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University of Miami Wind Ensemble, Gary Green, conductor
University of Miami Wind Ensemble, Gary Green, conductor
New Music for Winds & Percussion, vol. 2
Broge • Daugherty • Fuchs • Gillingham • Jacob
Kenneth Fuchs (b. 1956, Dumont, New Jersey)
Composer, conductor, and music administrator, Dr. Kenneth Fuchs has received numerous awards and honors for his music, including the Charles E. Ives Scholarship for the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, grants from Meet the Composer, the ASCAP Foundation, the American Bandmasters Association, and residencies at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico. In addition, he created with playwright Lanford Wilson three chamber musicals, The Great Nebula in Orion, A Betrothal, and Brontosaurus, which were presented by Circle Repertory Company in New York City. Face of the Night, a chamber concerto for oboe and English horn, was commissioned and premiered in January 1990 by Thomas Stacy and the New York Philharmonic Ensembles. He has enjoyed premier performances in numerous halls nationally including the Manhattan School of Music and Lincoln Center.
Dr. Fuchs has also been deeply committed to arts administration for the past 15 years. He is currently Director of the School of Music at the University of Oklahoma. His previous positions include Dean of Students and Academics at Manhattan School of Music in New York City, Assistant Dean of the School of Music at the North Carolina School of the Arts and Assistant to the Associate Dean and Director of Performance Activities at The Juilliard School.
Dr. Fuchs received his Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Miami and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from The Juilliard School. His teachers include Milton Babbitt, David Del Tredici, David Diamond, Vincent Persichetti, Alfred Reed, and Stanley Wolfe. His music is published by Edward B. Marks Music Company, Theodore Presser Company and Yelton Rhodes Music.
“When Andrew Wyeth completed the tempera, he was hesitant to show it to Christina for fear she might not understand his feelings for her and her life, so he brought it back from Olson's where it was painted, and hung it in our house. Several days later we invited Christina and Alvaro for dinner. Alvaro carried his sister into the living room and almost deliberately placed her on the couch directly under the painting, so that it was impossible for her to see it. When time came to serve dinner, I moved a small table into the room and sat her facing the picture. Not one word was mentioned about the painting during the entire meal. Later that evening, after they had left, my husband told me that while we were all out of the room, cleaning the table, he came back and found Christina staring at the painting. He summoned up his courage and asked her how she liked it. She reached out with her crippled hand, caught his, and brought it to her lips…” (Betsy James Wyeth)
Andrew Wyeth's haunting image of Cristina Olson, resting solitary in an open field, her back to the viewer, her body twisted toward the family homestead, provided the inspiration for this musical composition. It is her world of sea and pasture, of yearning for home, and a sense of loss and fulfillment, that I have attempted to evoke in this music.
Christina's World was composed in New York City at the invitation of my friend and mentor William Hipp, Dean of the School of Music at the University of Miami. I composed this work especially for the Wind Ensemble and their conductor Gary Green, whose enthusiasm, advice, and encouragement during the composition of this work were truly inspiring!
Timothy Broege (b. 1947, Belmar, New Jersey)
Timothy Broege studied piano and theory with Helen Antonides during his childhood years. At Northwestern University he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Alan Stout and Anthony Donato, piano with Frances Larimer, and harpsichord with Dorothy Lane, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Music.
He currently holds the position of Organist and Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Belmar and is a faculty member of the Monmouth Conservatory of Music in Red Bank, New Jersey.
The music of Timothy Broege has been performed throughout the world. He has received numerous grants and commissions and his music is published by Manhattan Beach Music, Bourne Company, Daehn Publications, Hal Leonard, Dorn Publications, Polyphonic Publications and Allaire Music Publications.
In addition to his compositional activities, Mr. Broege is an active recitalist on early keyboard instruments and recorder, appearing both as a soloist and in duo recitals with guitarist and lutenist Francis Perry.
The late Charles Mingus — composer, bassist, and band leader — was a leading figure in the Afro-American improvisational music tradition. Like his revered predecessor, Duke Ellington, Mingus was a composer for whom the performing jazz ensemble was the true “instrument,” and the many groups led by Mingus in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's played and recorded some of the most passionate and innovative music American has produced. Fortunately, many recordings of the music of Charles Mingus remain available, on such labels as Columbia, Impulse and Atlantic. The composer of No Sun, No Shadow urges those who are unfamiliar with this great musical legacy to investigate these recordings.
