Symphonic Band
American Riversongs - Pierre LaPlante
American Riversongs begins with a setting of “Down the River”, followed by “Shenandoah” or “Across the Wide Missouri,” as it is sometimes called. After a brief transition, a brass band is heard playing a version of Stephen Foster‘s “The Glendy Burk.” As the “Glendy Burk” travels along, a second theme is introduced by flutes and tambourine and based on a Creole bamboula tune that probably originated in the Louisiana delta region.
The Four Seasons - Antonio Vivaldi
Movt. 1 - Spring
Movt. 2 - Winter
Movt. 3 - Summer
Movt. 4 - Autumn
The Four Seasons is a group of four violin concertos by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, each of which gives musical expression to a season of the year. These were composed around 1718−1720, when Vivaldi was the court chapel master in Mantua.
In All It's Glory - James Swearingen
In All Its Glory is characterized by fresh, vibrant rhythms, friendly mixed meters and lush, "Romantic" sections which provide great contrast!
Symphonic Band Members
Flute: Peyton Bradley, Zoe Cotter, Gabriela Cortez Rojo
Oboe: Liam Feger
Clarinet: Haidyn Alexander, Asia Ritzler
Alto Sax: Laura Brown, Dylan Lewis, Harold Strickland, Ian McDonald-Cueny
Baritone Sax: Cormack Friedgen
Horn: Owen Prussner
Trumpet: Nick Loose, David Berger, Meri Cowles, Josiah Bowen
Trombone: Calder Cornwell, Lukas Bruce, Thomas Ferguson
Bass: Austyn McDonald
Percussion: Brady Cooper, Melanie Gibbs, Owen Lindsay, Colin Marshall, Colin Powers, Ringo Stevens
String Orchestra
Adagio from Quartet in G Major - Florence Price
There’s something strangely familiar to the opening theme of this movement, but it’s not because you’ve heard it elsewhere. It’s a typical feeling when first encountering the music of Florence Price, who grew up suffused in both African American folk music and the European classical tradition. This is music that straddles two worlds and occupies both with equal comfort and authority, unfolding with such ease and confidence that we feel like we’ve known it our whole life.
Program note by R/Evolution
Serenade for Strings - Edward Elgar
Movt. 1 - Allegro Piacevole
Movt. 2 - Larghetto
Movt. 3 - Allegretto
Elgar was one of the leading figures in what has come to be known as the “second English Renaissance” and he was the first English composer since Henry Purcell (d.1695) of truly international standing. But all of that still lay in the future when he wrote the Serenade heard here. Elgar was a fine violinist, and spent most of his early career as a performer, but beginning in the late 1880s, he began to focus increasingly on composition. His reputation grew slowly, until the triumphant premieres of his Enigma Variations (1899) and the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900). The Serenade is a much more smaller work, and seems to have been a revision of an earlier set of pieces he had composed in 1888, Much of his earliest orchestral music is light fare intended for small salon and dance orchestras, but this is a much more substantial piece, in the tradition of the earlier Brahms and Dvorák serenades. Years later, Elgar described it as one of his personal favorites.
Elgar’s background as a violinist allowed him to write particularly effective and idiomatic music for strings, and he described the Serenade—with tongue firmly in cheek—as “very stringy in effect.” It is in three movements, beginning with wistful music marked Allegro piacevole (a “pleasing” Allegro). There is a underlying note of sadness in the main theme heard at the outset, and Elgar sets against this a more lilting middle section with brief solo turns for the principal violin. The long central Larghetto begins with an introduction that adapts ideas from the opening movement, but Elgar then introduces a gorgeous Romantic theme that is spun out in the same patient way as in his more famous “Nimrod” movement from the Enigma Variations. There is a brief contrasting interlude before this theme returns in the full orchestra. The movement ends in a whisper. The brief closing movement (Allegretto) returns to the Serenade’s opening mood, but in a more dancelike character.
Program note by Michael Allsen
Prelude in B Minor - Sergei Rachmaninoff
Gavin McCreery - Piano
In the Dreams of Zhou - Stephen Chin
The Emperor Zhou reigned in China around the ninth century BC during the period generally considered to be the genesis of the I Ching - a series of divination texts that can help interpret thoughts and dreams. In the Dreams of Zhou starts with an expanse of harmonics that shroud a truly plaintive melody. This leads into an energetic section that evokes many aspects of what one would imagine to be a vibrant life in ancient China. At one point all the main themes are combined to create a truly dreamlike state. The work concludes with thrilling cascades of repeated sixteenth notes.
