The String Poetic: Two Premieres with Cindy Moyer and John Chernoff
A rollicking Beethoven, a lyrical Brahms, modern madrigals and a fresh new work by the latest Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winner in classical music--all on a Humboldt Sunday afternoon (February 27) with violinist and HSU professor Cindy Moyer, and HSU piano accompanist John Chernoff. Plus a brand new grand piano.

This concert presents one premiere in String Poetic, a recent work by Jennifer Higdon never heard in Humboldt before. Higdon won both the Pulitzer Prize for Music and a Grammy Award in 2010. Both innovative and accessible, she is one of the most performed contemporary composers in America. "Jennifer Higdon's vivid, attractive works have made her a hot commodity lately," wrote Steve Smith in the New York Times. "Much of Higdon's music makes use of two very different styles--perpetual motion and slow, improvisatory material," Cindy Moyer observed. Higdon wrote “String Poetic” for violinist and recording artist Jennifer Koh, who played locally in a recent Center Arts concert.

This concert features a second Humboldt premiere, though not of a new composition: it will be the first public appearance for the HSU Music Department's new studio-sized grand piano. "The gift of an exceedingly generous donor, the Feurich model 197 is only 6'6" in length, but it lacks nothing in fullness of sound,” said HSU Music Department piano technician Greg Granoff. "Feurich pianos are very expensive, limited production instruments with very precise, highly responsive action and a warm, clear and elegant tone that is ideal for chamber performances in a small venue such as Fulkerson Recital Hall.”

To give this piano a classic workout, the concert also includes important works by two familiar composers, Ludwig von Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. In preparing the Sonata in G Major for Piano and Violin, Moyer came to the conclusion that it is “definitely my favorite Beethoven sonata.” She noted the second movement has “a wonderfully funny moment where the violin plays a sublime melody while the piano plays inappropriate accents in the wrong places. The last movement is the highlight—it’s a rollicking barn dance. Think Beethoven meets country fiddling!”

Brahms’ Sonata in A Major for Piano and Violin is “the second of three Brahms sonatas and the only one I haven’t played before, although John has played it many times,” Moyer said. “It has lots of lyrical and gentle moments typical of Brahms.”

The duo also performs Five Madrigal Stanzas for Violin and Piano by modern Czech Bohemian composer Bohuslav Martinu. Though also an accessible composer, “Martinu tends to juxtapose completely different rhythmic patterns in the different parts,” Moyer notes. “Working out how everything aligns is interesting and challenging for the performers. Hopefully it’s interesting for the audience as well."

Cindy Moyer on violin and John Chernoff on the new Feurich piano will perform in this Faculty Artists Series Concert on Sunday February 27 at 2 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $8/$3 from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Photo by Ken Burton

Program and Notes

Faculty Artist Recital
Cindy Moyer, violin
John Chernoff, piano

Sonata in A Major for Piano and Violin, Op. 100 Johannes Brahms
Allegro amabile
Andante tranquillo
Allegretto grazioso

String Poetic Jennifer Higdon
Jagged Climb (b. 1962)
Nocturne
Blue Hills of Mist
Maze Mechanical
Climb Jagged

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Five Madrigal Stanzas for Violin and Piano Bohuslav Martinu
Moderato (1890-1959)
Poco allegretto
Andante moderato
Scherzando, poco allegro
Poco allegro

Sonata in G Major for Piano for Violin, Op. 30, No. 3 Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro assai
Tempo di Minuetto
Allegro vivace



The Poetry for String Poetic:

Jagged Climb: Jagged run…rise, running, sidle up the side of the climb-jagged-climb
Nocturne: …that piece of night-night of peace
Blue Hills of Mist: in the glaze of light between dawn…sunset, blue’s hills have mist—a
covering of song and mystery that belongs not to any person, but to other places
Maze Mechanical: Amazing maze; maze that is mad; mechanical machine…putzing and stalling along…made to chug; amazed at the maze; steaming forward; stalling; racing;
maniacal…lost in the maze?…mechanical maze
Climb Jagged: Rise above, in jagged climb…climb, arise, in jagged run…running, rise, jagged fun...

Notes by Cindy Moyer

Brahms: This is the 2nd of 3 Brahms Sonatas and the only one that I have never played before. (John has played it many times.) It has lots of typical Brahmsian lyrical and gentle moments but fewer intensely passionate climaxes than is found in much of Brahms’ music. The first movement is also notable for the extent to which the piano carries the melody while the violin simply provides accompaniment.

Higdon: Jennifer Higdon is a professor at the Curtis Institute of Music and the winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music. String Poetic was written in 2006 for violinist Jennifer Koh (who played earlier this year on a Center Arts Concert), so this is a fairly new piece (definitely a Humboldt county premiere). Much of Higdon’s music makes use of two very different styles –perpetual motion (found in the 1st, 4th, and 5th movements), and slow, improvisatory material – often with complex rhythms that obscure the beats (2nd and 3rd movements). Although she uses some interesting modern tone colors created by the violinist playing near the bridge and the pianist reaching inside the piano to dampen the strings, her tonal language is fairly accessible.

Martinu: Martinu was a 20th-century Czech composer. His tonal language is also usually fairly conservative and accessible; often the complexity in Martinu’s music comes from the rhythm. Martinu tends to juxtapose completely different rhythmic patterns in the different parts – the violinist may have a 7-beat pattern, while the pianist is playing a 4-beat pattern. Working out how everything aligns is interesting and challenging for the performers; hopefully it’s interesting for the audience as well.

