DE 3171

BRASS SURROUND

1. PROKOFIEV: March, Op. 99 (2:12) †2. PROKOFIEV: March from The Love for Three Oranges (1:48) †

SUSATO: Six Dances from La Danserie [13:41] *3. La Mourisque (1:28)4. Bransle Quatre Bransle (1:49)5. Ronde (1:55)6. Basse Danse Bergeret (2:32)7. Ronde – Mon Amy (3:02)8. Pavane Battaille (2:55)9. GRIEG: Funeral March (6:32) *10. MOURET: Rondeau (2:00) *11. MORLEY: Now Is the Month of Maying (3:34)12. GABRIELI: Sonata pian’ e forte (6:16) *13. GABRIELI: Canzona septimi toni, No. 2 (3:29) *14. CHESNOKOV: Salvation is Created (3:25) *15. PACHELBEL: Magnificat (4:58) †16. BRITTEN: Russian Funeral (6:55) *

J.S. BACH: Suite de danses [6:44] †17. Sarabande (1:18)18. Bourrée (1:26)19. Sicilienne (2:18)20. Badinerie (1:42)

MILLAR BRASS ENSEMBLEVINCENT CICHOWICZ, Music Director *STEPHEN SQUIRES, Principal Guest Conductor †TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 60:34

7 & W 1995 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, California 95476-9998(707) 996-3844 • (800) 364-0645 • contactus@delosmusic.comMade in USA • www.delosmusic.com

Executive Producer: Amelia S. HaygoodRecording Producers:Peter S. Myles, Stephen Basili

Recording Engineers: John Eargle, Stephen BasiliEditing: Peter S. MylesRecorded May 8-10 & 12, 1995,Alice Millar Chapel, Northwestern University,Evanston, Illinois

Monitor Loudspeakers: JBL 4206Monitor Amplifier: UREI 6215Digital Recording System: Prism AD-1 ProcessorDigital Editing System: Sony DAE 3000Microphones: Sanken CU-41, Sennheiser MKH20,Neumann KM-140Console: Soundcraft Spirit Folio

Cover, Ensemble & Cichowicz photos: Evanston Photo Studios, Inc.

Squires photo: ©Arthur Montzka

Design: Tri Arts, Inc.Graphics: Bruce DizonLayout: Mark Evans

Special thanks: Timothy S. Stevens, UniversityChaplain, Northwestern University; MargaretBradford, Chapel Secretary, Alice Millar Chapel,Northwestern University

Ensemble members shownon cover, from top/center(clockwise): Bruce Daugherty,Matthew Lee, ChanningPhilbrick, Virginia Sandstrom,Sharon Jones, Jon Johnson,Deborah Katz, Tina Laughlin,Sean Shurden, Jeffrey Taylor,John McAllister, John Minde-man, Kari Phelps.

Delos’ Dolby Surround™ recordings are encoded naturally during the basic record-ing session through the use of microphone techniques that randomize stereo pickupof ambient and reverberant cues in the recording space. This creates the spacioussound in normal two-speaker stereo listening for which Delos is noted. Through care-ful monitoring, these techniques also insure that surround playback enhances the lis-tening experience by reproducing an ambient sound field more closely approachingthat of a musical performance in a reverberant space. John Eargle

TOP ROW: Bruce Daugherty, John McAllister, Channing Philbrick, Jeffrey Taylor,Jon Johnson; MIDDLE ROW: John Mindeman, Matthew Lee, Sean Shurden,Kari Phelps, Tina Laughlin; BOTTOM ROW:Vincent Cichowicz, Virginia Sandstrom,Sharon Jones, Deborah Katz. NOT SHOWN: David Inmon, Trumpet; Daniel Fack-ler, Catherine Moss, Greg Roosa, Horns; Eric Mathis, Trombone;James Boznos, Mike Folker, Percussion.

