UTSA New Music Festival

Wednesday, February 19, Thursday, February 20, and Friday, February 21, 2003

All concerts are at 7:30pm in the UTSA Recital Hall

All concerts are Free and open to the public.

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Final Schedule

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Wednesday:

	Sir Malcolm Arnold (b. 1921): Quintet for Brass, Op. 73 (1961) (13’), performed by the San Antonio Brass Ensemble: John Carroll, Bill Nichols, trumpet Joy Hodges, horn Christopher Branagan, trombone Lee Hipp, tuba
	jack w. stamps (b. 1969): your acquaintance for clarinet, tape and occasional piano (2002), performed by Stephanie Key, clarinet I. within the first moments of your acquaintance II. a dance in the light of a cigarette machine III. wee hour reflections in slo-mo overdrive
	Fredrik Högberg (b. 1971): Su Ba Do Be (1992-94), performed by Chris Branagan, trombone Subadobe 1 (for trombone only)
	William Albright (1944-1998): Symphony for Organ (1986), performed by William James Ross, organ (with Bill Sherrill and David Heuser on percussion) III. Tarantella macabra (5’) IV. Ritual (with percussion) (8’)
	Intermission
	Fredrik Högberg: Su Ba Do Be, performed by Chris Branagan, trombone Subadobe 2 If you were mine... (for trombone only)
	Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961): Sonata for Viola and Piano (1984) performed by Allyson Dawkins, viola, and Christine Debus, piano (28’) I. Allegro Moderato II. Andante III. Recitativo
	Fredrik Högberg: Su Ba Do Be, performed by Chris Branagan, trombone Subadobe 3 (for trombone lonely) Subadobe 4 (for trombone hardly) Subadobe 5 (for trombone unruly and backstage trombone)
	James Mobberley (b. 1954): Voices: In Memoriam, for piano and computer (2002) performed by Kevin Richmond, piano (9’)
Thursday:	A Celebration of the Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold
	Sir Malcolm Arnold (b. 1921): Peterloo Overture, Op. 97 (1967) performed by the UTSA Orchestra, Eugene Dowdy, conducting (10’)
	Sir Malcolm Arnold: A Grand, Grand Overture (1956) arranged by Keith Wilson, performed by the UTSA Wind Ensemble, Robert Rustowicz, conductor (8’)
	David Liptak (b. 1949): Rhapsodies (1992) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, performed by Rita Linard, Laura Kelly, Mary Ellen Goree, Andrea Yun, and Kasandra Keeling (16’) I. Con forza II. Lirico III. Allegro disinvolto
	David Heuser (b. 1966): The Breathing Night (2002; World Premiere) performed by the UTSA Woman’s Choir, Gary Mabry, conducting (6’)
	Sir Malcolm Arnold: Song of Praise, Op. 55 (1956) Psalm CL, "Laudate Dominum", Op. 25 (1950) performed by the UTSA Concert Choir, John Silantien, conducting (10’)
Friday
	SPECIAL GUEST: AURA, the Moores School of Music Contemporary Ensemble from the University of Houston
	Henry Cowell: The Tides of Maunanan (4') and Aeolian Harp (3') for piano Eric Ewazen: An Elizabethan Songbook, Matthew Garza, trumpet and Victoria Dominguez, tenor sax Tom Lopez: Hollow Ground II (10') for soprano and electronic tape Christopher Deane: Mourning Dove Sonnet, Blake Wilkins, vibraphone Rob T. Smith: Morse Code Pop alto and baritone sax duet matt ingalls: Spout (15’) entire ensemble

PROGRAM NOTES:

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Sir Malcolm Arnold (see below for bio)

Sir Malcolm's Quintet for Brass remains one of the most widely played chamber works. It is one of the absolute classics of the genre, and established the instrumentation two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tube as the standard. The writing for brass is idiomatic yet ultimately challenging. There is always an element of danger in Sir Malcolm's brass writing, and this, to those who know him well, echoes certain traits in his own character! The writing for tuba is especially ahead of its time, and at the time it was written would have been within the grasp of very few players in the world. The work was written for the New York Brass Quintet, the group which at that time was laying down the standard for the rest of the world to emulate, and the work had immediate impact and success.

