Danza de los Duendes (1992/1996)
Nancy Galbraith | B. 1951
Danza de los Duendes was composed for Argentina's Orquesta Sinfónica de Tucumán, whose music director, Eduardo Alonso-Crespo, led the world premiere in 1992, a month apart from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's North American premiere with conductor Kirk Muspratt. The work's title — an afterthought suggested by the composer's student — refers to the malicious goblin-like creatures (los duendes) of South American folklore.
In 1996 Galbraith revised the work and re-scored it as a wind symphony. The new "Danza" became her most popular piece and is performed frequently by concert bands in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
- Program Note from publisher
Nancy Galbraith (b. 27 January 1951, Pittsburgh, Penn.) is an American composer. Born into a musical family in Pittsburgh in 1951, Nancy Galbraith began piano studies at age four. She later earned degrees in composition from Ohio University and West Virginia University, and continued studies in composition, piano, and organ at Carnegie Mellon University.
Nancy Galbraith has achieved international success as a composer of concert band music that is frequently performed by some of the world's finest ensembles
Wayfaring Stranger (2015)
Christopher M. Nelson | B. 1987
Wayfaring Stranger is a setting of the American folk spiritual known as Poor Wayfaring Stranger. While many versions of the lyrics to this tune exist, they all tell the story of a traveler who makes his way on a journey despite a rough road, difficult circumstances, and gathering darkness. He does this, the lyrics say, for the promise of green pastures and a reunion with his father and mother at journey’s end. This setting is intended to convey not only the difficulty experienced by the traveler, but also the resolve which is displayed as he moves forward despite hardship, and disappointment. Wayfaring Stranger is offered as a sort of resolute battle hymn for anyone who must endure a long journey of challenge and trial before the promised green pastures can be enjoyed.
- Program Note from publisher
Spoon River (1922/1999)
Percy Grainger | 1882-1979
ed. William S. Carson & Alan Naylor
Julianna Pinero, conductor
Captain Charles H. Robinson heard the American fiddle tune Spoon River at a country dance in Bradford, Illinois, in 1897. When Edgar Lee Masters published his "Spoon River Anthology" in 1914, Robinson was amazed by the similar titles. He sent the folk tune to Masters, who sent it to Grainger. Grainger composed Spoon River in 1922, first as a piano solo and later utilizing elastic scoring, which allowed it to be played by any combination of instrumentalists from three to full orchestra. A version for band was performed in 1933 by Edwin Franko Goldman, but it was never published and the parts were lost.
Now, this arrangement for band seeks to maintain the Grainger sound, while offering bands instrument substitutions for those that have become less common and making small additions, such as clearer dynamics.
Percy Aldridge Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music.
Grainger was an innovative musician who anticipated many forms of twentieth century music well before they became established by other composers. As early as 1899 he was working with "beatless music", using metric successions (including such sequences as 2/4, 2½/4, 3/4, 2½/4).
In 1932, he became Dean of Music at New York University, and underscored his reputation as an experimenter by putting jazz on the syllabus and inviting Duke Ellington as a guest lecturer. Twice he was offered honorary doctorates of music, but turned them down, explaining, "I feel that my music must be regarded as a product of non-education."
Handel in the Strand (1912/1962)
Percy Grainger
arr. Richard Franko Goldman
Rachel Breaux, conductor
My title was originally Clog Dance. But my dear friend William Gair Rathbone (to whom the piece is dedicated) suggested the title Handel in the Strand, because the music seemed to reflect both Handel and the English musical comedy (the "Strand" – a street in London – is the home of London musical comedy) – as if jovial old Handel were careering down the Strand to the strains of Modern English popular music.
- Program note by composer
The music by which Grainger is frequently represented comes from his collections of folk music freely arranged for ensembles; but many of his works are imbued with the character of folk music, and are entirely original melodies. The present piece resides firmly in the latter category. Handel in the Strand is one of Percy Grainger's early light orchestral pieces, originally composed in 1911 for piano and two or more strings.
His work has found itself the subject of many transcriptions for orchestra and band, the current one being the original concert band vrsion arranged by Edwin Franko Goldman.
- Program Note from University of Oklahoma Symphonic Band concert program
Symphony No. 3 “Slavyanskaya” (1950/1995)
Boris Kozhevnikov | 1906-1985
I. Allegro, decisively
II. Tempo of a slow waltz
III. Vivace
IV. Moderato (joyously)
Slavyanskaya is a fairly conventional Russian-sounding symphony in four movements. Throughout the symphony, Kozhevnikov uses folk tunes from his native city of Novgorod as the sources of his melodic material. Although Kozhevnikov wrote Slavyanskaya in 1950, it did not receive its first performance in the U.S. until the late 1990s.
- Program note by Andy Pease
Legend would tell us that the United States Marine Band (“The President’s Own”) performed a feat of great espionage upon their return home from the Soviet Union in 1990. As the military tells us, “Combining music of Sousa with images of Lenin, the Marine Band toured five cities in the former Soviet Union, becoming the only American military band to tour the USSR before its transformation into independent states.” The tour generated a bounty of propaganda during the waning months of the Cold War.