MILLAR BRASS ENSEMBLE

The brass family comprises a remarkable variety ofmusical instruments capable of producing an evenwider range of musical sounds and effects. The

makeup of a brass ensemble, which usually includestrumpets, horns (for no good reason often referred to asFrench horns), trombones, tuba, and possibly percussioninstruments, is not fixed, so the number and type of in-struments vary from one piece to another. In addition tothis, trumpet players have to choose between B-flat, C, D,or E-flat trumpets (all of which have to do with musicalrange and tone color), cornets, flügelhorns, and piccolotrumpets depending on the particular style and range ofthe music. Most trumpets in this country use pistonvalves, but rotary-valve trumpets that use the same kindof mechanism as do “French” horns, long popular in Eu-rope, are used increasingly here. The piccolo trumpet isthe one that usually attracts the most attention. It is small(that is the meaning of the word piccolo), only about halfthe size of a standard instrument, designed specifically toplay in the brilliant stratospheric range demanded bymuch Baroque and contemporary music. This recordingincludes trumpets in C and E-flat, piccolo trumpets, androtary-valve trumpets. Trombones come in various sizesand ranges, and alto, tenor, and bass trombones are heardin this recording. Mutes, devices of various kinds that,when placed in the bell of an instrument, soften the

sound and more importantly change the tone color, areused throughout this recording.

March, Op. 99arranged by John MindemanMarch from The Love for Three Oranges

arranged by Fisher Tull (1934-1994)SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)It is hard to imagine two marches of more strikingly dif-ferent character than these two. Both exhibit Prokofiev’spredilection for surprising harmonic twists, setting upone expectation but then going a different route, and bothend abruptly—crashing headlong into the final cadence.But while Op. 99 is a high-spirited romp, the march fromThe Love for Three Oranges carries a sense of foreboding.

Composed originally for military band, the Op. 99march in B-flat major begins with a flurry of repeatedchords, each with noisy trumpet slides, then gives way toan oom-pah vamp that leads to the raucous main theme,presented by the trumpets (at :11). A lightly scored secondsection (:41), with the theme played by the horns, movesto the key of G minor, but muted E-flat trumpets — mid-way in size and range between standard and piccolo in-struments — (:53) interrupt with swirling sixteenth-notefigures. Eventually the horn theme (1:18) passes to thethird trumpet and combines with the swirling figures be-

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

fore the opening theme returns to wrap things up (1:30).Despite the humorous enthusiasm, optimism—nothumor—must have been the intent, as the march wascomposed for May Day 1944 (International Workers’ Day)in Moscow, well in advance of the official Soviet condem-nation and repression of Prokofiev’s music in the 1950’s.The arrangement is by John Mindeman, a trombonist inthe Millar Brass Ensemble.

Prokofiev conducted the world premiere of his operaThe Love for Three Oranges in Chicago on December 30,1921, just two weeks after appearing as soloist with theChicago Symphony in the premiere of his Third Piano Con-certo. It was generally well-received, but at least one criticwas not impressed; Edward Moore, writing in the ChicagoTribune, concluded: “The music of Love for Three Orangesis, I fear, too much for this generation. After intensivestudy and close observation at rehearsals and perform-ances, I detected the beginnings of two tunes. . . . as forthe rest of it, Mr. Prokofiev might as well have loaded upa shotgun with several thousand notes of varying lengthsand discharged them against the side of a blank wall.”Based on an eighteenth-century comedy by Carlo Gozzi,the opera’s plot concerns a neurotic prince who falls inlove with, and seeks to find, three huge oranges. When atlast the prince succeeds in his worldwide citrus quest, hefinds the beautiful princess of whom he has dreamedsince infancy inside one of the oranges.

The ominous march was popularized as the thememusic for the television series The FBI in Peace and War,

starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and has become (with thepossible exception of Peter and the Wolf) Prokofiev’s best-known composition. Introduced by a vigorous two-mea-sure fanfare, the horns first present the eight-measuremarch theme, with staccato accompanying chords fromthe low brass. Each of the three occurrences of the marchtheme is separated by eight measures of contrasting ma-terial in which muted trumpets elaborate on the six-teenth-note fanfare theme, always accompanied by therelentless staccato chords. First trumpet and first trom-bone have the theme in the second strain, and first trum-pet and baritone horn in the last strain, but here themenacing horn glissandos steal the show.

