This morning began in the rain! In fact it rained for most of the day, an unusual occurrence in the Phoenix area. That did not put a damper on a revelatory morning of research sessions. As they were spread across several rooms at the fantastically hip Culinary Dropout, I could not be at all of them, but I made it to several that covered topics ranging from social justice in programming to incorporating strings into band to flipping the concerto model by having young kids play solos with experienced ensembles. It bears mentioning that I began the morning with a presentation of my own about the Wind Band Symphony Archive. It all felt like proof of the intellectual vibrancy of our profession.
After lunch, we returned to our steady diet of concerts. We began with the Montclair State University Wind Symphony, directed by Thomas McCauley:
Ankrovag Fanfare (from AJackStampSuite) – Bruce Yurko
Husa – David Maslanka
Harriet – O’Neal Douglas
Last Breaths – Armando Bayolo, featuring Al-Jabril Muhammad
Letter from Home – Aaron Copland, arr. Brian Belski
Return to the White City – Tom Davoren
So much was great about this concert. The group played with incredible cohesion and energy, even when conveying intense and difficult emotional content. And difficult it was, at times. The Yurko was an energetic start that really let the band play. The Maslanka was intensely meditative, made even more so by the fact that it was not conducted and mostly memorized. Harriet used a spiritual melody to depict the Underground Railroad over three gripping movements. This was one I would definitely like to revisit. The Bayolo took the title today for both most uncomfortable piece and most important. Its seven movements use the last words of six African American men killed by police from 2006-2014, to chilling and astonishing effect. They are:
Eric Garner: “I can’t breathe.”
John Crawford: “It’s not real.”
Trayvon Martin: “What are you following me for?”
Sean Bell: “I love you too.”
Kimani Gray: “Please don’t let me die.”
Jonathan Ferrell: [hands up in silence]
Vocalist Al-Jabril Muhammad was vibrant and intense in his deliver, and he and McCauley paced the piece with perfection. The ending was particularly impactful, to the point that I couldn’t imagine feeling anything for the rest of the concert. But McCauley apparently has a genius gift for programming, because the next selection, Copland’s Letter from Home, did indeed have an impact, lightening the mood in the room considerably and bringing us back in touch with beauty in a meaningful way. The Davoren closed the concert with a sense of both relief and renewed energy appropriate after the emotional arc of this outstanding concert.
The Wind Ensemble from West Chester University came next, directed by Andrew Yozviak:
Fanfare Ritmico – Jennifer Higdon
Apparition de L’Eglise eternelle – Olivier Messiaen, trans. David Miller
Speaking Truth to Power 2018 – Adam Silverman
Prelude in E-flat minor – Dmitri Shostakovich, arr. H. Robert Reynolds
Music for Prague 1968 – Karel Husa
This band achieved a gorgeous, organ-like sound throughout the concert, particularly on the Messiaen, which was especially impressive for this group of mostly undergraduate players. The later portion of the program was thematically unified: the Silverman was written as an intentional parallel to the Husa, with Silverman comparing the disappearance of freedom in 1968 Czechoslovakia with the slow erosion of civil liberties that the United States is experiencing right now. Silverman did this via an impressive percussion concerto which saw 4 very young soloists playing and communicating like pros in a gigantic downstage setup. Yozviak’s decision to pair the Shostakovich with the Husa helped to show the same sort of creeping menace, this time from a Soviet source, that eventually led to the Prague Spring and its repression, as addressed in Music for Prague. The performance was full of all the necessary dread and power.
After a lively dinner with some surprise guests, we at last returned to the Gammage center at Arizona State to see Tempe native Stephen Peterson lead the University of Illinois Wind Symphony:
Always Coming Home – Stephen Taylor
Solace – Joel Love, featuring Debra Richtmeyer on alto sax
Les Couleurs Fauves – Karel Husa
Winter Blossom – Xi Wang
Pendulum – Steven Bryant
ENCORE: University of Illinois March – John Philip Sousa
Despite its near laser focus on works from the last 2 years, this performance covered a lot of ground stylistically. The Love was by turns lyrical and jazzy, with an especially strong third movement. The Husa (the oldest piece on the program, from 1995) lived up to its wild name in its no-holds-barred exploration of instrumental colors, executed with gusto by this very fine band. The Wang was similarly colorful, but with something of an Eastern flavor and a fair bit more lyricism. The Bryant was the highlight of the program for me, particularly his stunningly simple second movement whose melody has not yet left my head. This was nearly overshadowed by the turbo-charged final shout. The encore was clean and exciting, a fitting way to end a tremendous day. Still more to come tomorrow!