20/20 Goes to the Zoo

T. Clark Saunders, Acting Dean
David Westfall, Director, Instrumental Studies Division
Rita Porfiris, Chair, Performance 20/20 Chamber Music
Janet Arms and Emlyn Ngai, Associate Chairs
Ignacy Gaydamovich, graduate assistant
20/20 Goes to the Zoo
Sunday, May 3, 2015
2:00 pm
Animal Ditties VII for Brass Quintet & Narrator (1987)
I. Duck
I. The Praying Mantis
III. The Cow
IV. The Rhinoceros
V. The Camel
VI. The Octopus
VII. The Squab
VIII. The Firefly
IX. The Wasp
X. The Cukoo
Berkman Recital Hall
A. Plog
(b. 1947)
Grant Davis, Seth Bailey, trumpet; Laura Weiss, horn; Brian Johnston, trombone;
Kayla Davis, tuba
Scott Mendoker, coach
Combo Platter, for alto saxophone, violin & marimba (1983)
R. Aldridge
I. Oneness, allness, togetherness…hold the mayo
(b. 1954)
II. For me there’s no more love/For you there’s no more pumpkin pie
III. Wine, Women, and Geopolitical Realities
Elyse Vest, saxophone; Kevin Seto, violin; Jianpeng Feng, percussion
Ben Toth, coach
Opus Number Zoo (1951, r. 1970)
L. Berio
(1925-2003)
Shannon Vandzura, flute; Diego Vasquez, clarinet; Amy Mitchum, oboe; Emily
Crompton, horn; Kristen Powell, bassoon
Janet Arms, coach
Intermission
Duet for Two Cats
G. Rossini
(1792-1868)
Arr. Robert Lucas de Pearsall
Seth Bailey, trumpet; Brian Johnston, trombone; Cihan Yücel, piano
Kevin Cobb, coach
Carnival of the Animals (1886)
I. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion
II. Hens and Roosters
III. Wild Asses: Swift Animals
IV. Tortoises
V. The Elephant
VI. Kangaroos
VII. Aquarium
VIII. Personages with Long Ears
IX. The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods
X. Aviary
XI. Pianists
XII. Fossils
XIII. The Swan
XIV. Finale
Camille Saint-Saëns
(1835-1921)
Cihan Yücel, Liana Paniyeva, piano; Shannon Vandzura, flute; Diego Vasquez,
clarinet; Fernando Vizcayno, Kevin Seto, violin; Kaitlin Springer, viola; Ignacy
Gaydamovich, cello; Kevin Huhn, double bass; Keyla Mejia-Garcia, guitar;
Jianpeng Feng, percussion
Edward Cumming, coach
Program Notes
Animal Ditties VII by Anthony Plog is a piece that has had many different versions
published since its inception. Today's performance is arranged for brass quintet and
was originally written for the American Brass Quintet in New York City. Only four
voices of the quintet are performing at any one given time while the fifth member
narrates dialogue written specifically for the piece. Each movement represents a
different animal and the composer sought to write each movement in a style that
represents those animals.
- note by Grant Davis
Robert Aldridge’s Combo Platter was written in 1983 for the duo,
Marimolin. Violinist Sharan Leventhal and marimba player Nancy Zeltsman were
joined by saxophonist Albert Regni to perform and record the composition.
Marimolin premiered the piece in November of 1983 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The first movement begins with all instruments playing a fast, groovy
melody in unison. With a few exceptions, the marimba carries this groove
throughout the entire movement while the violin and the alto saxophone alternate
between playing lyrical melodic material and joining in on the groove with the
marimba. Aldridge frequently changes meter and uses accents to give the movement
forward momentum to the very end.
The second movement starts off eerily and ghost-like. The marimba and
violin start the movement very quietly, trading chromatic triplet figures. The
saxophone enters on a large glissando followed by a lush, lyrical melody that is
used throughout the entire movement. After this lyrical section, the marimba and
saxophone play figures in rhythmic unison that are reminiscent of the fast, 16th note
passages from the first movement. Then, unexpectedly, the trio enters a tango
together, using the same notes from the first melody introduced by the saxophone at
the beginning of the movement. This dance takes us to the end of the second
movement, but not before a reference is made to the first movement in the very last
measure.
The third movement is similar to the first, with constantly changing meters
and accents throughout to propel the music forward. This movement is the most
rhythmically complex of the three. The violin and saxophone are often in rhythmic
unison or are exactly a beat off from one another while the marimba keeps the
tempo going with near perpetual motion. Repetition is also used throughout the
movement accompanied with accents to create a groove similar to the first
movement. The tempo marking at the beginning indicates “playful and eccentric,”
which is an accurate depiction of the mood of the entire movement.
Movement titles were later added to the piece when the work was
performed at the Brevard Music Center in 2012 by violinist Jason Posnock,
marimba player Gwendolyn Burgett, and saxophonist Joseph Lulloff. The
movement titles are as follows:
I. oneness, allness, togetherness, hold the mayo
II. for me there's no more love, for you there's no more pumpkin pie
III. wind, women and geopolitical realities
-note by Elyse Vest
Opus Number Zoo was composed by Luciano Berio in 1951 for the
instrumentation of two clarinets, two horns and speaker. He later revised it in 1970
for wind quintet with text integrated into each part, to be premiered by the Dorian
Quintet. Unlike most of Berio's works which are highly atonal and serial, Opus
Number Zoo adapts a more neo-Classical approach. This piece shows a more light,
humored side of Berio in composition. The libretto narrated by the musicians
themselves, was written by Rhoda Levine. Levine was an American director and
choreographer, involving herself heavily in works of a political nature. Levine's
allusion to war is subtly disguised in the lightness of animal characters. Levine's
libretto in combination with Berio's ingenious instrumental writing, that so
accurately illustrates and supports the text, makes for a thought-provoking and
enjoyable performance.
Barn Dance
The fox took a chicken out on the floor.
Poor silly chick didn’t 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 doesee 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 dim
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 all 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 steam.
What madness, what madness of men
To diminish the earth,
To blast all that is lively,
Lively proud and gentle.
What can be the reason?
The fawn thought,
Listening to a cry of bombs,
Standing by a stream.
What can be the reason?
The Grey Mouse
By herself, by herself,
Watching the party,
This small mouse upon a shelf.
Very old, very old,
She felt no cheer at the dawn of the New Year.
Friends, she said, young friends, she said,
Dance, my young friends, dance, but do beware,
I warn you!
For I too have dance and sung like you
I too have been young so young but alas
Time came to join in the dancing,
Came to join in the fun.
Tom Cats
In the jungle of the city
Two tom-cats chanced to meet.
Omar and Bartholomew,
Tip-toeing round their beat.
Their chest swelled up with envy
(oh, an envy most intense)
As each spotted his new rival,
Beside a back-yard fence.
Bartholomew’s great tail
(a tail of wide renown)
Made Omar stare insanely,
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-summer night.
Like David and Goliath,
Both cast aside all fright
As cat met cat in battle.
It was a beastly fight.
Both limped home forlorn.
All tail all whiskers gone.
-note by Shannon Vandzura
Carnival of the Animals is Saint-Saëns’ best-known work. He told his publisher
that it is so much fun to write it that he has to postpone his work on his third
symphony. The piece became very popular among his friends and was not publicly
performed until after his death, in 1922. The only part that he allowed to be
published during his lifetime was the famous Swan movement, which he arranged
for one piano and cello. The piece is often performed with a narrator reading witty
poems written by Ogden Nash in 1949.
-note by Ignacy Gaydamovich