Arranged by Alan Berquist and remotely recorded by Ensemble 126 for the 2021 National Flute Association Convention

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w3wS8vqlnE

Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943), often known as R. Nathaniel Dett and Nathaniel Dett, was a Black Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor. He was the first black American to complete the Bachelor of Music degree at Oberlin in 1908, majoring in composition and piano. He is best known for his extensive choral works.

The second of four movements, the Adagio cantabile comes from his "Cinnamon Grove" Suite for Piano, published in 1928. Dett inscribed with this movement lines from "Gitanjali" by Rabindranath Tagore:

"When thou commandest me to sing
it seems that my heart would break
with pride; and I look to they face,
and tears come to my eyes."

R. Nathaniel Dett: Adagio cantabile from "Cinnamon Grove", arr. Alan Berquist [VIRTUAL ENSEMBLE]

Juice by Lizzo (2019)
Composed by Sean Small, Eric Frederic, Melissa Jefferson, Theron Thomas, Sam Sumser
Arranged by Joanna Taylor

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YjPNh_DW-w

Remotely recorded by Ensemble 126 for the 2021 National Flute Association Convention

Lizzo: Juice, arr. Joanna Taylor [VIRTUAL ENSEMBLE]

Remotely recorded by Ensemble 126 for the 2021 National Flute Association Convention

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXv5YXtrSoc

Eric Lacy (b. 1969)
Unbreakable (2012), notes from composer:

"“I composed Unbreakable due to a request to create music for flute choir that was highly melodic. Consequently, Unbreakable is based upon several simple melodic themes. Interestingly, one of those themes is not only singable, but based on the actual title of the piece itself. The only section of the music that is not singable is the middle section, which is rooted more in motive than in melody.”

Eric Lacy: Unbreakable [VIRTUAL ENSEMBLE]

Recorded August 16, 2022
PianoForte, Chicago
Juan Bautista Plaza (1898-1965)

Arrangement by Raimundo Pineda, from his introduction:

"Curruchá is one of the most well-known popular pieces of Juan Bautista Plaza, musicologist, pedagogue, composer and intellectual Venezuelan. It is a joropo with a very humorous lyrics that has been versioned by many artists and has become a key part of the Venezuelan national repertoire. On this occasion I made the arrangement for flute choir. I begin with a brief introduction that contains only a few motives of the elements of the work, somewhat to mislead the listener. When the joropo appears, he does it little by little until the whole orchestra shows his virtuosity in long staccato phrases. Towards the end he derives a modulating Bachian divertimento that seeks to take the listener to the extreme. However the main theme reappears putting everything in its place. It is a bright piece, with a lot of sparkle and very humorous."

Ensemble 126

Juan Bautista Plaza: Curruchá, arr. Raimundo Pineda

Recorded at PianoForte, Chicago
August 16, 2022

PROGRAM NOTES:
Wadi Qadisha | قادیشا وادي (”Holy Valley” in Aramaic) is inspired by the otherworldly beauty of the eponymous UNESCO World Heritage Site in Lebanon. The Holy Valley is near the Forest of
the Cedars of Lebanon, also known as the Cedars of God. The piece includes extended techniques that I have previously employed, namely in my solo flute piece, Miniatures from Phoenicia.

The texture of Wadi Qadisha | قادیشا وادي is made up of a collection of various composed Lebanese folksongs superimposed on top of each other. The melodies operate at various speeds, creating a temporal counterpoint in addition to the melodic one. The various time-layers represent the longevity and historical depth of the Holy Valley.

As such, the music will be imprinted with melodic content derived from the land of the Holy Valley. If we accept that culture is inseparable from its geography, then my piece is made from the matter of the Holy Valley.

Wadi Qadisha was commissioned by Ensemble 126 and premiered at the National Flute Association Convention in Chicago, Illinois on August 11, 2022.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER:
Sami Seif is a Lebanese composer, music theorist, and pianist. His music is inspired by the aesthetics, philosophies, paradigms, and poetry of his Middle-Eastern heritage. His work has been described as “very tasteful and flavorful” with “beautiful, sensitive writing!” (Webster University Young Composers Competition). His latest musical concerns center around the phenomenology of time and of differing degrees of focus.