I remember very early and rudimentary read-throughs of this new avant-garde work with pals in the National Youth Orchestra, and Ernest Hall shaking his head at some of the hoops his former trumpet pupil, who had crossed the tracks to composing, was putting us through. The work is serious and substantial. It is perfect chamber music and wonderfully rewarding to play. The first movement pits a duet of trumpets who gallivant around like a pair of otters in the water, against a more sober trio of horn, trombone and tuba, who sound like three wise monkeys commenting on foolish behavior. However, it is not long before they decide to join in the fun themselves! The second movements inhabits that area of bleak cold-war atmosphere more commonly associated with Shostakovich, and reminds one of the sincere depth of expression of much of Malcolm's music. We are only a couple of steps away from the abyss. However the second movement resolves into an air of semi-tranquility, and the last movement quickly dispels any lingering atmosphere of tragedy with immediate and brilliant sunshine. Every instrument is given the chance to show off its virtuosic prowess in a challenging and exuberant rondo.

- John Wallace

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Jack Stamps has pursued music since the day his parents claim he could sing the lyrics to “Hey Jude” before he could speak. Whatever. For nearly a decade, he was a songwriter in a local band and pursued a solo career thereafter. Presently, he is enjoying the return The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he studies with Drs. James Balentine and David Heuser where his pop and classical influences converge on paper.

your acquaintance

Swedish composer Fredrik Högberg studied with Professor Jan Sandström at the Piteå School of Music, at the University of Luleå. Musically raised in the post-modern era, Fredrik Högberg combines in an non-compromised way the rhythmic elements from rock and pop with the intimate gestures from the neoclassic and romantic eras. The result is a colorful music, often with a warm sense of humor. His production includes a variety of orchestral works as well as concertos, chamber music and mixed-media pieces. He is also known for his pedagogic methods for teaching composing with children.

Su Ba Do Be was written for the Hungarian trombonist Laszlo Pete during a masterclass in Pitea, in the extreme north of Sweden, in 1993.  Högberg and Pete were pupils at the course with Christian Lindberg and composer Jan Sandstrom, and the piece was premiered with great success at the Pitea Festival.  Su Ba Do Be is, simultaneously, an homage to one of the founders of jazz, Louis Armstrong, as well as to the "happenings" of the sixties.

Born in Gary, Indiana, in 1944, William Albright received his early musical training at the Julliard Preparatory Department and the Eastman School of Music, but with the start of his college career at the University of Michigan, an association was begun that would last the remaining 35 years of his life, first as a student and then as a faculty member. It is no coincidence that during this same time the composition department in Ann Arbor ascended to world-class status. His primary composition teachers included Ross Lee Finey, Leslie Bassett and George Rochberg; he also excelled at the organ, studying with Marilyn Mason. As recipient of a Fulbright fellowship (the first of two) in the late sixes, he spent time at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Olivier Messiaen.

Albright received numerous commissions and awards and although he composed music for practically every instrumental and vocal medium, he is primarily known for his keyboard works, such as the Organbooks and Five Chromatic Dances for Piano. In the later work, over the course of a half an hour, Albright references Chopin mazurkas, boogie-woogie style, and almost everything in between, an example of Albright’s vibrant and tasteful use of humor and eclecticism. His compositions often combine complex rhythmic and non-tonal techniques with elements of American pop music. Though his works are crafted concisely, he stressed the value of music as a form of communication and the supremacy of music of intuition, imagination and beauty of sound. He was a principal figure, with colleague William Bolcom, in the revival of interest in Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and other ragtime composers from the turn of the century. He performed extensively on organ and piano, where often he played classical ragtime, stride piano and boogie-woogie with great enthusiasm while writing many of his own works in these styles.

William Albright’s Symphony for Organ was commissioned by the University of Evansville and the Friends of UE Music with the support of the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. The work grows out of the genre of large multi-movement compositions for solo organ developed primarily by the late 19^th and early 20^th century French composers Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne. “Tarantella macabra” (misterioso ma brillante) is a quick dance in 6/8 meter. Inspired by a late piano composition of Franz Liszt (Czardas macabre, 1881-2), the primary musical material of the Tarantella is the hollow sound of the open fifth interval (no third). Cast in an ABA form, the conclusion features a bravura pedal solo which recalls the spirit of the composer’s earlier “Jig for the Feet” (“Totentanz”) from Organbook III. The loud (fortississimo) crash of a bass drum and pitched-gong interrupts and terminates the third movement. Similar percussion events then recur in the fourth movement (Ritual) at intervals determined mathematically by the sequentially additive Fibonacci series (1,1,2,3,5,8...). In discussing the similarities between his symphony and earlier examples, the composer notes that “The last movement is perhaps the one exception to what we expect from the French organ symphonies. Instead of ending with an Allegro, a Finale, or a Toccata, we have here an unusual Adagio, a slow movement in which I’ve also introduced a foreign element, a ritualistic element: a bass drum and a pitched gong. This is to give a processional or ceremonial feeling to this last movement.”

