Program Notes

Scott Boerma: Zoom

The word “zoom” took on a new meaning during the pandemic [that started in 2020]. Meetings, classes, social gatherings, and holiday celebrations took the form of online video conferences and were generically called “zooms.” Those of us in the musical profession often had to resort to makeshift, substitute forms of ensemble performances that often resembled these gatherings.

One upside for me was a weekly zoom hang that developed with four of my closest friends (all university band conductors) from across the country. One of those friends is Jamie Nix, for whom I was commissioned by his former graduate students to write this piece, in celebration of his tenth year as director of wind ensembles at Columbus State University. A common theme in our weekly chats was our unbridled enthusiasm (and impatience) to get back to what we love: making live music with our students. All of us have felt like we’ve been feverishly revving our engines behind the starting line, breathlessly waiting to see the green flag fly, knowing that the checkered flag awaits on the other side. Well, start your engines…because here we go… full speed ahead!

- Program note by the composer

Claude Debussy (trans. Donald Hunsberger): Hommage a Rameau (1905/2009)

The Hommage movement in the 1905 piano Images is the second of three movements, being framed by Reflets dans l'eau and Movement (moto perpetuo). Thompson states that Debussy wrote to his publisher "I think I may say without undue pride, that I believe these three pieces will live and take their places in piano literature...either to the left of Schumann...or the right of Chopin." In this reference to Chopin, he once again demonstrated his love for, and allegiance to, the writings of Chopin, especially when compared to those of Wagner and Brahms in particular.

The dedication to Rameau (and earlier French clavenists) was a direct reproach of another popular figure Christoph Gluck. Debussy loved and appreciated things very French. Upon the works first performance, some of Debussy's detractors felt that the movement was "one of the graver and stiffer piano works. They could not find his usual fluency of motion as demonstrated in earlier works. By way of contrast of opinion, Andres, who wrote a biography of Debussy in 1922 and also contributed to La Revue musicale in 1920, felt that “...with the Sunken Cathedral, Hommage à Rameau is the most beautiful piece for the piano...since the last three sonatas of Beethoven” and he finds “grandeur and purity of architecture,” “gentle majesty of proportions,” “simplicity of effect,” and “extreme refinement.”

The present setting for wind band attempts to build upon the melodic and harmonic progressions developed by Debussy in a manner that supports his constant flow of musical ideas. Particular effort has been made to ascertain the lightness of lower dynamic passages while retaining the ability to create major climatic peaks. The wind orchestration will hopefully remind one of Debussy's own orchestrations while demonstrating the vast possibilities of timbral resources inherent in today's wind band.

The complexity of his harmonic movement is set in instrumental timbres and colors that support the simplicity of his melodic material. Debussy's harmonic vocabulary demonstrates a free use of scales and modes, including the whole-tone scale, parallel 7th and 9th chords, the construction of chordal structures through superimposing thirds, plus, the ability to move among several keys in a complete expression of harmonic freedom. His rhythmic sense is equally free with constant shifting and varying of accents and phrases.

- Program note by Donald Hunsberger

Arnold Schoenberg: Theme and Variations, op. 43a (1943)

In 1943, Arnold Schoenberg composed Theme and Variations, op. 43a after numerous requests for a wind band composition by his dear friend and president of G. Schirmer Music, Carl Engel. While not written in the composer’s famed twelve-­tone style, Schoenberg still believed Opus 43a to be of practical and artistic significance. In a 1944 letter to Fritz Reiner, the composer stated: “...this is not one of my main works, as everybody can see, because it is not a composition with twelve tones. It is one of those compositions which one writes in order to enjoy one’s own virtuosity and, on the other hand, to give a certain group of music lovers – here it is the bands – something better to play. I can assure you – and I think I can prove it – technically this piece is a masterwork.”

Although Opus 43a establishes itself clearly as a tonal work in g-­minor, Schoenberg gives himself free reign to assert his mastery of the contrapuntal techniques developed in his prior twelve‐tone compositions by utilizing variation form. In order to achieve maximum diversity of character, Schoenberg clearly delineates each of the sections of the piece, giving these sections a specific melodic, orchestrational and formal framework. Not only is the melody of the theme, heard in the first twenty-­one measures, developed over the course of the work’s seven variations, but background elements shift from structural scenery to predominance in the ensuing contrapuntal elaboration before the original theme reasserts itself in the climactic finale of the piece. By fracturing and passing around melody and other primary material, Schoenberg plays upon the coloristic strengths inherent in wind band instrumentation. Finally, over the course of Opus 43a the formal structure of contrapuntal development receives elaboration, so the listener hears in various sections an adagio, a waltz, a strict canon and a fugato before the final variation [a “choral fantasy”] and finale.

