Locations

Saturday, August 11, 7:30 p.m.
Roseville Lutheran Church
1215 Roselawn Ave. W, Roseville, MN 55113

​Tuesday, August 14, 7:30 p.m.
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
​511 Groveland Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403

Performers

Noah Anderson, Bass Clarinet
Julie Brusen, Oboe
Tracy Carr, Bassoon
Isaac Heath, Tuba
Dean Heller, Trumpet
Tim Jung, Trombone
Kristen Kinnear-Ohlmann, Flute
Melissa Krieger, Clarinet
Doug Matuska, Alto Saxophone

Cory Near, Conductor
Jeffrey A. Ohlmann, Horn
David Pierce, Bassoon
Mary Kate Sershen, Trumpet
Ross Shone, Trombone
Stacie Traill, Clarinet
Jessica Tritsch, Oboe
Erin Vork, Horn
Joe Wypych, Flute

Program

Arise!, David Maslanka
Opus Pocus, David DeBoor Canfield
Reflections, Guy Woolfenden
Foot Tapping Song, Jennifer Jolley

Fanfare for Varese, Jonathan Russell
Serenade for Winds, Henri Marteau
Machiavelli's Conscience, Michael Markowski

Program Notes

maslanka-arise-2018

David Maslanka, Arise! (1987)
Arise! By David Maslanka (1943–2017) is a short essay on B-natural versus B-flat, with B-natural ultimately winning the struggle. The first notes of the piece set the stage this conflict through the horn and trombone pitches: the horn has a concert B-flat against the trombone’s F-sharp, which resolves to a B-major chord:

The rest of the introduction is unambiguously a simple B-major chord progression.
Compositionally, the entire piece is a general arch form: A–B–C–B'–A', presented thusly:

Following the B-major introduction, a few short rhythmic-melodic themes are presented. A counter proposal in B-flat is made, featuring a melodic interval of the minor sixth, but the exposition ends in B-major.

​The development passes through a number of keys and returns to B, only to be thwarted by an abrupt shift to an F-centered tonality. The shift in key is accompanied by a shift to a compound meter, adding a further diversion. This F area is the dominant of B-flat, and after a quasi-false recapitulation, the original themes do return but with strong harmonic characteristics of B-flat and E-flat simultaneously. As if sensing the trouble, the horn calls out prominent F-sharp to B-natural figures amid the frenzy, ultimately leading to a full break and grand pause, after which all instruments return to the tranquil B-natural center and thematic materials of the introduction, bringing the work to its conclusion.

​Other harmonic/melodic properties used throughout the piece include numerous minor seconds, which reinforce the B vs. B-flat feeling, and a fair amount of tritones, which plays to the F-B relationship.

​The rhythmic/melodic motifs of the piece have a strong onomatopoeic relationship to the work’s title, i.e., short note (sometimes notes) followed by a longer note, with the emphasis on the long note, as though speaking “arise:”

As remarked by the composer in his preface to the score, the piece has characteristics of the Baroque-era fortspinnung (spinning forth) compositional technique, whereby motion is imbued through the constant repetition and development of small figures. The general forward motion of the piece is interrupted only twice: once by the grand pause near the end, which serves as a general reset before the re-establishment of B-major for the conclusion; and earlier in the piece at the end of the development section. There, the texture breaks down into a stuttering, pointillistic interchange of isolated notes among all five voices, as though the instruments are now confused about their position and momentum, unsure if B-natural is the right place to be (is B-flat the tonic, or is B-flat really A-sharp in disguise and the leading tone to B?), and are saved only by the abrupt F-major retransition that restores their direction, but not yet the right key.

Analysis and description by Jeffrey A. Ohlmann, Neoteric Chamber Winds, 2018.

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