The UNCG School of Music has been recognized for years as one of the elite
music institutions in the United States. Fully accredited by the National
Association of Schools of Music since 1938, the School offers the only
comprehensive music program from undergraduate through doctoral study in
both performance and music education in North Carolina. From a total
population of approximately 12,700 university students, the UNCG School of
Music serves over 575 music majors with a full-time faculty and staff of sixty.
As such, the UNCG School of Music ranks among the largest Schools of Music
in the South.
The UNCG School of Music now occupies a new 26 million dollar music
building which is among the finest music facilities in the nation. In fact, the
new music building is the largest academic building on the UNCG Campus. A
large music library with state-of-the-art playback, study and research facilities
houses all music reference materials. Greatly expanded classroom, studio,
practice room, and rehearsal hall spaces are key components of the new
structure. Two new recital halls, a large computer lab, a psycho-acoustics lab,
electronic music labs, and recording studio space are additional features of the
new facility. In addition, an enclosed multi-level parking deck adjoins the new
music building to serve students, faculty and concert patrons.
Living in the artistically thriving Greensboro—Winston-Salem—High
Point “Triad” area, students enjoy regular opportunities to attend and perform in
concerts sponsored by such organizations as the Greensboro Symphony
Orchestra, the Greensboro Opera Company, and the Eastern Music Festival. In
addition, UNCG students interact first-hand with some of the world’s major
artists who frequently schedule informal discussions, open rehearsals, and
master classes at UNCG.
Costs of attending public universities in North Carolina, both for in-state
and out-of-state students, represent a truly exceptional value in higher
education.
For further information regarding music as a major or minor field of study,
please write:
Dr. John J. Deal, Dean
UNCG School of Music
P.O. Box 26167
Greensboro, North Carolina 27402-6167
(336) 334-5789
On the Web: www.uncg.edu/mus/
Contemporary Chamber Players
Robert Gutter, conductor
Richard Cook, guest conductor
Sunday, November 18, 2001
7:30 pm
Recital Hall, School of Music
Program
“…blues falling down like hail…” Mitchell M. Turner
(b. 1966)
Leslie Miller, clarinet
Canciònes de la noche Jon Anderson
poetry by Gabriella Mistral (b. 1976)
I. Con Tal Que Duermas
II. Volverlo a Ver
III. La Medianoche
Jessica Van Ord, soprano
Jon Anderson, piano
Symphony No. 1 for Orchestral Winds Thomas J. Dempster
World premiere (b. 1980)
I. Tanz (immer Verzweiflung)
Bethany Snyder, flute
Christi Wilson, flute
Di Daniels, piccolo
Melanie Hoffer, oboe
Amanda Woolman, oboe
Erin Grundman, clarinet
Brooke Gaines, clarinet
Michael Kelly, bass clarinet
Caitlin Teter, bassoon
Matthew Stein, bassoon
Helen Peastrel, horn
Tara Cates, horn
John Cristiano, horn
Michael Sanders, horn
Mike Hengst, trumpet
Justin Stamps, trumpet
Sean Devlin, trombone
Phil Shands, trombone
Simon Evans, bass trombone
Scott Rimm-Hewitt, tuba
Robert Gutter, conductor
intermission
return to his homeland. He decided to break, at least temporarily,
from the Russian Ballet, and worked to create other opportunities
for himself. During a discussion with the Swiss poet Ramuz, the
idea for a simple stage piece was proposed: something with only a
handful of characters and a few instrumentalists.
The story of the soldier who deserts and the Devil who carries off
his soul comes from Russian folklore, and is more appropriate to
the period of Nicholas I, and forced recruitment. Stravinsky, in an
attempt to make a more universal piece of theater, wrote music as
non-Russian as was possible for him. Ramuz set the story in
Switzerland rather than Russia, and gave instructions which
opened the possibility for English, German, and other translators to
vary the locale to suit their needs.
Stravinsky’s task involved choosing an extremely simple
combination of instruments. He first considered using a piano or
harmonium, but decided against both for textural reasons. The
final instrumentation calls for a group of instruments representative
of the most common types: violin and bass, clarinet and bassoon,
trumpet (cornet) and trombone, and percussion. The percussion
deserves special mention. Stravinsky was influenced by a
selection of New Orleans jazz material he was shown by Ernst
Ansermet, to the extent that there appears in the score not only a
ragtime in the set of dances, but also a percussion part built on jazz
lines. After a number of delays and a prolonged rehearsal period,
the premiere took place at Lausanne University on September 28,
1918, with Ansermet conducting.
