On White & Crimson – A fall wind ensemble concert

Kiersten Fuhr - Staff Writer

This past Saturday the Wind Ensemble put on their first concert of the year in Dahl Chapel. Their program featured three guest artists and a senior feature.

The concert opened with Until the Scars by John Mackey, conducted by guest conductor Dr. Travis K. Huga. Huga is currently on the faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi as the Associate Director of Bands and director of the Pride of Mississippi Marching Band. This piece is an adaptation of the first movement of a symphony based on Homer’s The Odyssey. The composer writes, “After ten years of bloody siege, the Trojan War was won because of Odysseus’ gambit … Odysseus gave the Greeks victory, and they left the alien shores for home. But Odysseus’ journey would take as long as the war itself … In this section of the story, Odysseus, having filled his ship with the spoils of war, leaves for home, but he carried another, more dangerous, cargo: Pride. This movement opens with his triumphal march and continues as he and his crew maraud through every port of call on their way home.”

Dr. Justin Swearinger conducted the pieces that followed. ASIMO by Roger Zare is a fun and quirky piece meant to mimic a robot, much like the Honda robot from 2000 the piece was named after. Following ASIMO was The Water is Wide by Kevin Krumenauer, a tribute to the late David Maslanka, and October by Eric Whitacre. The final piece before intermission was Concertino by Cécile Chaminade. This beautiful piece featured excellent flute work by senior Larissa Pothoven.

After intermission, the audience was treated to On White & Crimson, a piece by alum Sean Klink ‘18, commissioned by Dr. Swearinger. In his explanation of his creation of the piece, Klink explains how he was influenced by the concept of a river. “I have a distinct memory from my freshman year at Monmouth of a faculty member trying to explain that beneath campus flows an underground river which shaped its hills and influenced the placement of many of its buildings … This was long before I had heard this quote by Philip Glass: ‘My experience with music is that it’s like an underground river, it’s always there. And like an underground river, you don’t know where it comes from, and you don’t know where it’s going. The only difference is whether you are listening or not.’, so when I first came across this quote, it really struck me.”

On White & Crimson includes some things you wouldn’t expect, such as using fishing wire to play the strings on the piano and the brass section using small, smooth stones to make noise. The stones specifically are meant to make the river idea come across more literally. The piece also included a bagpipe prelude by Klink’s friend and fellow alum, Jaron Park.

The concert closed with Gandalf – The Wizard by Johan de Meij, the first movement of his first symphony, The Lord of the Rings, based on the trilogy of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien.