Daugherty: Niagra Falls by Peermusic Classical

MICHAEL DAUGHERTY

F O R

S Y M P H O N I C

P E E R M U S I C

N E W

B A N D

Y O R K

Michael Daugherty

Program Note

One of the most performed and commissioned American composers of his generation, Michael Daugherty

Niagara Falls for Symphonic Band was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band,

has created a niche in the music world that is uniquely his own, composing concert music inspired by

H. Robert Reynolds, music director. The first performance was given by the University of Michigan Symphony

contemporary American popular culture.

Band, conducted by H. Robert Reynolds, at Band-O-Rama, in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 4, 1997.

Michael Daugherty came to international attention when his dynamic Metropolis Symphony (1988-93),

A gateway between Canada and the United States, Niagara Falls is a Mecca for honeymooners and

a five-movement tribute to the Superman comics, was performed in 1995 at Carnegie Hall by conductor

tourists who come to visit one of the most scenic waterfalls in North America. The Niagara River also

David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and subsequently recorded by the same performers

generates electricity for towns on both sides of the border, where visitors are lured into haunted houses,

for Argo/Decca. Hailed as “a real Symphonie Fantastique for our times,” Metropolis Symphony is

motels, wax museums and candy stores, as well as countless stores that sell “Niagara Falls” postcards,

frequently performed, in whole and in its separate parts, by orchestras around the world.

T-shirts, and souvenirs.

The command of the ensemble and brilliant orchestration on display in Metropolis are also heard in

This composition is another souvenir, inspired by my many trips to Niagara Falls. It is a ten-minute musical ride over the Niagara River with an occasional stop at a haunted house or wax museum along

Daugherty’s works for concert band, which have been embraced wholeheartedly by college, university

the way. Its principal musical motive is a haunting chromatic phrase of four tones corresponding to

and high school bands throughout the U.S. In his chamber music, Daugherty sometimes casts prominent

the syllables of “Niagara Falls,” and repeated in increasingly gothic proportions. A pulsing rhythm in the

figures in America’s cultural life as soloists with ensemble. The popular Dead Elvis is a witty tribute to the

timpani and lower brass creates a current of energy that give an electric charge to the second motive,

industry of Elvis impersonators in the form of a solo bassoonist with ensemble. In a more serious vein,

first heard in the upper brass. The saxophones and clarinets introduce another level of counterpoint,

Jackie’s Song pays homage to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, whose plaintive cello solo takes center stage.

in a bluesy riff with a film noir edge. — Michael Daugherty

Daugherty has received numerous awards for his music, including the Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, recognition from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts.

Niagara Falls has been recorded by the North Texas Wind Symphony, conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon, on UFO: Music of Michael Daugherty (Klavier CDE K11121).

Cover design: Mary Christianson / Christianson Design First printed: 2003