Yale Concert Band to feature Lincolnshire Posy (Percy Grainger), Country Band March (Charles Ives), Enigma Variations (Edward Elgar)

Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director

and

Spiel for Wind Orchestra (Ernst Toch)

Toshiyuki Shimada, guest conductor

7:30 PM, Friday, April 11, 2014

Woolsey Hall (corner of College & Grove Streets), New Haven

Free Admission

Percy Grainger described his Lincolnshire Posy as a “bunch of musical wildflowers.” The work is based on folk songs collected in Lincolnshire, England, in 1905-06.

Country Band March, written by Yale’s own Charles Ives (1898), is a wonderful parody of the realities of performance by a country band. From its “out of tune” introduction to the pandemonium which reigns at the close, the March never fails to excite.

Edward Elgar dedicated his Enigma Variations “to my friends pictured within,” each variation being an affectionate portrayal of one of his circle of close acquaintances. This classic band arrangement by Earl Slocum is reminiscent of the mighty orchestral transcriptions that comprised the wind band repertoire of the early and middle 20^th century.

Ernst Toch’s Spiel for Wind Orchestra was composed for the 1926 Chamber Music Festival in Donauseschingen, Germany. It is composed of three distinct movements: a lively, technical Ouverture; a peaceful, pastoral Idyll; and a light, three-part Buffo, named after the opera buffa–comic opera–of the 19^th century. Toshiyuki Shimada, guest conductor.

also: Ghost Train (Eric Whitacre) and Give Us This Day (David Maslanka)