Beethoven: As we’ve been working on this, I’ve concluded that this is definitely my favorite Beethoven Sonata. I really enjoy all three movements. The first has an enjoyable variety of themes and moods. The second has several really good melodies including a wonderfully funny moment where the violin plays a sublime melody while the piano accompaniment plays completely country-bumpkin-like inappropriate accents in the wrong places. The last movement is the highlight however; it’s a rollicking barn dance - think Beethoven meets country fiddling (apparently the country bumpkin from the 2nd movements finds a more appropriate niche in the 3rd.)

Note on the New Piano by Greg Granoff:

This evening's performance is the premiere public appearance of HSU Music Department's very recently acquired Feurich model 197 studio sized grand piano. The gift of an exceedingly generous donor, it is the product of a small German piano maker founded in 1851, and continuing to this day with Julius Feurich, a direct descendant of the founder at the helm. Feurich pianos are very expensive, limited production instruments that exemplify the modern German/Viennese manner of artisan piano making, offering a very precise, highly responsive action, and a warm, clear tone throughout the keyboard. Though only 6'6" in length, it lacks nothing in fullness of sound, and its elegant tone is ideal for chamber performances and accompanying in a small venue such as Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Commemorations and Flexibility with the HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra

HSU’s largest jazz ensemble performs more like the smallest, in a concert the Jazz Orchestra shares with the Symphonic Band on Saturday February 26 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Jazz Orchestra will play a Charles Mingus tune (“E’s Flat, Ah’s Flat, Too”) "Moten Swing" by Bennie Moten's 1930s Kansas City Orchestra and two works by British composer Graham Collier, "Ryoanji" and "Under The Pier."

“What all of these pieces have in common is that they give the performers a level of control over the music rare in big band jazz,” said Jazz Orchestra director and HSU Music professor Dan Aldag. “What we're after is much the same kind of flexibility that a small jazz group can have.”

"’E's Flat’ consists of 5 different melodies or riffs which the band has created an arrangement from in rehearsal,” he explained. “With "Moten Swing", the band is starting with the arrangement that Ernie Wilkins wrote for the Count Basie band in the 1950s, but we've altered it in rehearsal and some elements will be improvised during the performance. The Collier pieces give the players a great deal of latitude, so each performance of them can sound quite different.”

On the same evening the HSU Symphonic Band plays three selections that were each written for a specific person. David R. Holsinger wrote “Havendance” for his young daughter, Haven. “Its driving rhythms are a reflection of the energy of an 8-year-old, who loved to dance and twirl around the house and dreamed of becoming a ballerina,” said Symphonic Band director and HSU Music professor Kenneth Ayoob.

Australian-born composer Percy Grainger wrote “Molly on the Shore” as a birthday gift to his mother. “It is an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels,” Ayoob said, “that presents the melodies in a variety of textures and orchestrations.” “Elegy for English Horn and Band” by noted American wind ensemble composer Jack Stamp was commissioned by Kenneth Ayoob in memory of his father. It was first played by the Northeastern University Band, with current HSU Music professor Virginia Ryder as English horn soloist.

The Symphonic Band also plays “Paris Sketches” by contemporary English composer Martin Ellerby, a four-movement tribute to the City of Light.

The HSU Jazz Orchestra and the HSU Symphonic Band perform on Saturday February 26 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, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Notes

Kenneth Ayoob on the Symphonic Band program:

Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger

Molly on the Shore is a composition of Percy Aldridge Grainger. It is an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels, "Temple Hill" and "Molly on the Shore" that present the melodies in a variety of textures and orchestrations, giving each section of the band long stretches of thematic and countermelodic material. "Molly on the Shore" was written in 1907 by Grainger as a birthday gift for his mother. Originally composed for string quartet or string orchestra, this piece was arranged in 1920 for wind band by the composer, as well as for orchestra.

Grainger said in a letter that "in setting Molly on the Shore, I strove to imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying reel tune. Melody seems to me to provide music with initiative, wheras {sic} rhythm appears to me to exert an enslaving influence. For that reason I have tried to avoid regular rhythmic domination in my music - always excepting irregular rhythms, such as those of Gregorian Chant, which seem to me to make for freedom. Equally with melody, I prize discordant harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it exerts".

"Molly on the Shore" mostly features the woodwind section of the band, especially the clarinets and saxophones.

Havendance by David Holsinger

This overture was written by American composer and conductor David R. Holsinger for his daughter, Haven. Its driving rhythms are a reflection of the energy of an 8-year-old, who loved to dance and twirl around the house and dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Although the work evolves through a variety of meters, constantly shifting accents and several changes of tempo and mood, the intensity never lets up.

Paris Sketches – Homages for Band by Martin Ellerby
This four movement work is a tribute by the composer to a city he loves, as well as other composers who have been associated with one or more quarters of the historic French capital. A unifying theme of bells runs through the score.

Elegy for English Horn and Band by Jack Stamp
Elegy was commissioned by Kenneth Ayoob and the Northeastern University Band with Virginia Ryder as English Horn soloist in 1988 in memory of Dr. Ayoob’s father. It is solemn and powerful, showing off the timbre of the English Horn.

Dan Aldag on the Jazz Orchestra program:

We'll be playing "E's Flat, Ah's Flat, Too" by Charles Mingus, "Moten Swing", a very old tune first recorded by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra in 1932 and two compositions by the British composer Graham Collier, "Ryoanji" and "Under The Pier."

What all of these pieces have in common is that they give the performers a level of control over the music rare in big band jazz. "E's Flat" consists of 5 different melodies or riffs which the band has created an arrangement from in rehearsal. With "Moten Swing", the band is starting with the arrangement that Ernie Wilkins wrote for the Count Basie band in the 1950s, but we've altered it in rehearsal and some elements will be improvised during the performance. The Collier pieces give the players a great deal of latitude, so each performance of them can sound quite different. What we're after is much the same kind of flexibility that a small jazz group can have.