CONCERT PROGRAMS

Next Performance:
Sat., Nov. 1, 2008
Tickets are $7 general;
$3 seniors & students;
HSU students free w/ID card

PAST PERFORMANCES:
(most recent at top)

FALL 2007: Sat., Oct. 27

(Some selections are linked to .mp3)

La Gazza Ladra (1817) ............ (overture) .................Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)

John Peel ................................................ traditional arranged by Fred Mortimer (1880-1953)

English Folk Songs Suite .............................. Ralph Vaughan
arranged by Frank Wright Williams (1872-1958)
I. March - Seventeen Come Sunday
II. Intermezzo - My Bonny Boy
III. March - Folk Songs from Somerset

Montreal Citadel ................................ J. Norman Audoire

The Pied Pipers (2004) ........... Premier performance.............Treblig Enilc

Four Dot Flourish (2005) .................................. Gil Cline

v v v v v INTERMISSION v v v v v

The Cossack .............................. William Rimmer (1862-1936)

Clok Tok (2007) ............ Premier performance ............. Gil Cline

Amazing Grace ................................................ traditional, arranged by William Hines

Blades of Toledo (1979 ) ...................... Trombone trio feature..................... Trevor L. Sharpe

The Redwood Highway .................... Premier performance................... Frank Flowers (1859-1943)

Dodge City (2001) ...................................... Jeff Smallman, arranged by David Marlatt

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Program Notes - - by Gilbert Cline

- About the music on tonight’s program -

We begin with the overture to "La Gazza Ladra" (The Thieving Magpie), the opera melodrama. The plot involves prospective marriage, subsequent imprisonment for the theft of a piece of silver, stolen -- as it turns out -- by the Magpie. The catchy melodies have been used in the film “A Clockwork Orange” and in all manner of television bits such as advertisements and cartoons. It’s said that Rossini was forced to write this overture in one day, locked (by a producer!) in a room, tossing completed pages of the score out a window to waiting copyists, who extracted individual parts for the orchestra.

The music in "John Peel" has a connection with the following piece on this program, by way of folk songs. Here is a beautiful song, not about hunting, but rather the human nature of the hunter.

D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay,
D'ye ken John Peel at the break of day,
D'ye ken John Peel when he's far away,

With his hounds and his horn in the morning.
For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed
And the cry of his hounds which he oft times led,
Peel's 'view hullo' would awaken the dead

Or the fox from his lair in the morning.
Yes I ken John Peel and Ruby too

Ranter and Ringwood and Bellman and
True, From a find to a check, from a check to a view
From a view to a death in the morning
Then here's to John Peel with my heart and soul
Let's drink to his health, let's finish the bowl,
We'll follow John Peel through fair and through foul
If we want a good hunt in the morning.

The "English Folk Songs Suite" was written for “military band” (the one with woodwinds), a term used in England to distinguish that type of band from the one true (best!) band, the Brass Band(!). This work is important for being one of first multi-movement band works in the 20th century intended as a serious concert piece for band, rather than transcription of orchestral works. The lasting charm is in the folk melodies, collected by Vaughan Williams on his travels in the country. Such folk music was even then disappearing due in part to the flood of printed and recorded music. Besides his love of such tunes (truly original music) Vaughan Williams wrote in major genre including symphonies and opera.

We continue another band tradition with "Montreal Citadel" and the Salvation Army Bands -- which are essentially brass bands in the UK tradition. Audoire was the bandmaster of the Earlscourt Citadel in Toronto 1927-30 and of the Montreal Citadel 1930-60. HBBB has taken field trips and played at the Eureka Corps, and Eureka bandmaster Simon Prinz guest conducted here last year.

With no other baroque or renaissance music on this concert, we’re reprising "The Pied Pipers" in this new version for full band. This original tune was written for the 2004 All-County Junior wind band as part of a larger work titled "Time Machine" -- a dash through music history. The melody is intended to evoke the old days, and uses “horn-fifths.” The HSU Commencement Brass (ten players) last May used a version (no particular reference to hundreds of graduates!) and “The Pied Piper of Hamlin” is fun enough, relating to the business of musicians making connections with listeners, be they human or not! Don’t forget the phrase “Pay the Piper” -- or else the piper absconds with who knows what.

We close with "Four Dot Fanfare," written for HBBB as a companion to an original work on our 2003 CD “Tour de Brass.” A rhythmic motif of four repeated notes is the driving force. After introductory bell tones, trills, and glisses, we encounter a theme in 7-4 meter. The CD is on sale at intermission!