Program note by the composer
MPHS Orchestra Members
Clara Bonnell*, Jolie Damer-Daigle, Isaac Finch, Amy Jensen, Daniel Jesuit, Jade Johnson, Luka Kourtev*, Gavin McCreery, Spencer Melton*, Yuna Miyoshi*, Jackson Peless*, Katelyn Pope*, Noah Terrell, Claire Vogel
*Denotes orchestra leadership
Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Intrada Jubilante - David Gillingham
Intrada Jubilante is the essence of joy and celebration from start to finish. Originally written in 1979, this is one of Gillingham's earlier band works, but it foreshadows more of the wind ensemble magic we have come to expect from him.
Sleep - Eric Whitacre
The evening hangs beneath the moon
A silver thread on darkened dune.
With closing eyes and resting head.
I know that sleep is coming soon.
Upon my pillow safe in bed,
A thousand pictures fill my head
I cannot sleep, my mind's a-flight:
And yet my limbs seems made of lead
If there are noises in the night
A frightening shadow, flickering light
Then I surrender unto sleep
Where clouds of dream give second sight
What dreams may come, both dark and deep
On flying wings and soaring leap
As I surrender unto sleep,
As I surrender unto sleep.
First Suite in E-flat - Gustav Holst
Movt. 1 - Chaconne
Movt. 2 - Intermezzo
Movt. 3 - March
The First Suite in E♭ for Military Band, Op. 28, No. 1, by the British composer Gustav Holst is considered one of the cornerstone masterworks in the concert band repertoire. Officially premiered in 1920 at the Royal Military School of Music, the manuscript was originally completed in 1909. Along with the subsequent Second Suite in F for Military Band, written in 1911 and premiered in 1922, the First Suite convinced many other prominent composers that serious music could be written specifically for band.
Symphonic Wind Ensemble Members
Piccolo: Darrius Petrash
Flute: Elliot Moreno, Ruth Lehr, Carson Jarman
Clarinet: Jaiden Cregger, Daria Batzner, Maeve Curry
Bass Clarinet: Asia Ritzler
Soprano Sax: Jack Brown
Alto Sax: Eli Buccilli, Tyler Rupe
Tenor Sax: Alex DeMattei, Caitlin Dunn
Baritone Sax: Oliver Ettinger
Horn: Jacques Chercover, Jay Lawson
Trumpet: Cohan Adams, Eric Brown, Meri Cowles
Trombone: Nick Hertzler, Aubrey Lockwood, Hayden Hamlin
Euphonium: Carter Hoffman, Dane Whittington
Tuba: Austyn McDonald, Kayden Weekley-Dean
Percussion: Paige Limarenko, Nathaniel Guerrero, Lydia Price
About the MPPS Bands
The MPPS Bands have a long tradition of musical excellence that has lasted over 100 years. The MPHS Bands and Marching Band regularly participate in national and statewide festivals and competitions, and travel to Indianapolis for the Bands of America competition every other year.
The MPPS Instrumental Music Boosters are a group that serve the MPMS and MPHS bands. They are looking for more dedicated volunteers to join their team. To find out more or volunteer, you can reach out to Mr. Taton at mtaton@mp.edzone.net
About the MPPS Orchestras
The High School Orchestra offers students at Mt. Pleasant High School the opportunity to deepen their understanding of music through performance. Students in this ensemble have the opportunity to participate in chamber music, hold leadership roles, and participate in a variety of festivals and workshops. The MPHS Orchestra travels each year, and will attend an orchestra clinic in Ypsilanti, Michigan during the 2021-2022 school year.
The MPPS Fine Arts Boosters (FAB) serve the MPMS and MPHS Choir, Orchestra, and Theatre programs. Volunteers with this organization assist with planning trips, performances, clinics, and the MPHS Musical. They are always looking for new members to help make music in our schools a reality. Contact Tami Melton at tamimelton@gmail.com if you are interested in joining our team!
Credits:
Created with images by takazart - "symphony orchestra concert philharmonic hall" • dlohner - "drums drum pool" • YannaZazu - "orchestra symphony stage" • sebastiangoessl - "theatre chairs red" • MabelAmber - "piano instrument music"