Klarinet Archive - Posting 000134.txt from 2002/09

From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Four Seasons 9-11 Tribute Concert
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:07:54 -0400

Hello, Everyone.

People on various Lists have asked about how
our 9-11 Tribute Concert went, so here goes. We
gave it on Friday evening, September 6, 2002, by
Violist / Conductor / Composer, Dr. Carolyn
Waters Broe and her Four Seasons Chamber
String Orchestra at the St. Joan of Arc Catholic
Church in Scottsdale, (northern Phoenix) Arizona
USA. It included a Hand-Bell Choir, a Choir with
adults and children, tympani, organ, piano, Operatic
Soprano Eileen Mager, and Folk Guitarist Steven
Speisman, whose brother was killed on the plane
that crashed into the Pentagon. This entire concert
was the idea of Dr. Broe last March, and she or-
ganized all of it!

Usually Hand-Bell Choirs play pathetically
simple music. Instead I was impressed that their
patriotic music involved well-written modulations,
and complex hand-bell playing, which the children
brought off with flawless subtlety!

Likewise when the Choir sang patriotic songs, a
short English Version excerpt from the "Ode to
Joy" by Beethoven, "Pie Jesu" by Andrew Lloyd
Webber, and the "Lacrimosa" from the Mozart
Requiem, it was truly a note-perfect performance!
The audience contained few people, and were ob-
viously mostly the families of the performers, but
they did themselves proud, and should be pleased
with their polished results! The children who sang
and played hand-bells, clearly put in a lot of work,
and showed true talent and dedication!

Soprano Eileen Mager sang "America the Beau-
tiful" and "My Days Have Been So Wondrous
Free" by Francis Hopkinson, who was one of the
Signers of the Declaration of Independence. She
gave a special grace and charm to the evening!

Folk Guitarist Robert Speisman sang three
songs in tribute to his brother, Robert, who was
one of the many passengers killed on the hijacked
plane that crashed into the Pentagon. He brought
tears to every eye, with his stories of his brother,
and his songs!

In between these works, 5 of my Works were
played. I have the unique habit of taking the Slow,
Second Movements of my Newer 4-Movement
Sonatas, and arranging them with the Solo Instru-
ment with Strings. Four of these are Slow Move-
ments arranged with string accompaniment, but
the last was written especially for this concert.

The problem here is that the String Parts of
all 5 of these works are HARD to play, and they
have only one or two quick rehearsals on their
shoe-string budget. Therefore, there were some
mistakes by the string players in each of these
hard works. Even so, the Spirit came through in
each performance, and the soloists gave note-
perfect, endearing performances!

1) "Our Horn Shall Be Exalted" (Psalms 89:17;
6 min.) for Solo Horn and Strings (from my "So-
nata No. 1 for Horn and Piano"). This begins with
a Stretto Fugato, which makes it one of the Rarest
Works of music on earth! It was soloed by the
charming Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler, who has re-
corded once, and twice performed live, the piano-
accompanied version. But this was the World Pre-
miere of the String-Accompanied Version. This is
a heart-touching, pensive work, so it was very
appropriate here. (The original Hebraic meaning
of the title is "our war-cry will conquer yours",
but I prefer to think of it as overcoming sorrow,
not enemies.) Dr. Fiehler made it a very moving
experience that ennobled each of us!

2) "Elegy for Dr. Peter Jona Korn" (5 1/2 min.)
for Solo Viola and String Orchestra. (Dr. Korn
was a composer that I studied with 22 years ago,
and this is from my "Sonata No. 1 for Viola and
Piano".) It had been recorded beautifully in May
1999 by Joseph Pagan, and played in other cities
since then, but this was an Arizona Live Perfor-
mance Premiere. It was Soloed with very pro-
found, bittersweet sense of heartbreak by Dr.
Carolyn Broe, our Conductor, that leaves us
with the emptiness of losing a loved one.

