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SHEPHERD SCHOOL ORCHESTRA PREMIERES NEW WORKS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2004
Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra
Larry Rachleff, conductor
Program: Erin Watson - A Kind of Stillness Glows (Premiere)(Paul Kim,
conductor); Pierre Jalbert - Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (2004; Premiere)(William Ver Meulen, soloist); and Brahms - Symphony No. 2 in D
Major, Op. 73.
8:00 p.m., Stude Concert Hall
On a weekend of two premieres by the Shepherd School Orchestra, the Horn Concerto was written for William VerMeulen and Larry Rachleff, who premiere the work in Stude Concert Hall on Saturday, November 6, 2004.
"The piece is a true collaboration in that Bill and I got together many times to read through and try out the piece. He made many suggestions, and I made many revisions along the way. For me, this is the best situation for a composer; to have close access to the performer and really collaborate on a piece." said Pierre Jalbert, Associate Professor of Composition at the Shepherd School of Music.
The work uses a traditional three-part structure. The first movement begins with a slow introduction, and the horn enters immediately with what will become the characteristic motivic cell of the movement, a falling and rising major seventh. The main body of this movement features double tonguing in the horn with a rhythm (two 16ths followed by an 8th) that recurs throughout the movement.
The cadenza brings back the opening
material, now with the percussion section performing a rhythmic ostinato in
the background. The second movement features antiphonal chimes (echoing
each other from each side of the stage). Quasi-quotations from Gregorian
chant also appear, especially in the horn part. The third movement features
more angular gestures, syncopated rhythms, difficult wide leaps in the horn
part, and the percussion, now playing various sized drums, set in
opposition to the rest of the orchestra.
In addition to the Jalbert premiere, the concert features a new work by composer Erin Waston, who earned a Master of Music in Composition from the Shepherd School at Rice University.
Her primary teachers have included Joan Tower, Pierre Jalbert, Karim Al-Zand, and Kurt Stallmann. Her music has included performances by the Da Capo Chamber Players and the American Symphony Orchestra. She was a composer in residence at the 2004 Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City, Utah, a guest composer at the 2004 Imagine Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended the 2003 Bowdoin Summer Music Festival.
Erin is currently living in San Diego, and is working on a 4-handed prepared piano piece for recent Shepherd School graduates Kimi Kiwashima and Jason Hardink, to be premiered in January as part of the NOVUS Chamber series in Salt Lake City. |