Six Dances from La Danseriearranged by John IvesonTYLMAN SUSATO (c. 1500-c. 1561)In 1551 Tylman Susato, a town musician in Antwerp,published a set of dances entitled, appropriately enough,La Danserie. From this varied collection, John Iveson se-lected six contrasting examples to arrange for modernbrass ensemble. The first, La Mourisque, represents oneof the most popular dance types of the time; betterknown as a moresca, or Moorish dance, its exotic—some-times boisterous—character was often emphasized withcostumed action in the form of swordplay between Cru-saders and Moors. The popular English Morris Danceprobably derived from the moresca. 2. Bransle QuatreBransle: Another popular dance, the bransle (or branle)

originated as a call-and-response singing dance, a prac-tice still evident in this composed version as phrases ofvarying lengths are played and immediately repeated.Muted instruments play the phrase repetitions in thisperformance, nicely etching the dialogue effect. 3. Ronde:A round dance, (danced in a circle) features short con-trasting sections but always returns to the opening re-frain. The recurring drone background clearly imitatesthe bagpipe, or musette, one of the popular dance accom-paniments of the sixteenth century. 4. Basse Danse Berg-eret: The many varieties of basse dances shared thecommon feature of low gliding foot movements (bas =low), but the Bergeret introduced a pastoral element andadded a leap to the choreography. This is the only danceof the set in triple meter. 5. Ronde-Mon Amy: Anotherround dance, this is a wistful love song, the hauntingtheme presented by solo horn. Amy is the old Frenchspelling of ami. 6. Pavane Battaille: The pavane is astately processional dance. This “pavane” is directlybased on the chanson La Guerre (The War), a vocal piececomposed by Clement Janequin presumably in celebra-tion of the victory of Francis I at the Battle of Marignon in1515. Dozens of composers imitated Janequin’s success-ful use of onomatopoeic syllables to depict the somberpreparations for war, the bugle calls to action (here takenby trumpet duets), and finally the heat of the fray.Samuel Scheidt’s Alla Battaglia, often performed by brassensembles, is another rewriting of the Janequin chanson.

Funeral Marcharranged by Geoffrey EmersonEDVARD GRIEG (1843-1907)Grieg’s solemn march is scored for large brass ensembleof three trumpets, four horns, three trombones, eupho-nium (baritone horn), tuba, snare drum (without snares),cymbals, and bass drum. It begins in the somber key ofB-flat minor (five flats), changes to B-flat major in themiddle section, and returns to the minor mode as thefirst section repeats. The dignified lament gradually ac-cumulates intensity, interrupted from time to time byimpassioned outcries.

No abstract study, the emotion-filled march was com-posed in memory of Grieg’s friend Rikard Nordraak, aflamboyant composer and musical entrepreneur whocomposed Norway’s national anthem. Of Grieg’s manynationalistic musical and literary influences, includingNiels Gade, J.P.E. Hartmann, Ole Bull, Hans ChristianAndersen, and Hendrik Ibsen, Nordraak may have beenthe strongest catalyst in Grieg’s development as the mu-sical voice of Norway. Nordraak was only half Norwe-gian (his mother was Danish), and he lived inCopenhagen, but the folklore and music of Norwaywere his passions. In 1865 Grieg dedicated his piano Hu-moresques, Op. 6 to Nordraak. The next year, while study-ing composition in Berlin, Nordraak died of pneumonia;Grieg began composing this funeral march on the day hereceived the news, quite naturally infusing the musicwith the modality, dotted rhythms, and harmonic color

of Norwegian folk music. For a December 1867 concert,Grieg rescored the march for wind band.