Richard E. Cook
Coming Chamber Events
* EastWind Trio d’Anches
Monday, November 19, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall
*Collegium Musicum
Monday, November 26, 5:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall
Student Composers’ Concert
Monday, November 26, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall
Gate City Quintet
Tuesday, November 27, 7:30 pm
Organ Recital Hall
*Fee charged. Please contact the University Box Office at (336) 334-4849 to inquire
about ticket pricing.
octatonic, and generative harmonic combinations. The effect is
one of “streamlined dissonance,” in Hindemith’s words, as there is
rarely a purely diatonic moment in the piece.
During the composition of this movement in particular, my life
was in transition. I had recently completed several rather "take-no-chances"
pieces, some of which I had considered withdrawing.
Under quite a bit of emotional duress, and in a state of dejection
and bitterness due to family problems, social problems, and
personal stress, the piece conveys an ultimately angry – in a very
non-Brahmsian fashion – mood, underpinned with hints of
absolute dejection. . . Plaintive cries can be heard throughout the
piece; the conflicts I was undergoing are here penned as a struggle
between choruses of instruments as well as a struggle for
resolution (which never occurs). Amidst all of this, my thoughts
turned to music I listened to for solace – generally the contemp-lative,
emotionally laconic organ music of Messiaen. At one point
in the piece, the organ (that which brought comfort) is no longer
able to console the troubles; a scattered recollection of an earlier
theme resounds, as though an organ with all stops pulled is gasping
for breath. The piece closes with screams of anguish amidst the
continual fervor (and annoyance) of everyday life; the screams
subside, only to have an unexpected turn. . .
In later movements, there is, perhaps, closure.
I have yet to stumble across tenable resolution, however.
Thomas Dempster
5 November 2001
Igor Stravinsky
L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale)
The composition of L’Histoire du Soldat came at a rather dark time
in Stravinsky’s career, although, like many Russian intellectuals
then living in Western Europe, he had been thrilled by the 1917
Revolution. At the same time however, he was cut off from many
of his resources, and it seemed for a time that he would never
L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Part I
The Soldier's March
Little Tunes Beside the Brook (Music To Scene I)
Pastorale (Music To Scene II)
Part II
The Royal March
The Little Concert
Three Dances
Tango-Waltz-Ragtime
The Devil's Dance
The Little Choral
Great Choral
Triumphal March of the Devil
Dan Skidmore, violin
Will Postlethwait, double bass
Lauren Denny, clarinet
Elaine Peterson, bassoon
Mike Hengst, trumpet
David Sonnenburg, trombone
Michael Ptacin, percussion
Richard Earl Cook, conductor
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Musical Arts
* * * * * * * * * *
The hall is equipped with a listening assistance system.
Patrons needing such assistance should please see one of the ushers in the lobby.
The UNCG Contemporary Chamber Players is an instrumental-vocal
ensemble devoted to the performance of contemporary
chamber music. The ensemble is composed of faculty, graduate,
and undergraduate students from the School of Music of the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The ensemble is
committed to the performance of both traditional and experimental
music of the 20th and 21st century. Each program that it performs
strives to present various instrumental and vocal genres that reflect
both the traditional and changing nature of contemporary chamber
music.
During its 12 year existance, programs have included the music of
Stravinsky, Copland, Webern, Varese, Persichetti, and Ward,
representing the traditional side of the century. The more
experimental side has been represented by such composers as
Alfred Schnittke, Barbara Kolb, Michael Torke, Ellen Taaffe
Zwillich, Betsy Schramm, Joanne Kuchera Morin, and Oliver
Knussen. In the last several years the ensemble has invited George
Rochberg, Michael Colgrass, Emma Lou Diemer, Libby Larsen,
Bernard Rands and others to the UNCG campus for residencies,
workshops and performances of their music
The UNCG Contemporary Century Chamber Players was the only
collegiate "serious music" ensemble to be invited to perform at the
1994 World Conference of the International Society for Music
Education in Tampa, Florida.
Mitchell M. Turner
“…blues falling down like hail…”
“…blues falling down like hail…” exhibits my compositional style
clearly. The opening gesture, itself a low to high melody, propels
the overall motion of the piece from the low to high register. The
approach to upper register is hinted at initially by the multiphonics,
which serve as the catalyst to the inevitable conclusion in the upper
register. In this context, form becomes a “process,” contingent
upon the particulars of the present piece not an arbitrary return to
the opening material (as in traditional ABA form). Thus, the
microtones, timbre trills, and multiphonics are intrinsic to the
3. La Medianoche (from Tala)
Fina, la medianoche.
Oigo los nudos del rosal:
la savia empuja subiendo a la rosa.
Oigo
las rayas quemadas del tigre
real: no le dejan dormir.
Oigo
la estrofa de uno,
y le crece in la noche
como la duna.
Oigo
a mi madre dormida
con dos alientos.
