On Sunday, March 18, the Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble will take its audience on a whirlwind musical tour of Europe during the third free concert of the band’s 2011-2012 season. It will begin at 4 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Cross and
Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble in rehearsal for concert
High Streets, Chestertown. Directed by Keith Wharton since its founding in 2001, the ensemble is the community concert band based in Chestertown.
Although Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, his fiery and energetic “Capriccio Espagnol” (1887), based on Spanish dance and folk tunes, captures the flavors and rhythms of Spain. American composer Robert Sheldon also drew on Spanish themes for his 2009 three-part musical collage “Iberian Escapades”: El Mirasol, El Solano, and La Guerida.
John Higgins’ 1997 “Celtic Ritual” captures the immediately recognizable nature of Celtic music. The piece was inspired by the dark beauty of Celtic mythology, which at its core concerns a legendary race of superhuman warriors who were also gifted in music, dance, and poetry. Although Celtic tribes once controlled most of western and central Europe, and some of eastern Europe, the six areas still considered Celtic nations are Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Brittany in France, and Cornwall in England. Each has a Celtic language that is either still spoken or was spoken into modern times.
Robert W. Smith’s “By Loch and Mountain” (1997) features a silvery trombone solo based on “I Know Where I’m Going,” a traditional Scottish or Irish ballad about a woman pining for her “bonnie” lover, Johnny. The “Highland Celebration” section is built on pulsing rhythms that create a vision of exuberant Gaelic dancers.
Fittingly, because the day before the concert is St. Patrick’s Day, the band will play a medley of highlights from Leroy Anderson’s “Irish Suite.” Drawn from six familiar Irish folk tunes, the original suite was commissioned in 1947 by the Eire Society of Boston and was premiered by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra.
James Swearingen’s 1985 “Covington Square” evokes a sense of English town and country life, and David Bobrowitz’s 2010 “One Night in Athens” was written after he spent a memorable evening in a restaurant there that featured both fine food and folk dancing.
“Slavonic Dance No. 8,” by Antonin Dvorak, was written in 1878 as one of a set of piano duets but was soon scored for orchestra as well. Inspired by Brahms’ “Hungarian Dances,” which made use of actual Hungarian folk melodies, Dvorak only made use of the characteristic rhythms of Slavic folk music; the melodies are entirely his own. No. 8 was based on a furiant, a rapid and fiery Bohemian dance.
Robert Longfield’s “Italian Holiday” (2009) is a medley of some of the most well-known and beloved songs and arias from Italy’s folk and operatic traditions, while Pierre La Plante’s 2010 “La Bonne Aventure” (“The Good Adventure”) is based on an old French children’s song.
The Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble offers area wind and percussion musicians of all ages an opportunity to continue or return to the pleasures of playing quality music in a large ensemble. New members are always welcome, without audition or fee. For further information, call 410-778-2829 or 410-810-1834. The ensemble is partially supported by the Kent County Arts Council.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
4 p.m.
Free
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Cross and High Streets
Chestertown, MD 21620
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