Performed by the Hillsdale Wind Symphony, Hillsdale, MI; Robert A. Livingston, director.
Conducted by the composer at the HWS Spring Concert, 05/02/2014

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Hiraeth /hɪəraɪ̯θ/ – a Welsh word with no direct English translation, often defined as homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, or an earnest desire for the Wales of the past. 

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While the term 'hiraeth' connotes a distinctly Welsh cultural tradition, here it is transplanted as a reverent and nostalgic celebration of musical practices during the common practice era of Western (European) art music, lasting from about 1600 to around 1900. Often broadly defined simply as “Classical music,” this era actually encompasses the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. During this era, well-defined contrapuntal and harmonic procedures dictated how music was composed. These included the prominence of diatonic scales with tonal centers, chromatic extensions of these scales based on relationships within the diatonic collections, goal-oriented harmonic motion directed primarily by perfect 5th intervallic relationships (the same interval from which diatonic collections are derived), and the strict resolution of dissonance into consonance via established contrapuntal procedures.

Hymn Hiraeth expounds upon the ideals of this tradition. Common practice procedures are applied to an original, yet somehow all-too-familiar, diatonic hymn tune, highlighting the primary relationships in the major mode among tonic (E♭), dominant (B♭), and the relative minor (C). The setting is mostly diatonic, straying only to tonicize the relative minor key. This implication is realized in the final statement of the hymn tune, modulated to the key of the relative minor, but presented in the parallel major mode (C major).  Codetta-like flirting with the new subdominant (F), a frequent idiom especially in the Baroque era, leads to a final cadence involving only the root and fifth of the tonic chord. This emphasizes the importance of the perfect 5th interval and harkens back to cadential traditions which pre-date even common practice tonality.

Beyond these technical aspects, Hymn Hiraeth honors the effectiveness of common practice tonality in creating honest and dramatic musical landscapes. The hymn revels in its simplicity and unabashed presentation, yearning for the basal spirituality that binds and connects all men and women and the idealistic purity of that connection.

Hymn Hiraeth

From Dr. Jeffrey Loeffert's solo debut album, 'Differential Moods'
Copyright © 2014 Blue Griffin Records.
All Rights Reserved.
www.bluegriffin.com
--------------------
Jeffrey Loeffert, soprano saxophone
Jun Okada, piano

Differential Moods

   The discovery of rare isotopes dates back at least to the turn of the 20th century. Such early methods involving measurements of radioactive decay often were crude and unsafe. Gradually, as the century progressed, methods of rare isotope discovery improved, both in terms of safety and greater yields of data collected and catalogued. Methods involving mass spectroscopy, light particles, fission, fusion/transfer, and spallation proved to be increasingly more effective. However, it was not until the development of the exceedingly successful method of projectile fragmentation that the discovery rate of rare isotopes hit an unprecedented stride. Michigan State University has been instrumental in the institution and development of particle acceleration/projectile fragmentation isotope beam technology, beginning with the construction and implementation of the K50 in 1965. Since then, the MSU Cyclotron Laboratory has partnered with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further establish the Heavy Ion Laboratory in 1977 and the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) in 1980. Now, fifty years after the first beam K50 cyclotron , the NSCL at MSU prepares for the next phase in the future generation of nuclear physics research with the construction of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), projected to be fully operational by 2022. 

Kaleisotope

The Atomic Wait

Philip Sinder, Tuba
Michigan State University Symphony Band; John Madden, Conductor

Live premiere: 10/27/2015

Concerto For Tuba And Wind Ensemble

Commissioned and performed by ￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼The Flutastic Flutes (made up of flutists from the Lansing ￼Symphony Orchestra) for the "Concerts at St. Mary's"(CASM) series.
http://www.casmmusic.org/

Girl, Uncorrupted: A Meditation on the Virgin Mary

REMINISCENCE

Shaded by a bough
Near the sparkling stream
Paused the lad, somehow
Happy with his dream,
Dreaming how he’d cast
Scepter in his hand,
Bringing foe to task,
Life at his command.