-Note by Douglas Reed

Lowell Liebermann was born in New York City in 1961. At the age of fifteen, he made his performing debut at Carnegie Recital Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, Op. 1, which he composed the year before. He attended the Julliard School of Music, where he received bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. He continues to perform both pianist and conductor, but he is best known as a composer. His music is widely performed and recorded by major orchestras, ensembles and solists, and he has received numerous commissions and awards. He has long been the composer in residence to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and he also filled filled the same role for Sapporo's Pacific Music Festival in 2001, and for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in 2000. In addition to his many orchestral works, concertos and chamber music, he has also written for opera in his 1996 work The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Liebermann has said of the music he writes, "My ultimate goal is to simply create beauty. I'm tired of the cliché about art having to reflect its times. You know, 'It's a Horrible World We Live In' so you get all of this politically- and socially-engaged art, much of which is social propaganda masquerading as art. To me, at least the music I like is very abstract and it's about creating something of beauty."

About the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Liebermann writes:

Organic unity in terms of structure and thematic material is a prime factor in this work. The Sonata centers around G-sharp major/minor; the inherent half-step conflict is of prime importance to the tonal and thematic development. The first movement has an arc-like structure. The opening theme in the viola is actually first heard in augmentation, with the piano measures half as long as the viola measures. This polymetric device is further exploited in the movement's central development section and coda, where the viola and piano parts end "out of phase" by half a measure until the final chord.

The second movement is a series of continuous passacaglia variations on a theme derived from a 17-note figure heard in the first movement. The passacaglia theme is heard at the beginning of the second movement in the piano alone. Each of the successive 17 variations is transposed to a successive note of the theme itself, so the entire movement becomes, in effect, a single large variation. Since the variations are continuous and the theme not always the most prominent material, another form emerges, whose thematic structure is related to the phraseology of the theme (again enhancing the idea of the whole movement as being a single large variation.)

The third movement begins with a short recitativo section alternating viola and piano, which leads directly into the body of the movement, marked Allegro feroce. Here, in a rondo-like structure, previous material from the other movements is further developed and summarized.

The opening four chromatically descending chords of Gesualdo's madrigal "Moro lasso" occur at several strategic points in the first movement and in the coda of the last movement. These "quotations" have no ulterior programmatic significance, but are consistent (and at the time of composition, seemingly inevitable) with the work's motivic development.

The Sonata is dedicated to violist Neal Gripp, who gave the work its premiere with pianist Daniel Lessner at Town Hall in New York City.

-note by the composer

Voices: In Memoriam began as a commission from two wonderful and talented pianists: Leah Hokanson and Daniel Koppelman, both of whom have performed my music on a variety of occasions for many years, and both of whom are extraordinarily gifted interpreters of contemporary music. It also served as a re-entry for me into the world of instruments-with-electronics, which I had not worked in for four years. The medium of choice for 2001 is undoubtedly interactive electronics, where a computer system “listens” to the live performer and provides further interpretation and commentary on the instrument’s sound world. The advantage over pre-recorded materials is one of freedom for the performer, where the computer ‘accompanist’ reacts to the instrument’s sounds, rather than the reverse.

I had just started the composition when the attacks took place on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, and a month later I had made little progress. During a trip to New York in October, 2001, I found myself making a pilgrimage of sorts to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where I discovered a chapel area which had been dedicated, apparently for many years, to the Firefighters of New York. There I saw special displays by school children, a newspaper tribute to the 343 firefighters who were killed at the World Trade Center, and, most significant, I saw a letter, bravely hand-written by a school-age youngster to his father, who had been killed. Its sentiments were at once universal and specific—lauding a hero’s bravery and looking forward to a distant but much anticipated reunion. This, more than any of the television coverage, newspaper reports, or memorial ceremonies, brought home to me the full impact of this tragedy on the individual and collective spirit.

I decided, even before leaving the cathedral, that I needed to start over—that this work should somehow memorialize these firefighters. Hence the tones of the piano honor their voices and create a sound world, while the computer does what computers do best – hold these voices in memory, and bring these memories back, changed – as memories always are – by time and by new experiences and associations. The piece itself is an example of this process of change: once the voices have been stated, there is a significant change of mood, and the sound world of the piece changes its context completely. Yet memory persists and, in the end, brings us inevitably back to these now-silent yet very audible voices. In fact, our memories argue convincingly that nothing that we love ever really leaves us.

