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TRANSCRIPT
REPERTOIRE SESSIONS
Session 1: Monday, July 13
James Logan High School
Adam Wilke, Director
Union City, California
D’un Matin de Printemps - Lili Boulanger /
arr. Francois Branciard
Impressionist Prints - Aldo Forte (Mvts. 4, 5, 6)
Roma - Valerie Coleman
Letter from Sado - Jodie Blackshaw
Witches’ Caudron - Alexander Comitas
D’un Matin de Printemps (1918/2008)
12’ Grade 4 Editions Robert Martin, France
It was in her final winter days, in 1917-1918, that Lili Boulanger imagined a piece, brimming with life, for
violin, cello and piano. This bouncy morning reminder, contemplating soft spring sunshine, was performed
for the first time in February 1919 a the Societe Nationale de Musique. This posthumous act was Nadias’s
initiative (1887-1979) who herself played the piano part. The little sister of the “Boulangerie” would live
decades perpetuating her sister’s memory via the transmission of legacies of this older sibling who died
much too soon, and worked throughout her lifetime scrupulously on the publication of different versions of
Un Matin de Printemps. The piece presents a traditional A-B-A format with an obstinate rhythm, using an
energetic theme notes as gay and light, followed by a mysterious episode in which we see the sun piercing
through, blazing and happy, the concluding with a triumphal return of the first episode. Looking with a close
eye shows a great deal of sudtleties and rich harmonies in this miniature, astounding for the work of a young
24 year old woman. Her older sister Nadia championed this work and eventually worked an orchestrations
for symphonic orchestra in the final days of Lili’s short life. However, this orchestral version was never pub-
lished until 1993.
Lili Boulanger (1893-1913)
Francois Brancard (b. 1979)
Lili Boulanger was born into a family of musicians and showed her
gifts at the age of two. It was the same year that she contracted
pneumonia which permanently weakened her immune system, an
event that would condition the rest of her life during which she
contracted numerous infections until tuberculosis caused her prem-
ature death at 24. Nevertheless she remained musically studious
and active throughout her life, becoming the first woman to win
the Prix de Rome in 1913. Her first stay in Rome was interrupted
by the First World War and she returned home to Paris to found the
Franco-American Committee at the Paris Conservatory to help mu-
sicians who had been sent off to Rome. She continued to compose
until her untimely early death.
In 2008 Branciard Francois, while studying with Denis Cohen at the Paris conservatory, took up an pro-
posal directed at Denis’ students to write orchestrations for French piano and chamber music. Branciard
imagined a brilliant and luminous version of Lili’s work. It was a work perfectly in line with the great
transcriptions of the French school. His orchestration is tailored with great finesse and draws inspiration
from the sparkling colors of the Fetes or de la Mer from Claude Debussy, showcasing the woodwind and
saxophone parts in this whirling sound of the reveille.
Impressionist Prints (2008)
20’ (6 mvts) Grade 6 TRN Publications, Texas, United States
Impressionist Prints is a major work for band inspired by six Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.
The work consists of six contrasting sections depicting the work of the six painters followed by an epilogue.
These sections can be played with virtually no break. Furthermore, the work is cast into two so-called
galleries. Each gallery can stand on its own, and the work can be played with a pause between the two galler-
ies. The movements are titled
1. Monet - “Impression, Sunrise”/”The House of Parliament”
2. Degas - “The Star”
3. Van Gogh’s Storms - “Wheatfield with Crows”
4. Renoir’s Elegence and Beauty - “La Parisienne”
5. Seurat’s Pointilism - “The Side Show”
6. Toulouse-Lautrec at the Moulin Roughe - “La Goulue”/”Jane Avril”; Dansant - “Valentin-le Desosse”
Epilogue - The Impressionists
Aldo Forte (1953)
Aldo Rafael Forte is an internationally renowned composer
with many published and recorded works to his credit. Forte is
presently Composer/Arranger with the United States Air Force
Heritage of America Band at Langley AFB, VA. and Adjunct
Professor of Composition at Christopher Newport University in
Newport News, Virginia. Born in Havana, Cuba, Forte came to
the United States at the age of nine and is now a citizen of the
U.S.A. He spent his formative years in Huntsville, Alabama
and was introduced to music at an early age by his father, a pro-
fessor of mathematics and amateur classical guitarist and guitar
maker. Forte credits the encouragement of both of his parents,
Dr. Aldo Forte and Maria Forte, with his active pursuit of com-
position. Forte has studied composition with Ross Lee Finney,
William Presser, and Robert Jager. He holds music degrees
from Tennessee Technological University and the University of
Southern Mississippi. Forte composes on commission and is
active as a clinician and conductor of his music.
Roma (2011)
7’ Grade 4.5 Carl Fischer/Theodore Presser, United States
A nation without a country is the best way to describe the nomadic tribes of the Romani. Their
traditions, their language (Roma), legends, and music stretch all over the globe, from the Mid-
dle East, the Mediterranean region, and the Iberian peninsula, across the ocean to the Ameri-
cas. Roma is a tribute to that culture, in five descriptive themes, as told through the eyes and
hearts of Romani women everywhere: "Romani Woman," "Mystic," "Youth," "Trickster," and
"History." The melodies and rhythms are a fusion of styles and cultures: Malagueña of Spain,
Argentine Tango, Arabic music, Turkish folk songs, 3/2 Latin claves, and Jazz.
