing bass and drums from their timekeeping, accompanimental roles. In the Evans Trio, the piano, bass and drums operated as nearly equal musical partners, with often no one explicitly stating the pulse.
Mingus Ah Um--Charles Mingus
The album where Mingus first put together in a coherent and unified way his many and disparate influences, including blues and gospel, Ellington and the complex counterpoint of cool jazz. This album also introduced several of Mingus's best-known and most-performed compositions, including "Better Git It In Your Soul," "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" and "Fables of Faubus."
On this concert, we'll be playing tunes from the latter two albums, Mingus's "Open Letter to Duke" and Evans's "Peri's Scope". In May, we'll feature more music from 1959.
Symphonic Band Program Notes by Kenneth Ayoob
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the band will perform Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait with Bernadette Cheyne as narrator with a text derived from Lincoln’s letters and speeches. This powerful work was performed recently as part of the pre-inaugural concert for President Obama.
Original Suite by Gordon Jacob is in a similar style to the Suites by Holst and features folk-like melodies and a warm blend of the colors of the wind band.
Intermezzo by Monte Tubb, Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Oregon, combines elements of light and darkness taking a simple but haunting melody through a series of rhythmic and harmonic changes.
Vesuvius, by Frank Ticheli, Professor of Music at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, portrays the last days of Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius with a combination of driving rhythms, brilliant colors, and a lovely dance-like interlude.
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the band will perform Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait with Bernadette Cheyne as narrator with a text derived from Lincoln’s letters and speeches. This powerful work was performed recently as part of the pre-inaugural concert for President Obama.
Original Suite by Gordon Jacob is in a similar style to the Suites by Holst and features folk-like melodies and a warm blend of the colors of the wind band.
Intermezzo by Monte Tubb, Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Oregon, combines elements of light and darkness taking a simple but haunting melody through a series of rhythmic and harmonic changes.
Vesuvius, by Frank Ticheli, Professor of Music at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, portrays the last days of Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius with a combination of driving rhythms, brilliant colors, and a lovely dance-like interlude.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Antoniy Kakamakov
Prize-winning classical guitarist Antoniy Kakamakov plays Bach, Mertz and Antonio Jose on Friday, February 13 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Guest Artist concert.
Prize-winning classical guitarist Antoniy Kakamakov plays Bach, Mertz and Antonio Jose on Friday, February 13 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Guest Artist concert.
Classical Guitar, The Next Generation
Young guitarist Antoniy Kakamakov is on a roll. After winning prizes for his playing in San Francisco and Portland, in 2008 he won the Wesley Day Solo Classical Guitar Recording Competition, which is designed to launch one particularly talented student from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on a professional career.
The award includes a recording and a concert tour, including his appearance at Humboldt State University on February 13. He’s already released his CD, titled Inqueito.
But Kakamakov was no stranger to prizes before this. He began studying guitar in his native Bulgaria at age 10, and won first prize in the junior division of the International Classical Guitar Festival and Competition in Romania. Scholarships followed, and he earned his bachelor’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory, where he is working on his Master’s.
At HSU, Kakamakov will play the Chaconne from the 2nd Violin Partita by Johann Sebastian Bach, a work made popular for guitar by Andres Segovia.
Other works on the program include the Fantasia Hongroise by 19th century Hungarian guitarist and composer Johann Kaspar Mertz, and the Sonata, the most famous work by 20th century Spanish composer Antonio Jose.
Guitarist Antoniy Kakamakov performs in a Guest Artist concert on Friday, February 13 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door.
Media: Humboldt State Now
Young guitarist Antoniy Kakamakov is on a roll. After winning prizes for his playing in San Francisco and Portland, in 2008 he won the Wesley Day Solo Classical Guitar Recording Competition, which is designed to launch one particularly talented student from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on a professional career.
The award includes a recording and a concert tour, including his appearance at Humboldt State University on February 13. He’s already released his CD, titled Inqueito.
But Kakamakov was no stranger to prizes before this. He began studying guitar in his native Bulgaria at age 10, and won first prize in the junior division of the International Classical Guitar Festival and Competition in Romania. Scholarships followed, and he earned his bachelor’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory, where he is working on his Master’s.
At HSU, Kakamakov will play the Chaconne from the 2nd Violin Partita by Johann Sebastian Bach, a work made popular for guitar by Andres Segovia.
Other works on the program include the Fantasia Hongroise by 19th century Hungarian guitarist and composer Johann Kaspar Mertz, and the Sonata, the most famous work by 20th century Spanish composer Antonio Jose.
Guitarist Antoniy Kakamakov performs in a Guest Artist concert on Friday, February 13 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door.
Media: Humboldt State Now
Concert Notes
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is the most important and prolific composer of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Being a master of counterpoint he brought the Baroque era to its heights. His mature style was an infusion of the predominant European styles and trends. Bach’s most important instrumental works come from the six year period 1717-1723 in Cothen, where he was the conductor of the court orchestra. The most daring work he composed during this period was the Chaconne from the 2nd Violin Partita BWV 1004.
A Chaconne is a continuous theme and variations on a short subject (usually four bars). Bach replaced the gigue, which was usually the concluding movement with this Chaconne, which was a trend practiced in France. This work of genius is one of the highest achievements in the musical world, “no other composer has ever composed such a gigantic masterpiece… it is a triumph of spirit over matter.” Philipp Spitta, Bach scholar.
Segovia shook the world when he pronounced that he will incorporate Bach’s Chaconne in his repertoire. He wanted to show that the guitar could sustain such a monumental work without taking away from its spirit. This was one of his greatest achievements to the guitar. It influenced his followers to arrange a majority of Bach’s cello and violin music, which boosted the instrument’s status. The purists have ceased their initial horrific reactions and arrangements of the Chaconne appear for any instrument (piano, guitar, orchestra and even marimba), which could execute its rich harmony. The Chaconne in D minor stands on its own and is usually performed by itself.
