UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTED BY WES KENNEY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
COLORADO MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION
BROADMOOR HOTEL
Welcome to the Colorado State Univeristy Symphony Orchestra concert at CMEA. I am pleased to have the orchestra represent our department and program at this years conference as we celebrate Maestro Wes Kenney. This program is a culmination of a luminous career at CSU as an educator, conductor, and inspiring musician, and is another fitting way to acknowledge his years of service and pedagogy to the profession. We have had the distinct pleasure of having Professor Kenney work with our students for 20 years on epic symphonic works such as the Rite of Spring, all of the Brahms Symphonies, Gershwin, Florence Price, and Silvestre Revueltas. I can’t think of a more fitting way of celebrating Maestro Kenney’s upcoming retirement than a performance for you all.
Additionally, I want to thank everyone in attendance for the work you have done to keep the music playing through these last few years. You and your programs have helped our student musicians in more ways than just creating art. You kept community alive and you did that through culture and music. Because of your work, programs like ours at Colorado State University have also blossomed through the dark days, and we continue to be ready to welcome your students on their own musical journey.
Michelle Stanley Chair, Music Department School of Music, Theatre and Dance Colorado State UniversityCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY WES KENNEY
COLORADO MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023, 2-2:45 PM
James
1978)
(1887-1953)
V.
IV.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
After two decades of taking the University Symphony Orchestra on a tour of amazing repertoire, it is time for me to step down as director of orchestras at our fair school. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2, Mahler’s Symphonies 1,5, and 7, and this this May’s additions of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, are just a few of the first-ever performances on our campus. Perhaps even more significant is the opportunity for our students to perform music by Florence Price, Coleridge Taylor Perkinson, Silvestre Revueltas, and Gabriella Lena Frank – names that certainly have created great music but perhaps have been underserved by those with programming responsibility. It is my hope that the path established with both parameters continues to be a substantial part of the diet of music the CSU Symphony performs. Many thanks to Dr. Dan Goble, director of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and Dr. Michelle Stanley, department chair, and all of the CSU Music faculty who continue to raise the abilities of their students so they can tackle the great and broad repertoire that is available to all of us.
David Sun Dagger (2022) (b. Florence Price Symphony No. 3 in C minor, 1940 I. Andante—Allegro III. Juba Gustav Holst The Planets: Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 32 (2018) (1874-1834) VI. Uranus, the Magician Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age Jupiter, the Bringer of JollityPROGRAM NOTES
Sun Dagger
James M. David (b. 1978)Ancient cultures throughout the world have sought to connect the earth and the sky by marking the movement of celestial bodies. During the first millennium AD, the Ancestral Puebloan people flourished in Chaco Canyon just south of Colorado’s current border. Among the hundreds of unique buildings and petroglyphs is the so-called “Sun Dagger,” a spiral carving behind massive stone pillars. These pillars created two “daggers” of sunlight that frame the spiral on each winter solstice, lasting for only a few minutes a year. A single sun dagger that perfectly bisected the spiral occurred each summer solstice. These precisely aligned pillars created such dramatic light displays for centuries until being shifted by erosion in the 1980’s.
My symphonic poem for orchestra imagines the winter solstice of Chaco, circa 1000 AD. The high desert plains at night are depicted through slowly evolving harmonies from strings, harp, and metallic percussion. This serenity is interrupted by dancing Ursid meteors in their brilliant annual splendor with darting woodwinds, pizzicati, and muted brass. Finally, the stars fade to reveal the splendor of the winter sun’s light reflecting off the snow-covered buttes and revealing the Sun Daggers for a few brief moments. Massive brass harmonies and ringing bells slowly subside into the hushed tones of the desert to bring the work to a restful conclusion.
— Notes by the composer
Symphony No. 3 in C minor
Florence Price (1887-1953)
The influences in Florence Price’s life can be heard throughout the four movements of her Symphony No. 3 in c minor. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, she graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory in 1906 then returned to her birth home to educate African American students before racial strife forced the family to relocate to Chicago. In that city’s classical music arena, Price thrived as both a performer and composer. Her first five years yielded three major works: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Ethiopia’s Shadow in America, and the Piano Concerto in One Movement. Frederick Stock, the Music Director of the Chicago Symphony took notice of the award winning First Symphony and programmed it for that ensemble in 1935.