- Note by the composer

Thursday, February 20, 2003

“I write music because it is only possible to express the ideas and emotions I wish to express through the medium of music. Music appeals to me chiefly because of its abstract quality. It is not necessarily tied to a story or a subject. That is the reason why most of my works are orchestral or chamber music, and although I have written a certain amount of vocal music, for me the most worthwhile thoughts are to be expressed without words.

“To hold a listener's attention throughout a whole work is a major problem. Composers during the whole short history of written music have used all kinds of devices to develop their music and give it formal continuity. One can use the first few notes of the original thought by themselves, one can use the original thought backwards, or as a rhythmic pattern, making a new melody out of it; one can use its harmonic pattern and a new idea may spring from that.

“The ways of continuing or developing music are legion, but an important point which we composers in our enthusiasm as specialists in music are apt to forget is that these ways in themselves are of no interest to anyone. The music must say more to the listener than ‘I am the first three notes of the original thought’ or ‘I am the original thought backwards’. What this something more is, is impossible to define in words; which will help to explain why I search after this elusive something only by writing music.”

- Sir Malcolm Arnold

Sir Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton on 21st October 1921, the Great-Grandson of William Hawes, the composer and head of all music for the Chapels Royal and St Paul's. His early musical influences came from his mother, a fine amateur pianist and, later, from writing and improvising jazz with his brother and friends. A lover of the music of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, after meeting him on a family holiday at the Royal Bath Hotel at Bournemouth where he played at a tea dance, Malcolm Arnold took up the trumpet at the age of twelve and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music at sixteen, studying trumpet with Ernest Hall and composition with Gordon Jacob. It was during his second year of study, having already won second prize in the Cobbett Prize for composition, that he left the Royal College of Music on an invitation to join the London Philharmonic Orchestra as second trumpet. Promotion to principal soon follows and Malcolm Arnold swiftly becomes acknowledged as one of the great trumpeters of the age.

During his time with the LPO he composed prolifically, all the while honing his skills as an orchestrator, learning the symphonic repertoire from the inside. With the exception of two years military service during the war, for which Arnold volunteered as he was in an exempt profession, he remained with the LPO until 1948, apart from a brief spell with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra when he first left the army. In that year he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship and abandoned professional playing for good in favor of composition.

From 1948 until the early sixties, Arnold composed at a tremendous rate. Commissions flooded in and he became known as one of the most sought after composers of the time, alongside Benjamin Britten and William Walton. The Third, Fourth and Fifth Symphonies were commissioned and composed during this time, and Arnold wrote concertos and sonatas for players he particularly admired, including the Guitar Concerto for Julian Bream.

Arnold's role as a conductor of his works, both in the concert hall and in the studio for films and recordings, increased at this time and he was composing film scores at the rate of six per year. This hectic pace of life, however, could not be sustained for long and the early sixties saw a period of depression for Arnold and the breakdown of his marriage. In the mid-sixties, he moved to Cornwall where he settled until 1972 with his second wife Isobel, becoming closely involved in Cornish musical life.

He was made a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth in 1968 and was awarded the CBE two years later. Some fine works, including the Cornish Dances, Sixth Symphony, The Padstow Lifeboat, Viola Concerto and the Concerto for Two Pianos (3 hands), were composed in Cornwall, and during this time he composed in response to commissions from some of the leading performers in the country.

In 1972 Arnold moved with his family to Dublin, where he remained until 1977. The Seventh Symphony, Clarinet Concerto No 2 and the Fantasy on a Theme of John Field all belong to the Irish years. String Quartet No 2, composed for the Allegri Quartet, contains an Irish jig, and music with an Irish flavor can be heard in the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. In 1977 Arnold returned to England following the collapse of his second marriage. He was 'flat on his back' and the years until 1984 were filled with two short periods spent in hospital or incapable of work. Only three works were completed during these years, the Symphony for Brass, the Trumpet Concerto and the Eighth Symphony.

In 1984 Malcolm Arnold moved to Norfolk to live with and be looked after by Anthony Day. Although at the time he was told that he had less than two years to live and would never work again, in late 1995 he saw Michala Petri on television and was inspired by her after a meeting to write a Fantasy for Recorder, which was followed by the Irish Dances, Ninth Symphony, Fantasy for Cello and Cello Concerto written for Julian Lloyd Webber, and more. In 1986 he received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Services to British Music, in 1987 the Wavendon All Music Award for Outstanding Services to British Music, in 1989 a Doctorate of Music from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio and a Knighthood in 1993.

