2023 UDSD Honors Orchestra Concert Wednesday, february 1 at 7:00 pm

program

Welcome - Bryna Vandergrift, UDSD Supervisor of Humanities

Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio

• by W. A. Mozart

An overture is an orchestral piece that serves as an introduction to a longer musical composition or performance so it is fitting that we begin our concert tonight with this overture from Mozart’s opera The Abduction from the Seraglio. Mozart was commissioned to write this opera in 1781 by Emperor Joseph 11. The opera was a huge success. However, according to legend, the emperor attended the opera’s premier and commented that the music had “too many notes”. While the authenticity of this story is debatable, the music is indeed filled with fast scalar passages which make for an exciting performance.

Geometric Dances

• by Richard Meyer
• Soloists: Joyce Park and Timi Afolabi-Brown

This superb three-movement work is an excellent selection. The first movement - Square Dance employs active rhythms and special effects within a modal style. The violin glissando/glissandi should be performed quickly and with a light touch. The second movement - Round Dance features canonic imitation and explores the rich sonorities of the string orchestra. The third movement - is in the style of a tarantella, written in 6/8 time with alternating bars of implied ¾.

Sicilienne

• by Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Faure originally wrote the Sicilienne for a play by Moliere in 1893 but the production stopped due to bankruptcy. But he didn’t give up on his piece. Five years later, while arranging the Sicilienne for cello and piano, Faure included it with other incidental music for a play by Maurice Maeterlinck titled Pelleas et Melisande. While the play never really took off, the Sicilienne did, and Faure used it in a four-movement suite titled after the play. In addition to being arranged for cello by the composer, the Sicileinne has been arranged for numerous other instruments and remains one of Faure’s most popular works. John O’Neill used the original key of G minor in this arrangement which features the melody in the violins, violas and cellos at different points.

Fire Dance

• By Soon Hee Newbold

Fire Dance is a composition by modern composer Soon Hee Newbold. This piece is unique in that it features an asymmetrical rhythmic pattern. It features a 9/8 meter that is broken into 2+2+2+3 which creates an uneven feel. The melody is passed through the sections of the orchestra and conjures up images of an exciting, fiery dance.

intermission

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

• by J.S. Bach/Arr. Merle Isaac

There are six Brandenburg Concertos total, each written for a different set of instruments. The Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 was originally written for three violins, three violas, three celli, and basso continuo (including harpsichord). The difficult string crossings and the chromatic development section have been eliminated, but all of the color and energy of the original remain in this amazingly authentic-sounding arrangement. All parts are in first position throughout. There are no extensions in the cello part, and the few “high third” fingers in the violins and violas are always approached stepwise, from below.

Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel

• Traditional/Arr. Carrie Lane Gruselle

Spirituals are not written by a single person but they are folk songs owned by an entire community. Some spirituals were sung to provide motivation and inspiration while others were sung as an expression of democratic values, expressions of protest, or even coded communication. Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel is a great example of the former. Carrie Lane Gruselle’s arrangement of this song adds a swinging bass line and countermelodies to the powerful melody.

Ashokan Farewell

• by Jay Ungar/Arr. Calvin Custer
• Soloists: Joyce Park and Alexis Schmidt

In 1984 the producer Ken Burns was working on his PBS documentary The Civil War and looking for music to use in it. He found an album that had been released in 1983 by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason’s band Fiddle Fever, called Waltz of the Wind, and on it was a piece called Ashokan Farewell. Ungar wrote the piece in 1982 after a trip to Scotland, while working at a summer music arts school called the Ashokan Camp in upstate New York. Ken Burns ended up featuring the piece for almost one hour of the 11-hour documentary and it became an instant classic.

Best of Queen

• by Mercury, May & Deacon/arr. Larry Moore

This medley features three of the British rock band Queen’s most well-known songs, including “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” from the 1977 album News of the World, and “Another One Bites the Dust” from their 1980 album The Game. Feel free to clap and sing along to some of rock’s iconic songs as performed by the Honors Orchestra.