Theme and Variations, op. 43a is comprised of a 21-measure theme followed by seven variations. At the onset, the composition appears to be firmly rooted in the key of G minor, however, Schoenberg exercises his compositional mastery to create seven variations of increasing complexity which often mask the melody with various contrapuntal techniques. The original theme returns toward the end of the work, culminating in a subtle tip of the hat to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

- Program note by Sonoma State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Concert Program, 21 March 2018)

Scott McAllister: Black Dog Rhapsody for Clarinet

Black Dog is a rhapsody for solo clarinet and wind ensemble. The 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 the pyrotechnic solos in true “Hendrix” fashion. The rhapsody begins with a long solo cadenza which introduces most of the material in the work. The middle section is a very slow, upward, Stairway to Heaven gesture. The last section of Black Dog concludes with a “head-banging” ostinato pattern that leads to the final fiery cadenza. Black Dog was commissioned by and dedicated to James Croft, Director of Bands, Florida State University, and Frank Kowalsky, Professor of Clarinet, Florida State University.

- Program note by the composer

Roshanne Etezady: Anahita

In the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol Building in Albany, New York, there are two murals that were completed in 1878 by the New England painter William Morris Hunt. These works are enormous – each approaching 18 feet in length – and are considered the culminating works of the artist’s career.

One of these murals, The Flight of Night, depicts the Zoroastrian Goddess of the Night, Anahita, driving her chariot westward, fleeing from the rising sun. However, if you travel to Albany today, you won’t see The Flight of Night. Two years after Hunt completed the giant murals (and only one year after his death), the ceiling in the Assembly Chamber began to leak. By 1882, The Flight of Night had already been damaged, and by 1888, the vaulted ceiling in the Assembly Chamber had to be condemned. A “false” ceiling was erected, completely obscuring Hunt’s murals, and today, most of The Flight of Night has been destroyed by the elements. Only the lowest inches of the original painting are still visible.

Anahita draws inspiration from photographs of Hunt’s masterpiece before its decay as well as from the Persian poem that inspired Hunt originally. The first movement, The Flight of Night, is characterized by dramatic, aggressive gestures that are meant to evoke the terrifying beauty of the goddess herself. Movement two, Night Mares, is a scherzo-like movement that refers to the three monstrous horses that pull the chariot across the sky. In the final movement, Sleep and Repose/The Coming of Light, we hear the gentler side of the night, with a tender lullaby that ends with trumpets heralding the dawn.

What follows is the translated Persian poem that Colonel Leavitt Hunt sent to his brother, William Morris Hunt.

Enthroned upon her car of light, the moon
Is circling down the lofty heights of Heaven;
Her well-trained courses wedge the blindest depths
With fearful plunge, yet heed the steady hand
That guides their lonely way. So swift her course,
So bright her smile, she seems on silver wings.
O’er-reaching space, to glide the airy main;
Behind, far-flowing, spreads her deep blue veil,
Inwrought with stars that shimmer in its wave.
Before the car, an owl, gloom sighted, flaps
His weary way; with melancholy hoot
Dispelling spectral shades that flee
With bat-like rush, affrighted, back
Within the blackest nooks of caverned Night.
Still Hours of darkness wend around the car,
By raven tresses half concealed; but one,
With fairer locks, seems lingering back for Day.
Yet all with even measured footsteps mark
Her onward course. And floating in her train
Repose lies nestled on the breast of Sleep,
While soft Desires enclasp the waist of Dreams,
And light-winged Fancies flit around in troops.

- Program note by the composer

Cecilia Kang

Clarinetist Cecilia Kang enjoys a multi-faceted international career as a concert clarinetist, educator, and adjudicator. Dr. Kang currently serves as the associate professor of clarinet at Louisiana State University and artist faculty at Aria International Summer Academy. Praised for “ethereal [tonal] colors” and “effortless” clarinet playing (The Clarinet Journal), she is a top prize winner of the Canadian Music Competition, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Standard Life Competition, and the International Clarinet Association Research Competition. She is also a recipient of numerous grants from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Washington DC, the New Music USA, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Metropolitan Arts Council, the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects, the Kingsway Foundation, and the Hendrickson Foundation.