What we did not learn about until years later was the wealth of Russian band music discovered by the Marine Band musicians while on tour and, as some would tell, smuggled into the United States upon the band’s return home. Boris Kozhevnikov’s Slavyanskaya Symphony is one of a handful of contraband works heretofore never heard in the Western world until the fall of the Iron Curtain. Although composed in the late 1950s, the compositional style of this symphony is pure Classicism colored with Romantic sentimentality; the symphony reflects the ideals of Socialist Realism. The conservative compositional language (for the 1950s) provides evidence that Boris Kozhevnikov, a Soviet-era bandmaster and conservatory professor, was equally savvy in playing Communist politics — he composed music that was conservative enough for the censors, yet zestfully Slavic and (perhaps subversively) nationalistic.
The contemporary performance edition of this remarkable symphony is the product of the acclaimed U.S. Marine Band conductor, Col. John Bourgeois.
- Program note by Lawrence Stoffel for the California State Northridge Wind Ensemble concert program
CONDUCTORS
Rachel Breaux
Rachel Breaux, a native of Temple, GA, is a graduate of the University of West Georgia
where she received her Master in Flute Performance degree and took advantage of conducting
opportunities with the UWG Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Byrd as a graduate assistant. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from West Georgia. Presently, she is in her second year studying Wind Band Conducting at Georgia State University as a graduate assistant under Dr. Robert J. Ambrose and Dr. Chris Carr, where she rehearses portions of all three college ensembles as well as the concert band at Carrollton High School.
Rachel has enjoyed various teaching opportunities throughout Georgia. These include having her
own private lesson studio consisting of students from Carroll, Paulding, Fayette, and Coweta
counties, being an instructional staff member with local marching and concert bands, a flute
sectional coach, and woodwind specialist. She also actively participates in conducting symposia in the summer, including Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute's, Columbus State's, and University of South Carolina's.
While still performing in local church orchestras and ensembles and teaching, Rachel
also enjoys graphic and website design, media management, and marketing for various organizations,
including West Georgia Arts, a local honor band, and Tabernacle Baptist Church. When not immersed in her busy schedule, she also enjoys family time, outdoor activities, and occasional PC gaming with friends. Rachel resides in Temple, GA with her dog, Oscar.
Julianna Pinero
Julianna Pinero is an alumna of Georgia State University where she earned the Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in Instrumental Music Education. At Georgia State, Ms. Pinero was a member of several ensembles including the University Orchestra, Panther Band, Panther Basketball Band, Concert Band, and Choral Union. She is a 2019 graduate of Mill Creek High School where she performed in various ensembles.
Ms. Pinero’s teaching experience includes pre-school instrument with Jumpstart Education, strings instruction at Drew Charter School in Atlanta, student teaching in Gwinnett County, and marching band instruction at Cambridge High School in Milton, GA and North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, GA. In addition, she has served as a visual educators for the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps in Denver, Colorado.
Julianna was selected as a Conducting Fellow for the Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute hosted by Georgia State University in both 2023 and 2024.
Dr. Robert Ambrose
Conductor Robert J. Ambrose enjoys a highly successful and diverse career as a dynamic and engaging musician. His musical interests cross many genres and can be seen in the wide range of professional activities he pursues. Dr. Ambrose studied formally at Boston College, Boston University and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree in conducting.
Dr. Ambrose currently serves as Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Georgia State University a research institution of over 53,000 students located in Atlanta. His duties at Georgia State include conducting the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, running the highly successful graduate wind conducting program and overseeing the entire large, comprehensive university band program. His graduate conducting students have received multiple honors and hold conducting and teaching positions throughout the United States and in multiple foreign countries.
Dr. Ambrose is in constant demand as a guest conductor and has performed on four continents. Recent engagements include performances in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan as well as across the United States. He is Founder and Music Director of the National Chamber Winds, a professional wind dectet based in Washington, D.C. as well as Founder and Music Director of the Atlanta Chamber Winds and Ensemble ATL, ensembles comprising musicians from the Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestras.
Dr. Ambrose has strong ties to the Finnish music community. He is frequently engaged in that country as a guest conductor, teacher, master clinician, and lecturer. Guest conducting appearances include the Finnish Navy Band, the Finnish Army Band, the Helsinki Police Band, the STM Summer Music Festival Wind Orchestra, the Rauma Wind Band, and the youth wind bands of Kokkola, Kotka, and Rauma. He has taught conducting workshops throughout the country and has served as a guest lecturer multiple times at the Central Ostrobothnian Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy.
Ambrose is a prolific arranger with nearly two dozen publications to his credit. His transcriptions and editions are published by Presser Music, Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Fennica Gehrman (Finland), and Edition Tilli (Finland). His transcriptions appear on several state lists and have been performed around the world.