Tuesday, November 10, 2009, at 7:30 pm

Paul Christopher, cello

Assisted by Mary Ann Ybarra, piano and David Schepps, cello

Keller Recital Hall

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM

PROGRAM

Musette, Opus 24 .... Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)

La course en traineau .... J Offenbach

                                  

Suite #1 in G major BWV 1007 .... JS Bach (1685-1750)

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Menuet I and II

Gigue

Ballade for the Hellenic Land (1996) .... Dinos Constantinides (1929-

Adagio for two violoncelli .... Auguste Franchomme (1808-1884)

Resonance, I-V (2009) .... Mark Prince Lee (1960-

Introduction et Valse mélancolique, Opus 14 .... J. Offenbach

Les Larmes de Jacqueline .... J. Offenbach

PROGRAM NOTES                                

                                               

The music of Dinos Constantinides has been performed throughout the world.  He is the recipient of many grants, commissions and awards, including first prize in the Brooklyn College International Chamber Opera Competition, the First Midwest Chamber Opera Conference, and the Delius Composition Contest.  He also received the American New Music Consortium Distinguished Service Award, the Glen Award of l’Ensemble of New York, several Meet the Composer grants, numerous ASCAP Standard Awards, and he was honored with a Distinguished Teacher White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.  Dr. Constantinides is presently Boyd Professor, the highest academic rank at Louisiana State University, head of the Composition area, and Music Director of the Louisiana Sinfonietta.

Ballade for the Hellenic Land (1990) for solo cello includes two contrasting sections.  The first one reflects the style of an Athenian serenade (kandatha) which was characterized by lyrical song-like tunes sung by voice and accompanied by guitar or mandolin employing fast repeated notes (tremolo).  The second one is a dance-like section that is rhythmic and fast.  Both materials are vivid in the memory of the composer from his teen aged years in his native city Athens, Greece.  This work was written for a concert of the composer’s music given at New York University in 1996.  It was premiered by cellist Ning Tien.

Mark Prince Lee received his B.M. in composition from Florida State University, and his M.M. in composition from Memphis State University.  Dr. Lee also holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in German from Vanderbilt University.  Dr. Lee did post graduate study in composition for two summers at the Ferienkurse in Darmstadt, Germany.  Dr. Lee was also a participant in the composition and analysis seminars given by Karlheinz Stockhausen in the summers of 2002, 2003, and 2004, in Kürten, Germany.

Dr. Lee is Associate Professor of Music and German at Columbia State College (near Nashville, Tennessee), where he teaches Theory, Composition, Piano, German Literature, directs the Student Performance Ensemble, and serves as the Music Department Chair.

Resonance for Solo Amplified Cello (2009) duration c.15’ is an expansion of an earlier cello piece, Solo #3 for Cello, which is part of a larger work entitled Quintet for Winds and Strings.  Resonance is divided into five Groups, each with its own fixed pitch group, derived from the final set in Group V.  The first four Groups consist respectively of 10, 8, 6, and 5 pitches, the original set not used until the final Group.  Like much of my recent music, fixed pitches receive their own dynamics and articulation, with the first four tempos organized according to their relationship to the final tempo.

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