Summer Winds – June 8, 2022

Hello MSW Friends!

I will be sharing the music for our June 8 concert with section leaders on Sunday after we get back from Iowa. We are adding three pieces to our Iowa rep for our June concert. Remember that you’re responsible for printing your own parts this concert cycle.

Rehearsal starts well before our first downbeat on May 25. Yes, that means we have just two rehearsals this concert cycle. Please take a moment to listen to our repertoire and study your parts. 

Click to listen to the playlist on YouTube. 

Cyrus the Great, King
Listen
Quarter = 120
Dedicated to Karl King’s friend Cy Tremain, the manager of the Fort Dodge Military Band in 1901, this march earns its subtitle “Persian March” with its rhythms and tonality.

“Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission, Morricone
Listen
Quarter = 60
The soundtrack for the 1986 film The Mission was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score and won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. “Gabriel’s Oboe” has been performed by Yo-Yo Ma and oboists Holly Gornik, Brynjar Hoff, and I imagine most of our own oboe section.  

“Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story, Bernstein (arr. Murtha)
Listen
Quarter = 120
Gee, Officer Krupke
What are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke —
Krup you!

March of Tim(e), Boysen
Listen
Quarter = 120
Written for our very own Tim Mahr by Andrew Boysen, Jr:

Sometimes as a composer you receive the unexpected opportunity to write music that is intended to recognize and thank someone who is important in your life, and projects of this nature quickly become special and very personal. I received just such an opportunity when Steven Amundsen contacted me, asking if I might like to write a short work to honor Tim Mahr’s 25th year at St. Olaf and 20th year as music director of the Minnesota Symphonic Winds. It was simply an opportunity that I couldn’t refuse and I am thankful to have been included as part of this wonderful celebration. Read more

Mother of a Revolution!, Thomas
Listen
Quarter = 100
Mother of a Revolution! is a celebration of the bravery of all trans women and especially that of Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson, one of the instigators of the Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1969.

“Play!” from Symphony No. 1, New Orleans Symphony, Holmquist
Listen
Quarter = 166
“Play!” is the fourth movement of friend of MSW composer Carl Holmquist’s first symphony. The symphony is based on the city of New Orleans’ experience with Hurricane Katrina.

The Soaring Hawk, Mahr
Listen
Quarter = 72-144
The Soaring Hawk won the prestigious Ostwald Award in 1991. From Tim’s program notes:

The Soaring Hawk was inspired by meditating (with some degree of jealousy) upon the various experiences in the life of a hawk, a creature that is certainly a proud symbol of many things that are good in this world. A landscape is initially painted: the domain is surveyed by the hawk. Eventually, the hawk must fly, severing its physical bonds to the earth – what a joy to beat the wings and ride the wind! As the hawk soars overhead, the textures and rhythms of the earth below become its music. A sense of remorse is ever present, however, as the ancient memories of the earth below conflict with current visions of a land so totally affected by the presence of man. Gone are the abundant trees, tall grasses, clear waters, and pure air known by the hawk’s ancestors. And yet, there are exhilarating and optimistic feelings in being alive in today’s world, in spite of its many shortcomings. So much comes into its proper perspective when seen from above. Ah, that we all could soar above this earth!

Tico-Tico, de Arbreu (arr. Iwai)
Listen
Quarter = 120 (samba!)
Between Frederick Fennell’s outfit on the album cover and the beat, I dare you not to dance! Tico-Tico no fuba (“rufous-collared sparrow in the cornmeal”) is a Brailian choro song. It reached peak popularity in the 1940s, with popular recordings by Ethel Smith, Carmen Miranda, and the Andrews Sisters.

Vulnerable Joy, Blackshaw
Listen (start at 23:50)
Click here for program notes and other resources from Jodie.
Click here for Jodie’s recording of the chant. 

St. Olaf premiered this piece this spring! All about humpback whales by MSW friend and bass clarinet champion Jodie Blackshaw.