'That's Entertainment' showcases Purdue's concert
bands
Irish folk tunes, American gospel and Italian opera
represent just a few of the musical flavors Purdue’s Fall Concert Band and
Symphonic Band will sample in the season-opening “That’s Entertainment” on
Sunday, Sept. 29,
It is set for 2:30 p.m. in Long Center, 111 N. Sixth
St., Lafayette. Admission is free.
The diverse concert features the rare opportunity to
hear the pennywhistle on the concert stage when Harrison High School graduate
Jennifer Iles, principal flutist of Symphonic Band, solos in “Prism,” a
contemporary tune with an Irish flair. It will also feature Los Angles soprano,
Susan Cave, a graduate of Indiana University’s Opera School, in several popular
gospel tunes – “Amazing Grace,” “His Eye is On the Sparrow” and “Old Time
Religion.”
“Susan’s voice in light and pure, similar to that of
Kathleen Battle’s, and is ideal for this collection of American gospel tunes,”
says Jay S. Gephart, director of Purdue’s Symphonic Band.
Symphonic Band will back up Cave with special
arrangements of the tunes by Luigi Zaninelli. Its portion of the program
highlights another contemporary work, “Whirr, Whirr, Whirr” by Ralph Hultgren.
“It is nothing but a whirlwind of music characterized by the constant movement
of 16th notes so you feel the constant rushing of the wind. It just
rips,” Gephart says.
The “Triumphal March and Ballet Music” from Aida
caps their performance. “We have a tremendous transcription of this music by
Robert Rumbelow, Director of Bands at Columbus State University in Georgia. A
lot of times transcriptions don’t capture the integrity of the score, but
that’s not true here. Because of the warmth of his scoring, the sound is more
like an orchestra, very dark and rich.” Gephart adds.
The concert’s title comes from a medley of Broadway
tunes performed by the Fall Concert Band, under the direction of M.T. “Mo’ Trout, called “That’s
Entertainment.” It includes “Let Me Entertain You,” “Another Op’nin’, Another
Show,” “Send in the Clowns” among other tunes.
“Inferno,” a fiery Robert W. Smith work for band
inspired by Dante’s Inferno, serves as the centerpiece of the Fall Concert
Band’s portion of the concert. In Smith’s opening melodic statement the oboe
represents the sins of “incontinence” and subsequent musical sections,
following Dante’s text, address the sins of violence, hypocrisy and fraud.
Other pieces rounding out the concert include a Percy
Grainger arrangement of the Irish folk tune “Danny Boy;” Norman Dello Joio’s
“Scenes from The Louvre,” a musical journey through the famous Paris
museum; and John Philip Sousa’s “Comrades of the Legion.”