Rondeauarranged by John MindemanJEAN JOSEPH MOURET (1682-1738)The choice of this majestic extended fanfare as the thememusic for the PBS Masterpiece Theatre series was a strokeof genius that rescued Mouret and his brilliant Rondeaufrom ill-deserved oblivion. The typical form of the ron-deau (also characteristic of its successor, the rondo) hasan opening refrain of eight or sixteen measures that al-ternates with contrasting material, resulting in an A-B-A-C-A form that could be lengthened or shortened atwill. The refrain sections (A) are all in the same key, butthe intervening episodes usually move to a related key,such as the dominant or relative minor. Mouret gener-ally follows this outline, but his deviations add greatlyto the appeal of the work. Rather than end each sectionwith a full cadence and a brief break, Mouret overlapsthe sections, disguising the formal outline and increas-ing the sense of continuity. He also varies the lengths ofthe sections and in the second episode (C, at :51) em-barks on an adventurous journey through several keysbefore finally settling on the dominant. The two brillianthigh trumpet parts are played on piccolo trumpets.

Now Is the Month of Mayingarranged by Phil Snedecor

THOMAS MORLEY (1557-1602)Thomas Morley excelled in the lighter forms of the Eng-lish madrigal, especially the ballett with its rhythmic fa-la-la refrains, and this is one of his best-loved works. PhilSnedecor, a former MBE trumpeter, arranged the vocalpiece in sprightly Renaissance dance style for fielddrum, two piccolo trumpets, and trombone quartet (altotrombone, two tenor trombones, and bass trombone). In-troduced by the drum, solo piccolo trumpets first playthe jaunty melody; the music then shifts to the trom-bones in four-part harmony, presently joined by thetrumpets in playful descant figures. Trumpet duets, inever more ornamental fashion, alternate with the trom-bone choir, which eventually also gets into the act of em-bellishing the melody. The ever-present drum has itsown solos and binds the texture together, propelling theinfectious momentum. Jeff Taylor, MBE bass trombonist,commissioned this arrangement.

Sonata pian’ e fortetranscribed by Russell HarveyCanzona septimi toni, No. 2edited by Robert KingGIOVANNI GABRIELI (c. 1554-1612)Giovanni Gabrieli is the great master of the opulent Vene-tian style. Under his leadership the magnificent St. Mark’sBasilica, with its several balconies and domes, became thecenter of ceremonial music that featured separated groupsof musicians (whether vocal or instrumental, each group

was called a choir) in the sixteenth-century version of sur-round sound. Giovanni rarely specified what instrumentsshould play his music, but a brass ensemble seems farand away the best choice. Similarly, like most composersof his time, he seldom included dynamic markings or anyother expressive indications. A significant exception tothis practice, however, is the celebrated Sonata pian’ e fortefrom his first set of Sacred Symphonies, published in 1597.Although Giovanni was not the first composer to indicatepiano (soft) and forte (loud) in music, he may well havebeen the first to elevate the practice into a prominent com-positional feature. He adds further contrast by writing fortwo dissimilar instrumental choirs: the first generallyhigher-pitched than the second. In this performance, choir1 comprises two rotary-valve trumpets, a horn, and tenortrombone; the second choir has horn, two tenor trom-bones, and bass trombone. Rotary-valve trumpets imparta somewhat darker, mellower sound than standard pis-ton-valve instruments, blending more homogeneouslywith the horns and trombones. As the music unfolds,Gabrieli ingeniously contrasts and answers phrases ofvarying lengths, heightened by the dynamic differences.

The canzona originated as an instrumental arrangementof a vocal chanson and often featured the characteristiclong-short-short rhythmic pattern of the chanson, but byGabrieli’s time the canzona was frequently instrumentalfrom the outset, as is his second Canzona on the SeventhTone. It comes from the same 1597 publication, but dis-plays a more brilliant, energetic character than the Sonata

pian e forte. Dynamic contrasts are not indicated althoughthey seem intrinsic to the style, and rhythmic contrastsassume even greater importance—from flowing quarternotes to rapidly repeated sixteenths, dotted rhythms andsyncopations, and two brief excursions to triple meter.The opening phrase recurs near the end, framing andunifying the composition.

