Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021
7:30 p.m.
The Ohio State University School of Music
Mershon Auditorium
UNIVERSITY BAND
Dustin Ferguson, conductor
Joshua Reynolds, guest conductor
PROGRAM
Queen City March (1927)
W. H. Boorn (1906–1959)
arr. Laurie Lafferty (b. 1951)
William Halson Boorn was born in Anthony, Kansas on November 21, 1906 and died December 1, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan. A tuba and string bass player, he toured with dance bands in the Midwest for several years. Settling in Detroit, he worked as a boiler maker but continued to perform in the Maslem Shrine Band under the direction of Leonard B. Smith and various theatre orchestras.
Although he is the composer of only a few known works, Boorn’s 1927 march Queen City became very popular and is still found on lists of “favorite marches.” The march includes no dedication, but the title undoubtedly refers to Cincinnati, Ohio, the home of Boorn’s publisher, the Fillmore Brothers. Cincinnati has always been known as the “Queen City of the West.” This designation originated from the days when Ohio really was the western part of the United States. The title became nationally known from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which reads in part:
And this Song of the Vine,
This greeting of mine,
The winds and birds shall deliver,
To the Queen of the West,
In her garlands dressed,
On the banks of the Beautiful River.
— Note by the arranger
Down a Country Lane (1962)
Aaron Copland (1900–1990)
On June 29, 1962, Life Magazine featured Aaron Copland's composition Down a Country Lane. The piece was commissioned by Life in hopes of making quality music available to the common pianist and student. The work was featured along with an article entitled Our Bumper Crop of Beginning Piano Players. The article explains, "Down a Country Lane fills a musical gap: it is among the few modern pieces specially written for young piano students by a major composer." Copland is quoted in the article as saying, "Even third-year students will have to practice before trying it in public." Copland then explains the title: "The music is descriptive only in an imaginative, not a literal sense. I didn't think of the title until the piece was finished — Down a Country Lane just happened to fit its flowing quality."
Copland is very descriptive in his directions on how the piece should be played. The piece begins with instructions to play "gently flowing in a pastoral mood;" a brief midsection is slightly dissonant and to be played "a trifle faster;" and the ending returns to the previous lyrical mood. Down a Country Lane was orchestrated for inclusion in a youth orchestra series and premiered on November 20, 1965 by the London Junior Orchestra. The band arrangement was completed by Merlin Patterson in 1988. Patterson specialized in Copland transcriptions. Copland himself spoke of Patterson's excellent work upon the completion of Down a Country Lane, saying that he produced "a careful, sensitive, and most satisfying extension of the mood and content of the original."
— Note from Windrep.org
Sailing! (2015)
Yukiko Nishimura (b. 1967)
The music of Sailing! is characterized by an atmosphere that is vibrant and full of energy. The piece depicts a ship’s journey on the ocean, the colors of which can readily change from a rich, welcoming blue to a dark, menacing gray. Sometimes the ship is sprayed by the waves; sometimes the ship floats blithely along a sea of tranquility. The combination of staccatos and slurs, in particular, expresses sensations of happiness and joy in the ocean journey. I can only hope that the conductor and the players have an opportunity to witness the excitements of the ocean first-hand.
Three Czech Folk Songs (1992)
Johnny Vison (b. 1944)
Joshua Reynolds, conductor
The folk music of Czechoslovakia has often served as a fertile source of material and inspiration for composers and arrangers writing for a variety of musical idioms. This work is a setting of three traditional Czech melodies displaying a wide range of moods and styles. Walking at Night alternates between a beautiful slow melody and a lively dance theme. Meadows Green is an expressive ballad superbly scored for all sections of the band. The suite concludes in grand fashion with a spirited rendition of the familiar Spring, The Madcap.
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat (1955)
Roland L. Moehlmann (1907–1972)
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major is one of several of Bach’s organ works that Roland Moehlmann transcribed for concert band. Bach often arranged his own works for alternative performing forces, so Moehlmann’s reworking is in a grand tradition. Here he arranges Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 553, one of Bach’s Eight Little Preludes and Fugues, transposing the piece into a key that is suitable for the standard wind band. This piece, relatively simple in the context of Bach’s many preludes and fugues, probably was meant as a teaching piece originally, and continues that mission here.
— Note by Lindsay Sandberg for the University of Southern Mississippi Concert Band: A concert program, 16 November 2020
Second American Folk Rhapsody (1959)
Clare Grundman (1913–1996)
This year [2013], we honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of America’s most prolific composers and arrangers, Clare Grundman. Over a five-decade composing career, Grundman provided countless bands with music combining substance, playability and audience appeal. Many of his most enduring works use American folk materials, including his four American Folk Rhapsodies.
Grundman’s Second American Folk Rhapsody opens with a fanfare quoting "Skip to My Lou," followed by a leisurely transition into "Billy Boy" in a waltz style. "Skip to My Lou" runs through several variations before entering into a regal, march-like introduction of "Shenandoah." After the short march, Grundman’s rhapsodic writing returns and interweaves "Skip to My Lou" with "Shenandoah," featuring beautiful melodic timbres and lush alto saxophone/horn counter lines. The piece closes with a broad restatement of "Billy Boy" in 4/4 and a maestoso climax.
— Note from the Creekside Middle School Wind Symphony concert program, 20 December 2013
Dedicated to Manley Whitcomb and the Florida State University Band, this rhapsody was composed in 1959. American folk tunes included are "Billy Boy," "Skip to My Lou" and "Shenandoah." The form generally followed is that of a short introduction, statement of the folk tunes with variations, and a short but stately coda.
— Note from Program Notes for Band
ROSTER
University Band
FLUTE
Marley Welsh-Bielek
Nick Krcelic
Anya Laribee
Cat Rockey
Elizabeth Ryan
Sabrina Sedlacko
Emma Smith
OBOE
Mallory Justus
Lauren Yoder
Jingfeng Yu
CLARINET
Bella Haines
Maddie Heil
Kacy Kizlik
Jasmine Lucas
Sabrina Rancourt
Jessica Smetanko
Michaela Strunck
Alexandria Summers
Lauren Timmins
Elizabeth Yirava
BASS CLARINET
Cordelia Howard
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Christian Ammons
Mikkel Baterina
Jack Burkhart
Jordan Drinnon
Michael Mayer
Daniel Murray
Jacob Woodhouse
TENOR SAXOPHONE
Joseph Charek
BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Daisy Beale
HORN
Tom Farmer
Abby Freitag
Annalise Johnson
Cary Kullenberg
Haylee Zavaski
TRUMPET
Jackson Crane
Maria Fiorta
Evan Freeland
Damon Jolly
Jonathan Levene
Mario Longo
Sarah Nichols
Joshua Silver
Carter Stephen
Austin Tseng
Jess Vanek
Parker Weber
TROMBONE
Lara Detrick
Meghana Kanathur
Jeremy Kendle
Andrew Kueterman
Ash Marcum
Andric McNabb
Trevor Newell
Nathan Palmer
Krista Staten
Jack Sullivan
Finn Tan
EUPHONIUM
Ethan Bowersock
Nathan Howe
Jennifer Plakyda
Michaela Poeppelmeier
TUBA
Jeremiah Dew
Sydney Reeves
PERCUSSION
Josh DeKeersgieter
Jace Hale
Emily Harbison
Travis Jahna
Jared Koharik
Chase Oberg
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