The Texas Tech University School of Music’s first band concert of the 2017-2018 academic year will feature both the Concert Band and the Symphonic Band, respectively under the direction of Professor Duane Hill and Dr. Eric Allen. The concert is at 7:30 P.M. this evening (Thursday, September 21, 2017) in the Hemmle Recital Hall of the TTU School of Music. The performance is free and open to the public.
Extremes of character will be explored in this performance — from the inspiration of western European dance styles to the social tension in the United States during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Leading off with Yo Goto’s rhapsody based on the recognizable Neapolitan song "Funiculì, Funiculà," the Concert Band will set a tone of folk-tinged merriment for its half of the performance. Often mistaken for a traditional Neapolitan folk song, the jaunty and danceable "Funiculì, Funiculà" was actually written in 1880 by Luigi Denza with lyrics by Peppino Turco. Its enduring popularity has made it the focus of many adaptations and arrangements since 1886 when Richard Strauss incorporated it into his Aus Italien symphonic poem — and was subsequently taken to court by Denza for plagiarism!
Drawing upon elements of dance and song from Ireland, Brant Karrick’s delightful J.S. Jig adapts melodies by Johann Sebastian Bach to the distinctive rhythms of Irish jigs while Steve Danyew’s Adagietto channels ideas and influences from Percy Grainger’s free-flowing and trend-setting Irish Tune from County Derry. Another of Grainger’s time-honored band compositions will also close the Concert Band’s set: his wind band adaptation of an English Morris-style dance tune called Shepherd’s Hey.
John Zdechlik’s virtuosic band showpiece Celebrations is an ideal transition into the Symphonic Band’s more emotionally serious half of the program. Following the skittering, nervous acrobatics of Celebrations will be celebrated bandmaster Alfred Reed’s organ-like arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s grief-stricken sacred air titled My Jesus, Oh What Anguish. Reed’s adaptation is all the more impressive when considering that the collection from which Bach’s original air came primarily includes works that were composed for only one vocal line and a lone accompanying instrument. Closing the entire concert will be the contemporarily relevant A Movement for Rosa, Mark Camphouse’s musical tribute to United States civil rights heroine and advocate Rosa Parks.
For more information about this event and the University Bands, please contact Debbie Holt, Unit Coordinator for the TTU Bands, at (806) 834-3455 or at debbie.holt@ttu.edu.
