NEC Wind Ensemble Graduate Student Conductors

Malcom Arnold | from Symphony for Brass (1978)

III. Andante con moto
IV. Allegro con brio
                                               
Rachel Brake ’24 MM
Weizhe Bai ’24 MM,  conductors

Program note & personnel

Originally composed for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, Malcolm Arnold’s Symphony forBrass highlights the brass instruments’ ability to play brilliant, brash, and wistful moods. This four-movement work expands the volume and pitch ranges of players beyond the quintet medium by enlarging its forces and increasing the technical demands.
      The third movement divides the large ensemble into three smaller brass choirs. The first is one tenor trombone, bass trombone, and tuba. Second is the horn, and two tenor trombones, and the third choir is the trumpets. This movement follows ABA form and begins with each choir entering at separate times to create a polychordal opening statement of the A theme. This feeling of harmonic instability continues beneath the horn and trumpet soloists who carry the B theme until the closing of the movement when the A is restated.
       The work culminates in a vigorous double fugue, both fearsomely difficult to play and exciting to listen to.                                        
­– Rachel Brake and Weizhe Bai

French horn
Logan Fischer

Trumpet

Ludwig van Beethoven (arr. Bernard Crusell) | from Septet in E-flat Major, op. 20

I. Adagio – Allegro con brio
VI. Andante con moto alla marcia – Presto
               
Iverson Eliopoulos ’23 MM, conductor

Program note & personnel

Septet in E-flat Major, op. 20 was composed by Beethoven at the age of 29 and first performed in 1800 alongside the premiere of his Symphony No. 1. Despite Beethoven’s lack of enthusiasm about the piece (he once remarked that he wished it could be destroyed), the Septet was one of his most popular works during his lifetime. Countless different arrangements were made for various ensembles, allowing the piece to be performed and enjoyed in chamber settings for over 200 years. Tonight’s arrangement for eleven players was made by Bernard Henrik Crusell. The first movement is in sonata form, beginning with a slow introduction followed by singing themes that are passed around the ensemble. The sixth movement also begins with a slow introduction; a funeral-esque march. It then takes up a lively dance that churns its way through several keys. There is a brief cadenza for E-flat clarinet, which eventually returns to the jaunty dance in a wild rush to the end.                                                                                                                – Iverson Eliopoulos

Flute
Chia-Fen Chang

E-flat Clarinet
Hyeokwoo Kweon

Clarinet
Chenrui Lin
Kyu Yeon Choe

Bassoon
Adam Chen
Jialu Wang

Serpent
Jacob Earnhart

French horn
Yeonjo Oh
Tess Reagan

Bass Trombone
Roger Dahlin

Lyn Murray | from Ronald Searle Suite

I. Overture
II. Man
III. Fish
IV. Soil
V. Sun
VI. Fire
VII. Watt
VIII. The Age of Steam
IX. Whale
XI. Miracles and Finale
                               
Michael Lewis ’23 MM, conductor

Program note & personnel

Ronald Searle Suite was originally scored by Lyn Murray for a cartoon documentary animated by British artist Ronald Searle.  The documentary, entitled Energetically Yours, accounts the development and evolution of energy sources in the aftermath of the industrial revolution, and satirically chronicles the history of mankind and its use of energy.  Energetically Yours was produced by Transfilm, and Ronald SearleSuite was commissioned by Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1957 to accompany the short. The work was orchestrated by Murray's friend and colleague, Frederick Steiner. 
– Michael Lewis

Flute
Amelia Libby
Honor Hickman

Oboe
Kelley Osterberg

Clarinet
Soyeon Park
Tristen Broadfoot

Bass Clarinet
Andrew Saleru

Bassoon
Seth Goldman

French horn
Samuel Hay
Huimin Mandy Liu

Bass
Brian Choy

Piano
Hang Zhong

Percussion
Eli Geruschat

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | from Serenade No. 11 in E-flat Major, K. 375

