The West Valley College Symphonic Band opens its 2025–26 season, A Season of Sound & Story, with Souvenirs in Sound, a program that transports listeners across continents through the art of musical storytelling.
Five composers, each inspired by their travels, have returned home with something greater than souvenirs; aural landscapes shaped by culture, history, and imagination. Together, these works invite audiences to explore how sound can hold memory and the spirit of discovery.
This performance will be conducted by Dr. Troy Davis, Director of Instrumental Music & Jazz Studies at West Valley College, and Lara Levy, Director of Bands at Pioneer High School. We’re thrilled to welcome our special guests, the Pioneer High School Wind Ensemble, joining us for this collaborative concert on Sunday, October 12 at 3:00 PM at Pioneer High School, San José.
Program Notes: The Stories Behind the Sound
Marche Des Parachutistes Belges was composed near the end of World War II. Pierre Leemans was having dinner with a group of paratroopers and was asked to compose a march. As the group commander drove Leemans home that night, the march theme came to mind, and he wrote out all of the parts after reaching home. A quiet, unaggressive essay in the easy-paced European style, it is set in the form of a “patrol”; the music marches on from the distance, plays, and passes.
Ammerland depicts the lush, enchanting region surrounding the Zwischenaher Lake in Ammerland, Lower Saxony, Germany. The rural land of Ammerland boasts seemingly endless country roads and an exquisite lakeside. The sonorous sounds of Ammerland create the feeling of being carried away to this unique landscape of fields covered with sprawling meadows covered with yellow wildflower blossoms.
Arabian Dances begins with a haunting opening which accompanies the folk song Ala Dal'ona. As the orchestration builds, original themes are intertwined before the percussion ensemble becomes the focus of the piece. The final melody, Tafta Hindi, develops until it morphs into an ostinato over a magnificent presentation of the original theme that is found throughout the work.
Based on two Cork Reel tunes, Molly on the Shore and Temple Hill, respectively, Molly on the Shore began as a string quartet and was later rescored by Grainger himself for full symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, and finally military band in 1920. In a 1959 letter to Frederick Fennell, Grainger wrote, “I strove to imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying reel tune ... Equally with melody, I prize discordant harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it exerts.” Program note from Kell High School Wind Ensemble.
Hymn of the Highlands was commissioned by David King and the Yorkshire Building Society Band for the first performance at the 2002 European Brass Band Championships Gala Concert in Brussels. David King’s imaginative programming had already led to the writing of three such ‘concept’ pieces for brass band – Cry of the Celts, Voice of the Vikings and Windows of the World. The idea was to produce an extended and themed piece, which can act as a half concert to feature a band’s soloists. The entire suite in its brass band version is comprised of seven movements, all named after locations in the Scottish Highlands. Not all of these were considered suitable for transcriptions for concert band, so Sparke created Suite from Hymn of the Highlands and included Strathcarron in this four-movement work. Strathcarron is an energetic sword dance which alternates between fast and slow tempi. Strathcarron village is at the head of Loch Carron, near the Isle of Skye. Program note from the publisher.
Cedar Canyon Sketches is an enjoyable work intended to take listeners back in time on a journey through the Texas Hill Country, a place of rugged hills and beautiful sunsets. Highly descriptive, the piece begins with the tranquil sounds of nighttime conveyed by a mysterious-sounding Native American-like flute solo with marimba accompaniment. The bumpy yet joyful trip across the plains is depicted in a brisk section, occasionally interrupted by smooth, flowing passages. A slower, expressive section begins softly with initial melodic material stated by the horns accompanied by low brass. Bold brass statements are heard as the section builds to an effective full-ensemble climax representing the grandeur and majesty of a beautiful sunset. Earlier material is then revisited and developed as the composition moves to a spirited conclusion. Program note from “The Instrumentalist.”
Jasmine Bouquet is a short piece based on the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower" (mo li hua). The melody of the folk song is presented, followed by a fast, rhythmic variation, and a slower, more lyrical variation. The folk song melody then returns. The dizi, a Chinese flute, has the opening solo. Jasmine Bouquet was composed for, and dedicated to the Peninsula Young Artists Orchestra, and their conductor, Sara Salsbury, to be performed during their tour of China in 2008. Program note by the composer.
Subtitled City of the Sky - The mystery of the hidden Sun Temple, Satoshi Yagisawa’s Machu Picchu pays homage to the 15th century Incan citadel, set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru, that is now recognized as a World Heritage Site. Located about 80 miles from the empire’s capital of Cusco, it was built as a refuge for the elite of the Inca aristocracy. Surrounded by steep cliffs and hidden by the forest below, it was secure until it was raided by conquistador Francisco Pizarro, stripping it of huge quantities of gold. The Spanish troops had previously destroyed Cusco’s Sun Temple. During the 1911 rediscovery of Machu Picchu by Yale professor Hiram Bingham, a huge column of stone was found at the central high point of the citadel. Archeologists believe this might have been the last sacred Sun Temple for the royals as they retreated from Pizarro’s advances. Yagisawa commented on this concept that became the theme of his 2004 work:
“After considering these remarkable ideas I wished to musically describe that magnificent citadel and trace some of the mysteries sealed in Machu Picchu’s past. Three principal ideas dominate the piece: 1) the shimmering golden city of Cusco set in the dramatic scenery of the Andes, 2) the destructiveness of violent invasion, and 3) the re-emergence of Incan glory as the City in the Sky again reached for the sun.”
Experience the full story of “Souvenirs in Sound” this Sunday, October 12, where every note carries a memory, and every piece offers a glimpse into a world beyond our own.
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