REPERTOIRE SESSIONS

Session 1: Monday, July 13

James Logan High School

Adam Wilke, Director

Union City, California

D’un Matin de Printemps - Lili Boulanger /

arr. Francois Branciard

Impressionist Prints - Aldo Forte (Mvts. 4, 5, 6)

Roma - Valerie Coleman

Letter from Sado - Jodie Blackshaw

Witches’ Caudron - Alexander Comitas

D’un Matin de Printemps (1918/2008)

12’ Grade 4 Editions Robert Martin, France

It was in her final winter days, in 1917-1918, that Lili Boulanger imagined a piece, brimming with life, for

violin, cello and piano. This bouncy morning reminder, contemplating soft spring sunshine, was performed

for the first time in February 1919 a the Societe Nationale de Musique. This posthumous act was Nadias’s

initiative (1887-1979) who herself played the piano part. The little sister of the “Boulangerie” would live

decades perpetuating her sister’s memory via the transmission of legacies of this older sibling who died

much too soon, and worked throughout her lifetime scrupulously on the publication of different versions of

Un Matin de Printemps. The piece presents a traditional A-B-A format with an obstinate rhythm, using an

energetic theme notes as gay and light, followed by a mysterious episode in which we see the sun piercing

through, blazing and happy, the concluding with a triumphal return of the first episode. Looking with a close

eye shows a great deal of sudtleties and rich harmonies in this miniature, astounding for the work of a young

24 year old woman. Her older sister Nadia championed this work and eventually worked an orchestrations

for symphonic orchestra in the final days of Lili’s short life. However, this orchestral version was never pub-

lished until 1993.

Lili Boulanger (1893-1913)

Francois Brancard (b. 1979)

Lili Boulanger was born into a family of musicians and showed her

gifts at the age of two. It was the same year that she contracted

pneumonia which permanently weakened her immune system, an

event that would condition the rest of her life during which she

contracted numerous infections until tuberculosis caused her prem-

ature death at 24. Nevertheless she remained musically studious

and active throughout her life, becoming the first woman to win

the Prix de Rome in 1913. Her first stay in Rome was interrupted

by the First World War and she returned home to Paris to found the

Franco-American Committee at the Paris Conservatory to help mu-

sicians who had been sent off to Rome. She continued to compose

until her untimely early death.

In 2008 Branciard Francois, while studying with Denis Cohen at the Paris conservatory, took up an pro-

posal directed at Denis’ students to write orchestrations for French piano and chamber music. Branciard

imagined a brilliant and luminous version of Lili’s work. It was a work perfectly in line with the great

transcriptions of the French school. His orchestration is tailored with great finesse and draws inspiration

from the sparkling colors of the Fetes or de la Mer from Claude Debussy, showcasing the woodwind and

saxophone parts in this whirling sound of the reveille.

Impressionist Prints (2008)

20’ (6 mvts) Grade 6 TRN Publications, Texas, United States

Impressionist Prints is a major work for band inspired by six Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.

The work consists of six contrasting sections depicting the work of the six painters followed by an epilogue.

These sections can be played with virtually no break. Furthermore, the work is cast into two so-called

galleries. Each gallery can stand on its own, and the work can be played with a pause between the two galler-

ies. The movements are titled

1. Monet - “Impression, Sunrise”/”The House of Parliament”

2. Degas - “The Star”

3. Van Gogh’s Storms - “Wheatfield with Crows”

4. Renoir’s Elegence and Beauty - “La Parisienne”

5. Seurat’s Pointilism - “The Side Show”

6. Toulouse-Lautrec at the Moulin Roughe - “La Goulue”/”Jane Avril”; Dansant - “Valentin-le Desosse”

Epilogue - The Impressionists

Aldo Forte (1953)

Aldo Rafael Forte is an internationally renowned composer

with many published and recorded works to his credit. Forte is

presently Composer/Arranger with the United States Air Force

Heritage of America Band at Langley AFB, VA. and Adjunct

Professor of Composition at Christopher Newport University in

Newport News, Virginia. Born in Havana, Cuba, Forte came to

the United States at the age of nine and is now a citizen of the

U.S.A. He spent his formative years in Huntsville, Alabama

and was introduced to music at an early age by his father, a pro-

fessor of mathematics and amateur classical guitarist and guitar

maker. Forte credits the encouragement of both of his parents,

Dr. Aldo Forte and Maria Forte, with his active pursuit of com-

position. Forte has studied composition with Ross Lee Finney,

William Presser, and Robert Jager. He holds music degrees

from Tennessee Technological University and the University of

Southern Mississippi. Forte composes on commission and is

active as a clinician and conductor of his music.

Roma (2011)

7’ Grade 4.5 Carl Fischer/Theodore Presser, United States

A nation without a country is the best way to describe the nomadic tribes of the Romani. Their

traditions, their language (Roma), legends, and music stretch all over the globe, from the Mid-

dle East, the Mediterranean region, and the Iberian peninsula, across the ocean to the Ameri-

cas. Roma is a tribute to that culture, in five descriptive themes, as told through the eyes and

hearts of Romani women everywhere: "Romani Woman," "Mystic," "Youth," "Trickster," and

"History." The melodies and rhythms are a fusion of styles and cultures: Malagueña of Spain,

Argentine Tango, Arabic music, Turkish folk songs, 3/2 Latin claves, and Jazz.

