JMU Concert Band Program Notes

Urban Dances (2005) - Erik Morales (b. 1966)

Urban Dances is a piece based on a concept developed in one of my earlier works, entitled Rhythmata. The most important part of this work is rhythm. The rhythms used are inspired by and found in much of today's popular music. My biggest challenge was to find ways to employ these rhythms in a manner appropriate to serious concert band literature. The melodic and thematic elements are important, but play a secondary (and largely supportive) role. In many instances, the thematic materials will float over the rhythmic pulse, creating a double-time feel. The pulse of this work is persistent and lively throughout.

- Program note by composer

California (2015) - David Maslanka (1943-2017)

Music is wonderful. It lets us tell ourselves things we can't speak out in words. It opens the dream space and lets us dream together. It lets us imagine the world as it really is, a place of vitality, power, and possibility.

We live in fear of destruction, from climate change, nuclear bombs, increasing population, vanishing resources, continuous war. When the troubles are listed like this it is hard to know what we think we are doing with our seemingly simple and innocent music making.

California has always been a place of big dreams. The music of California celebrates the California dream space. There is tremendous beauty here—the forests, deserts, mountains, and valleys, the ocean—and also the strength within the people and in the earth to meet the times that are upon us. Music lets us dream, and in that dream is the possibility of a new world, one in which humans live in harmony, within themselves, with all other people, with all other species, with the planet. Is this dream impossible? Are circumstances too complex? Will human nature never change? My answer to these questions is no. The dream starts somewhere. Let our music making be one such place.

- Program note by composer (September 2015)

Godzilla Eats Las Vegas (1996) - Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)

It took me seven years to get my bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. By the time I graduated I was ready to eat Las Vegas.

Tom Leslie [Director of UNLV Division of Wind Band Studies] asked me to write another piece for the group as I was leaving, and I thought it would be a blast to do something completely ridiculous. The players are called upon to scream in terror, dress like Elvises (Elvi), and play in about thirty different styles from mambo to cheesy lounge music. The audience follows a 'script' that I wrote simulating a campy, over the top Godzilla movie (is there any other kind?).

I wrote the bulk of the piece while in my first year at Juilliard, and no kidding, I used to act out the script every morning devouring animal crackers, wreaking havoc all over the breakfast table. The 'script' was originally twice as long, and had an entire subplot devoted to a young scientist and his love interest. As I started to finish the piece, however, it didn't seem that funny and that story (along with an extended Elvis tribute) ended up on the cutting room floor.

The idea that this piece is being played all over the world in such serious concert venues is the single funniest thing I have ever heard. It has been played on the steps of the Capitol by the United States Marine Band, by the Scottish National Wind Symphony (they play in kilts, so help me God), and I have a video of a Japanese audience visibly confused and shaken by the whole experience. Can you imagine? I'm laughing my head off even as I write this!

Godzilla Eats Las Vegas! was commissioned by the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Thomas G. Leslie, conductor, and received its premiere November 28th, 1996. 

The performer are encouraged to go crazy: wear showgirl costumes, Elvis costumes, act out scenes on stage, use video and lighting—anything to get a laugh. 

Here is the script that the audience follows while the piece is being performed:

PART ONE

FADE UP
It is a Bright and Sunny day as the sequined curtain rises on tinsel town, and the excitement of a new day filled with the possibility of The Big Payoff is practically palpable. The band kicks off the show in high gear and all is well as we suddenly hear:

CUT TO DESERT
A lone shakuhachi flute usher the arrival of something really VERY bad.

CUT BACK TO BAND
A relaxed rhumba, showgirls blissfully jiggle.

CUT TO MILITARY COMMAND CENTER (stock footage)
Morse code signals the confirmation of approaching doom.

CUT BACK TO BAND
The players finish off their third set and head for the bar; outside we hear:

SLOW ZOOM
Oh no, oh no, oh no, it's:

CLOSE UP
Godzilla! Glorious Godzilla!

VARIOUS QUICK CUTS (stock footage)
Godzilla destroys cars, screaming tourists, etc.

CUT BACK TO BAND
The band, quasi Greek Chorus, calls for Godzilla to Mambo.

GODZILLA, FULL FRAME
Godzilla mambos, casually crushing hysterical [Las] Vegans without missing a step.

EXTREME CLOSE UP
A tiny terrier barking bravely, then:

CUT BACK TO GODZILLA
Demolishing everything in his path... not even the doggie escapes!

WIDE PAN
As Godzilla heads down the strip, searching relentlessly for:

CLOSE UP (stock footage)
Frank Sinatra (Stomped!)

CLOSE UP (stock footage)
Wayne Newton (Stamped!)

CLOSE UP (stock footage)
Liberace (Stepped upon!)

VARIOUS CUTS
The Village Gods destroyed, Godzilla continues his carnage until the City of Sin is leveled!

PART TWO

FADE UP
A fearless army of Elvises (Elvi) appear in the distance, formation marching through the littered streets.

VARIOUS CLOSE UPS
The Elvi attack, using bombers, missiles, etc.