A number of brief references to Mingus compositions are contained in No Sun, No Shadow. Pieces referred to include Half Mast Inhibition, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, Better Get It In Your Soul, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, and Fables of Faubus. Careful listeners will hear other references.
Michael Daugherty (b. 1954, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
As a young man Michael Daugherty was active as a jazz, rock, and funk keyboardist and studied classical piano. At North Texas State University he composed his first orchestral work, and played piano in the jazz big bands. Daugherty then spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow composing computer music with classic silent films, and collaborated with jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York. He received a doctorate in music composition in 1986 from Yale University, studying in New Haven from 1980-82 with composers Eric Brown, Jacob Druckman, Bernard Rands, and Roger Reynolds, and from 1982-84 in Hamburg, Germany with Gyorgy Ligeti. After teaching composition at Oberlin Conservatory, Daugherty joined the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music where he is currently Associate Professor of Composition.
Michael Daugherty's music, reflecting his diverse musical background, has been performed throughout America and abroad. His music reveals an array of titles inspired by contemporary American culture. Daugherty has received numerous awards for his music, including recognition from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts and a Friedham Kennedy Center Award.
A gateway between Canada and the United States, Niagara Falls is fed by the Niagara River, which generates electricity for towns on both sides of the border. Long a Mecca for honeymooners and tourists, Niagara is one of the most scenic waterfalls in the world. There, visitors find themselves lured into haunted houses, motels, wax museums, candy stores, and countless tourist traps selling postcards, T-shirts, and souvenirs.
This composition is another kind of souvenir, inspired by Daugherty's 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 the way. The principal musical motive is a haunting chromatic phrase of four tones corresponding to the syllables of “Niagara Falls,” and repeated in increasingly gothic proportions. A pulsing rhythm in the timpani and lower brass creates an undercurrent of energy to give an electric charge to the second motive, introduced by the upper brass. The saxophones and clarinets introduce another level of counterpoint in a bluesy riff with a film noir edge. Niagara Falls is Daugherty's meditation on the American Sublime.
Gordon Jacob (b. 1895, London, England)
“A champion of orthodoxy,” as one writer terms him, Gordon Jacob is apt to be remembered for his highly competent compositions and clever orchestrations. He studied at the Royal College of Music, taught at Birbeck and Morley Colleges, and returned to the Royal College as a member of its faculty from 1926 to 1966. He has written a good deal on music, notably textbooks on orchestration. His music, impeccably crafted and often witty, includes two ballets, two symphonies, several orchestral suites, concerti and works for various instruments including trombone, bassoon, cello, oboe, horn, violin, and harmonica, as well as choral works and chamber music.
This work blends the style and sonority of a traditional eighteenth-century concerto with the well-defined melodies that are the hallmark of Jacob's style. The first movement features the bassoon as a jaunty buffo playing against a saucy body of winds and percussion. The second movement is quite different, suspending an extraordinarily beautiful melody in the highest register of the instrument. Long, sustained phrases contribute to the intensity of this movement. A Rondo in four sections finishes out the piece that leads to a rather long cadenza for solo bassoon.
David Gillingham (b. 1947)
David Gillingham is Professor of Theory and Composition in the Department of Music at Central Michigan University. He earned Bachelor and Master Degrees in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition from Michigan State University. His principal composition teachers were Roger Dennis, Jere Hutcheson, and H. Owen Reed. Dr. Gillingham is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including First Prize in the 1990 International Barlow Composition Contest and the 1990 National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors Composition Award.
Concertino for Four Percussion and Wind Ensemble
Concertino for Four Percussion and Wind Ensemble was commissioned by the Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble, Joseph Missal, Conductor and Wayne Bovenschen, Professor of Percussion Studies.
The Concertino or “small concerto” seeks to exploit keyboard, membrane and auxiliary percussion instruments with the marimbas, xylophone, timpani, vibraphone and bass drums as the featured instruments assisted by crash cymbal, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, bells, chimes, triangle and hi-hat to enhance both the wind ensemble and the solo instruments.
Two thematic motives are used as a point of departure for this work. Both appear in the slow and mysterious introduction. The first, played by the marimbas, is dramatic and the second is haunting and played by vibraphone and bells. The following Allegro is structured similar to a rondo with recurrences of both themes interspersed by episodic sections. The first theme, however, is transformed into a very lively arpeggiated tune played by the xylophone and marimba. The coda is marked by a relentless rhythmic competition of two sets of bass drums which accompany the primary thematic material as first heard in the slow introduction. The work draws to a resounding conclusion when the second haunting theme is stated dramatically in tour de force by the brass.
