Igor Stravinsky - Septet

Clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano, violin, viola, cello

The Septet, composed thirty years later than the more commonly played Octet, is a later work of Igor Stravinsky, though still initially reflecting elements of his earlier Neoclassical idiom. The Septet opens with a traditional sonata form in the first movement with polished contrapuntal elements. The piece then departs from the Neoclassical sound in the second movement, though preserving “classical” compositional techniques, as indicated by the heading Passacaglia: a movement based on a repeating bass line, originally tonal in design, though no longer the case here. By the third movement (Gigue), Stravinsky experiments with serialism. At its core, serialism involves an ordered collection of musical elements, such as pitches or rhythms, arranged in a specific order or “series” that is then used as the basis for composing a piece through manipulation and transformation, instead of the traditional organizing principle of tonal scales and chord progressions. In this way, Stravinsky’s Septet contributed to his departure from traditional tonal reference points in his earlier Neoclassical style.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work closely with Paul Phillips as my conducting mentor and professor. Over the past four years, I’ve both played Stravinsky’s symphonic repertoire under Maestro Phillips’ baton in the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and studied the scores of his other works as a conducting student. I am honored to include Stravinsky’s Septet in my capstone recital with an ensemble of musicians with whom I have worked closely, both from the back of the orchestra as a timpanist and the front as a conductor.

Johann Sebastian Bach – Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

Cello, transcribed for Marimba

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo Cello Suites follow the traditional form of the German instrumental suite – an intricate prélude followed by a set of dances: allemande, courante, sarabande, minuet, and gigue. Bach’s dance suites have a rich social history, reflecting aristocratic forms of entertainment emulated by many among the middle and upper classes during the European Baroque era. The first cello suite opens with a familiar steady-paced prélude, followed by a balance of lively and slower dances. Throughout my time at Stanford, I’ve prepared many of these individual dances from various suites for marimba and I am thrilled to program the first cello suite in its entirety.

Bach’s compositional genius predates the popularization of the marimba in the mid-20th century by about three hundred years. Nonetheless, percussionists have adapted transcriptions of the unaccompanied violin, lute, and cello suites to the versatile and wide-ranging instrument, utilizing its five-octave range to highlight the marimba’s virtuosity and the musicality of Bach’s compositions. This is not to say, however, that a marimbist approaches Bach in the same way that a cellist would. Marimbists must consider the instrument’s inability to sustain pitches as a bowed string instrument would be able to; the performer might choose to execute a roll – which involves repeatedly hitting the note to imitate the sustain of a bow – rather than allow for the natural rosewood bar to vibrate into the metal resonators below and dissipate in only a matter of seconds. Marimbists may also use the dexterity of four mallets to achieve polyphony, or the simultaneity of multiple notes at once.

Gordon Jacob - Old Wine in New Bottles

Woodwinds, trumpets, and horns