Urban Light (2021)
James M. David (b. 1978)
Dr. James M. David (b. 1978) is an American composer and professor of music theory and composition at Colorado State University. His symphonic works have been performed and recorded by many prominent ensembles including the U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”, the U.S. Army Field Band, the U.S. Navy Band, the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, the Showa Wind Symphony (Japan), the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra, and the North Texas Wind Symphony. His music has been performed at more than sixty national and international conferences including the Midwest Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association Biennial Conference, the American Bandmasters Association Convention, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference, the International Clarinet Fest, the International Trombone Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Horn Symposium, and the World Saxophone Congress. Dr. David was the winner of the 2022 William D. Revelli Composition Contest, three-time finalist for the Sousa-ABA Ostwald Award, winner of an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, and won national contests sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association and the National Association of Composers (USA). Commissions include projects for the National Band Association, the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association, Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic), John Bruce Yeh (Chicago Symphony), James Markey (Boston Symphony), and hundreds of university faculty and ensembles. His works are represented on over twenty commercially released recordings on the Naxos, Summit, Mark, Albany, Parma, MSR Classics, Bravo Music, GIA Windworks, and Luminescence labels and are published by Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Potenza Publishing, and Excelsia Music.
The composer offers the following about his work:
Urban Light is a brilliant display of colors, forward momentum, and intertwining rhythmic layers that is inspired by the iconic Los Angeles landmark of the same name. Created by conceptual art pioneer Chris Burden in 2008, the original work is an assemblage of historic street lamps that were transplanted from various cities in California and also Portland, Oregon. The tight spacing and repetitive forms interact with the famously dynamic LA sunlight transitioning to the exciting nighttime glow of the city. Primary melodic and rhythmic motives are derived from Morse code for the word “California,” creating an asymmetrical and syncopated groove that continuously builds in energy. Parallel “barre” chords reveal a classic rock/metal influence that reaches its zenith with a heavy percussion backbeat. Polyrhythmic layers and prismatic colors move over, around, and under each other, leading towards a hopefully thrilling and intense finale. This work was commissioned by the National Band Association for its 60th anniversary and is dedicated to my wife who introduced me to the West Coast’s beauty and spirit.
Passage (2010)
Scott Lindroth (b. 1958)
Since the fall of 1990, American composer Scott Lindroth has served on the faculty at Duke University in Durham, North Caro-lina, where he currently serves as the vice-provost for the arts and the Kevin D. Gorter associate professor of music. Born in Cincinnati, Lindroth earned his bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York and his masters and doctorate in composition from the Yale School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut. His work as a composer has centered on instrumental and vocal media including compositions for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and the Ciompi Quartet at Duke University. He has also composed music for dance, theater, and video, and has written a number of works that incorporate electronic media. Recent works include Nasuh for soprano and string quartet and Bell Plates for percussion solo and electronic sound. Lindroth’s first com-position for wind ensemble, “Spin Cycle,” was recorded by the Marine Band on Family Album, released in 2005.
One of the unifying characteristics in Lindroth’s compositions is a recurring use of distinctive rhythmic patterns. According to the composer, he often utilizes “detailed rhythmic structures which operate at both . . . local and structural levels.” This use of rhythm reveals the influence of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but Lindroth is no minimalist. He cites figures as disparate as Miles Davis and Johann Sebastian Bach as inspirations, and has pointed out that with a society evolving as quickly as ours, composers must be open to a greater number of influences and ideas than ever before.
Regarding Passage, the composer offers the following insight:
The piece has retrospective character for me. There’s a wistful if not melancholy quality to the outer sections of the work. A prominent four-note theme (first heard as the harmonized melody in the woodwinds in m. 10) comes from a piece I wrote twenty years ago called Duo for Violins. In the earlier work the theme, set to major and minor triads, appears at a climactic moment that is filled with passionate intensity. In this new work, the theme is set with rich harmonies that shift with each repetition of the four-note figure, and the rhythmic character is supple and nuanced. To me, it’s like encountering an old friend who has changed with age, hopefully for the better. The middle section of the piece does not quote earlier pieces, but the speech-rhythm like melodies in the horns and saxes set against a persistently pulsing accompaniment is something I like to do in my music. I “discovered” this texture back around the time I wrote the violin duo.A last bit of retrospection arises from composing for wind symphony in the first place. My most formative and inspiring musical experiences as a teenager were playing in public school bands and jazz ensembles directed by men who offered mentorship, instruction, and priceless opportunities to discover myself as a composer and musician. And so it is with gratitude that I dedicate this piece to Robert C. Shirek, Calvin D. Moely, and Raymond C. Wifler, three American Bandmasters who revealed to me what it could mean to live a life in music.