Salvation Is Created (Spaséniye sodélal) arranged by Bill HolcombePAVEL CHESNOKOV (1877-1944)The choral music of the Russian Orthodox Church isrenowned for its rich sonority and exploitation of the lowbass range—characteristics that make the music im-mensely attractive to brass ensembles. Chesnokov,Gretchaninov, and Rachmaninov are among the most suc-cessful composers of the nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies in combining traditional chants and deliciousromantic harmonies in the composition of this music.

Chesnokov’s Salvation Is Created uses a text from Psalm74:12 and an ancient chant melody from Kiev. The chantappears first in the top tenor part, and is repeated by so-pranos. For the next two phrases, the same tune is sung afourth lower by the basses while other parts have soaringcounter melodies. The chant returns to the highest partfor the final phrase. This is not a double-choir composi-tion in the same way as the Gabrieli and Pachelbel piecesare, but Chesnokov achieves the effect of high versus lowchoirs by alternating phrases of four-part tenor-and-bass

harmony with soprano, alto, and two-part tenor har-mony. The notes of the two twenty-measure sections arealmost exactly the same. The words of the first are fromthe Psalm; the second section has only the word alleluia,which in Old Church Slavonic is sung as five syllables.

Magnificattranscribed by A. FrackenpohlCHARLES THEODORE PACHELBEL (1690-1750)Baptized Carl Theodorus on November 24, 1690, inStuttgart, Germany, this son of the composer of the cele-brated Pachelbel Canon in D emigrated from Germany tothe American colonies where he came to be known asCharles Theodore. In 1733 he was called from Boston toProvidence to help install a new organ in Trinity Church,and remained as organist until 1735. He gave what arebelieved to have been the first public concerts in NewYork City in January and March of 1736, and sometimelater settled in Charleston, South Carolina, as organist atSt. Philip’s Church.

The Magnificat for eight-part double choir, composedwhile Pachelbel was still in Germany, was probably in-cluded in the New York concerts. Pachelbel set each ofthe ten verses of the Latin Magnificat and the two versesof the concluding Gloria patri in contrasting styles, result-ing in a rapid succession of differing tempos, meters, andmoods that divide into five sections: the first (verses 1-5),third (verses 7-10), and fifth (verse 12) are in commontime (4/4), and the brief second (verse 6) and fourth

(verse 11) sections are in triple meter (3/4). The tonalitynever wanders far from C major, but the primary interestlies in the antiphonal treatment of the two choirs. Attimes one choir echoes what the other has just done; atother times the two groups engage in musical dialogue,or one choir finishes what the other started, occasionallyjoining together for richly sonorous tutti effects. Only inthe final section do the two groups unite into one ensem-ble of four parts for a vivacious little closing fugue.

Russian FuneralBENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976)

In 1936, as the scourge of Fascism spread across Eu-rope, many intellectual pacifists—including BenjaminBritten—hoped to see an antidote in the Soviet workers’revolution in Russia. In February of that year, only a fewmonths before the outbreak of the Spanish civil war,Britten composed the Russian Funeral, his only work forbrass band. It was performed in March, 1936, but re-mained unpublished and without further performancefor over forty years. A sturdy Russian funeral song, thewords honoring revolutionary martyrs, is the basis ofBritten’s composition, which seems to be less an expres-sion of grief than a defiant protest. The special signifi-cance of the song comes from the fact that it was playedat the funeral of workers who were massacred at ademonstration outside the Winter Palace in 1905. DmitriShostakovich used the same song in the third movement

of his Symphony No. 11, in 1957.With his characteristic expert craftsmanship, Britten in-

geniously constructs the music from fragments of theworkers’ song—which is not heard in its entirety until thefinal measures of the composition. Using only a five-notedescending scale theme and an ascending triadic figure atfirst, Britten employs repetition and gradual dynamicchanges to add to the cumulative buildup. The animatedcentral section (2:19) features muted trumpets on scurry-ing sixteenth-note figures (still on the 5-note descendingtheme, but with a little more of the tune preceding it); inhis diary Britten referred to this section as “War,” the outersections as “Death.” The war passage concludes withtrumpets in frenetic sixteenth-note figures (3:23), the re-mainder of the band belting out the revolutionary tune infortissimo unison. They do not finish the song, however,and a sudden calm returns with the opening music. Asfirst and second trumpets and low brass reprise the open-ing music (4:14), the third trumpet, all four horns, and firsttrombone boldly proclaim the entire song in fiery unison.

