High School Orchestras Present Fall Concert

he Ponca City High School Chamber Strings and Symphony Strings will take to the stage to present their Fall Concert on Tuesday night, November 5. The program will begin at 7:00 in the High School Howell Auditorium. Director of Orchestras at the high school is Dan P. Larson. He is assisted by Paula Cochran and Katie Rolf.

The 34-piece Chamber Strings Orchestra, consisting of primarily 9^th grade students, will open the concert with Vanguard Overture by Richard Stephan. This selection is a majestic composition displaying a wealth of tone colors. It opens with an energetic fanfare and is followed by four distinct sections. The sections are marked mysterious, happily, calmly, and then there is a recapitulation to the opening themes, done in reverse order, to bring the work to a close. Next up will be Giacomo Puccini’s beautiful aria O Mio Babbino Caro (O my beloved Daddy). This arrangement for string orchestra is written by James “Red” McLeod. The work comes from the short comic opera Gianni Schicchi. The aria is sung by a young lady who is begging her father to allow her to marry her one true love (or die if she cannot be with him).

Continuing the concert will be American Landscape by Soon Hee Newbold. The many diverse and unique scenes of the United States include majestic mountains, vast plains, lush forests, deserts, small towns and large cities. The people and wildlife throughout America are just as diverse as the landscape– rich in history with cultures from around the world. This work was influenced by movie music, other American composers, and inspired by the beauty and ever changing scenes of a cross-country train ride. The Chamber Strings will bring their portion of the concert to a close with Danse Infernale by Elliot Del Borgo. A driving and powerful work for string orchestra, this moving composition utilizes a contemporary harmonic scheme and contrasting moods to present a sound poem depicting a frenzied “dance of fire.” This 58-piece Symphony Strings Orchestra, made of 10 ^th through 12 ^th grade string musicians, will take the stage next. They will open with a selection written by Jean Sibelius entitled Andante Festivo for String Orchestra. Sibelius (1876-1957) was a Finnish composer, from the later Romantic period, known for his beautiful nationalistic works and tone poems. Andante Festivo was originally scored for string quartet in 1922, but rescored for string orchestra and timpani in 1938. ”Full sounding and hymn-like, this work is constructed as a smooth, continuous stream of similar melodic phrases that flow into and out of each other.” A radio broadcast recording of this piece from January 1, 1939, with Sibelius conducting is the only recorded example of the composer interpreting/conducting one of his own works.

Next, we stay in the Romantic period with Capriccio Espagnol by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, as arranged for string orchestra by Sandra Dackow. This four movement work is one of Rimsky-Korsakov’s most popular and colorful works written for orchestra. Based on popular Spanish melodies, it was first performed in 1887. The opening Alborada, or ‘Morning Song,” is a joyful march, evoking the sound of Spanish guitars. The slower Variazioni movement contrasts sharply in mood with the opening moving in moderate time with a graceful flow. The Scena e Canto Gitano (‘Gypsy Song and Dance”) opens with a fanfare and violin cadenza, followed by very Spanish feeling elements. Without pause, the music segues into Fandango Asturiano, a brilliant dance. Fandangos are lively couples dances usually in triple meter, generally accompanied with castanets, and with a strong emphasis on count two of each measure. Asturian is a region in northern Spain. The coda of this 4th movement is based on the opening Alborada and brings the work to an exciting conclusion.

Assistant Director, Katie Rolf, will come to the podium to conduct America’s Cup, a salute to the famous sailboat race, by Alan Lee Silva. This is a rollicking piece, in A minor, which introduces compound time with an opening (and closing) section in 12/8. It is marked by the composer to be played “With swashbuckling intensity.” The fast flowing music of the opening, vividly suggestive of a ship slicing through the waves, returns in a higher key (B Minor), after a warmly scored, sweepingly melodic middle section. This is a piece whose sophistication is an excellent showcase for a more advanced performing group.

Palladio by Karl Jenkins will continue the concert. Karl Jenkins is one the most performed living composers in the world. He was born in Wales (in 1944) and has postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Jenkins wrote, “Palladio was inspired by the sixteenth-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, whose work embodies the Renaissance celebration of harmony and order. Two of Palladio’s hallmarks are mathematical harmony and an architectural element, borrowed from classical antiquity, a philosophy which I feel reflects my own approach to composition.” The Symphony Strings will perform the first movement from this three movement work. This Allegretto movement might be best known as the music for the DeBeers ‘diamonds are forever’ advertising campaign and, most recently, by the popular female string quartet Escala.

Bringing the concert to a close will be Aaron Copland’s string orchestra version of Hoe-Down from “Rodeo.” Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was the youngest of five children in a family of Russian immigrants. Despite his tremendous talent, he received no formal musical education until the age of 21, when he was accepted by Nadia Boulanger as her first American student. Copland became one of several American composers of his generation (George Gershwin was another) who successfully blended the popular American musical idiom with the more formal classical style. The ballet Rodeo was commissioned by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1942. The music has a "southwestern American" flavor, incorporating several folk songs. The story is based on cowboy life in America. It is about a tomboyish cowgirl who tries to catch the eye and impress the head wrangler on the ranch. An orchestral suite was extracted from the ballet music consisting of four sections. The suite’s finale, the famous, foot stompin’ "Hoe-Down," conveys an atmosphere of fun. There is no admission charge and the public is cordially invited to this concert. The two string orchestras are preparing for OSSAA State String Orchestra Contest on Wednesday, November 20, at Edmond Santa Fe High School. Their next concert will be a Holiday Concert with the High School Concert Band on Tuesday, December 10, in the High School Howell Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.