- music after Intermission -

HBBB has not only been exploring the British band classics of Vaughan Williams and Holst, but also those of the great William Rimmer. "The Cossack" has that serious sound of the strong peasant-soldiers of Russia. We elect to play it not as a march with one tempo, but as an adventure. Rimmer was a leading solo cornetist in the 1880s, and was from a banding family. He later was a famed conductor of championship bands from 1905 - 1909, and continued to write terrrific marches for brass band.

"Clok Tok" was written, again, for The HSU Commencement Brass Choir. The need was for “filler” while waiting to play the processional Pomp and Circumstance. The clock reference is not only to passing the time, but also to the talking of the crowd, and the HSU Quad clock chimes, like Big Ben. The full band version has improv solos (ala jazz) by Matt Morgan, Bodie Pfost, and Gregg Moore over the bass line groove, and a proper ending having various sounds -- including vehicular.

The tune "Amazing Grace" has been recently popular among the bagpipe crowd. New to the band’s folio is this beautiful arrangement by William Hines, using modern twentieth century / jazz harmonies.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

The trombone section is featured on the tour de force "Blades of Toledo." We like to think that the reference is to that of famous sword-smiths of Toledo , Spain. So our trombonists become, then, rather a swashbuckling lot -- but then trombonists already consider themselves thusly! The Toledo reference could also be to Toledo, Ohio (the newspaper there is the Toledo Blade) or perhaps a hockey squad. At any rate, this work is currently on a music list for a brass band competition in Valencia, Spain.

Only a few weeks ago "The Redwood Highway" was found in a storage room in an apartment building in Seattle. A resident there recognized that 20 some such pieces referred to places near Eureka and in the region. We are grateful to that person for sending this music to the Humboldt County Historical Society, and grateful to the HCHS for bringing this music to our attention. Frank Flowers was part of the generation of cornetists of the time who played in circus bands, led town bands, and were often as popular as major jazz artists today. Flowers settled in Eureka around 1900, played the local venues, and became Eureka High School’s first band director. This march, and the others, were most likely played in Eureka’s Sequoia Park bandstand by the Redwood Empire Concert Band, led by Flowers, who (like other band leaders) probably played while conducting, something not seen these days. Tonight’s reading is mostly of unedited parts written in Flowers’ own hand manuscript.

Closing our concert is "Dodge City." Notes in the score suggest that you might be taken (not literally!) back to the old west, and perhaps have in mind such things as cowboys, the wide open spaces, cactus, sagebrush, showdowns, or gunfights. Think stagecoach, and we hope you enjoy the journey!

-- about HBBB --

We’re very glad you could join us for our one and only HSU concert for the 2007-08 academic year. This is the ninth concert presented by HBBB, a “hands-on” research project in the brass ensemble area of the HSU Music Department. We expect at this time to continue with fall-only seasons.

HBBB was formed after an inspiring 2003 sabbatical trip to England to visit museums, instrument collections, the Royal Northern Conservatory, trumpet makers, brass bands, and the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at Royal Albert Hall in London. I had the great luck to play a rehearsal with the Ratby Band, near Leicester. This region, from the midlands to the north near Manchester, is described as being “thick” with bands, and the traditions of “banding.” Upon my return to Arcata, George Ritscher, then new to the area, expressed interest in helping form a band, and since George possesses a brass band music library far exceeding what HSU owns or is likely to assemble, the planets seemed in perfect alignment. HBBB was born. Members include students and leading community brass players attending our once-weekly rehearsals driving from Eureka, Fortuna, Ferndale, and Redway to the south, and from as far away as Crescent City and Brookings, Oregon to the north.

