Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Wind Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform its first concert of the spring semester at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, in the Grand Ballroom of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus. Admission is free.
The concert serves as the final performance of a three-day winter performance and recruiting tour in the Houston area, according to Dr. Tamey Anglley, director of bands at SFA and director of the Wind Ensemble, which will spend Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 performing at Foster, Needville, Dayton, Crosby and The Woodlands high schools.
The first piece on the program, “Fanfare for Full Fathom Five” for brass and percussion by John Mackey, will be conducted by Associate Director of Bands Dr. Dan Haddad. Mackey’s program note states the piece takes its title from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” where Shakespeare’s text refers to a drowning during a storm and shipwreck in water about five fathoms (30 feet) deep. “‘Full fathom five’ is a nautical reference that indicates a placement under a depth of 30 feet of water but is used metaphorically to imply an impossible and unavoidable doom,” the composer writes.
The H. Robert Reynolds transcription of Prelude in E-flat minor, Op. 34, No. 14 by Dmitry Shostakovich will be conducted by Assistant Director of Bands Dr. Chris Kaatz. The Twenty-four Preludes for piano were composed in 1932-33, and the Prelude in E-flat minor was one in this set. About his transcription, Reynolds said: “While only 36 measures long, one senses a much more expansive and lengthy composition than its few short minutes reveal.”
SFA faculty members Jacob Walburn on trumpet and JD Salas on tuba will perform with the Wind Ensemble on the first movement from Concerto Doppio per Tromba, Tuba e Orchestra di Fiati by Italian composer Giancarlo Aquilanti. Written in 2017, the double concerto highlights the technical abilities for both soloists and also includes heavy jazz influences.
Another program piece will feature the Wind Ensemble percussion section on “Cabasa!” by University of North Texas percussion professor Mark Ford. The piece is written for five cabasas of different sizes and pitches.
Also on the program is Michael Gandolfi’s “Vientos y Tangos,” commissioned by The Frank L. Battisti 70th Birthday Commission Project and dedicated to Frank Battisti in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of concert wind literature. It was Battisti’s request that Gandolfi write a tango for wind ensemble inspired by the traditional sounds of the bandoneon, violin, piano and contrabass.
The Wind Ensemble will close the concert with Karl King’s “Circus Days March.” King published more than 300 works, 13 of which were considered “gallops,” or circus marches, intended to be played at blazing speeds. “It could be said that King did for the circus march what Sousa did for the patriotic march,” Anglley said.
For additional information, contact the School of Music at (936) 468-4602.