I'm looking forward to this program very much! This Messiaen piece has been very challenging to put together, but it has also been fun. Just when I thought I was done being in front.....
The Sierra is also exciting and enjoyable for listeners. The Debussy is one of the most beautiful and entrancing pieces ever written. This will also be my last orchestra concert at UM. I've done my undergrad and masters here, so it has been a lot of great years! Now its time to do this stuff for money!
-Donnie Johns, percussion
Friday, April 29, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Blog Post: Mike Langlois, piano soloist
Preparing the piano part for Messiaen’s Couleurs de la cité céleste has been (and continues to be) an experience unlike any I’ve ever had. After last week’s rehearsal, one of the assistant conductors remarked upon the primitive rehearsal techniques to which we resorted for such a complex, intricate, and just plain hard piece of music. I replied that, surprisingly, I found myself using similarly primitive techniques in the practice room for exactly the same reasons.
Like a beginning piano student, I clapped the rhythms without playing, “sang” and conducted the rhythms, and upon moving on to the notes themselves, practiced simply moving from chord to chord, devoid of any rhythm. The sonorities are unfamiliar, and the way the chords feel at the keyboard is equally foreign. When I had finally trained my muscle memory (for one small passage!) to move between these chords without excruciating conscious effort, I then began to play the two or three measures of my focus, painfully slowly, but in the written rhythm. Thankfully, there are many simpl-er sections of Couleurs, but this was my method for the infamous section that we in UMWO know as “rehearsal 81-86.”
In the end, I expect such work to yield its reward. On the one hand, such efforts are having a transformative effect on my practicing in other repertoire; on the other hand, I can already anticipate a joyful liberation to come at the time of May 5th’s performance, with complete freedom to live for twenty minutes or so in Messiaen’s unique sound world, unchained from my fifth-grade practice techniques!
-Mike Langlois, piano soloist
Like a beginning piano student, I clapped the rhythms without playing, “sang” and conducted the rhythms, and upon moving on to the notes themselves, practiced simply moving from chord to chord, devoid of any rhythm. The sonorities are unfamiliar, and the way the chords feel at the keyboard is equally foreign. When I had finally trained my muscle memory (for one small passage!) to move between these chords without excruciating conscious effort, I then began to play the two or three measures of my focus, painfully slowly, but in the written rhythm. Thankfully, there are many simpl-er sections of Couleurs, but this was my method for the infamous section that we in UMWO know as “rehearsal 81-86.”
In the end, I expect such work to yield its reward. On the one hand, such efforts are having a transformative effect on my practicing in other repertoire; on the other hand, I can already anticipate a joyful liberation to come at the time of May 5th’s performance, with complete freedom to live for twenty minutes or so in Messiaen’s unique sound world, unchained from my fifth-grade practice techniques!
-Mike Langlois, piano soloist
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Ondes Martenot on Composers Datebook
Today's Composers Datebook featured an instrument that is not particularly well-known, but important to any discussion of the music of Olivier Messiaen whose music UMWO is currently working on. Enjoy the Ondes Martenot!
Composers Datebook Audio-4/20/2011
The Ondes Martenot
Today in 1928, a French musician and inventor named Maurice Martenot gave the first public demonstration of a strange, new electronic instrument he had created. It was a gadget that had pull-wires, pointers and a keyboard diagram which produced eerie-sounding tones reminiscent of the human voice, but without the human limitations of voice range or lung power.
In addition to being a clever inventor, Martenot was also a savvy promoter of his new electronic instrument, which he took on a world tour, with his sister serving as its first virtuoso performer. The instrument came to be called the "Ondes Martenot" -- which translates into English as "Martenot Waves."
A number of 20th century composers were quite enthusiastic. Arthur Honegger even thought the Ondes Martenot might replace the contra-bassoon in symphony orchestras, writing: "The Ondes Martenot has power and a speed of utterance which is not to be compared with those gloomy stove-pipes looming up in orchestras."
