Youngstown
State University
Percussion
Ensemble
Dr.
Glenn Schaft - Director
Tetsuya
Takeno - Assistant Director
24 March 2010
Butler
North
8:00PM
Ionisation (1931) Edgard
Varese (1883-1965)
Ionization was completed in Paris in 1931 and was one of the first
pieces ever written, in Western culture, primarily for percussion instruments. Varase
described music as "organized sound" and he perceived musical
organization (form) as the "result of a process" similar to the
formation of crystals in science. He viewed rhythm as "the generator of
form, or as "a succession of alternate and opposite or correlative
states." Ionization requires
thirteen percussionists who play forty instruments that are grouped to create
different musical structures, each with a recognizable texture.
Sidney Finkelstein
wrote about the work: Ionisation "is built on a most sensitive
handling and contrast of different kinds of percussive sounds. There are those
indefinite in pitch, like the bass drum, snare drum, wood blocks, and cymbals;
those of relatively definite musical pitch, such as the piano and chimes; those
of continually moving pitch, like the sirens and 'lion's roar.' It is an
example of 'spatial construction,' building up to a great complexity of
interlocking 'planes' of rhythm and timbre, and then relaxing the tension with
the slowing of rhythm, the entrance of the chimes, and the enlargement of the
'silences' between sounds. There are suggestions of the characteristic sounds
of modern city life."
Implosion (1982) Mantle
Hood (1918-2005)
The
basic principles of composition are derived from practices in the island of
Bali, Indonesia. The vibraphone plays the principal melody, which is
continually elaborated by the interlocking parts of the marimba and two
xylophones.
First Construction (in metal) (1939) John
Cage (1912-1992)
First Construction is part of a profound
body of percussion chamber works that Cage created from 1939-1943. Interestingly,
Cage was profoundly influenced by Varese's Ionization,
which he heard in 1933 in Los Angeles, and thereafter occupied himself with
developing the single common denominator existing between the components of
music, sound and silence, in other words: duration. In 1939, Cage developed a
method for organizing duration whereby both the macro and micro structural
levels of the piece are related to his "square-root theory," in which
components of various relationships within a piece reflect the numeric proportions
of the square root. Cage extends this elaborate proportionate writing by his
use of polyrhythmic relationships among the individual parts. In First Construction, the rhythmic structure
is 4-3-2-3-4- (16x16) with a 9-measure coda (2-3-4), an exposition, (1-1-1-1)
followed by development (3-2-3-4) and extension (2-3-4).
Marimba Spiritual
(1983-84) Minoru
Miki (b. 1930)
Tetsuya Takeno - soloist
Marimba Spritual was composed from 1983
to the beginning of 1984, keeping in mind the acute period of starvation and
famine in Africa, which was occurring at that time. The piece is composed in an
organic fashion, with the first half serving as a static requiem and the second
part a lively resurrection, while the title is an expression of the total
process. The rhythm patterns for the second part are taken from the festival
drumming of the Chichibu area northwest of Tokyo. Marimba Spiritual was premiered by Keiko Abe (soloist) and the
Nieuwe Slagwek Groep Amsterdam, in 1984, in Amsterdam.
Normandy Beach – 1944 (1994) David
Gillingham (b. 1947)
On June 6, 1944, at dawn, British and American forces
landed on the beaches of Normandy in an elaborate amphibious operation. A total
of 425,000 American, British, and German men lost their lives in the ensuing
conflict. Normandy Beach - 1944 was
composed in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of this important, yet tragic
day that changed the course of World War II. The work is cast in three
sections. The first is dark and mysterious characterizing the preparation and
eve of D-Day. The bowed marimbas allude to distant bugle calls. Gathering
momentum, the second section depicts the tragic conflict on D-Day including
references to the "Star Spangled Banner" and "America, the
Beautiful". All motion ceases and the final section or epilogue suggests
the aftermath of this tragic day.
Normandy
Beach was commissioned by James Coviak and the North Farmington Hills High
School Percussion Ensemble and was premiered at the 1994 Midwest International
Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, 1994. Notes by David Gillingham
Omphallo Centric Lecture (1985) Nigel
Westlake (b. 1958)
This marimba
quartet was composed in 1985 for the Synergy percussion group of Australia. It makes
extensive use of polymeter - that is, several rhythmic time structures occurring
simultaneously. That device, coupled with complex but accessible melodic
activity and strong rhythmic “grooves”, propel the piece.
Personnel:
Graduate:
Tetsuya Takeno, Kanagawa-Ken,
Japan
David Blon, North
Huntington, PA
Senior:
Kevin
Rabold, Pittsburgh, PA
Junior:
Joshua
Colson, Transfer, PA
Dan Danch, New Wilmington, PA
Matthew
Hayes, Coshocton, OH
Robert Young, Austintown, OH
Eric Zalenski, Bloomingdale, OH
Sophomore:
Dustin
May, Westerville, OH
Gary
White, Warren, OH
Freshmen:
Keith Born, Bethel Park, PA
Dylan Kollat, North
Jackson, OH
Kelvin Newell - Warren, OH
Moriah Placer, Warren,
OH
Special thanks to Avedis Zildijian, Remo, ProMark. Dynasty, and Black Swamp
Percussion for their product and
artist support.