The University of Miami Wind Ensemble
The Wind Ensemble consists of the finest wind and percussion students at the University of Miami and performs during numerous conventions and festivals throughout the season. Active in the area of commissioning new music for the repertoire, this ensemble has offered world premiers by composers such as Charles Campbell, Clark McCallister, James Willey, Michael Colgrass, Eric Whitacre, James Syler, and Frank Tichelli. All of the music presented on this recording represents world premier recordings or recordings of recent compositions. One of the guiding principles of the Wind Ensemble is contact with leading musical minds of this century, resulting in recent residencies by such notable musicians as James Syler, David Maslanka, Robert Rodriguez, Michael Colgrass and Eric Whitacre. Former members of the University of Miami Wind Ensemble hold positions in symphony orchestras and military bands and serve as teachers and conductors throughout the world.
Gary Green, Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the University of Miami, conducts the Wind Ensemble and the University Symphonic Band. He is also Chairman of Instrumental Performance and is a member of the Clinics Committee of the Florida Bandmasters Association.
Prior to coming to Miami, he was Director of Bands at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut for ten years. He is active in the commissioning and recording of new works for the wind and percussion medium, including Symphony No. 2 by David Maslanka and A Cornfield in July and the River by William Penn as well as Urban Requiem by Michael Colgrass.
Green is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Florida Bandmasters Association, the National Band Association and the American Bandmasters Association. Mr. Green has conducted international, national and regional honor bands and intercollegiate bands in most of the 50 states.
Whit Sidener, Professor and Chair, Department of Studio Music and Jazz, Program Director, Studio Music and Jazz Instrumental, holds B.M. and M.M. degrees from the University of Miami. He is the conductor/producer of the internationally award-winning University of Miami Concert Jazz Band. He has performances on nine platinum albums, three platinum singles, and three gold singles with the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, and K.C. and the Sunshine Band. He has done studio work for numerous recording artists, including Bobby Caldwell, Kin Carnes, Harry Chapin, Jose Feliciano, Miami Sound Machine, Aretha Franklin, James Gang, Rod Steward and Dionne Warwick. He has appeared with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and with numerous artists, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, and Mel Torme. He has appeared with the Bee Gees national tours and as a featured soloist with a Bob James national tour. He is a recipient of the NAJE award for outstanding service to jazz education, and 12 outstanding performance awards from Downbeat magazine.
Luciano Magnanini , Bassoon
Luciano Magnanini began his music studies in Italy at the Conservatory of Nicolo Paganini in Genoa, and later on in the city of Milan.
Mr. Magnanini has been principal bassoon with the Orchestra Comunale della Opera in Genoa, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Miami Philharmonic, the World Symphony Orchestra, the Festival Casals Orchestra, the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra in North Carolina, and he has played under the baton of renowned conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Alain Lombard, Eduardo Mata, James Conlon, and James Judd. Presently, he is the principal bassoon with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and the Miami Chamber Symphony.
Mr. Magnanini has an active concert career playing solo concerts in the United States, South America and Europe. He is Bassoon Professor and Director of Woodwinds at the University of Miami School of Music. He has recorded for RCA, CBS, Altarus, and Harmonia Mundi.
University of Miami Wind Ensemble
Recorded 1998-1999 at the University of Miami Gusman Hall, Coral Gables, Florida
Producers: Margaret Donaghue and Lorrie Crochet
Equipment: Ramsa WRS 4412 recording console (modified by John Windt); Sennhyeiser MKH20 microphones; MIP cvt cables; Millennia Media microphone preamps; Lexicon 20/20 AD processor; Panasonic SV 3700 DAT recorder; PS Audio Ultralink II Da converter; ATC SCM 20 monitors; AVI S2000 monoblock amplifiers; Sonic Solutions editing.
Kenneth Fuchs' Christina's World is available from the composer.
Timothy Broege's No Sun, No Shadowis available from the composer
Michael Daugherty's Niagara Falls is published by Peer International.
Gordon Jacob's Concerto for Bassoon is published by Galaxy Music.
David Gillingham's Concertino for Four Percussion and Wind Ensemble is published by C. Allan Publications.
University of Miami Wind Ensemble
1 Christina's World [11:17]
2 No Sun, No Shadow [23:40]
Luciano Magnanini, bassoon
7 Concertino for Four Percussion
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