The repertory of UK bands is fundamentally different from American bands, beginning with a standard instrumentation of exactly two dozen brass players and three percussionists, required for the competitions, and useful for the ready availability of published music. All the brass parts (even tubas!) are in treble clef, so that as with saxophone, players may easily switch instruments and read with the same fingerings. The conical cornet, facile and light like a sports car, is employed for all the high parts -- serving much the same role as violins in orchestras or as flutes and clarinets in (wood) wind bands. Band programming in the UK is polarized to crowd pleasers (marches, orchestral transcriptions, and the like) on one end, with difficult cutting edge test pieces on the other end. HBBB has explored both these extremes, while adding some of our own, local works.
HBBB has hosted local bands at FRH, recorded a full-length audio CD, and performed at Eureka’s 150th -- a sesquicentennial celebration of the City of Eureka, held in April 2006. The Humboldt County Historical Society’s Spring 2006 issue of the “Humboldt Historian” included an article about four local compositions (dating from 1865 to 1914) which are recorded on the band’s “Pageantry of Brass” audio CD. Limited copies of that CD will be on sale tonight, at intermission, at reduced cost to concert attendees. Looking to the future, HBBB has been invited to share its music with the world-at-large via Podcast: Internet radio/audio programs made available for download to portable digital audio devices. Look for HBBB online at Brass Cast -- pryan@brasscast.com (Peter Ryan).

-- INFO and THANKS --
Website by Grace Kerr.
Email comments/inquiries to Gil Cline: gdc1@humboldt.edu
Credits -- Stage: Ali Buckley, George Ritscher, and the percussion section.
Ushers : Norman Romero & Cynthia McCloud

Recording technician : Taylor Eisley Instrument technician : Michael Skwier
Instructionally Related Activities program of the HSU Associated Student Body
Poster design, layout, and printing: Hugh Dalton, University Graphic Services

SPRING 2007: Sat., April 7 ( Fulkerson Recital Hall, 8 p.m. )

PROGRAM

Trumpet Consort von Humboldt (pictured above)

Surrey Flourish (2007) ....................... Premier performance.............................................. Gilbert Cline

HSU / HBBB Antiphonal Brass

Canzon septimi toni No. 2 (1597) ................... á 8.............................. Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612)

Canzon 27 (1608) .............................................. á 8............................. Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612)

Canzon 30 ............................................................ á 8................................................. Orindio Bartolino

Canzon 32 ............................................................. á 8.................................................... Bastian Chilese

Motette “Herr, wenn ich nure Dich habe” ........... á 8.............................. Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)

Canzon duodecimi toni (1597) .......................... á 10........................... Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612)

Geistliches Lied ..................................................... á 4........................... Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

The Emperor’s Fanfare ..................................... tutti................................ Antonio Soler (1729-1783)

[ Septimi and Duodecimi arranged by Robert King. Canzone 27, 30, & 32 edited by R. P. Block.
Keyboard realizations by G. Granoff. Schütz, Brahms, & Soler, edited /arranged by G. Cline. ]

Humboldt Bay Brass Band

Towermusic (1994) ............................................................................................... Jean-Francois Michel

Southdown March ............................................................................................. R. V. Steadman - Allen
Guest Conductor -- Bandmaster Simon Prinz, Salvation Army

The Conquerors (tone poem)................................................................................................... Eric Ball

An Irish Interlude ............................................................. Warren Barker, arranged by Mike Shepherd

Procession of the Nobles ......................... NicholasRimsky-Korsakov, arranged by Mike Shepherd

Finlandia (1899) ................................................................................................. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Program Notes - - by Gilbert Cline

Thanks for joining us for this concert, the day before Easter 2007. This is the eighth concert presented by HBBB, sort of a research project in the brass ensemble program of the HSU Music Department.

HBBB was formed in 2003 after an inspiring sabbatical trip to England to visit top museums, instrument collections, brass makers, brass bands, and the National Brass Band Championships. Since then, HBBB has explored some of the British repertory (so different from American Bands), brass band music of other lands, hosted some local bands at FRH, recorded a full-length audio CD, and performed at Eureka’s 150th -- a sesquicentennial celebration of the City of Eureka held this past April. The Humboldt County Historical Society’s “Humboldt Historian” Spring 2006 issue included an article about four local compositions (dating from 1865 to 1914) which are recorded on the band’s “Pageantry of Brass” audio CD. Limited copies of that CD are still available.

Proper “brass bands” have a standard instrumentation of two dozen brass players and three percussionists, for competitive purposes in the U.K., and for the ready availability of published music. All the brass parts (even tubas!) are in treble clef, so that as with saxophone, players may easily switch instruments and read with the same fingerings. The conical cornet, facile and light like a sports car, is the standard for the high parts -- no trumpets allowed, and woodwinds are forever banned!

- about the music -

We begin with Surrey Flourish and the true trumpet, the long natural trumpet, which was in use up to the time of Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn -- valved trumpets not being invented until around 1812-20, and not fully refined until mid-century. The trumpets here are replicas / copies made by David Edwards, after the London trumpet of Simon Beale, dated 1667. So these are from the time of Purcell, somewhat contemporary to Corelli and Vivaldi, and in a somewhat different form than later German trumpets used in the time of Bach and Handel. Note the copper tubing and bells, with silver garnishes -- all like the original. We dedicate this new composition to the maker, who lives just south of London in the village of Woking, in Surrey.