		     Down the stream a ways:
		     Now an older man
		     Tossing pebbles, stays each, as with a scan
		     Sees the water swell
		     As of yesteryear
		     Flowing where it fell,
		     Music to his ear.


					Homeward will he wend;
					Man and boy decree
					Hours still to spend
					Dreaming of a tree
					By the rippling stream
					Where it all began;
					Boyhood was its theme,
					Now he is the man.

  - Roy Schoendorff (1955)


Matthew Tuell, tenor
Eileen Downey, piano

Reminiscence

In honor of John Whitwell, conductor emeritus of the Michigan State University Bands

Michigan State University Symphony Band
John Madden, conductor

Linear Spheres

The term fugue derives from the Latin fuga, which literally means ‘flight.’  In music, a fugue is a compositional form characterized by imitative entries of a theme known as a fugue subject.  This theme “chases” after itself with each successive contrapuntal imitation in each part or voice, and the parts interweave into a full musical texture.  The form was especially popular during the Baroque era, when the fundamentals of tonal harmony were codified in part by the contrapuntal resolutions of dissonance.

In psychiatry, a fugue state refers to a temporary psychological condition where the mind flees from reality, usually in response to some kind of mental or physical trauma.  It is characterized by a loss of awareness of self identity.  An individual experiencing a fugue state generally behaves out of the ordinary, accompanied by a departure from one’s usual environment.

Fugue State plays on both the musical form and the mental condition.  Elements of a Baroque-style fugue are juxtaposed with disparate and more modern musical segments, linked together only thematically.  The end result is a musical flight or chase through a series of contrasting styles culminating in a bewildering presentation of the thematic material developed in imitative stretto, constantly pushing forward towards the inevitable cadence.

Published by Grand Mesa Music Publishers, 2012.
Publisher link: http://bit.ly/PnDt7k

Fugue State

Just listen....It will happen and encompass your whole being through your auditory senses.

Waiting For Another Day

Matthew Schoendorff is a composer of many styles of music. Although perhaps best known among the professional community for his works for wind band, Schoendorff writes for all types of ensembles. His pieces have been performed on several continents and are on many state festival required music lists. Schoendorff’s music has received recognition by the first National Band Association’s Young Composer Mentor Project, The National Association for Music Education (MENC), and several competitions and festivals in Michigan.

An active performer and conductor, he has performed with the Ann Arbor Concert Band, the Hillsdale Wind Symphony, the Saginaw Eddy Concert Band, ensembles at both Michigan State University and Western Michigan University, and is also a former guest conductor for the Ann Arbor Concert Band. He has taught instrumental music in the Coldwater Community Schools (MI), as well as theory and composition courses at the Mott Community College Jim Lee Fine Arts Camp in Flint, MI. He serves as a member of the music theory and composition faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI and the composition and songwriting instructor at the Flint Institute of Music School of Performing Arts in Flint, MI. Previous appointments include Theory and Composition Chair at the National Music Institute for Young Artists (in affiliation with the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, MI).

First published as an undergraduate student at Western Michigan University, Schoendorff continues an extensive writing and publishing career. His music is published by Grand Mesa Music Publishers, TRN Music Publisher, MSB Publishing Co., Advance Music, and The Tuba Press. He is a member of ASCAP. In addition to his published compositions, he is also co-author of a warm-up method for wind band. Schoendorff appears in the 2008 GIA Publications release Composers on Composing for Band, Vol. IV, edited by Mark Camphouse. He previously was the composer- in-residence for the NUCLASSICA Ensemble in Detroit, MI and has arranged for the OPERA REMIX Initiative at the Townsend Opera Company in Modesto, CA.

Schoendorff completed his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition at Michigan State University, where he studied with Jere Hutcheson and Ricardo Lorenz and served as a graduate assistant in music theory. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in composition and education from Western Michigan University.

matthewschoendorff

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