3) "When He Bloweth a Trumpet, Hear Ye"
(Isaiah 18:3; 5 1/2 min.) for Solo Trumpet and
String Orchestra. This is from my "Sonata No.
1 for Trumpet and Piano, and was Soloed by
Professor Ed Reid. It includes a Canon at the
Minor 7th, and is a salute to the American Blues
Trumpet Traditions, as a set of Theme and Vari-
ations. Professor Reid had given the World Pre-
miere of the 3rd and 4th Movements of this
Sonata, while on tour at the Beijing Conservatory
in China on June 1, 2001, but this was the World
Premiere Live Performance of this movement in
any accompaniment. Professor Reid played the
subtle bluesy notes, in a way that touched the
American Spirit in each of us!

4) "In Memoriam for the Fallen Victims of
the 9-11 Attack", (7 min.) for Solo Horn and
Strings. (This is from my "Sonata No. 2 for
Horn and Piano" contains my Third Double
Fugue, completed on July 19, 2002.) It was
Soloed again by Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler,
and also was a World Premiere.

It is a very complex 6-Voiced Double Fugue,
that lets the First Fugue Subject, the "Theme of
Mourning " wander in slower notes through the
Horn and 5 String Sections of the orchestra. The
Second Fugue Subject is a series of faster notes,
"Life gets back to normal: Rebuilding in Reverent
Memory of the Dead", and also weaves its way
through the 5 String Sections and Horn.

Finally the Two Fugue Subjects are played
Simultaneously as the Double Fugue. Due to
so few rehearsals, some entrances were missed,
but the Spirit of Sorrow and Rebuilding came
through among the complexities, and Dr. Fiehler
played her Horn flawlessly. The message of
Smiling Through the Tears came across, and
this will hopefully make a reverent addition to
American History and Horn Music. (By the
way, Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler is one of those
talented Canadians! We Americans are blessed
to have her with us!)

5) The "Fanfare for the Fallen Heroes of the
9-11 Attack" (8 1/2 min.) for String Orchestra
was written at the suggestion by Dr. Carolyn
Broe, who also named it. This contains my fourth
Double Fugue, and is based on the "USA" Theme
(which spells "USA" in the Notes, G#, D# [Es in
German or E-Flat] and A), and the "March To
Victory" Theme. It was completed on August 3,
2002.) As with "In Memoriam", it develops its
First Theme, "USA", then the Second Theme
"March To Victory", and then combines in a
lively Double Fugue!

While "In Memoriam" was a sad, slow and
reverent Tribute for the 9-11 VICTIMS, this
"Fanfare" is a more rowdy, "Let's go GET the
bad guys!" reminder of the Fallen HEROES of
the 9-11 Attack! The Spirit of "Let's Roll!"
comes through! This was the World Premiere,
but again, due to only ONE rehearsal, there were
some missed cues, but they quickly got back on
schedule. This is a fast, difficult work to play,
separate from the complexities of being a
Double Fugue.

Dr. Carolyn Broe is having a CD of my 5
works made, so that she can submit it to major
recording labels. If one of them goes for it, then
we can get funding for more rehearsals to make
a flawless Studio Recording, and release it for
mass production and national sales. Its patriotic,
sentimental, rowdy and scholastic appeal could
boost all of our careers.

This was the ONLY time in All US History
(and likely in European History) that an historic
event (albeit a tragedy) was commemorated by
the writing of TWO Double Fugue Tribute
Works! The only dark cloud on the Spirit of
this Concert was that I did the Publicity in the
last month, and got promises by NBC, CNN,
and several major news agencies, that they would
have their Local Phoenix Affiliates cover the con-
cert. NOT ONE of them showed up, and I find
that a tacky, deceitful, typical bigoted-against-
Modern-Classical-Music response!

Perhaps if our CD gets backing and sells well,
the news media will think twice about their rude
and unpatriotic behavior. If they just said they
weren't interested, that would have been one thing,
but to give a promise that you don't intend to keep
is called "lying". We have a right to be annoyed
with their petty, bad behavior.

Here is the website for Dr. Carolyn Broe and
her Four Seasons Chamber String Orchestra:
http://www.fourseasonsorchestra.org/events.html

I need to get back to work on my next deadline,
a Sonata for Bb Clarinet (or Viola) and Piano,
with a Triple Fugue in the 4th Movement.

Bear Woodson
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
"Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>

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