Next we present a “break-out” group based on HBBB personnel, exploring some of the early music for brass in the fantastic Venetian practice known as antiphonal, literally sound against sound. At the simplest, this is evidenced by imitative statements (not quite “call and response”) which later would lead to full blown fugues. The Venetian practice was especially known for “cori spezzati” where choirs of instruments (each in some variation of SATB range) were divided, that is placed at different locations in chapel / cathedral / basilica. This polychoral (two or more choirs) practice often yielded a literal left-right spacial, even “stereo” effect. Visitors to Venice were mesmerized by the consonance of this music inside grand spaces such as San Marco (St. Marks). Antiphonal practice was taken up by Schütz and other northerners who traveled to Italy not only to work but to study and absorb leading music styles and practices of the late Renaissance and early Baroque Italian composers.

Deciding that the richness of the Venetian style might be analogous to consuming too much chocolate cake, we elected to balance the diet with two other custom editions /arrangements for HSU brass. The beautiful song by Brahms was first played on the HSU campus at the memorial service for Dr. Kenneth Hannaford, Professor of Music. Here the brass play the original SATB parts for choir. You are free to imagine your own text. The closing work by Soler is one I first heard on a radio broadcast 25 years ago in the San Francisco area. Completely taken by the nifty tune, I was surprised to find out that it is actually a Minuet from a set of concerti for double organ; many Spanish baroque churches had not one but two pipe organs. So here the brass group takes one of these two organ parts and “dukes it out” with our little Moller pipe organ!

Towermusic is a flashy work having themes performed by off-stage cornets. These “lontano” sounds (in the distance) reflect a European tradition of brass music played from civic (watch) towers. Note that next week, Sunday April 15, TCvH will play a Tower Music Concert (2pm) at UC Berkeley, from Sather Tower (the Campanile) with Carillon -- tower bells, 61 of them. Yes, we will be wearing earplugs for this event!

March - Southdown is a standard of Salvation Army Bands -- which are essentially brass bands in the UK tradition. HBBB twice in recent months has had the opportunity of taking “field trips” to the Eureka Corps to play a number of marches and other celebratory music. (We even learned to yell out “Fire Volley!” and “Fire Broadside!”) HBBB looks forward to the guest conducting of a local institution, Bandmaster Simon Prinz, native of Holland and longtime Bandmaster (retired) in Eureka and elsewhere.

Perhaps the most “British” of music on tonight’s concert is The Conquerors by the noted Eric Ball, also a Salvationist. His tone poem notes state that “... The Conquerors move forward to complete victory, ... against all odds ... with courtesy and dignity ...”

We are pleased to offer you the premier performances of arrangements by the band’s Eb soprano cornettist Mike Shepherd. An Irish Interlude was an instant hit with the band. Procession of Nobles is from Mlada (an opera-ballet from 1890), Act III. Most often we hear it in Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral suite, or played by concert bands.

Closing our concert is the ever-popluar Finlandia, another symphonic poem. The title itself is indicative of the Romantic Nationalism associated with its composer. Now, in closing, this work also serves as sort a summer season North / Western migration from our starting point in Italy. We hope you have enjoyed the journey!

INFO and THANKS

Grateful thanks are offered to friends of HSU Brass Ensembles: Gladys Burritt, Carolyn Mueller, Margery Cline, The Slosson Trust, Ken Brungess, and George Ritscher, for direct financial support, as well as contributions of time and tangible materials such as sheet music.

Recognition also is due members of HBBB for their interest in the band not only by way of fees paid to HSU (for parking, and for participation) but also in terms of private purchase of the majority of the brass instruments used on tonight’s concert. Some have been acquired for use solely in HBBB.

