Cal Poly Humboldt Wind Ensemble

The Cal Poly Humboldt Department of Dance, Music, and Theatre presents The Cal Poly Humboldt Wind Ensemble. Join us Sunday, December 8th at 7:30 pm at the Fulkerson Recital Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt for a stunning program of songs from the wind repertoire. Tickets are $15 General, $5 Child and FREE for Cal Poly Humboldt Students with ID. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at tickets.humboldt.edu/dance-music-theatre

The program for the evening begins with Joy Revisited Frank Ticheli. The composer wrote about the piece, “Joy, and its companion piece, Joy Revisited, are the results of an experiment I have been wanting to try for many years: the creation of two works using the same general melodic, harmonic, and expressive content. In other words, I endeavored to compose un-identical twins, two sides of the same coin—but with one major distinction: Joy was created with young players in mind, while Joy Revisited was aimed at more advanced players. Thus, Joy is more straightforward than its companion piece. Both were composed more or less simultaneously, and both were born out of the same source of inspiration. In short, Joy and Joy Revisited serve as two expressions of the feelings experienced by one expectant father (who happens also to be a composer) on one wonderfully anxious and exciting day.”

Next is Handel in the Strand by Percy Aldridge Grainger “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.” —Notes by composer

The ensemble will then perform Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre. Lux Aurumque began its life as an a-capella choral work that the composer wrote in the fall of 2000. The Texas Music Educators Association and a consortium of bands commissioned him to adapt it for symphonic winds and received its premiere at the 2005 conference of the Texas Music Educators Association.

Following is Paris Sketches: Homages for Band by Martin Ellerby. This four movement work pays homage to some part of the French capital and to other composers who lived, worked or passed through it. The four movements are: Saint-Germain-des-Prés—The Latin Quarter famous for artistic associations and bohemian lifestyle. This is a dawn tableau haunted by the shade of Ravel: the city awakens with the ever-present sense of morning bells; Pigalle—The Soho of Paris, this is a burlesque with scenes cast in the mold of a balletic scherzo— humorous in a kind of “Stravinsky-meets-Prokofiev” way. It’s episodic, but everything is based on the harmonic figuration of the opening; Père Lachaise—This is the city’s largest cemetery, the final resting place of many a celebrity who had once walked its streets. The spirit of Satie’s Gymnopédies—themselves a tribute to a still more distant past— is affectionately evoked before what is in effect the work’s slow movement concludes with a quotation of the Dies Irae; Les Halles—A fast, bustling finale; the bells triumphant and celebratory. Les Halles is the old market area, a Parisian Covent Garden, and like Pigalle, this is a series of related but contrasting episodes. Its climax quotes from Hector Berlioz’s “Te Deum.”

Next is Florintiner March by Julius Fučík. Fučik composed the Florentiner march in 1907 while he was the bandmaster for the 86th Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Florentiner opens with a stern bugle call, after which the march becomes lighthearted. The main melody of spritely repeated notes in the upper voices is occasionally interrupted by sarcastic responses in the low brass. An expansive lyrical middle section is followed by a repeat of the initial material, this time with an added piccolo obbligato to close in a style reminiscent of John Philip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever

The penultimate piece is Canterbury Chorale by Jan Van der Roost, This quiet piece with its broad tones was originally written for brass band on request of Robert Leveugle, chairman of the composer’s own band, Brass Band Midden Brabant. Later on, Jan Van der Roost rescored this piece for symphonic wind band, exploring the full richness of colors of this ensemble. Besides solo phrases for several instruments, there are some massive tutti passages making the wind orchestra sound like a majestic organ.

For a finale, the ensemble will perform K2 by Julie Giroux. K2, also known as "The Savage Mountain," sits on the border between Pakistan and China. It is the second highest peak in the world, with a peak elevation of 8,611m (28,251 feet) and carries with it the second highest fatality rate of 27%. For every four people who attempt its climb, one will die. It has never been climbed in winter. K2 is massive, beautiful, and literally can take your breath away. It calls to mountain climbers around the world with the song of a deadly siren. Most heed its warning, but a few will not be thwarted. Seventy-three percent WILL make it to the very top and will come down changed forever.

DATES/TIMES

WHERE

• Fulkerson Recital Hall

PRICE

• $15 / Free Cal Poly Students with ID / $5 Children