Passage was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and was premièred by the U.S. Marine Band under the direction of Assistant Director Captain Michelle A. Rakers on December 15, 2010, at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago.
Program note courtesy of the United States Marine Band
Re(new)al (2019)
Viet Cuong (b. 1990)
Alumni Award (the Valedictorian honor) and Gustav Klemm Award. A scholarship student at the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Lake Champlain music festivals, Cuong has been a fellow at the Orchestra of St. Luke’s DeGaetano Institute, Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, Mizzou International Composers Festival, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Cabrillo Festival’s Young Composer Workshop, Cortona Sessions, and Copland House’s CULTIVATE workshop.
The composer states the following about his work:
I have tremendous respect for renewable energy initiatives and the commitment to creating a new, better reality for us all. Re(new)al is a percussion quartet concerto that is similarly devoted to finding unexpected ways to breathe new life into traditional ideas, and the solo quartet therefore performs on several “found” instruments, including crystal glasses and compressed air cans. And while the piece also features more traditional instruments, such as snare drum and vibraphone, I looked for ways to either alter their sounds or find new ways to play them. For instance, a single snare drum is played by all four members of the quartet, and certain notes of the vibraphone are prepared with aluminum foil to recreate sounds found in electronic music. The entire piece was conceived in this way, and even the accompaniment was written these ideas in mind. Cooperation and synergy are also core themes of the piece, as I believe we all have to work together to move forward. All of the music played by the solo quartet is comprised of single musical ideas that are evenly distributed between the four soloists (for those interested, the fancy musical term for this is a hocket). The music would therefore be dysfunctional without the presence and dedication of all four members. For example, the quartet divvies up lighting-fast drum set beats in the second movement and then shares one glockenspiel in the last movement. But perhaps my favorite example of synergy in the piece is in the very opening, where the four soloists toast crystal glasses. We always toast glasses in the presence of others, and oftentimes to celebrate new beginnings. This is my simple way of celebrating everyone who is working together to create a cleaner, more efficient world. Re(new)al is constructed of three continuous movements, each inspired by the power of hydro, wind, and solar energies. The hydro movement transforms tuned crystal glasses into ringing hand bells as the wind ensemble slowly submerges the soloists in their sound. The second movement turns each member of the quartet into a blade of a dizzying wind turbine, playing seemingly-impossible 90’s-inspired drum and bass patterns over a bass line that quotes and expands upon a few bars from one of my favorite drum and bass tracks by DJ Hype. The closing movement simulates a sunrise and evokes the brilliance of sunlight with metallic percussion instruments. This piece was originally written with a sinfonietta accompaniment, and in its original form was commissioned for the 2017 American Music Festival by David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire in partnership with GE Renewable Energy. A full orchestra version was commissioned in 2018 by the Albany Symphony, and this final version for wind ensemble was commissioned by a consortium of universities and community ensembles. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been involved in any of the three versions of this piece.
Trittico (1964)
Václav Nelhýbel (1919–1996)
Internationally renowned composer Vaclav Nelhybel was born on September 24, 1919, in Polanka, Czechoslovakia. He studied composition and conducting at the Conservatory of Music in Prague (1938-42) and musicology at Prague University and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. After World War II he was affiliated as composer and conductor with Swiss National Radio and became lecturer at the University of Fribourg. In 1950 he became the first musical director of Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany, a post he held until he immigrated to the United States in 1957. Thereafter, he made his home in America, becoming an American citizen in 1962. After having lived for many years in New York City, he moved to Ridgefield and Newtown, Connecticut, and then, in 1994, to the Scranton area in Pennsylvania. During his long career in the United States he worked as composer, conductor, teacher, and lecturer throughout the world. At the time of his death on March 22, 1996, he was composer in residence at the University of Scranton.
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