ruwffi ffi Arizona State University w 'iilwr*n :,::;'l;1,,1;1 ;;i1, School of Music FACULTY ARTIST RECITAL SERIES MARTII{ SCHURING OBOE AND ENGLISH HORN ECKART SELLHtrIM PIANO ASSISTED BY CeRoI- RODLAND, VIOLA KATZIN CONCERT HALL Sunday, September 30,2001 7:30 p.m. . I PROGRAM Memo 8 for Solo Oboe (2000) Bernard Rands (b. 1934) Two Rhapsodies for oboe, viola, and piano (1905) I. II. Charles Martin Loeffler (1 861-1e3s) L'Etang La Comemuse **There will be a I}-minute intermission** Suite from an Imaginary Opera I. II. III. IV. V. (2001) John Steinmetz (b. les1) Aria Dance Recitative Aria Apotheosis Lessons of the Sky (1983) Rodney Rogers (b. 1es3) *************** ln respect for the performers and those audience members around you, please turn all beepers, cell phones, watches to their silent mode. Thank you. Performance Events Staff Manager Paul W. Estes Performance Events Staff Andrey Astaiza, Rebecca Bell William Cushing, Erin Dow Stephanie Henschel, Marko Kutlesic Jihyun Lee, Elizabeth Maben Katie Ann McCarty, Kelli McConnehey James Parkinson, Greg Striemer Jessica Wood ATzoNnS TEUNIVERsITY Collecr oF FrNE ARTS School of Music Main ('ampus, llO. lJox 870405,Tcmpc, A/ 85287 0405 480-955' 337 1' n'ww. asu. edu,/cfblmusic PnocRau Norps MlnrrN ScnunrNc Bernard Rands (b. 1934) Memo 8 (2000) Pulitzer Prize winner Bernard Rands teaches at Harvard University. Memo 8 was commissioned by a remarkable consortium: 93 of Richard Killmer's current and former students at the Eastman School of Music contributed to the commission in Mr. Killmer's honor. The project was organized by New York oboist Jacqueline Leclair who also gave the premiere. Memo 8 shares material with the earlier Concertino for oboe and chamber ensemble, which was performed at ASU last year during the composer's visit here. Two Rhapsodies (1901) Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) Charles Martin Loeffler was born near Berlin, and traveled widely in his youth. He studied violin with Joseph Joachim, and eventually moved to the United States, taking the post of second concertmaster with the newly formed Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1882. He remained a member of the orchestrafor 21 years, retiring after the 1903-04 season to devote his attention to composition. He was equally popular as a composer and violinist and, although he was severely self-critical of his compositions, they were frequently performed. The Two Rhapsodies are based on these lurid poems by Maurice Rollinat. The Pool Full of old fish, blind-stricken long ago, the pool, under a near sky rumbling dull thunder, bares between centuries-old rushes the splashing horror of its gloom. Over yonder, goblins light up more than one marsh that is black, sinister, unbearable; but the pool is revealed in this lonely place only by the croakings of consumptive frogs. Now the moon, piercing at this very moment, seems to look here at herself fantastically; as though, one might say, to see her spectral face, her flat nose, the strange vacuity of teeth - a death's-head lighted from within, about to peer into a dull mirror. The Bagpipe His bagpipe groaned in the woods as the wind that belleth; and never has stag albay, nor willow, nor oar, wept as that voice wept. Those sounds of flute and hautboy seemed like the death-rattle of a woman. Oh! his bagpipe, near the cross-roads ofthe crucifix! He is dead. But under cold skies, as soon as night weaves her mesh, down deep in my soul, there in the nook ofold fears, I always hear his bagpipe groaning as ofyore. trans. Philip Hale Suite from an Imaginary Opera (2001) John Steinmetz (b. 1951) The composer writes about Suite from an Imaginary Opera: Many operas begin optimistically and end in tragedy, but this piece imagines the opposite trajectory, beginning in pessimism or depression and working toward a happy ending. The turning point comes during the middle movement, a Recitative (speech-like section) when something more hopeful enters into the music. I'm not sure whether the final Apotheosis (entry into heaven) is real, hoped-for, or imagined. The five movements of the Suite might be scenes or musical numbers drawn from a longer opera. The musical impulses are operatic, emphasizing lyricism and unabashed emotional expression, although a furious Dance gives the instruments a chance to behave like instruments. What the story is, and whether it's a drama between people or a struggle within a single person, are questions for the audience's imagination. Adding an English horn piece to the opera-inspired oboe repertoire was the brainchild of Manin Schuring, who commissioned Suite from an Imaginary Opera with funds from the 1998 conference of the International Double Reed Society. Finished in January, 2001, the music celebrates the English horn's multiple personalities, including its flashiness as well as its famous melancholy. The piano, despite its reputation for impersonating orchestras, plays itself. I hope you'll feel the music reaching toward something real even if the opera is imaginary. Lessons of the Sky (1983) Rodney Rogers (b. 1953) in 1983 for oboist Howard Niblock, professor of oboe at Lawrence University. Rodney Rogers is Professor of Music at Arizona State University. Lessons of the Sky was written