Ingolf Dahl: Sinfonietta (1961)

Julian Work: Autumn Walk (1958)

David Maslanka: A Child’s Garden of Dreams (1981)

The Charles River Wind Ensemble begins the season with a concert of works well ahead of the traditions of “band music.” In 1960 few works were explicitly designed for the wind ensemble – notable exceptions include H. Owen Reed’s La Fiesta Mexicana (1950), Paul Hindemith’s Symphony in B-flat (1951), and Vincent Persichetti’s Symphony No. 6 (1956), all of which have been featured on earlier CRWE programs.

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Ingolf Dahl’s Sinfonietta of about 20 minutes’ duration has a traditional three-movement layout (1. Introduction and Rondo; 2. Pastoral Nocturne; 3. Dance Variations). Although the composer uses modern harmonies and techniques, the constant strong melodic content and references to “traditional” band-like music (such as marches and waltzes) make the work easy for audiences to enjoy. Ranging from chamber-like scoring with just a few instruments to the full ensemble, the work shows humor and lightness throughout, including a jazzy obligato for the entire clarinet section!

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Julian Work was one of the first African-American composers to write music for radio and television. Calm, beautiful Autumn Walk (about 8 minutes) is unusual for early band works because of its slow tempo, quiet dynamic levels, and impressionistic transparency. At times the full ensemble expresses lush chords with close harmonies, while at other times only a few voices are heard. The entire cinematic-sounding work never rises above a mezzo-forte.

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David Maslanka can truly be called a giant of wind composition. His works range from sonatas to full-length symphonies, the latter being unusual for wind bands as noted above. A Child’s Garden of Dreams (about 35 minutes) draws on five excerpts from Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols. Maslanka has written:

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All composition begins below the unconscious level, and then flows up to the conscious. That is why dreams are so vitally important to pay attention to — they are an outward manifestation of messages from the inner self and provide the composer with a unique source for musical creativity.

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As with so much of Maslanka’s music, the five movements present enormous contrasts, cover a complete dynamic range, and make extensive use of every sonic resource of the modern wind ensemble.

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