PMEA All-State Performance-2012
PMEA Performance-2012, Lancaster, PA
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH ORCHESTRA
Friday, April 20, 2012 – 9:45am
Introductory Remarks………….…Charles Cassady, Principal, Council Rock High School South
William Tell Overture ……………………………………………….…….……Gioacchino Rossini
Michael Newman, cello
Elie Johnson, English horn
Jennifer Park, flute
Music from “Up” …………...…………………....…..Michael Giacchino/Arr. By Andrea Datzman
Kelly Cohen, trumpet
Joy Wang, violin
Quintin Zoto, bass
Danse Macabre …………………………………………..…………...……...…Camille Saint-Saens
Joy Wang, violin
Jaime Swank, flute
Suite from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ....…Alexandre Desplat and John Williams
Arr. By Jerry Brubaker
Briella van der Spek, vocals
Ian Inchausti, French horn
Lauren Holleran, trumpet
The Planets …………………………………………………………………..…………Gustav Holst
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
Kelly Cohen, trumpet
Elie Johnson, English horn
Nick Ramirez, bassoon
The Director
The orchestra’s director, Christopher Simon has been directing orchestras, bands, and jazz bands since 1988, and he was appointed the CR South music coordinator and conductor of the high school orchestras in 2002. Mr. Simon also directs the Chamber Orchestra and teaches classes in music theory, music arranging and jazz improvisation. He received both of his college degrees, Bachelor of Music in Education and Master of Music in Cello Performance, from Temple University in Philadelphia. His cello studies include lessons with Orlando Cole, Jeff Holm, Grammy Award winning chamber musician Jeffrey Solow and master classes with Janos Starker, Ralph Kirshbaum, the Audobon Quartet, and the Muir Quartet. Mr. Simon performs as a cellist with two professional orchestras: Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra and the Newtown Chamber Orchestra, and also as a trombonist with several jazz groups. He regularly gives solo and chamber recitals with his wife, Lisa Simon, a pianist, and currently resides in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with Lisa and their three children.
Program Notes
William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini
Written in 1829 for a Paris theater company, the opera recounts the tale of the legendary Swiss hero, William Tell, during the time of the Swiss fight for independence from the Austrian Hapsburgs in the 14th century. Tell, a noted marksman with the crossbow, refuses to bow to a hat set up on a pole by the Austrian governor, Gessler. Gessler arrests him and says Tell will be freed if he can shoot an apple off of his son’s head. Tell does so, but says if he had failed he would have shot Gessler and is chained again. Eventually Tell is freed long enough to kill Gessler, leading to a revolt by the Swiss.
The cellos and string basses open the overture, heralding the dawn. This section, though peaceful, is actually a virtuosic segment for the low strings: Rossini divides the passage into eight separate parts. Some "raindrops" from the woodwinds and swirling "wind" from the strings segue into a violent storm, with brass blaring and drums rolling. In the calm following, an English horn and flute sound the familiar tune now associated with quiet, bucolic scenes. Rossini based this melody on the Swiss ranz des vaches, a tune played on the Alpine horn by cowherds to call in their cattle. Finally, a trumpet sounds the four notes known throughout the world as the opening of the theme for the Lone Ranger, though Rossini meant to signify the approaching Swiss army. The rousing rhythm is that of a popular dance called the galop -- and conjures up an image of galloping horses.
Music from “Up” by Michael Giacchino / Arr. By Andrea Datzman
The Pixar animated movie, Up, was released in 2009 to universal critical acclaim. It won Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score. The film centers on an elderly widower named Carl and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America by floating in a house.
Up is the third Pixar film to be scored by Michael Giacchino, after The Incredibles and Ratatouille. What Pixar wanted out of the music was the emotion of the movie, so Giacchino wrote a character theme-based score that producer Jonas Rivera thought enhanced the story. "Ellie's Theme" is first heard when she is introduced as a little kid and plays several times during the film in different versions; for instance, during the sequence where Carl lifts his house with the balloons, the theme is changed from a simple piano melody to a full orchestral arrangement. Giacchino has compared the film to opera since each character has their own theme that changes during a particular moment in the story.
Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens
With fantastic clarity, Saint-Saëns depicts the fantastic tale of Death’s frenzied dance. The image of Death as a fiddler appears in the works of several composers, but in none is it more effective than in this piece. The orchestra strikes midnight, Death tunes up, then begins his waltz; a second theme on the xylophone evokes the skeletal celebrants, who become more and more energetic until, with the cock's crow, they disperse and vanish.
The broad waltz theme in the Danse Macabre may be recognized as a variation on the Dies irae, the ancient liturgical chant for the dead.
Suite from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” by Alexandre Desplat and John Williams / Arr. by Jerry Brubaker
Alexandre Desplat is a successful French film composer who has received four Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, and two Grammy nominations. Desplat won his first Golden Globe for The Painted Veil in 2006 and his first Grammy Award in 2012 for The King's Speech. Among various projects, Desplat has worked on a variety of Hollywood films including independent and commercial successes like The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Fantastic Mr. Fox,
As the final chapter of the Harry Potter movie series begins, Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue their quest of finding and destroying the Dark Lord's three remaining Horcruxes, the magical items responsible for his immortality. But as the mystical Deathly Hallows are uncovered, and Voldemort finds out about their mission, the biggest battle begins and life as they know it will never be the same again. The music reflects the dark themes of the movie.
The Planets: Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity by Gustov Holst
The Planets is a seven-movement orchestral suite written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character. Sometime after the turn of the century, Holst came into the thrall of astrology. He was reluctant to speak of this, though he admitted that casting horoscopes for his friends was his “pet vice.” The Planets is an astrological work. “As a rule I only study things that suggest music to me,” Holst once wrote, “recently the character of each planet suggested lots to me.”
“Jupiter” is the centerpiece of this large symphonic work and fittingly so as Jupiter is the largest planet. The planet is named for the light‑bringer, the rain‑god, the god of thunderbolts, of the grape and the tasting of the new wine, of oaths, treaties, and contracts, and from whom we take the word “jovial.” “Jupiter,” says Noel Tyl, “symbolizes expansiveness, scope of enthusiasm, knowledge, honor, and opportunity . . . [and] corresponds to fortune, inheritance, bonanza.” Holst gives us an unmistakably English Jupiter. In 1921 Holst took the big tune in the middle and set to it as a unison song with orchestra the words, “I vow to thee, my country.”
From its premiere to the present day, the suite has been enduringly popular, influential, widely performed and frequently recorded.