(Duermo yo en ella,
de cinco años.)
Oigo el Ródano
que baja y que me lleva como un padre
ciego de espuma ciega.
Y después nada oigo
sino que voy cayendo
en los muros de Arlés
llenos del sol . . .
3. Midnight
Delicate, the midnight.
I hear the nodes of the rosebush:
upthrust of sap ascendig to the rose.
I hear
the scorched stripes of the royal tiger:
they do not let him sleep.
I hear
the verse of someone.
It swells in the night
like a dune.
I hear
my mother sleeping,
breathing two breaths.
(In her I sleep,
a child of five.)
I hear the Rhone's rush
that falls and carries me like a father
blind with foam.
And then I hear nothing,
but am falling, falling
among the walls of Arles
resplendent with sun . . .
Thomas J. Dempster
Tanz (immer Verzweiflung) from Symphony No. 1
Composed between September 2000 and November of 2001, this
piece marks my first foray into not only a piece for a relatively
large ensemble, but also a study of the symphonic form and
treatment. Formally the most traditional of the four movements,
the Tanz follows a relatively standard PTSK – Development –
Recapitulation formula. However, what I have done with thematic
material and process blurs the delineation between sections,
leaving the listener with only a feeling of a ternary form, although
that can be debated. To be brief, pitch selection is mainly within
the confines of the octatonic scale (series one, sometimes called
“x”) with some mixtures of pan-diatonicism, based mainly on the
musical fabric and are not merely ornamental sound effects. The
title comes from the song "Hellhound on My Trail" by delta blues
guitarist Robert Johnson.
Jon Anderson
Canciònes de la noche
Chilean educator, cultural minister, diplomat, and poet, Gabriela
Mistral was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1945. Born in 1889, she began to write poetry as a
village schoolteacher after a passionate romance with a railway
employee who committed suicide. She played an important role in
the educational systems of Mexico and Chile, was active in
cultural committees of the League of Nations, and was Chilean
consul in Naples, Madrid, and Lisbon. She held honorary degrees
from the Universities of Florence and Guatemala, was an honorary
member of various cultural societies in Chile, the United States,
Spain, and Cuba, and taught Spanish literature in the United States
at Columbia University, Middlebury College, Vassar College, and
at the University of Puerto Rico. Mistral died in the United States
in 1957.
The love poems in memory of the dead, Sonetos de la muerte
(1914), made her known throughout Latin America, but her first
great collection of poems, Desolación, was not published until
1922. Other publications include Ternura, a volume of poetry
dominated by the theme of childhood, and Tala, a similarly themed
work, in 1938. The poems chosen for this set travel through the
night from three different perspectives: from mother, to lover, to
child.
Jon Anderson (b.1976) received his B.A. in Music from Luther
College and his M.M. in Composition from UNCG. He was
invited to attend the Music ’99 Composers Workshop at the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and won
first place for his trio, Cascade, in the Friends & Enemies of New
Music 2000 Competition in New York. He currently teaches
Theory and Ear Training at UNCG and is the Faculty Fellow for
the Grogan Music Learning Community.
1. Con Tal Que Duermas (from Tenura)
La rosa colorada
cogida ayer;
el fuego y la canela
que llaman clavel;
el pan horneado
de anís con miel,
y el pez de la redoma
que la hace arder:
todito tuyo
hijito de mujer,
con tal que quieras
dormirte de una vez.
La rosa, digo:
digo el clavel.
La fruta, digo,
y digo que la miel:
y el pez de luces
y más y más también,
¡con tal que duermas
hasta el amanacer!
2. Volverlo a Ver (from Desolación)
¿Y nunca, nunca más, ni en noches llenas
de temblor de astros, ni en las alboradas
vírgenes, ni en las tardes inmoladas?
¿Al margen de ningún sendero pálido,
que ciñe el campo, al margen de ninguna
fontana trémula, blanca de luna?
¿Bajo las trenzaduras de la selva,
donde llamándolo me ha anochecido,
ni en la gruta que vuelve mi alarido?
¡Oh, no! ¡Volverlo a ver, no importa
dónde,
en remansos de cielo o en vórtice hervidor,
bajo unas lunas plácidas o en un cárdeno
horror!
¡Y ser con él todas las primaveras
y los inviernos, en un angustiado
nudo, en torno a su cuello ensangrentado!
1. If You’ll Only Go to Sleep
The crimson rose
plucked yesterday,
the fire and cinnamon
of the carnation,
the bread I baked
with anise seed and honey,
and the goldfish
flaming in its bowl.
All these are yours,
baby born of woman,
if you'll only
go to sleep.
A rose, I say!
And a carnation!
Fruit, I say!
And honey!