Valerie Coleman
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Valerie Coleman began
her music studies at the age of eleven and by the age of
fourteen, had written three symphonies and won several
local and state competitions. Valerie is not only the found-
er of Imani Winds, but is a resident composer of the en-
semble, giving Imani Winds their signature piece Umoja
(which is listed as one of the "Top 101 Great American
Works" by Chamber Music America). In addition to her
significant contributions to wind quintet literature, Valerie
has a works list for various winds, brass, strings and full
orchestra.
Valerie has a Double Bachelor's degree in Theory/
Composition and Flute Performance from Boston Univer-
sity and a Master's degree in Flute Performance from the
Mannes College of Music. She studied flute with Julius
Baker, Alan Weiss, and Mark Sparks; composition with
Martin Amlin and Randall Woolf; and has served on the
faculty of The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Pro-
gram and Interschool Orchestras of New York. Currently,
she is on the advisory panel of the National Flute Associa-
tion.
Letter from Sado (2014)
6’ Grade 3 American Composers Forum, United States
Letter from Sado is based on a Japanese haiku of the same name. Sado refers to Sado Island in
Japan in which various artists, religious and military leaders were sent in exile many years
ago. The island has historically had a strong community of taiko drummers and as such, the
piece incorporates optional homemade taiko drums. In this work, the students are invited to
become decision makers during aleatoric sections at the beginning and ending of the piece.
For example, the opening and closing sections of the piece use the same material, which is a
selection of repeated melodic figures. The students themselves decide how to play these fig-
ures as individuals, in small teams and then as a whole band, based partly upon the haiku that
this work is inspired from.
In-between the aleatoric sections, there is an elaborate, heavily textured section that becomes
increasingly powerful. The music doesn't rest harmonically until the whole band plays in
unison. These multiple layers of sound represent the many thoughts and ideas that would have
surrounded those individuals sent to Sado Island in exile, and the final unison is representative
of their own breakthrough experience sending them on a pathway to inner peace and ac-
ceptance.
Jodie Blackshaw
Jodie Blackshaw grew up in the Riverina, Australia, and after com-
pleting high school, studied a Bachelor of Music in Composition with
Professor Larry Sitsky at the Australian National University, School
of Music. Since then, she has worked teaching music to students of all
ages and conducting a variety of ensembles in several different set-
tings, from remote country centers to the inner city. The influence of
Orff-Schulwerk methodology is a significant influence of Jodie's
teaching practice and composition. Jodie resides in the Blue Moun-
tains, New South Wales, Australia with her husband David and
daughter Matilda and works full-time as a composer and appears as a
guest clinician and adjudicator for band festivals throughout Austral-
ia. Jodie is fanatical about producing quality, meaningful works for
band. She desires that her music not just be "another piece, but an ed-
ucational and spiritual journey for both the players and the director".
Witches’ Cauldron (2003)
11’ Grade 6 Opus 33 Music, The Netherlands
This work is inspired by the three witches that appear in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In the fourth
act of Scene I, the witches are busying themselves brewing a magic potion in a cauldron.
While doing so, they sing the famous song who’s repeating refrain is “Double, double, toil and
trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble”. Each witch has a verse preceding that refrain, and
this song determines the structure of the whole composition. After an introduction that serves
to evoke the atmosphere of eeriness and portray the evil and violent characters of the three
witches, the actual brewing of the potion begins. From thereon the music follows the structure
of the song, with its alternation of stanzas and refrains. The last and lengthiest stanza has been
transformed into music with a development character. The piece gets wilder and wilder as the
liquid in the cauldron starts to bubble and steam ever more. It ends with a somber climax as
the horrific potion is at last ready.
Alexander Comitas (b. 1957)
Alexander Comitas studied piano with Thom Bollen and com-
position with Hans Kox at the Utrecht Conservatory, and or-
chestral conducting with Anton Kersjes at the Maastricht Con-
servatory. From 1981 to 1990 he worked as a freelance pianist
for the orchestras and the choir of the Dutch radio. Then he
decided to dedicate himself entirely to composing. Since
1981 Comitas has been writing his music almost exclusively
in commission. Comitas has written several compositions for
wind orchestra, including two Armenian Rhapsodies and,
commissioned by the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands
Navy, “A Night on Culbin Sands”. Armenian Rhapsody Nr. I
served as a compulsory piece during the First Open Dutch
Championship for concert level wind orchestras, in Kerkrade
in 1995. “A Night on Culbin Sands” was selected to serve as a
compulsory piece for concert level wind orchestras, during the
2001 World Music Contest in Kerkrade. In 2007, he received
a commission to write an opera with wind orchestra, for the
2009 World Music Contest.
All works on today’s reading
session are available for sale from:
Midwest Sheet Music
2616 Metro Blvd
Maryland Heights, MO 63043
Ph. 314-942-1522