Sincere thanks are offered to Jim Rich (Cave Junction, Oregon) for the loan of his baroque timpani, which are part of his Jefferson Baroque Orchestra. HSU also recognizes the kind donations of Bach Strad Bb trumpets by Mario Oneglia and by the family of David Middleton. Lastly, we are greatly indebted to Dan Gurneé, former HSU Music Technician, for the custom barque trumpet mouthpieces.

v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v

Sat., Oct 28, 2006 - 8 p.m. Fulkerson Recital Hall, Humboldt State University

v v v v v v v PROGRAM v v v v v v v v v

Overture to The Magic Flute (1791) .....................................Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 –1791)

A French Suite .......................... A.P.F. Boëly (1785-1858)
No. 1 - Andantino No. 2 - Larghetto
No. 3 - Allegro No. 4 - Un Poco Lento
No. 5 - Andante con Moto

My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose ...................... traditional
arranged by Gordon Langford
Cornet Solo -- Chris Cox

Punchinello ............... William Rimmer (1862-1936)

Galop (1988) ........................... Stephan Wood

Scherzo, from Symphony No. 2 (1907) ................... Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
arranged by Matthew Morgan

Suite for Tuba (2004) ............................ Barton Cummings
Tuba Solo -- Fred Tempas
1. Summer Song 2. Scherzo Variations
3. Lullaby 4. Finale

Berne Patrol .......................................... traditional
arranged by Elgar Howarth

Eureka March (1914) .................. Bert Pasco
arranged by Gilbert Cline
GUEST CONDUCTOR selected from the AUDIENCE

Doyen (1984) ........................... Goff Richards

Sat., April 8, 2006 - 8 p.m. Fulkerson Recital Hall, Humboldt State University

Humboldt Bay Brass Band Dr. Gilbert Cline, conductor with special guests

Echo Carol ...................................................... arranged by Cline H.B.B.B. ten-tet

“Reptile” duos (1539-41) ............................. Antonio Gardane
I - Vivre ne puis content
II - Amys souffres
III - Grace vertu beaulte bonte
Gil Cline -- lysard Bodie Pfost -- serpent

Canzon terza (1621?) ..................... (in one movement)...................... Giovanni Picchi
Gil Cline -- cornetto Bodie Pfost -- sackbut Greg Granoff -- organ

Danserye (1551) ................ (dance suite, with segues)......................... Tielman Susato
(1) Pavane “Tausend Dukaten” (2) Pass et medio, & Nachtanz “Der Stoss” (3) Die Post in duple; triple; duple (4) Galliarde 3. (5) Galliarde 4. (6) Galliarde 10. “Tausend Dukaten im Sack” (7) Galliarde “Das Ganze / Le Tout” Gil Cline & Steve Anderson -- zink Bodie Pfost & Owen Ott --posaun Steve Mitchell -- renaissance Drum

Three Aufzuge (ca. 1830) .......................................... Johann Baptist Schiedermayr
I - Allegro maestoso
II - Andante
III - Allegro marciale
Frederic Bélanger, Gil Cline, Burt Codispoti, John Ferreira, Alex Fonseca, & Julie Rolla -- baroque trumpets Steve Mitchell -- timpani

Three Preludes (1927) ............................................. George Gershwin (1898-1937)

H.S.U. Saxophone Quartet
Virginia Ryder-Ayoob -- soprano Justin Sousa -- alto Paul Cummings -- tenor Aaron Lopez -- baritone

The Battle (1596) ........................................ Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634) edited by Gilbert Cline
Saxophones versus Saxhorns !

Rondeau ................... Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682 -1738) arranged by Gilbert Cline
H.B.B.B. ten-tet

Full HBBB:

Lustspiel Ouvertüre .................... Keller Bela, Op. 73 (1820-1882)

Second Suite in F (1911) ............ Gustav Holst (1874-1934) arranged by Sydney Herbert
No. 1 - March
No. 2 - Song without words “I’ll Love my Love”
No. 3 - Song of the Blacksmith
No. 4 - Fantasia on the “Dargason”

Appalachian Mountain Folk Song Suite (1986)................................. James Curnow
1. Sourwood Mountain
2. Black is the color of my true love’s hair
3. Camptown Races

Aces High (1970) ......................................... Ron Goodwin, arranged by Frank Bryce
GUEST CONDUCTOR selected from the AUDIENCE

Cornet Carillon (1954) ....................... Ronald Binge
Paul Cummings, conductor Solo Cornets (L to R) -- Ferreira, Belanger, Codispoti, Mitchell, Cline, & Rolla

Echo Voluntary ............ John Barrett (c. 1674-1735) arranged by Gilbert Cline
H.B.B.B. in two choirs, with organ and percussion

American Patrol (1885) ........................................... F. W.Meachem
American Patrol ................................. Meachem, arranged by William Gordon (& H.B.B.B.)