Since her concerto debut at age sixteen, she has appeared as a soloist with orchestras and bands around the world and collaborated with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Danish Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. As an orchestral player, she has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Canada), the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

As a highly sought educator, Dr. Kang has presented at the Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra & Music Conference, the College Music Society Conference, the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest, and the Music Educators Association conferences in Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Minnesota, and North Dakota. She has also given many clarinet master classes and workshops at prestigious musical institutions around the world such as the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto (Canada), Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (China), the National Taiwan University of Arts (Taiwan), Yonsei University (South Korea), Thailand International Clarinet Academy (Thailand), and Milan Conservatory (Italy).

Throughout her career, she has been invited to serve as an adjudicator on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, the International Clarinet Association, the Music Teachers National Association, the College Music Society, the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, the Interflow Band Festival of Hong Kong, and the Witold Friemann International Clarinet Competition. Her scholarly works have been published by the Cambridge University Press, the GIA Publications, and the International Clarinet Association.

Dr. Kang is committed to seeking creative and purposeful ways to balance her career and community building as a 21st-century global citizen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she established the Silver Linings Initiative, for which she organized 25 virtual panel discussions among clarinetists, music educators, and arts leaders around the world examining the paradigm shifts in the field of Music. In January 2023, Dr. Kang curated the groundbreaking Han and Heung Festival, celebrating stories of resilience and optimism shared by both the Korean and African-American diasporas through interweaving an unforgettable fusion of music and social dialogue.

Dr. Kang earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan, a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto. She has participated in professional development residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), the International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music (Austria), and the International Music Institute Darmstadt (Germany). Her clarinet mentors include Yehuda Gilad, Daniel Gilbert, Joseph Orlowski, Joaquin Valdepenas, Avrahm Galper, and Zeng-Ming Liao. She is a proud Vandoren and Buffet Crampon Performing Artist and Clinician. https://kangcecilia.com/

Lawrence Williams

Lawrence Williams is in his second year as a graduate student at Louisiana State University where he is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting. As a graduate assistant Lawrence’s duties include assisting with conducting and teaching of the Golden Band from Tigerland, Bengal Brass, Symphonic Band, Symphonic Winds, Wind Ensemble, and undergraduate conducting courses. Lawrence is a student of Damon Talley.

Prior to joining the graduate staff at LSU, Lawrence served as the Assistant Band Director at McIntosh High School in Peachtree City, Georgia. While at McIntosh the concert and marching bands consistently earned superior ratings at GMEA sponsored marching festivals and other events. He also served as the Associate Band Director and Instructor of Music Technology at Summerour Middle School in Norcross, Ga. Lawrence holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and a Music Business Certificate from the Terry College of Business. 

As an educator, Lawrence serves actively as a clinician, adjudicator, and private lessons instructor for both tuba and conducting. His professional affiliations include National Association for Music Education, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Damon Talley

Damon Talley serves as Director of Bands and the Paula G. Manship Professor of Conducting at Louisiana State University School of Music, where he oversees all aspects of the LSU Department of Bands, conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches graduate conducting. The nationally recognized Department of Bands at LSU serves as an integral component of the thriving School of Music.

Under his leadership, the Department has established an annual conducting symposium, high school and middle school camps that serve hundreds of students annually, and numerous outreach events for public school educators. The Golden Band From Tigerland has been selected to present at national conferences on multiple occasions, and most recently, the LSU Wind Ensemble has been selected to perform at the CBDNA College Band Directors National Association National Convention. 

Talley is a strong supporter and advocate of music in the public schools. He regularly serves as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States and abroad, including appearances engagements in Germany, Switzerland, England, and Spain, among others.

Prior to his appointment at LSU, Talley held the position of Director of Bands at Shenandoah Conservatory, where he was responsible for guiding the wind band program, conducting the EDGE New Music Ensemble, and teaching graduate conducting. He has also taught on the faculties at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. He has recorded on Best Classical Records, and received favorable reviews from publications including Gramophone magazine and the American Record Guide. He has also served as producer or associate producer on commercial recordings by the Naxos, Klavier, and Equilibrium, record labels, and is published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, distributed by GIA Publications.

As an avid supporter of new music for the wind medium, Talley has conducted numerous world premier performances and has commissioned composers to write for the wind band. He has won praise for his work by composers such as William Bolcom, Steven Mackey, Kevin Puts, Joseph Schwantner, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham, and Michael Daugherty, among others. He regularly hosts visiting composers of national and international status on the campus of LSU, and is a strong advocate for young composers, often premiering pieces by student composers.