I. Allegro maestoso
III. Adagio              
                               
Weizhe Bai ’24 MM, conductor

Program note & personnel

The Serenade No. 11 for Winds in E-flat Major, K. 375 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 15 October 1781 for St Theresa's day.
                During 1782–84, Mozart wrote at least three major serenades for harmoniemusik, which suggests there was both demand for and availability of accomplished musicians. After the emperor formed an octet of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns as his harmoniemusik, this instrumentation became the most common in Vienna.  In the first movement, light rhythm, solemn and naughty coexist in the melody, in Mozart's consistent style. Third movement is full of long lyric lines, while showing the characteristics of instruments and building a longitudinal poem.
– Weizhe Bai

Oboe
Gwen Goble
Donovan Bown

Clarinet
Tyler Bourque
Thomas Acey

Bassoon
Garrett Comrie
Evan Judson

French horn
Willow Otten
Jenna Stokes

Ludwig van Beethoven | from Octet in E-flat Major, op. 103

I. Allegro
II. Andante

Rachel Brake ’24 MM, conductor

Program note & personnel

Harmoniemusik is a German term referring to the 18th century wind ensemble made up of pairs of instruments, such as two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns. While in Bonn studying with Joseph Haydn, Beethoven composed various chamber works including his Octet, Rondino (which was originally intended as the finale of the Octet), Sextet, and piano trios. The first movement of the Octet is in sonata-allegro form which consists of three sections: the exposition where two themes are stated, the development and variation of these themes, and the recapitulation that restates the main themes. The second movement is in ternary, or ABA form, where similarly, two main themes are used but only the first returns at the movement’s conclusion.                                                                                              
– Rachel Brake

Oboe
Gwen Goble
Donovan Bown

Clarinet
Tyler Bourque
Thomas Acey

Bassoon
Garrett Comrie
Evan Judson

French horn
Willow Otten
Jenna Stokes

John Harbison | Music for 18 Winds

Minchao Cai ’23 MM, conductor

Program note & personnel

John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in New Jersey. A contemporary American composer whose operas and choral works are of some importance in the contemporary music world, Harbison has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, and Duke University, among others since 1984. An accomplished composer, Harbison's musical output is rich, with a clear and logical style, and he is also a poet, with many of the classic lines in the opera The Great Gatsby coming from his hand. Many of Harbison's works have received high acclaim. In addition, as a conductor Harbison has led many symphony and chamber orchestras.
        Here are the program notes written by Harbison himself:

"Music for Eighteen Winds is the result of the MIT Arts council’s generous invitation to compose something for any MIT performance organization, of any length, of any intent. Commissions seldom grant this kind of freedom, and I wrote a piece I had been contemplating for some time – for winds, concise (about eleven minutes), and abstract (without extra musical associations).

I wrote a piece that can be played by an orchestral wind section, a scaled-down band, or a scaled-up chamber music group, hoping that all three such ensembles might eventually perform it either here or elsewhere. The piece is challenging to play, but not impossible for college and music school students.

Most precious about the situation was the chance to frame the piece’s first program, work with MIT students, colleagues, and friends from the Boston free-lance community in its presentation, and play it for an audience in my own community. This influenced the shape of the piece, which trusts both players and audience to meet it halfway.

The title is a simple reification. I looked for a more colorful one, but the piece resisted. There are two large sections, both based on the same musical materials:
I. Very fast, full ensemble, answers, urban, concrete.
II. Not as fast, solos, questions, rural, metaphysical.

Toward the end of the piece, as the music becomes more and more cursive and self contained, it also become warmer and more optimistic, a paradox which is close to this composers heart.”                                                        
– John Harbison

Flute
Elizabeth McCormack
Jay Kim

Oboe
Kian Hirayama
Dane Bennett

Clarinet
Soyeon Park
Hyunwoo Chun

Saxophone
Vladyslav Dovhan

Bassoon
Matthew Heldt
Andrew Brooks

French horn
Samuel Hay
Yeonjo Oh
Logan Fischer
Jenna Stokes

Trumpet
Daniel Barak
Reynolds Martin

Trombone
Alex Knutrud
Elias Canales

Tuba
Jimmy Curto

The conductors of this program would like to thank the musicians for their time and dedication in putting this program together.