There were three more symphonies to follow. Unfortunately, the 2nd symphony manuscript has been lost, but Nos. 3 and 4 have survived and with new editions of the parts have piqued the interest of contemporary conductors.
Price wrote in a letter prior to the 3rd Symphony’s premiere: “It is intended to be Negroid in character and expression, [but] no attempt has been made to project Negro music solely in the purely traditional manner.” Thus, in listening to the just over half hour score, one can
hear the inspiration of spirituals and other melodies, but not direct quotes. As mentioned earlier, her life’s experiences can help an understanding of her compositional approach. The first and fourth movements are in a Sonata Allegro procedure, but with many interesting variations. Could it be that during her time in Boston at the Conservatory that she was exposed to composers who were changing the way this so-called form was used? Certainly by 1940 her exposure would include the Soviet composers as well as Sibelius and Mahler. But Price’s struggle to be heard during her career can be heard as well--that stormy key of c minor as well as her liberal use of almost “Debussyesque” ninth chords lending a dissonance and edge to the sound of her music. In fact, the slow opening of the first movement is the most dissonant of the entire work. It is interesting to note that she returns to that darkness to close the final movement scherzo. If pain can be a musical experience, Price is making the listener feel hers. The first movement begins with a slow introduction before launching into the first main time announced first in the low strings. An eventual modulation into the major mode hearkens to the tune “Deep River” but sung by a trombone. Notice in this movement and throughout the work the use of the various orchestra choirs as separate entities.
The “Juba” of the third movement is drawn from a 19th century southern dance with stomping and body slapping. It is highly syncopated and gives the impression of a very sophisticated “ragtime” style. There are too slow sections offering a slithering type blues. Listen for the surprise solo instrument in the second slow section! It should be noted the three-note opening of the tune corresponds to the main theme of the opening movement.
— Notes by Wes KenneyThe Planets
Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
The Planets, written by Gustav Holst throughout the First World War, was completed in 1917 and first premiered in 1920. The composition quickly became Holst’s most famous work, and stands as a bucket list piece for many orchestral musicians. The composer disliked the immense attention received by The Planets, as he felt that its popularity overshadowed most of his other works, which he considered to be of higher quality. The piece is a sevenmovement orchestral suite, with movements named after all of the planets in our solar system, excepting Earth and Pluto. The explanation for this is simple. The composition is not based on astronomy, but astrology, in which Earth plays no significant role, and Pluto was discovered in 1930, well after the piece was published. Holst died in 1934, but never amended the suite to include the now-designated dwarf planet, even though it took on astrological significance after its discovery. Holst uses his titles as a sort of guide to the music:
“Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” conjures images of grand celebrations and hearty festivals. Flamboyant brass and excitedly moving lines litter the whole movement. Listen for the horns as they introduce the major themes in joyous unison, only to be repeated throughout the movement as every instrument gets its turn to shout in joy. Like “Mars,” this piece is frequently performed on its own.
“Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age” produces slow moving lines, like a wise elder, never in a hurry. Another movement that seems to exist only as a stark contrast to its predecessor, “Saturn” is everything that “Jupiter” is not—slow, quiet and methodical. Listen for its melodies and hear how much simpler they are in comparison, as they allow rich harmonies and textures to shine through.
“Uranus, the Magician,” features a lot of bouncy and light melodic material, sounding whimsical and playful. The introduction is nothing like that though, for it stands as a loud and epic statement of the main theme of the movement. Four long notes are played several times throughout. Immediately afterward, the bassoons play a playful little tune that sets the tone for the rest of the movement with much buoyancy.
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY MUSIC APPLIED FACULTY
Violin
Ron Francois
Leslie Stewart
Viola
Margaret Miller
Cello
Alice Yoo
Bass
Forest Greenough
Guitar
Jeff Laquatra
Flute
Michelle Stanley
Megan Lanz
Oboe
Pablo Hernandez
Clarinet
Wesley Ferreira
Saxophone
Peter Sommer
Dan Goble
Bassoon
Cayla Bellamy
Trumpet
Stanley Curtis
Horn
John Mcguire
Deaunn Davis
Trombone
Drew Leslie
Tuba/Euphonium
Stephen Dombrowski
Percussion
Eric Hollenbeck
Shilo Stroman
Harp
Kathryn Harms
Piano
Bryan Wallick
Organ
Joel Bacon
Voice
Nicole Asel
Tiffany Blake
Violin I