Program Notes - - by Gilbert Cline

We hope you enjoy our concert and what is intended as a little tour of some regions of the Brass World. This is just the sixth concert presented by HBBB, sort of a research project in the brass ensemble program here at HSU. Tonight we present some early sounds of a few notable “historic” brasswinds, confront a competitor from the woodwind family, and then present a concert set of varied music for the true brass band.

In the past two years HBBB has seen a healthy incorporation of community brass players, the recording of a full-length audio CD, and the interest of local media and organizations ranging from the American Brass Band Association to the Historic Brass Society, an international scholarly group. Locally, the Humboldt County Historical Society’s “Humboldt Historian” Spring 2006 issue out this week includes an article about four local compositions, and their composers, included on the band’s 2005 CD “Pageantry of Brass.” In a few weeks HBBB will play a major role in performing live music presented at the Eureka 150th -- a sesquicentennial celebration of the City of Eureka, to be held Saturday April 22, 1pm - 5pm at the Adorni Center.

HBBB fans by now know of our intent in fielding a band true to the British tradition, one so strong that even the smallest towns in the UK have had bands for well over a century. Some regions in the north and midlands are said to be “thick with bands.” For competitive purposes, and with the benefit of standard instrumentation leading to ready availability of published music, bands ring in at just about two dozen brass, and three percussion. Cornets are the standard; trumpets and woodwinds are not allowed!

- about the music -

We begin with Echo Carol, a tradition for HSU Brass ever since performing it in similar fashion in a large main hall at the 1999 CMEA state music conference. French publisher Gardane worked in the vibrant Italian musical scene of Venice, and during an explosion of print music a century after the Gutenburg Bible, he often set the work of others in his collections. Using the 16th century latitude of performance of music on “all sorts of instruments,” we elect to employ a pair of unique “wooden brass” in these vocal pieces. Picchi, another Venetian, was a prominent organist and a contemporary of both Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi. This song-like canzona is tonight performed from facsimile parts (having no barlines) on a famous combination of instruments.

Moving from art music to dance music, we close our music for cornetto and early trombone with tunes from the 1551 publication by Susato, probably a brass player himself. As if for a civic occasion such as a festival, we use drum to link together some various “hit tunes” of the day. In the city and court tradition, Aufzuge are a sort of combination of light tunes and processional fanfares. Like so many other composers of early times, Schiedermayr was an organist, but also was a theater conductor. Gershwin provides a sort of bridge for us here. In the flurry of innovation during the early 19th century and the industrial revolution, the Belgian Adolpe Sax devised two complete families of instruments. His saxophone is now an obvious success in the past century, while his application of valves to the brass is shrouded in mystery, with some last vestiges in the flugelhorn and tuba. We hope you enjoy our treatment of this Italian “Battaglia” with family versus family! We close the first portion of our concert with the tuneful Rondeau, used as the theme for the PBS show Masterpiece Theater, and also recorded on our recent CD “Pageantry of Brass.” Our second half opening work by Bela has the subtitle “Comedy Overture” and, light and playful, is typical of much band concert fare during the early 20th century. Serious concert works for band, any type of band, were rare. English composer Holst was a leader in this new trend, even using multi-movement works of a symphonic nature. HBBB’s first concert in 2004 explored Holst’s Moorside Suite (for brass band), and so for our two recent concerts we have programmed transcriptions of his two famous suites for military band, with cornets taking much of the work of woodwinds.

Employing the concept of folk tunes as the basis of new concert works, we hop “across the pond” for the suite by Curnow. In the UK these pieces would come across as very American, indeed. Since we are now traveling about, having an audience member guest-conduct our next piece is the right timing. Aces High is the main title from the film “the Battle of Britain” -- actually representing the Luftwaffe, who at that point in the movie have just driven the Allies from France and are poised to begin “the Blitz.”

For reflection we offer next the pretty Cornet Carillon, with solo cornets playing overlapping “bell tones.” The effect is as if one is outside a great cathedral for a Sunday afternoon tower bells concert -- a rarity in the United States. Returning to England proper, HBBB splits into antiphonal groups for the “double organ” work by Barrett, recorded on our 1995 CD “Gems of Brass.” This is on the model of Purcell and others who employed the two manuals of a pipe organ for pre-set echo effects. Closing our concert is one of the oldest American marches, American Patrol, written to display the sonic reality of a band approaching from a great distance and then passing by, all the while playing various tunes of the day. This piece is rarely played these days, in part due to a difficult bugle call requiring double tonguing. Note that HBBB here is playing from the early 1891 parts and adapting the high woodwind parts “ad lib.” We hope you enjoy the swing band version which follows, in 1940s style !