Well, contra-bassoonists needn't worry: their analog, breath-powered stove-pipes still provide the low blows in most modern orchestras, but the Ondes Martenot does figure prominently in several major 20th century scores, including the monumental "Turangalila Symphony" of the French composer, Oliver Messiaen.
In 1947 Martenot established classes in the Ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatory, and, following Martenot's death in 1981, the French even formed an official society with the grand title of "L'Association pour la Diffusion et le Développement des Ondes Martenot."
Composers Datebook Audio-4/20/2011
The Ondes Martenot
Today in 1928, a French musician and inventor named Maurice Martenot gave the first public demonstration of a strange, new electronic instrument he had created. It was a gadget that had pull-wires, pointers and a keyboard diagram which produced eerie-sounding tones reminiscent of the human voice, but without the human limitations of voice range or lung power.
In addition to being a clever inventor, Martenot was also a savvy promoter of his new electronic instrument, which he took on a world tour, with his sister serving as its first virtuoso performer. The instrument came to be called the "Ondes Martenot" -- which translates into English as "Martenot Waves."
A number of 20th century composers were quite enthusiastic. Arthur Honegger even thought the Ondes Martenot might replace the contra-bassoon in symphony orchestras, writing: "The Ondes Martenot has power and a speed of utterance which is not to be compared with those gloomy stove-pipes looming up in orchestras."
Well, contra-bassoonists needn't worry: their analog, breath-powered stove-pipes still provide the low blows in most modern orchestras, but the Ondes Martenot does figure prominently in several major 20th century scores, including the monumental "Turangalila Symphony" of the French composer, Oliver Messiaen.
In 1947 Martenot established classes in the Ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatory, and, following Martenot's death in 1981, the French even formed an official society with the grand title of "L'Association pour la Diffusion et le Développement des Ondes Martenot."
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Blog Post: Robby Bowen
Growing up, my dad was always very interested in all types of music. My childhood soundtrack consisted of punk rock, opera, prog rock, jazz, folk, electronica, classical, show tunes, hip-hop, and really anything else. Rather than enjoying music based around a particular genre, my dad taught me to let my ear decide what was good and what wasn’t. This upbringing has helped me form a pretty nondiscriminatory taste of my own.
With that said, Messiaen’s “Couleurs de la Cité Céleste” just is not doing it for me. There are quite a few things about this piece which could annoy me up front: perpetually shifting and unnecessarily complex time signatures, sloppily hand-written notation, difficult marimba licks, cues which look like my part, notes written beyond the range of my instrument, etc. However, all of those could be forgiven if the piece sounded good. Sadly, to my ears, a large chunk of this piece is the aural equivalent to the smell of a sewage pipe. The headache that hit me last rehearsal upon hearing a remarkably piercing, dissonant, and prolonged chord from the brass section was a real treat. I have enjoyed atonal music before, and I’ve played a good amount of it. For now, I will appreciate this piece for challenging my playing abilities and my ideas of what makes music accessible. It is certainly a learning experience. Never before have I heard trombones instructed to sound “more orange”...
My dad used to play Bruce Springsteen all the time when I was little. I used to think his voice was weird. Now he’s my favorite. I used to think mushrooms tasted nasty. Now I get them on my pizza all the time. Who knows, maybe I’ll be blasting Messiaen through my car speakers in a few lightyears... Or maybe the dissonance will shatter my eardrums by the time the concert on May 5th rolls around. We’ll see.
-Robby Bowen, percussion
With that said, Messiaen’s “Couleurs de la Cité Céleste” just is not doing it for me. There are quite a few things about this piece which could annoy me up front: perpetually shifting and unnecessarily complex time signatures, sloppily hand-written notation, difficult marimba licks, cues which look like my part, notes written beyond the range of my instrument, etc. However, all of those could be forgiven if the piece sounded good. Sadly, to my ears, a large chunk of this piece is the aural equivalent to the smell of a sewage pipe. The headache that hit me last rehearsal upon hearing a remarkably piercing, dissonant, and prolonged chord from the brass section was a real treat. I have enjoyed atonal music before, and I’ve played a good amount of it. For now, I will appreciate this piece for challenging my playing abilities and my ideas of what makes music accessible. It is certainly a learning experience. Never before have I heard trombones instructed to sound “more orange”...