“The Chaconne is the most wonderful, unfathomable pieces of music. On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.” Johannes Brahms
Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) was born in Bratislava, Slovakia. His contemporaries were Coste and Regondi. This is a dreadful period for the guitar’s history since the instrument’s fame had faded away. Regondi and Coste’s compositions have been almost neglected by modern players since they lack variety in their overall sound. On the other hand Mertz’s compositions are real jewels in the guitar’s nineteenth century repertoire. It reminds us of Liszt’s writings for the piano.
Fantasia Hongroise Op.65-No1 was played by Mertz in the Makaroff competition, but what got him the first prize over Coste was his Concertino. This Fantasy is one of the most effective and loved pieces from the 19th Century guitar repertoire. It incorporates unexpected harmonic surprises and mood changes. The key change from A major to F in the lugubre section reminds us of the Schubertian usage of third relationships. The Allegro Vivace is purely a Hungarian Czardas in its sound, incorporating the short long relationships between the notes. It is virtuosic and challenges the performer’s skills and accurate execution of the Hungarian stylistic demands.
Antonio Jose Martinez Palacios (1902-1936) was born in Burgos, Spain. His love of folk music from his native region influenced most of his work. In 1932, he was awarded the National Music Prize for his collections of Burgosian folk songs.
Jose’s Sonata para guitarra was written in 1933 for Regino Sanz de la Maza, but lay forgotten until 1989, when Angelo Gilardino was informed of an unpublished manuscript by Jose that had been unplayed for some 50 years. The Sonata bears the influence of Ravel, Debussy and Franck as much as that of Spanish folk song.
Ravel apparently referred to Jose as potentially the greatest Spanish composer of the 20th century, but Jose’s life would reach a tragic, early end. Early in the Spanish Civil War he was arrested in Burgos by Falangists, driven to nearby Estepar and shot. He was being accused of being a republican spy, Jewish sympathizer and of inciting the people to revolt. Jose met the same fate as poet Federico Garcia Lorca and international outcry over Lorca’s assassination prompted authorities to bury any trace of the slaughtered composer. Perhaps this in addition to Jose’s decision to drop his surnames accounts for half of century of obscurity.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is the most important and prolific composer of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Being a master of counterpoint he brought the Baroque era to its heights. His mature style was an infusion of the predominant European styles and trends. Bach’s most important instrumental works come from the six year period 1717-1723 in Cothen, where he was the conductor of the court orchestra. The most daring work he composed during this period was the Chaconne from the 2nd Violin Partita BWV 1004.
A Chaconne is a continuous theme and variations on a short subject (usually four bars). Bach replaced the gigue, which was usually the concluding movement with this Chaconne, which was a trend practiced in France. This work of genius is one of the highest achievements in the musical world, “no other composer has ever composed such a gigantic masterpiece… it is a triumph of spirit over matter.” Philipp Spitta, Bach scholar.
Segovia shook the world when he pronounced that he will incorporate Bach’s Chaconne in his repertoire. He wanted to show that the guitar could sustain such a monumental work without taking away from its spirit. This was one of his greatest achievements to the guitar. It influenced his followers to arrange a majority of Bach’s cello and violin music, which boosted the instrument’s status. The purists have ceased their initial horrific reactions and arrangements of the Chaconne appear for any instrument (piano, guitar, orchestra and even marimba), which could execute its rich harmony. The Chaconne in D minor stands on its own and is usually performed by itself.
“The Chaconne is the most wonderful, unfathomable pieces of music. On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.” Johannes Brahms
Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) was born in Bratislava, Slovakia. His contemporaries were Coste and Regondi. This is a dreadful period for the guitar’s history since the instrument’s fame had faded away. Regondi and Coste’s compositions have been almost neglected by modern players since they lack variety in their overall sound. On the other hand Mertz’s compositions are real jewels in the guitar’s nineteenth century repertoire. It reminds us of Liszt’s writings for the piano.
Fantasia Hongroise Op.65-No1 was played by Mertz in the Makaroff competition, but what got him the first prize over Coste was his Concertino. This Fantasy is one of the most effective and loved pieces from the 19th Century guitar repertoire. It incorporates unexpected harmonic surprises and mood changes. The key change from A major to F in the lugubre section reminds us of the Schubertian usage of third relationships. The Allegro Vivace is purely a Hungarian Czardas in its sound, incorporating the short long relationships between the notes. It is virtuosic and challenges the performer’s skills and accurate execution of the Hungarian stylistic demands.
Antonio Jose Martinez Palacios (1902-1936) was born in Burgos, Spain. His love of folk music from his native region influenced most of his work. In 1932, he was awarded the National Music Prize for his collections of Burgosian folk songs.
Jose’s Sonata para guitarra was written in 1933 for Regino Sanz de la Maza, but lay forgotten until 1989, when Angelo Gilardino was informed of an unpublished manuscript by Jose that had been unplayed for some 50 years. The Sonata bears the influence of Ravel, Debussy and Franck as much as that of Spanish folk song.
Ravel apparently referred to Jose as potentially the greatest Spanish composer of the 20th century, but Jose’s life would reach a tragic, early end. Early in the Spanish Civil War he was arrested in Burgos by Falangists, driven to nearby Estepar and shot. He was being accused of being a republican spy, Jewish sympathizer and of inciting the people to revolt. Jose met the same fate as poet Federico Garcia Lorca and international outcry over Lorca’s assassination prompted authorities to bury any trace of the slaughtered composer. Perhaps this in addition to Jose’s decision to drop his surnames accounts for half of century of obscurity.
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