Valerie Coleman

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Valerie Coleman began

her music studies at the age of eleven and by the age of

fourteen, had written three symphonies and won several

local and state competitions. Valerie is not only the found-

er of Imani Winds, but is a resident composer of the en-

semble, giving Imani Winds their signature piece Umoja

(which is listed as one of the "Top 101 Great American

Works" by Chamber Music America). In addition to her

significant contributions to wind quintet literature, Valerie

has a works list for various winds, brass, strings and full

orchestra.

Valerie has a Double Bachelor's degree in Theory/

Composition and Flute Performance from Boston Univer-

sity and a Master's degree in Flute Performance from the

Mannes College of Music. She studied flute with Julius

Baker, Alan Weiss, and Mark Sparks; composition with

Martin Amlin and Randall Woolf; and has served on the

faculty of The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Pro-

gram and Interschool Orchestras of New York. Currently,

she is on the advisory panel of the National Flute Associa-

tion.

Letter from Sado (2014)

6’ Grade 3 American Composers Forum, United States

Letter from Sado is based on a Japanese haiku of the same name. Sado refers to Sado Island in

Japan in which various artists, religious and military leaders were sent in exile many years

ago. The island has historically had a strong community of taiko drummers and as such, the

piece incorporates optional homemade taiko drums. In this work, the students are invited to

become decision makers during aleatoric sections at the beginning and ending of the piece.

For example, the opening and closing sections of the piece use the same material, which is a

selection of repeated melodic figures. The students themselves decide how to play these fig-

ures as individuals, in small teams and then as a whole band, based partly upon the haiku that

this work is inspired from.

In-between the aleatoric sections, there is an elaborate, heavily textured section that becomes

increasingly powerful. The music doesn't rest harmonically until the whole band plays in

unison. These multiple layers of sound represent the many thoughts and ideas that would have

surrounded those individuals sent to Sado Island in exile, and the final unison is representative

of their own breakthrough experience sending them on a pathway to inner peace and ac-

ceptance.

Jodie Blackshaw

Jodie Blackshaw grew up in the Riverina, Australia, and after com-

pleting high school, studied a Bachelor of Music in Composition with

Professor Larry Sitsky at the Australian National University, School

of Music. Since then, she has worked teaching music to students of all

ages and conducting a variety of ensembles in several different set-

tings, from remote country centers to the inner city. The influence of

Orff-Schulwerk methodology is a significant influence of Jodie's

teaching practice and composition. Jodie resides in the Blue Moun-

tains, New South Wales, Australia with her husband David and

daughter Matilda and works full-time as a composer and appears as a

guest clinician and adjudicator for band festivals throughout Austral-

ia. Jodie is fanatical about producing quality, meaningful works for

band. She desires that her music not just be "another piece, but an ed-

ucational and spiritual journey for both the players and the director".

Witches’ Cauldron (2003)

11’ Grade 6 Opus 33 Music, The Netherlands

This work is inspired by the three witches that appear in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In the fourth

act of Scene I, the witches are busying themselves brewing a magic potion in a cauldron.

While doing so, they sing the famous song who’s repeating refrain is “Double, double, toil and

trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble”. Each witch has a verse preceding that refrain, and

this song determines the structure of the whole composition. After an introduction that serves

to evoke the atmosphere of eeriness and portray the evil and violent characters of the three

witches, the actual brewing of the potion begins. From thereon the music follows the structure

of the song, with its alternation of stanzas and refrains. The last and lengthiest stanza has been

transformed into music with a development character. The piece gets wilder and wilder as the

liquid in the cauldron starts to bubble and steam ever more. It ends with a somber climax as

the horrific potion is at last ready.

Alexander Comitas (b. 1957)

Alexander Comitas studied piano with Thom Bollen and com-

position with Hans Kox at the Utrecht Conservatory, and or-

chestral conducting with Anton Kersjes at the Maastricht Con-

servatory. From 1981 to 1990 he worked as a freelance pianist

for the orchestras and the choir of the Dutch radio. Then he

decided to dedicate himself entirely to composing. Since

1981 Comitas has been writing his music almost exclusively

in commission. Comitas has written several compositions for

wind orchestra, including two Armenian Rhapsodies and,

commissioned by the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands

Navy, “A Night on Culbin Sands”. Armenian Rhapsody Nr. I

served as a compulsory piece during the First Open Dutch

Championship for concert level wind orchestras, in Kerkrade

in 1995. “A Night on Culbin Sands” was selected to serve as a

compulsory piece for concert level wind orchestras, during the

2001 World Music Contest in Kerkrade. In 2007, he received

a commission to write an opera with wind orchestra, for the

2009 World Music Contest.

All works on today’s reading

session are available for sale from:

Midwest Sheet Music

2616 Metro Blvd

Maryland Heights, MO 63043

Ph. 314-942-1522

Instrumental@MidwestSheetMusic.com