Seif completed his BM, double-majoring in composition and music theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied composition with Keith Fitch, piano with Gerardo Teissonnière, and music theory with Alan Reese. At CIM, he earned the Donald Erb prize in composition and the Beth Pearce Nelson award in music theory. Starting in the fall of 2022, he will be pursuing his doctoral studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. https://www.samiseif.com

Photo: Evan Williams via Wikimedia Commons

Sami Seif: Wadi Qadisha (قادیشا وادي)

Recorded at PianoForte, Chicago
August 16, 2022

A Lovely Story (EXCERPT 2: Ending) by Anže Rozman (b. 1989)
Video of this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r452nUhsbfs

In a single extended movement, A Lovely Story fills the flute ensemble with gentle impressionistic sounds and dances, with frequent tempo and meter changes in Rozman's signature style. Written for the 2013 Slovenian Piccolo Festival (Jezersko, Slovenia).

Photo: Willem Troost (1684-1752), Fantasy Rhine landscape with castle town. Public domain.

Anže Rozman: A Lovely Story (Excerpt 2: Ending)

Recorded at PianoForte, Chicago
August 16, 2022

A Lovely Story (EXCERPT 1: Intro) by Anže Rozman (b. 1989)
Video of this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMyYUqxA5vU

In a single extended movement, A Lovely Story fills the flute ensemble with gentle impressionistic sounds and dances, with frequent tempo and meter changes in Rozman's signature style. Written for the 2013 Slovenian Piccolo Festival (Jezersko, Slovenia).

Photo: Willem Troost (1684-1752), Fantasy Rhine landscape with castle town. Public domain.

Anže Rozman: A Lovely Story (Excerpt 1: Intro)

Recorded at PianoForte, Chicago
August 16, 2022

Riad Mohammed Al Sunbati (1906-1981)
Arranged by Ahmed Al Ghanem (https://www.youtube.com/@AhmedAlGhanem)
Longa Reyad (Farah Faza)

Video of this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfNZ029vxKw

Riad Al Sunbati was a 20th-century Egyptian composer and musician, considered an icon of Egyptian music. One of his most famous instrumental compositions is "longa reyad" (also known as "longa sultani yigah", also appearing as Longa Riyad or Longa Riad) which is considered to be the most famous Arabic longa which was played by many western and Turkish orchestras and oudists.

Photo: Riad Al Subati as a young man, www.oud.gr.

Riad Al Sunbati: Longa Reyad (Farah Faza), arr. Ahmed Al Ghanem

Recorded at PianoForte, Chicago
August 16, 2022

Adrienne Albert (b. 1941)
Across the Cs (2015)

Video of this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9zkHA1jizQ

From the composer:
"Commissioned by the wonderful Norwegian group, 5 på Tvers (5 Across) for the 2015 NFA Convention in Washington, D.C.  Since California is many seas apart from Norway, the title of the piece is a takeoff of the fact that flutes, in general, are C instruments and we are seas apart. The piece is programmatic in nature, starting with the ensemble blowing across their instruments and then slowly finding their way across the waves and over to their native country. This piece should have a strong bass flute player and is definitely worth the effort!"

Photo: William Henry Holmes, The Open Sea (1900s). Public Domain.

Adrienne Albert: Across the C's

Recorded at PianoForte, Chicago
August 16, 2022

Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) 
Arranged by Tammara Phillips
Banchetto Musicale, Suite No. 1 (1617)
I. Padouana
II. Gagliarda
III. Courente
IV. Allemande

Video of this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yWUNIzuOjg

Johann Hermann Schein was a German composer of the early Baroque period. Possibly his most famous collection was his only collection of instrumental music, the Banchetto Musicale (Musical Banquet) which contains twenty separate variation suites; they are among the earliest, and most representative of the form. Most likely they were composed as dinner music for the courts of Weissenfels and Weimar, and were intended to be performed on viols. They consist of dances: a pavan-galliard (a normal early Baroque pair), a courante, and then an allemande-tripla. Each suite in the Banchetto is unified by mode as well as by theme.

Photo: Unknown artist, Johann Hermann Schein, 1620. Public domain.

Johann Hermann Schein: Banchetto Musicale, Suite No. 1, arr. Tammara Phillips

Recorded at FSU Dohnányi Recital Hall
February 10, 2020
Recording engineer: John Hadden

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-i5-PLmPS4

Nigel Wood (b. 1960)
"Melodic motif meets perpetual motion accompaniment."

Image: Saxtet Publications.

Nigel Wood: Stemming

Ensemble 126 is a dynamic and flexible flute ensemble. The name "Ensemble 126" was inspired by the materials frequently used to make concert C flutes, the primary instrument of the ensemble. By adding the atomic numbers of gold (79) and silver (47), Ensemble 126 was born.

E126 is dedicated to expanding the repertoire for flute ensemble through commissions, education, outreach, and performance outside the traditional flute ensemble.

To create a truly unique, cutting edge sound, our group utilizes world, historic, and the full range of modern concert flutes.

Ensemble 126

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