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The University of Arizona Wind Ensemble
Gregg I. Hanson, Conductor
Kelland Thomas, Saxophone
SYMPHONY NO.2 was commissioned by the Big Ten Band Directors Association and was dedicated to my teacher and friend, H.Owen Reed, on the occasion of his 75th birthday. It was premiered at the 1987 College Band Directors National Association convention at Northwestern University with John P. Paynter conducting. The symphony is in three movements. The first is a powerfully insistent and thrusting movement which conveys the image of a great crashing tidal wave and its aftermath of loss and desolation. The second movement is also a "water" movement. It opens with an arrangement of the spiritual "Deep River," and then proceeds with a musical illustration of the great rolling, inundating river. Finished on the day of the space shuttle "Challenger" disaster, this movement is dedicated to the astronauts who lost their lives ú who on that day crossed over "Deep River" to the other side. The finale of the symphony is a non-stop, high-powered affair. The energy of tragedy and loss expressed in the first two movements is drawn into a burning affirmation of life.
LAUDAMUS TE was written for and dedicated to the Mount St. Charles Academy Symphonic Band of Woonsocket, R.I., Marc Blanchette, conductor. The words "laudamus te" (we praise you) are from the Gloria of the Latin Mass. The idea has been brought forward over time (St. Francis and St. Ignatius Loyola are two) that the true function of the human race is to sing praise. Anyone who has reflected at all on the miracle of the universe ú the enormity of it, the essential mystery of it, the paradoxes bound up in it ú has no choice but to be astounded. The thought instantly lifts one beyond the rounds of daily life and into the words and music of praise. Living has in it not only epiphany and joy, but depression, darkness, and awareness of death. Such awareness reveals how tenuous life is, and at the same time how miraculous and precious it is. Dark, seemingly negative awarenesses offer the possibility ú even the necessity ú of singing a special kind of praise. LAUDAMUS TE is a piece in which the voice of praise arises out of darkness.
HELL'S GATE (1996) was commissioned by the Hellgate High School Symphonic Band, John H. Combs, conductor. The title "Hell's Gate" started as a simple twist on the name "Hellgate." "Hellgate" is the name given to a section of Missoula, Montana where the Clark Fork River flows through a mountain pass. Local Indians suffered many surprise attacks by rival tribes at this place, leading French settlers to give it the name "Hell's Gate." Over the years the "s" has been dropped, and the name has become a local commonplace, losing much of its psychic and cosmic force.
Having come up quickly with a title for my piece, I had to muse for a long time on its implications. The immediate picture that comes to mind is "The Flaming Gates of Hell", ane the desire to avoid these at all costs! Whatever one's religious beliefs, the "gates of hell" can be taken psychologically to mean any extremely difficult point of transition in the maturing process of a person, one that cannot be avoided but must be gone through. These occur throughout the life, but one of the scariest is the transition into young adulthood. And so I offer this piece as a gift to my young friends who are at that point of life. I offer it as well to anybody making a hard transition of any kind!
The piece is something of a soul journey, the soul being represented by the trio of solo saxophones, and especially the solo alto saxophone. The soul is plunged willy-nilly into the fierce struggle of life. It survives, and responds with a deeply mournful and upwardly struggling and yearning attitude. With this attitude come first visions of the religious nature of the human being, and first hints of wholeness. Life overtakes, and the struggle is joined in earnest. The soul is driven to the extremes of its ability to endure, until in the middle of this there is a memory of the early vision of wholeness. The soul responds in agony, and then bursts into full and passionate awareness of its own nature. Reconciled to its connection, the soul opens to the full power of its earthly life. At this point of opening I have placed the Lutheran hymn tune "Christ, dubist der helle Tag" ("Christ, you are the bright day") - a beautiful metaphor, regardless of your cultural tradition, for the passage into self-awareness. I was further compelled to use this tune because of the last two words of its title: "helle Tag" = "Hellgate"!
The work ends with the soul - the alto saxophone - transformed. It plays a quiet and beautiful solo song.
David Maslanka was born in New Bedford, MA in 1943. He attended the Oberlin Conservatory, and studied for a year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He did master's and doctoral work in composition at Michigan State University with H. Owen Reed. David Maslanka's compositions have been performed throughout the United States and around the world. His works for winds and
percussion have become especially well known. They include among others "A Child's Garden of Dreams"; "Concerto for Piano, Winds and Percussion"; the Second, Third, and Fourth Symphonies; "In Memoriam"; "Tears"; "Mass"; and "Sea Dreams ú Concerto for Two Horns and Wind Orchestra." Percussion works include "Variations on Lost Love" for solo marimba, "Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble," "Crown of Thorns" for keyboard percussion, "Montana Music: Three Dances for Percussion," and "In Lonely Fields" for percussion and orchestra. In addition he has written a wide variety of chamber, orchestral and choral pieces. Maslanka's works are published primarily by Carl Fischer, Inc. of New York City, and have been recorded on CRI, Novisse Klavier, Cambria, Albany, and Mark labels. Between 1970 and 1990 he served on the faculties of SUNY Geneseo, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, and CUNY Kingsborough. He is now a free-lance composer and lives in Missoula, Montana. David Maslanka is a member of ASCAP.
Gregg I. Hanson was born in Ogden, Utah in 1943. He studied trumpet, piano, and voice in his younger years before attending The University of Michigan where he received bachelors and masters degrees in 1967-68. He has studied conducting with Elizabeth A. H. Green and William D. Revelli and now heads an innovative graduate conducting program at The University of Arizona School of Music and Dance where he currently serves as Director of Wind Bands and Professor of Conducting. Hanson's career has taken him into numerous venues of music including commercial music, opera, wind ensemble, chamber music and orchestra. He has conducted across the United States and in Europe, Mexico, and Canada.
Recorded on May 5 & 7, 1998 in Crowder Hall at The University of Arizona School of Music and Dance, Tucson, Arizona
Co-Producers: Gregg Hanson and David Maslanka
Head Recording Engineer: Wiley Ross, Recording Studio Coordinator, The University of Arizona School of Music and Dance
Assisting Recording Engineers: Larry Burr and Marilyn Teorey
Mixing, Editing, and Mastering: Wiley Ross and Gregg Hanson
Lee Furr, Media Specialist, Triestman Fine Arts Center for New Media Gary Cook, Director, School of Music and Dance
Martin Reynolds, Head Graduate Teaching Assistant
Vickie Allred, Photography
School of Music and Dance Public Relations
Eve Dotson, UA Band Department Secretary
The University of Arizona Wind Ensemble Personnel
Cassandra Reid-Bendickson
Bass Clarinet/Contra Clarinet
Rhonda Taylor, Alto/Soprano
II. "Deep River" Slow-Moderate (9:03)
Kelland Thomas, Alto Saxophone
(University of Arizona Professor of Saxophone)
Michael Keepe, Tenor Saxophone ·Daniel Bell, Baritone Saxophone
The University of Arizona Wind Ensemble
Gregg I. Hanson, Conductor
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