CARMINA BURANA
We open today’s concert with a composer who deliberately sought primitive spirits from beyond – and a powerful, sensual pagan style.  Carl Orff (1895-1982) founded a school of gymnastics, music and dance, and developed a very influential music teaching method.  He bases his mature masterpiece Cármina Burana (1937) on lusty medieval songs of the 11th-13th centuries that mock the church but also reach out to powerful spirits such as Fortune: “changeable, ever waxing and waning...first oppressing, then soothing.” We perform the first and final movements which use that same text and music.  The finale opens with the music of the first movement, then extends it. These movements frame the second - titled ‘I lament Fortune’s blows’ - which describes Fortune as ghoulish, having “hair on the front of her head – but none of the back.”  Orff attempts to depict primitive style with repeated pedal points, ostinatos and driving rhythms.  Welcome to the spirits of Halloween!

THE CAVE YOU FEAR
American composer Michael Markowski’s approach to The Cave You Fear is “A thirst for something new and a sense of adventure.  Let’s take a chance – and fight any monsters we find in there.”  Increasingly prominent as a composer of truly original pieces for concert band, he earned commissions from the College Band Director’s National Association and the Consortium for the Advancement of Wind Band Music.  He frequently visits Middle School, High School, and University band programs, and dedicated this piece to Gravely Hill Middle School Bands.  Marokowski cites Joseph Campbell’s writing on what we call the ‘Hero’s Journey’ as he writes a rich and stirring band piece on seeking the unknown.  The slow passage in the middle, depicting fearsome spirits that might await, is quite dramatic.  He follows it by a quicker joyful passage to end the work – having sought those spirits out and triumphed.

FUNDERAL MARCH OF A MARIONETTE
How many funeral processions pause – for refreshments?  Charles Gounod wrote this tongue-in-cheek piece for piano in 1872 about a puppet killed in a duel.  With a celebrated gift for lyricism in his 18 operas (including Faust and Romeo & Juliet) and 16 masses, he strongly influenced the next generation of French composers – especially Bizet, Faure, and Massenet.  Gounod became “the central figure in French music 1850-75” (New Grove).  That lyricism of great breadth dominates the 32-bar primary theme of Funeral March for a Marionette, built on balanced 8-bar phrases.  He also sets it in D Minor, creating strong contrast for the central ‘refreshment’ pause in D Major, which shifts to staccato texture for full band.  The light-hearted theme then returns to close the piece, bringing a smile to anyone familiar with Alfred Hitchcock’s television show of the 1950s and 60s.

FUNERAL MUSIC FOR QUEEN MARY
Vocal works dominated the Renaissance era (ca.1450-1600), as masses, motets, madrigals, and chansons became by far the most popular genres.  By contrast, the Baroque era (1600-ca.1750) witnessed the birth of the orchestra and the rise of major instrumental genres: symphonies, concertos, suites, and sonatas.  One of the greatest Baroque composers, Henry Purcell mastered most sacred and secular vocal genres - but also excelled in the new instrumental genres, especially sonatas and suites.  Associated with the Royal Court from 1682 until his death in 1695, he wrote music for important court functions – and this was his final court assignment, with all the weight and majesty of a Royal funeral procession for Queen Mary.  From Purcell’s larger work, Steven Stuckey includes his two instrumental movements (the somber opening March with both a tempo marking ‘Grave’ and a repetitive 3-bar phrase in various harmonic guises – as well as a closing, quicker Canzona) framing a band arrangement of In the midst of Life we are in Death.  Begun by an oboe solo, this was one of three vocal anthems Purcell wrote for the occasion.

GRACEFUL GHOST
After two funerals, now we get a ghost?  Must be Halloween! Except this one arrives for some light relief, more along the lines of Casper the friendly ghost.  William Bolcom taught on the music faculty of University of Michigan for 35 years, from 1973-2008.  He is an accomplished pianist, with CD recordings of his own works, along with those of George Gershwin and Darius Milhaud, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1988 for his 12 Etudes for piano.  Bolcom wrote Graceful Ghost as a piano piece, in memory of his father and set it in ragtime style.  Ragtime flourished in the first two decades of the 20th century, and features ‘ragged rhythms – plenty of syncopations.  Those syncopations begin in the first bar of the piece, as does his rich harmony.  Listen for a contrasting section in the middle, beginning with an oboe solo before returning to the opening key – but always in a gentle, graceful style.