W s#:!$iff$s ii:i:;ii:i::i;:, Arizona State University SChOOI Of MUSiG AL SERIES PROGRAM Divertimento for Five Winds I. II. m. ry. Mel Powell Allegro cantabile Presto Largo Vivo Opus Number Zoo Luciana Berio b. t925 I. tr. trI. ry. Text by Rhoda l-evine Barn dance The fawn The grey mouse Tom cats **There will be a l}-minute intermission** Wind Set George Walker b. 1922 I u Quintet in E flat KV 452 I. Largo; Allegro moderato II. m. Larghetto Alegretto d<,1.************* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-179r EVENTS HOTLINE CALL 965-TUNE (95s-8863) Graduate Woodwind Quintet Recital Sunday, November 14, 1999 Mel Powell Divetimentofor Five Winds Mel Powell started his musical career at the age of 14 as a pianist in the Benny Goodman Band. He worked as a performer and arranger for both Benny Goodman and the Glenn Mller Band for a number of years, touring with the Glenn Miller Band as his military duty during World War II. He also played on a number of recordings with both bands. After the war was over, Powell developed muscular dystrophy and found that he could no longer tour with jazz bands. He then began studying composition at Yale University with Paul Hindemith. After receiving his degrees, he worked as a composer and teacher of composition at several universities. Many of Powell's compositions incorporate elements of the jaz music with which he first started his career. One of his stylistic traits was what he called a "pocket," a group of intervals upon which the entire piece might be based. In his Divertimentofor Five Winds, a second, foudh, and a minor third make up the "pocket" that is used throughout the piece. Luciauo Berio Opus Number Zoa BARN DANCE The fox took a chicken out on the floor. Poor silly chick didnt know the score. And as they whirled in their joyous dance, oh, she admired how the fox could prance. She never noticed when the light went out... She skipped to the beat with head held high, she bowed to the fox as he circled by. He winked at her with a high-dee-hoe And they then engaged in a doe-see-doe. She never noticed when the lights went out. He swung her to the left, he swung her to the right, he swung her around with all his might. The air grew heavy, the lights grew dir4 but she felt no fear as she smiled at him; He turned her again and she held him tight as she smiled and whirled in the fading light, She felt no fear, she knew no doubt, and she never noticed when the light went out. That's a[ folks. THE FAWN Listening to a cry of bombs, listening, to the scream of a distant field. Listening, this is what the fawn thought, standing by a stream: What msdness, what madness of men...to diminish the eorth, to blast all that is lively, lively proad and gentle. What can be the reason? Whot can be the reason? Whot can be the reason? The reasonT The fawn thought, listening to a cry of bombs, standing by a stream. What can be the reason? THE GREY MOUSE By herself, by hersel{ watching the parry, this small mouse upon a shelf Very old, very old, she felt no cheer at the dawn of the New Year, New Year, New Year Fri ends, friends, /riends, she said. Young fri ends, she said, Dqnce, dance, my young friends. Dance! But do beware, beware. I warn you, I warn you, I warn you. For I too hove danced and sung like you; I too have beenyoung, soyoung But alos, alas, wst wst Time came to join in the dancing, time cqme to join in the fun. Berio continued TOM CATS In the jungle of the city, two tom cats chanced to meet. Omar and Bartholomew, tip-toeing round their beat. Their chests swelled up with envy (oh and ema/ most intense) As each spotted his new rival beside a backyard fence. Bartholomew's great tail (a tail of wide renown) made Omar stare intensely - that tail he'd love to own. Bartholomew stared also; he envied what he saw. He yearned to own the whiskers that Omar proudly wore. A howl soon broke the silence of that mid-surrrmer night. Like David and Goliath, both cast aside all fright as cat met cat in battle, in battle, in battle. oh. It was a beastly fight. oh. Both limped home forlorn. All tails, all whisken gone. oh. George Walker Wind Setfor woodwind quintet George Walker began his musical career at the age of five with piano lessons. Thirteen years later, Walker graduated from Oberlin Collegg and continued his musical studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Eastman School of Music. Throughout his career, he has been an active pianist and composer, producing literature for pialo, voice, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and orchestra. In 1996, he was the first African-American composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize for his piece Lilacs for voice and orchestra. Walker wrote his first woodwind quintet, Wind Set, in March of 1999. This quintet features frequent meter changes and unique t€xtures. The listener may notice several rhythmic unison seotions. Other sections include one or two lytical dolce iines contrasting with a rhythmic, accented texture. W.A. Mozart Quintet in E Jlat, KV 452 for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon In a letter dated April 10, 1784, Mozart wrote to his father Leopold: "I have written two great concertos and then a quintet, which received entraordinary applause; I myself consider it the best I have written in my life till now." The New Grove Dictionary ofMusic and Musicians theorizes that the high degree of inventiveness in this work was due in part to Mozart's handling of the limitations of the wind instruments of the time. For example, as 1Sth Century woodwinds could not sustain or blend as easily as those of the 20th Century, the phrases in this work tend to be rather short by today's standards. The abbreviated phrases and the timbre changes rwrlting from the passing of lines from one instrument to the next generate a great deal of variety within the work.