My dad used to play Bruce Springsteen all the time when I was little. I used to think his voice was weird. Now he’s my favorite. I used to think mushrooms tasted nasty. Now I get them on my pizza all the time. Who knows, maybe I’ll be blasting Messiaen through my car speakers in a few lightyears... Or maybe the dissonance will shatter my eardrums by the time the concert on May 5th rolls around. We’ll see.
-Robby Bowen, percussion
Blog Post: John Crotty
Ahh, Messiean... So much can be said about this composer's music but most of it would have to be edited out for vulgarity. After the first rehearsal, Couleurs de la Cite Celeste reminded me a lot of the Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum that UMWO played last year. Messiean uses a completely different musical language than what classical-concertgoers are used to hearing. Unless you are a conductor yourself and can understand the colors, bird calls, and Christian undertones all represented by various notes and rhythms simultaneously, the piece may be very difficult to wrap your ears around. Though Messiean is a brilliant composer, his audience of avid listeners is a small one. My first impression: not fun to listen to (on its own) or to play, but fun to count due to the quick meter that rarely goes 3 bars without changing. I look forward to the UMWO's presentation of the Messiean which will certainly add something different to the performance. Dad, if you're here reading this, enjoy the concert! If not, then I really don't blame you.
-John Crotty, trombone
-John Crotty, trombone
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wind Music on Composers Datebook
See the text and audio link from today's Composers Datebook that highlights Giannini's Symphony No. 3 for band.
Composers Datebook Audio: April 10, 2011
On today's date in 1959, the Duke University Band under its conductor, Paul Bryan, gave the official premiere performance of a new work they had commissioned: the Symphony No. 3 for concert band by the American composer, Vittorio Giannini, a noted composer of vocal music, including songs and operas.
With the growth of concert bands in the 1950's, and success of high-profile performing ensembles like Frederick Fennell's Eastman Wind Ensemble, composers like Giannini started getting commissions to write new works for these groups to play. In all, Giannini wrote five pieces for concert band, with his Symphony No. 3 the biggest and best known of the lot.
Paul Bryan and Duke University were certainly pleased with the new work. Its resounding success encouraged other band directors to continue persuading prominent composers to create serious works for wind band -- and, in one fell swoop, the Duke Band achieved national recognition for their initiative.
As for Giannini, in his later years he turned to teaching a younger generation of composers, first in New York City at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, then in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute, and finally at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he served as that institution's first president. Giannini students included a number of successful composers: David Amram, John Corigliano, Nicolas Flagello, Adolphus Hailstork, and Alfred Reed.
Composers Datebook Audio: April 10, 2011
On today's date in 1959, the Duke University Band under its conductor, Paul Bryan, gave the official premiere performance of a new work they had commissioned: the Symphony No. 3 for concert band by the American composer, Vittorio Giannini, a noted composer of vocal music, including songs and operas.
With the growth of concert bands in the 1950's, and success of high-profile performing ensembles like Frederick Fennell's Eastman Wind Ensemble, composers like Giannini started getting commissions to write new works for these groups to play. In all, Giannini wrote five pieces for concert band, with his Symphony No. 3 the biggest and best known of the lot.
Paul Bryan and Duke University were certainly pleased with the new work. Its resounding success encouraged other band directors to continue persuading prominent composers to create serious works for wind band -- and, in one fell swoop, the Duke Band achieved national recognition for their initiative.
As for Giannini, in his later years he turned to teaching a younger generation of composers, first in New York City at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, then in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute, and finally at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he served as that institution's first president. Giannini students included a number of successful composers: David Amram, John Corigliano, Nicolas Flagello, Adolphus Hailstork, and Alfred Reed.
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Stravinsky Project
Follow this link to the Pink Line Project to read an article (written by yours truly) promoting this weekend's festival in DC--The Stravinsky Project. Enjoy!
Pink Line Article
Pink Line Article
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