Today Sir Malcolm continues to live in Norfolk, with Anthony Day, who is his companion and right-hand man. He no longer has the desire to compose, but his works are performed frequently around the world and Sir Malcolm and Anthony attend these whenever possible. Sir Malcolm was awarded a Fellowship of the British Academy of Songwriters and Composers in October 2001, during one of his two special 80th birthday concerts at the Wigmore Hall.

Peterloo is the derisive name given to an incident on 16 August 1819, in St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester, when an orderly crowd of some 8,000 people met to hear a speech on political reform. On the orders of the magistrates they were interrupted by the Yeomanry, attempting to seize the banners they carried, and to arrest their speaker, Henry Hunt. Cavalry were sent in, and eleven people were killed and four hundred injured in the ensuing panic. This overture attempts to portray these happenings musically, but after a lament for the killed and injured, it ends in triumph, in the firm belief that all those who have suffered and died in the cause of unity amongst mankind will not have done so in vain.

- note by the composer

A Grand Grand Overture was commissioned by the Goffnung Music Festival in Royal Festival Hall in London, November 13, 1956. The program notes for that concert read: A Grand Grand Overture is a piece that is gay, touching and fantastic by turns. It has an uninhibited, rollicking tune, climaxes of superb pomp and circumstance peculiar to itself: namely concertante parts for three vacuum cleaners and one electric floor polisher. The momentous opening – the beginning of an introduction that is to contain foreshadowings of all the principal thematic material – in among the unforgettable exordiums of music. With a series of brilliant glissandi, the Hoover quartet makes a remarkable contribution to orchestral texture. And their farewell, as each of the ingenious instruments in turn becomes silent, is one of the most moving experiences in modern music. If the nature of the codas seem cursory, one has to remember that Arnold always stops when he has nothing further to say. The score is dedicated to President Hoover.

The words for Song of Praise were written by John Clare. The choral work Laudate Dominum takes as it text Psalm 150, which includes lines praising God with various musical instruments, such as trumpets, cymbals and strings.

David Liptak's music has been performed throughout the United States and internationally by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists.  His work in chamber music composition has been recognized by the 1995 Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and in 2002 he received a music award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  Also in 2002, he received a major commission from the Barlow Foundation to fund his composition of a string quartet for the Cassatt Quartet.  A teacher of composition for over 25 years, David Liptak has been since 1987 Professor of Composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Rhapsodies was commissioned by the Society of New Music in Syracuse with a grant from the Meet the Composer/Reader's Digest Consortium Commissioning Program in conjunction with the Atlanta-based Thamyris Ensemble and the Virtuosi della Rosa (now the Third Angle New Music Ensemble) in Portland, Oregon.  Each of the three movements of the work is a freely evolving musical piece that grows from a single expressive idea, and the entire piece can be viewed as a suite of these rhapsodic pieces.  The first Rhapsody is labled "con forza," and it is indeed a forceful piece with a strong rhythmic profile.  At times, insistent repetitions of the patterns drive the music on; the ending, stubbornly hammering out the B-D minor third, is certainly music of this type.  The second Rhapsody, marked "lirico," is slow and relaxed, with a languid quality to the musical flow.  The third Rhapsody is labeled "allegro disinvolto," and is dance-like in character.  Of all three Rhapsodies, this is the one which might suggest a cultural or national theme - as rhapsodies have done in former days - with a hint of a Scottish dance in the triple meter patterns.

- Note by the composer

David Heuser's (b. 1966) music has been performed here and there, and he has been awarded this and that. His degrees are from Eastman and Indiana University, and his composition teachers have included Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, David Liptak, Warren Benson, Frederick Fox and Don Freund, as well as Jeffrey Hass in electronic music. Heuser's music is published by Non Sequitur Music, and works of his can be found on recordings on the Albany (Cauldron) and Equilibrium (Deep Blue Spiral) labels. A product of New Jersey, Heuser currently resides in San Antonio, where he is a faculty member at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The Breathing Night

by Olga Cabral

Chin on paws the night sleeps
a huge dark animal breathing
as earth keeps time breathing
as sleeping birds respire
breathing softly in and out
wrapped in their folded wings
as fish at rest in dark waters
breathe darkness through their gills
as trees and grasses breathe
each leaf and blade together
and the whole planet turns
upon its side inhaling exhaling
dreaming its green dream.

The Breathing Night is reprinted with the kind permission of the estate of Olga Cabral.
From the book The Green Dream, Contact II Publications, 1990.