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Above: Fall 2005 Humboldt Bay Brass Band

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2005

FULKERSON RECITAL HALL HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY

Humboldt Bay Brass Band hosting The Scotia Band

HBBB:

Concert Overture - The Prizewinners (1976) . . . . . . . Philip Sparke

March de Pâques (1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Jean Balissat

First Suite in E-flat (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gustav Holst arranged by Keith M. Wilkinson I - Chaconne II - Intermezzo III - March

Romanza (1967) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry Geehl Bodie Pfost, trombone solo

Colonel Bogey (1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenneth Alford

Florentiner March (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julius Fucik arranged by Roger Barsotti

Dr. Gilbert Cline, director

* * * * *

PROGRAM NOTES

About Scotia Band In 1935 employees of the Pacific Lumber Company formed the Scotia Band. The membership is made up of a cross-section of community musicians, from pre-teens in middle school to seniors in their eighties. Current and retired PALCO employees are still represented.

For seventy years the band has continued to perform for community events across Humboldt County. You can hear them at the Scout-O-Rama and the Portuguese Celebration Parade in the spring, at the Ferndale 4th of July Celebration, the Fortuna Rodeo Parade and Rio Dell Wildwood Days in the summer, Apple Harvest Festival and Octoberfest in the fall, and at the Fortuna Christmas Music Festival during the winter holidays.

About Humboldt Bay Brass Band

HBBB is a British-style brass band which is part of the brass ensemble experience at Humboldt State University on California’s north coast. Comprised of twenty-four brass and three percussion, brass bands still prevail in the UK, with deep and often continuous roots to mid-19th century towns, factories, mills, and mines. American brass bands of the past century, such as Civil War bands and the very common town bands, are distant cousins. Bands having woodwinds developed around 1900.

Based on conical brass beginning with cornet, the light and facile competitor of the valved trumpet, the true brass band requires exact instrumentation (type and number) for “sound ideal” and for contests. Woodwinds aren’t used (being “relegated” to orchestra and jazz!), so Eb and Bb cornets take all upper register lines. Printed parts, even for tuba, are in transposed treble clef, fingering alike, so that players may switch instruments as needed. This is the same concept used with the saxophone family.

HBBB began in early in 2004, twenty-seven years after a brass choir at HSU led by a young trumpet teacher performed Holst’s “Moorside Suite,” then one of only two brass band works in the HSU music library. Inspired by a 2003 visit to the Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at Royal Albert Hall in London, and reflecting the interest of brass players here, our brass band library has grown. This concert, and our new CD, reflect the traditions in band programming balance: original concert works, contest pieces, marches, popular tunes, and also transcriptions.

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SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2005 FULKERSON RECITAL HALL HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY

~~ Humboldt Bay Brass Band ~~ CD Celebration and Mother’s Day one-hour concert

Above: Spring 2005 Humboldt Bay Brass Band

Four Dot Fanfare (2005) . . . . . . . . . . Gilbert Cline

Moon River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry Mancini

Ravenswood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Rimmer

My Fair Lady (selections) . . . . . . . Lerner / Loewe [arranged Duthoit]

Rondeau . . . . . . . . . . . Jean-Joseph Mouret [arranged Cline]

Phil Sams and Billie Whittaker, piano [four hands]: Sequoia Carnival March (1895) . . . . .. . J. L. Inman [arranged Cline]

HBBB: Sequoia Carnival March (1895) . . . . . . J. L. Inman [arranged Cline]

Eureka March (1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bert Pasco [arranged Cline]

Humboldt March (1903) . . . . . . . . . . Fred Ellis (arranged Cline)

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Friday, February 11, 2005

Humboldt Bay Brass Band conducted by Gilbert Cline

Four Dot Flourish (2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gilbert Cline -- premiere --

L’Orfeo [Orpheus and the Underworld] (c. 1607) . . .. Claudio Monteverdi

Pageantry ........Herbert Howells (Chris Cox, conductor)      I - King’s Herald      II - Cortége      III - Jousts

Fantasy on British Sea Songs . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . Gordon Langford

Sequoia Carnival March (1895) . . . . . . J. L. Inman [arrangedby Gilbert Cline] -- premiere --

HBBB and ArMack Brass : Nunc Dimittis Domine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Giovanni Gabrieli (1558-1613)

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Sunday November 14, 2004 Humboldt State University - - Arcata, Calif.