And a sequined goldfish,
and still more I'll give you
if you'll only sleep
till morning.
2. To See Him Again
And shall it never be again, never?
Not on nights filled with trembling of stars,
or by the pure light of virginal dawns, or
on afternoons of immolation?
Never, at the edge of any pale pathway
that borders the field, or beside any
tremulous fountain white under the moon?
Never, beneath the entangled tresses of the
forest where, calling out to him, night
descended on me? Nor in the cavern that
returns my echoing outcry?
Oh, no! Just to see him again, no matter
where-in little patches of sky
or in the seething vortex, beneath placid
moons or in a livid horror!
And, together with him, to be all
springtimes and all winters, entwined
in one anguished knot around his blood-stained
neck!
musical fabric and are not merely ornamental sound effects. The
title comes from the song "Hellhound on My Trail" by delta blues
guitarist Robert Johnson.
Jon Anderson
Canciònes de la noche
Chilean educator, cultural minister, diplomat, and poet, Gabriela
Mistral was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1945. Born in 1889, she began to write poetry as a
village schoolteacher after a passionate romance with a railway
employee who committed suicide. She played an important role in
the educational systems of Mexico and Chile, was active in
cultural committees of the League of Nations, and was Chilean
consul in Naples, Madrid, and Lisbon. She held honorary degrees
from the Universities of Florence and Guatemala, was an honorary
member of various cultural societies in Chile, the United States,
Spain, and Cuba, and taught Spanish literature in the United States
at Columbia University, Middlebury College, Vassar College, and
at the University of Puerto Rico. Mistral died in the United States
in 1957.
The love poems in memory of the dead, Sonetos de la muerte
(1914), made her known throughout Latin America, but her first
great collection of poems, Desolación, was not published until
1922. Other publications include Ternura, a volume of poetry
dominated by the theme of childhood, and Tala, a similarly themed
work, in 1938. The poems chosen for this set travel through the
night from three different perspectives: from mother, to lover, to
child.
Jon Anderson (b.1976) received his B.A. in Music from Luther
College and his M.M. in Composition from UNCG. He was
invited to attend the Music ’99 Composers Workshop at the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and won
first place for his trio, Cascade, in the Friends & Enemies of New
Music 2000 Competition in New York. He currently teaches
Theory and Ear Training at UNCG and is the Faculty Fellow for
the Grogan Music Learning Community.
1. Con Tal Que Duermas (from Tenura)
La rosa colorada
cogida ayer;
el fuego y la canela
que llaman clavel;
el pan horneado
de anís con miel,
y el pez de la redoma
que la hace arder:
todito tuyo
hijito de mujer,
con tal que quieras
dormirte de una vez.
La rosa, digo:
digo el clavel.
La fruta, digo,
y digo que la miel:
y el pez de luces
y más y más también,
¡con tal que duermas
hasta el amanacer!
2. Volverlo a Ver (from Desolación)
¿Y nunca, nunca más, ni en noches llenas
de temblor de astros, ni en las alboradas
vírgenes, ni en las tardes inmoladas?
¿Al margen de ningún sendero pálido,
que ciñe el campo, al margen de ninguna
fontana trémula, blanca de luna?
¿Bajo las trenzaduras de la selva,
donde llamándolo me ha anochecido,
ni en la gruta que vuelve mi alarido?
¡Oh, no! ¡Volverlo a ver, no importa
dónde,
en remansos de cielo o en vórtice hervidor,
bajo unas lunas plácidas o en un cárdeno
horror!
¡Y ser con él todas las primaveras
y los inviernos, en un angustiado
nudo, en torno a su cuello ensangrentado!
1. If You’ll Only Go to Sleep
The crimson rose
plucked yesterday,
the fire and cinnamon
of the carnation,
the bread I baked
with anise seed and honey,
and the goldfish
flaming in its bowl.
All these are yours,
baby born of woman,
if you'll only
go to sleep.
A rose, I say!
And a carnation!
Fruit, I say!
And honey!
And a sequined goldfish,
and still more I'll give you
if you'll only sleep
till morning.
2. To See Him Again
And shall it never be again, never?
Not on nights filled with trembling of stars,
or by the pure light of virginal dawns, or
on afternoons of immolation?
Never, at the edge of any pale pathway
that borders the field, or beside any
tremulous fountain white under the moon?
Never, beneath the entangled tresses of the
forest where, calling out to him, night
descended on me? Nor in the cavern that
returns my echoing outcry?
Oh, no! Just to see him again, no matter
where-in little patches of sky
or in the seething vortex, beneath placid
moons or in a livid horror!
And, together with him, to be all
springtimes and all winters, entwined
in one anguished knot around his blood-stained
neck!
