Enjoy Jeu de Timbres? Need some more Steven Stucky in your life? Well, you’re in luck! On Sunday, October 18 at 3pm, the Cornell Wind Ensembles will be performing two of Stucky’s works: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble, and Hue and Cry. As an informal birthday tribute to Stucky, the concert may feature some surprises.

Here’s something that should have been thought of years ago. The concert will feature program notes and images projected onto a screen above the ensembles. As Johnston Turner explained to me, “We write these elaborate program notes and then turn out the lights so people can’t read them!” And I couldn’t agree more!

The Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble, was commissioned by ex-students of Donald Hunsberger, as a retirement gift for his nearly forty years as director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. The piece calls for a massive collection of solo instruments. Timbral groupings represent various movements. For example, the third movement uses only keyboard instruments (glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone), while the fourth places instruments with resonating metallic timbres, such as gongs and Japanese temple bells, against a bass drum. The fourth movement bears the name, “To the victims of September 11, 2001”, a title given after the movement was finished. Taken from Stucky’s personal website:

Ordinarily I am skeptical of musical responses to outside events, and I never planned to write a piece “about” the attacks of September 11; yet, as I was writing this movement I asked myself why the music seemed so dark, so serious, and only then I realized that the world had thrust itself into my music whether I wanted it or not. Hence the dedication

The Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble will feature Tim Feeney as soloist. Feeney, a champion of experimental and contemporary works, has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Zankel Hall, as well as the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. His music can be heard on WNYC Radio’s New Sounds. As Director of Percussion Ensembles at Cornell, Feeney leads their Percussion Ensemble, steel bands, and World Drum & Dance Ensemble. AUTHOR’S NOTE: Feeney is an absolutely incredible musician, I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT miss this performance. He brings an incredible energy to the stage which cannot be matched. I cannot wait for this!

Hue and Cry, was commissioned by Mark Scatterday and Cynthia Johnston Turner, directors of the Eastman and Cornell Wind Ensembles, respectively. Stucky claims that while they asked for a short fanfare, what came out resembled more of a overture. A slow introduction and horn theme quickly turns into a brisk Allegro di molto. After a succession of shorter ideas, repetition and development of such, the work comes full circles and ends with the horn.

The concert begins at 3pm in Bailey Hall on the Cornell University campus. Also on the program: a new work by Dana Wilson, professor of composition at Ithaca College, as well as works by Alfred Reed, Derek Bourgeois, and Leonard Bernstein!

In case you missed it, here is our Exclusive Interview with Steven Stucky about his piece “Jeu de Timbres”.

Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 4:25 pm | Filed under General |