EXTREME CLOSE UP
One wicked laugh from Godzilla and the Elvi scatter like mice!

QUICK CUT (stock footage)
The Sphinx sits outside The Luxor, looking seductive in a Mae West sort of way.

CLOSE UP
Godzilla takes one look and his eyes pop out of his head.

QUICK CUTS
The Sphinx (Sphinxtress?) seduces the Reptile, who instantly falls in love and begins to:

WIDE SHOT
...tango with her.

SPLIT SCREEN
As they dance, the Elvi slowly regroup and head for the:

QUICK CUT (stock footage)
Pirate ships at Treasure Island

ACTION SEQUENCE (MONTAGE)
The Elvi approach the dancing monster and launch a ferocious volley of cannonballs directly at him.

QUICK CLOSE UP
The cannonballs find their mark, and Godzilla:

WIDE SHOT
Falls to the ground, annihilated. The Elvi are triumphant!

CROSSFADE
The lounge is open again, and the city of Las Vegas toasts the victory. The scene climaxes with:

VARIOUS CUTS (stock footage)
People happy, tearful, etc. Stock footage, stock music.

SLOW FADE OUT AND FADE UP
A dark, ominous, and very familiar sound...

SLOW ZOOM
Godzilla lives! Godzilla lives! Complete terror (possible sequel?)

WIDE SHOT
The Show is over. The End.

FADE TO BLACK

JMU Symphonic Band Program Notes

Downey Overture (2011) - Oscar Navarro (b. 1981)

Downey Overture is dedicated with all my affection to the Downey Symphony Orchestra, for its hard work and dedication, and, of course, to its conductor, Sharon Lavery, for her professionalism and great passion for music. Downey Overture is a Latin-American fusion with which I have wanted to link my birth country, Spain, and California, the land that, as a result of the two years I lived there, has left a permanent imprint on my heart. An amalgam of rhythm and musical color wrapped in an atmosphere of dance are the essence of this piece. It is joyful, energetic, and written with all my enthusiasm and dedication.

- Program note by the composer

O Magnum Mysterium (1994/2003) - Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943)/trans. H. Robert Reynolds

Morten Lauridsen's choral setting of O Magnum Mysterium ("O Great Mystery") has become one of the world's most performed and recorded compositions since its 1994 premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Paul Salamunovich. The work was commissioned by Marshall Rutter in honor of his wife Terry Knowles.

About his setting, Morten Lauridsen writes: "For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beatiful O Magnum Mysterium text with its depiction of the birth of the newborn king amongst lowly animals and shepherds. This affirmation of God's grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated in my setting through a quiet song of profound inner joy."

Recordings of Lauridsen's music have received numerous GRAMMY nominations, and the composer was a 2007 recipient of the National Medal of Arts. H. Robert Reynolds arranged the symphonic wind version of this popular work with the approval and appreciation of the composer.

Text of O Magnum Mysterium

O magnum mysterium (O great mystery)
et admirabile sacramentum (and wondrous sacrament)
ut animalia viderent Dominum (that animals should see the new-born Lord)
natum jacetum in praesepio! (lying in their manger!)
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera (Blessed is the Virgin whose womb)
meruerunt portare (was worthy to bear)
Dominum Christum. Alleluia! (the Lord Jesus Chris. Alleluia!)

- Program note by Catharine Sinon Bushan, University of Texas

American Guernica (1982/2021) - Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941)/ed. Brent Levine

American Guernica was written in remembrance of the September 15, 1963, fire-bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, a racially motivated bombing that killed four young girls attending Sunday school (Carol Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 14; and Denise McNair, 11), and injured twenty-two others. The elegy for this tragedy was delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King.

The work's title refers to the famous mural by painter Pablo Picasso, which depicts the bombing of the Basque village Guernica by Nazi German and Fascist Italian warplanes on April 26, 1937, a tragic slaughter of mainly women and children. Hailstork's score employs spatial notation and extended techniques to recount the bombing, outrage, and aftermath of the American tragedy.

- Program note from University of Maryland Wind Orchestra concert program, March 10, 2017

English Dances, Book One (1950/1965) - Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)/trans. Maurice Johnstone

Malcolm Arnold's publisher, Bernard de Nevers, suggested that a suite of dances be composed to provide an English counterpart to Antonín Dvořák's Slavonic Dances or Béla Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances. Arnold developed eight original melodies that seemed firmly rooted in traditional English dance and song.

Written in 1950, English Dances was dedicated to de Nevers. The melodies were divided into two sets of four. The first movement, Andantino, opens quietly to four-part chords played by the French horns and a melody introduced by the oboe. The meldoy is reminiscent of the gentle movement of a country breeze or the slowly flowing streams, sometimes becoming agitated when encountering obstacles. The second movement, Vivace, begins with bell tones that seem to signal the start of festivities in a village town. Mesto, the third movement, translates as sad or melancholy. The final movement, Allegro risoluto, is characterized by a driving and determined rhythm in the brass with ornamentation from the woodwinds.

- Program note by Kennesaw State University Wind Ensemble concert program, October 12, 2015