Manteca (1947)
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), Chano Pozo (1915-1948) and Gil Fuller (1920-1994)
"Manteca" is one of the earliest foundational tunes of Afro-Cuban jazz. Co-written by the renowned Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller, it is among the most famous of Gillespie's recordings (along with the earlier "A Night in Tunisia") and is "one of the most important records ever made in the United States", according to Gary Giddins of The Village Voice. "Manteca" is the first tune rhythmically based on the clave to become a jazz standard.
Concerto for Marimba and Strings (2005)
Emmanuel Séjourné (b. 1961)
Movement I
Emmanuel Séjourné's Concerto for Marimba and Strings originally featured 2 movements; however, in 2015, Séjourné wrote a new first movement to fill out the concerto to the standard three movement form.
Anne-Julie Caron, a Canadian percussionist, described it as "unique because it is one of the rare pieces to put the marimba in a romantic context." After a performance at the Washington Square Festival in New York, a reviewer called it "gorgeously composed." It was recorded on the album True Colors.
THIS PIECE
In 1899, some 20 years after releasing the Spanish Dances that made his name as a composer, Pablo de Sarasate found time to put to paper about a half-dozen new salon-type pieces. One of these, the Introduction and Tarantella, would prove to be his most enduringly popular non-Spanish Dance short work.
In addition to the original violin and piano version, Sarasate also fashioned a version of the Introduction and Tarantella for violin and orchestra, probably so that he might better incorporate it into his own busy concert schedule. The Introduction and Tarantella is, to be fair, not a piece in the same class as Sarasate's best and most elegant salon pieces, but Sarasate clearly intended it more as a flashy virtuoso display-piece.
SARASATE
Rompe Sprezza
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
THE COMPOSER
Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. Nicknamed by his contemporaries "the Italian Orpheus", he divided his career between Naples and Rome, where he received his training.
Known for his operas, he brought the Italian dramatic tradition to its maximum development. He was the inventor of the Italian overture in three movements, the four-part sonata and the technique of motivic development. Scarlatti worked on all the other common genres of his time.
Diamond Pressure (2023)
Jasmine Foster (b. 1999)
aka Jazzy Tha Rapper
Diamond Pressure is Jazzy Tha Rapper's newest single off of her EP called Filler Episode. Diamond Pressure is a high-energy feel-good dance song with 80s pop tones and fresh hip-hop flair. Jazzy Tha Rapper hopes to inspire listeners to go after their goals but not to the detriment of themselves. This song is for the hustlers, the bosses, and anyone in between who feels like a diamond in the midst of pressure.
Fandango (2000)
Joseph Turrin (b. 1947)
This piece explores the rhythmic, melodic and syncopated elements of the Spanish fandango dance form (a lively dance in triple time for two dancers). The work divides itself into three sections.
- Program note by composer
Fandango (2002) was conceived in 1999. Turrin had two special soloists in mind, Phil Smith and Joseph Alessi, the then principal trumpet and principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic.
Traditionally a Spanish couple’s dance accompanied by guitar and castanets, this updated Fandango alternates soaring melodies with danceable rhythms, showcasing the trumpet and trombone as musical dance partners.
- Program Note from University of North Texas Wind Ensemble concert
THE OPERA
Roméo et Juliette is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris on 27 April 1867. This opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song "Je veux vivre" for the soprano.
THE COMPOSER
Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been Faust (1859); though his Roméo et Juliette also remains in the international repertory.
Born in Paris into an artistic and musical family Gounod was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris and won France's most prestigious musical prize, the Prix de Rome. His studies took him to Italy, Austria and then Prussia, where he met Felix Mendelssohn, whose advocacy of the music of Bach was an early influence on him. He composed prolifically, writing church music, songs, orchestral music and operas.
Quintet for Piano and Winds in Eb Major, KV 452 (1784)
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
III. Allegretto
THIS PIECE
The Quintet in Eb major for Piano and Winds, K. 452, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on March 30, 1784 and premiered two days later at the Imperial and Royal National Court Theater in Vienna. Shortly after the premiere, Mozart wrote to his father that "I myself consider it to be the best thing I have written in my life."