|
|
 |
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
||||
| Home > Past Seasons > Summer 2008 | ||||
Celebrating AlaskaJune 14 & 15, 2008
|
 |
|
|
||
The Program: |
The Alaskan Symphony
- Wilson Sawyer
Pioneer Days Rag - Philip Munger Gordon's Last Ride - Philip Munger Tuba Concerto - Vaughan Williams |
|
|
|
||
Wilson Sawyer and The Alaskan Symphony |
 Born in
Traverse City, Michigan, Wilson Sawyer began
composing at the age of four and conducted his
own orchestra when he was 13. He studied music at
the University of Michigan where led the Michigan
Union Orchestra and had his own big band, the
Bill Sawyer Orchestra. After receiving
commissions from Detroit and Chicago, Sawyer
moved to New York City where he conducted the
American Broadcasting Company orchestra.
Sawyer composed his Symphony No. 1, “The Alaskan” in 1945. Sawyer had never visited Alaska and the reasons for his interest in the then-territory aren’t known but the then territory struck a chord in him. He previously composed a ballet titled “Aurora Borealis” and another named the “Alaskan Stampede,” the only time the word “stampede” has been used for a ballet. |
A standard
four-movement symphonic work similar in style to
Aaron Copland, Sawyer said he received thematic
inspirations from his study of the climate,
topography and history of the territory. The
third movement features lyrics from Robert
Service's "Spell of the Yukon." The
text recounts a gold rush miner who strikes it
rich, yet is drawn to return to the northland by
its rugged beauty and spirit of freedom.The final
movement contains extended passages of parallel
thirds in the strings and woodwinds which, on the
page, are reminiscent of the Northern Lights.
The Alaskan Symphony premiered in New
York in 1945 during which territorial Gov. Ernest
Gruening gave remarks.
In 1960, Sawyer's wife Maxine was diagnosed with spinal cancer and they moved upstate to Pawling, New York where he ran a laundromat to make ends meet. He continued to compose, writing at least two more symphonies and, playing off his name, an opera based on Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer." |
|
In the 1970s, New York Philharmonic violinist
Arthur Schuller stopped by Sawyer's
Laundromat to use the phone and recognized the
composer. Schuller encouraged him to return to
music. Sawyer led the Hudson Valley Philharmonic
in the Alaskan Symphony in 1975 even though he
had just suffered a stroke. Sawyer later gave the
score to Lt. Gov. Lowell Thomas Jr., who donated
it to the Alaska State Historical Museum.
At the insistence of his father, Gunther Schuller of the New England Conservatory of Music championed the work during the nation's bicentennial celebration. Gunther Schuller described the Alaskan Symphony as "a work of excellent craftsmanship, musical integrity and makes brilliant use of the orchestra," but as published parts were not available for the full symphony, it was never played. At the recommendation of the Schullers, Sawyer revised the Alaskan Symphony in 1977, correcting minor mistakes and revising the orchestration, but the revised work was never performed. Wilson Sawyer died two years later, on Christmas day, 1979. The Juneau's Symphony performance of The Alaska Symphony will be the first since 1975 and the first performance of it in Alaska. |
| Return to top |
|
|
Philip Munger |
|
Philip Munger (born
1946) attended Oberlin Conservatory and the
University of Washington, where he studied
musical composition. Throughout his 47 years of
composition, Munger has sought to use a variety
of techniques to communicate with audiences.
Philip Munger moved to Juneau from Seattle in early 1973, moving to Cordova that same spring. During his ten years living in Cordova and Whittier, Munger wrote very little music. But, in 1983, upon moving to the Mat-Su Valley, he began a series of almost 100 compositions. Many describe the wonders of Alaska. Others can be termed “protest” music, as the composer has addressed social, humanitarian, ecological and political issues, many not normally used as subject matter by “classically-oriented” composers. Since living in Alaska, Philip Munger worked several years as a fisher and mariner, and for almost thirteen years in the field of public safety. The composer has received several grants, commissions and awards. Most recently, he has been named to the Department of Veterans Affairs Bugler Hall of Fame, and this May, Munger was awarded a Rasmuson Foundation Fellowship, to help him in the coposition of six new works. In Juneau, since 2006, Philip Munger has collaborated twice with the Crosssound Festival’s concerts. The composer lectures on cultural history and teaches tuba at campuses of the University of Alaska Anchorage. Gordon's Last Ride"This work takes its title from Mike Dunham’s stirring article about finding Gordon's body, and getting him down that big hill in winter. Dunham’s article helps give Gordon Wright’s demise the Robert Service-esque edge Gordon would have loved, and perhaps does. Alaska is one of those places where ragtime music never died and never will. Gordon Wright was the music’s chief and enduring advocate here.The rag opens with a 36-bar extended introduction, followed by the theme I wrote for Wright years ago. The first strain of the trio combines the first two themes of Emil von Reznicek’s Dona Diana Overture – in the oboe theme and in the pizzicato upper strings. The second strain is about Gordon’s bumpy ride down the hill. The trio’s concluding strain is a final “goodbye” to the big guy." - Munger Pioneer Days Rag"I imagine an aging ragtime pianist at the keyboard in the Katalla Madness Saloon at the end of Katalla’s brief heyday. A storm has just washed away the port’s breakwater, and the town will soon fade away too. As he realizes this, a bittersweet tune about his often shattered dreams comes out." |
| Return to top |
|
|
Ralph Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concerto |
Ralph Vaughan
Williams was one of England's most important
composers. In his seventies at the end of World
War II, he was known as the "Grand Old
Man" of British music. Vaughan Williams
continued to compose up to his death at the age
of 85 in 1958. He wrote his tuba concerto at the
ripe age of 81, and it is a work filled with
humor and beauty and a great appreciation for the
technical possibilities of an under-used
instrument.
Vaughn Williams had a penchant for featuring instruments that are more typically cast in supporting roles. In fact, while he was writing a Harmonica Concerto for Larry Adler in 1951, he told Adler that if he didn't like the first version of the Harmonica Concerto, he would write a second, and then a third. But if Adler did not care for that one, Vaughan Williams warned, "Then I'll rescore the whole thing for bass tuba." Adler was happy with the first version, but Vaughan Williams comment may have spurred his own thoughts of a concerted work for the deepest voice of the orchestra. Tubas were introduced to the orchestra relatively late, around 1830. As late as 1954, repertoire for solo tuba was almost unheard of; a work for tuba solo and orchestra was even more unusual. This work, the first tuba concerto ever written, was premiered on June 13, 1954 in the Royal Festival Hall, with tubist Philip Catelinet and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. |
 |