H.S.U. British Brass Band [aka Humboldt Bay Brass Band] Dr. Gilbert Cline, conductor

Above: Fall 2004 Humboldt Bay Brass Band

L’Orfeo .......... Claudio Monteverdi [arranged by Michael Hopkinson]

Pageantry ........Herbert Howells (Chris Cox, conductor)      I - King’s Herald      II - Cortége      III - Jousts

Famous British Marches ...... arranged by Gordon Langford Slaughter on 10th Avenue .......... Richard Rodgers [arranged by Robert Bernat]

Humboldt Bay Brass Band & Eureka High School Wind Ensemble Brass: Nunc Dimittis Servum Tuum Domine ..................... Giovanni Gabrieli (1558 - 1613) [edited by Gilbert Cline] HBBB: March from the Great Escape ......... Elmer Bernstein [arranged Martin Ellerby]

Humboldt State University News Online Article, Nov. 3, 2004

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Spring 2004 First HBBB Concert

Above: Spring 2004 Humboldt Bay Brass Band

Friday April 2, 2004

Humboldt Bay Brass Band conducted by Gilbert Cline

Prelude (1971) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edward Gregson

Moorside Suite (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gustav Holst      I - Allegro      II - Nocturne      III - March

Fantasy on British Sea Songs . . . . . .. . . . Gordon Langford (1969)

Ravenswood March . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . William Rimmer

Helden und Krieger (Heroes and Warriors) . . .. . . . Rodney Newton

Moon River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry Mancini [ arranged by Don Morrison]

Cousins (duet for cornet and trombone) . . . . . . . Herbert L. Clarke Chris Cox, cornet Bodie Pfost, trombone

Blenheim Flourishes (1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Curnow

PROGRAM NOTES
by Gil Cline

The Gregson Prelude for an Occasion is a single movement work which begins as an orchestral-type fanfare, with cornets (serving as trumpets), trombones, and percussion. Among the primary and secondary themes there are solo bits for the main soloists in any brass band; the Solo 1st Cornet, the solo Euphonium, and the Eb Soprano Cornet.

The main work of the concert, and the first concert work we read this semester, is that programmed here in 1977. Moorside Suite was written by Holst in 1928 as the test piece for the national championships that year. (At the Championships then, as now, each competing band plays the same work; the audience, and the judges -- who are enclosed in a visually screened fabric box, sides and top -- hear the same piece all day long. One gets to hear the subtle contrasts between bands, and of course the judges are not influenced by what, or who, they see.) Holst was already known for his orchestral work The Planets; in the wind band (those bands having woodwinds!) world in the US he is known for his two suites (in Eb and in F) for "military" band. Moorside has a classic order of three movements: fast - slow - fast. As far as we know, the themes are original.

Langford has composed and arranged many works for brass band; insofar as we here reside so close to the ocean it only seemed fitting to program this work. The themes, in order, are: "A - roving" -- "Drummer and the Cook" -- "Blow the Man Down" -- "We're All Bound to Go" -- "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor" -- and, "Sailor's Hornpipe."

Closing the first half of our concert is Ravenswood March, perhaps the most British of the band works on the program tonight. Rimmer was a solo cornetist in the 1880s, and was from a banding family; his father was bandmaster of the Southport Rifle Band. Rimmer later was a conductor, too, and had championship bands from 1905 - 1909.

Helden und Kreiger (Heroes & Warriors) is a serious sounding work by Newton which serves as a long fanfare. Making good use of timpani and percussion, it also treats the pairs of basses (tubas) in very low pitches; sometimes in octaves, sometimes in fifths.

Moon River by Mancini is one of those great American melodies, and some will recall it from the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Note the use of a unique kind of mute for cornets!

The second of our American pieces is that by Clarke, a leading cornet soloist of the turn of the century (1900!) respected 'round the world to this day for his books still used by trumpeters. Cousins features the cornet and its cousin (an octave lower) the trombone.

Ending the concert (no encore tonight!) is the terrific (or to the players, terrifying!) Blenheim Flourishes. Curnow is an American who has captured the Brass Band essence in this work in the "home key" of Eb, a vivo/vivace tempo of 144 beats per minute, and flurries of 16th notes. We hope it carries you away, too !

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