Purdue Symphonic Band to premiere Robert Jager work

The concert will feature the band performing Jager's "Libera Me" as well as pieces by Tchaikovsky, Saint Saens and others. Purdue's Fall Concert Band also will perform. Admission to the concert is free.

Symphonic Band director Jay S. Gephart said Jager is regarded as one of the top band and orchestra composers in the country and his works are familiar to many musicians.

"For those who know his work, 'Libera Me' is unlike anything he's ever done before," Gephart said. "In discussions with him, Jager says it was the most difficult piece he's written in his long career and he also feels it's the most profound."

During his career that has spanned four decades, most of it on the music faculty at Tennessee Tech University, Jager has received many awards for his compositions, including being the only three-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association's Ostwald Award.

Gephart said Jager dedicated "Libera Me" to Purdue University Bands because a 2004 visit to campus as composer-in-residence coincided with a critical turning point in Jager's life.

"The piece is the outcome of a personal crisis Bob Jager happened to be working through at the time," Gephart said. "Jager was so moved by the outpouring of compassion for him by the Purdue Bands community that he wanted to write this piece for us and dedicate it to us."

He said difficult emotions — such as anxiety, grief and angst — are present in "Libera Me."

"[The piece is] very descriptive as it takes you through a series of very strong and deep emotions," Gephart said. "Then, just as they all come together at a climactic point and you sense the most heightened degree of inner turmoil, it's as if he immediately comes to peace with life.

"There's also the hint of a profound religious experience as Jager brings back a hymn tune — 'O Come, O Come Emanuel' — pointing to the calm that's come as a result of working through all those emotions."

Gephart said it's an honor to be the first to present the piece.

"It's not often that you get to perform a world premiere and especially to do one with a composer as highly respected as Bob Jager," he said. "It's a very special moment for the Purdue Symphonic Band."

While Jager will not be able to attend the concert, it will present a musical portrait of Jager by opening the concert with his "Esprit de Corps" march written for the U.S. Marine Band.

"It's a special opening number," Gephart said. "Each time we play it, it makes me smile because it's such a happy, joyful piece of music."

Following up on the peace and calm that Jager wrote into the closing moments of "Libera Me," the Symphonic Band will present Robert Spittal's "Pachem: A Hymn of Peace," which opens with a brass choir, and will continue the mood with Saint Saens' "Finale" from Symphony No. 3 and Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Jesters."

"It's all meant to be our gift back to Jager," Gephart said. "The Saint Saens' piece is unique in the composer's ability to cleverly use the variety of instruments available to replicate the sound of an organ. 'The Dance of the Jesters' is another descriptive piece. You can close your eyes and imagine jesters and clowns dancing around. Elements in it are very like the ‘Nutcracker.'"

The Fall Concert Band, directed by Andrew King, will open the Nov. 19 concert afternoon with a short program of pieces including "The Gallant Seventh" by John Phillip Sousa, "Scootin' on Hardrock" by David Holsinger, "Folk Dances" by Shostakovich and an arrangement of "Amazing Grace" by William Himes.

Writer: Kathy Matter, Purdue Bands public relations director, (765) 496-6785, kcmatter@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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