Suite de dansesSarabandeBourréeSicilienneBadineriearranged by Jean ThildeJ. S. BACH (1685-1750)

Bach composed most of his instrumental chamber

music while serving as director of music at the court ofAnhalt-Cöthen between 1717 and 1723, when he wasthirty-something. All four of these dances originatefrom this time, the first three from music for unaccom-panied violin; so for these, the transcriber has added theharmonies that are only implied in the original. A sara-bande is a stately dance in triple meter in which the ac-cent often falls not on the downbeat, but on the secondbeat. The bourrée is a brisk duple-meter dance; eachphrase begins with an up-beat figure. This particularbourrée has been transcribed for nearly every instru-ment and combination of instruments imaginable sim-ply because it is so much fun—and, incidentally, apersuasive demonstration that music in a minor keyneed not be sad. Of Italian origin, the Sicilienne or Sicil-iano is a moderately slow dance in a gently rocking 12/8meter, similar in character to the “pastorale.” TheBadinerie, not a common Baroque dance, comes from aFrench word meaning “playfulness” or “frolic.” Thismusic comes from Bach’s Second Orchestral Suite whereit is scored for solo flute with string accompaniment.This performance shows that a piccolo trumpet artist isa match for the fleetest of flutists.

Larry D. Cook

MILLAR BRASS ENSEMBLEHailed by the American Record Guide as “…one of the best in theU.S.,” the Millar Brass Ensemble was founded in 1981 by a group offriends interested in performing music for large brass ensemble. Com-prised of musicians living in the Chicago area, members of the MillarBrass have performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, LyricOpera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Or-chestra and numerous regional orchestras and chamber musicgroups. In addition to their regular subscription series at the AliceMillar Chapel at Northwestern University, they have performed asfeatured artists at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic, Interna-

tional Trumpet Guild Conference, In-ternational Trombone AssociationWorkshop, New York Brass Confer-ence, and have performed throughoutthe United States on numerous tours.Fanfare magazine says it best:“…clean, clear and crisp…I doubt youwill find it better done!”

VINCENT CICHOWICZ, Music Di-rector Vincent Cichowicz, Professor ofTrumpet at Northwestern University,began his musical career at the age of17 as a member of the Houston Sym-phony Orchestra. After a period oftime in the service of the 5th ArmyBand, he resumed his musical activityin the Chicago area while attendingRoosevelt University. In 1952 Mr. Ci-chowicz became a member of theChicago Symphony, where he re-

mained for 23 years. During this period he was a member of theChicago Symphony Brass Quintet and participated in the GrammyAward®-winning recording of Giovanni Gabrieli’s Antiphonal BrassMusic, on the Columbia label.

His publications include an arrangement of Frescobaldi’s Gagliarda &Fugue, published by Crown Press, and a pamphlet published by theSelmer Company on the A/Bb piccolo trumpet. He was also a found-ing member of the steering committee responsible for the founding ofthe International Trumpet Guild.

Regarded as one of North America’s foremost experts in brass peda-gogy, Mr. Cichowicz has been associated with the National Youth Or-chestra of Canada for over 10 years and has conducted numerousclinics and workshops in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe.

STEPHEN EDWARD SQUIRES,Principal Guest ConductorStephen Edward Squires was named Principal Guest Conductor ofthe Millar Brass Ensemble in 1995 after a series of successful appear-ances as a guest conductor. Active in the orches-tral field, Mr. Squires holds the positions ofMusic Director of the Illinois Chamber Sym-phony and Associate Conductor of the ElginSymphony Orchestra. A member of the artistfaculty of the School of Music at Northern Illi-nois University since 1982, Mr. Squires serves asprofessor of conducting and trumpet. A versatilemusician, he remains active as a trumpet per-former and piano accompanist.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

STEPHEN EDWARD SQUIRESVINCENT CICHOWICZ