By Rachel Huchthausen
The Wind Ensemble presented another exciting concert last Saturday. The program, with the addition of and arrangement of Prayer for Ukraine in solidarity with those suffering because of the war at the beginning of the program, was arranged around it’s title piece, Angels in the Architecture by Frank Ticheli. The pieces were cleverly ordered according to arch form, with scenes of nature as bookends, scenes from the Bible and Ticheli’s piece in the center so that this piece was literally Angels in the Arch(itecture). Franco Cesarini’s Alpina Fanfare also majestically follows this architectural theme within the music itself. The next on the program, Shenandoah by Omar Thomas, involved the audience in creating an atmosphere of rain with the Wind Ensemble. Those who went to the concert would remember their quickly tiring and cramping fingers and would certainly give some “snaps” to the ensemble members for snapping for so long. After Theme from “The Bible” by Toshiro Mayuzumi and When Jesus Wept by William Schuman, the Wind Ensemble presented Ticheli’s central piece.
Dr. McGarvey noted before the beginning of the piece that Angels in the Architecture could be described as a battle between evil and the divine. These two concepts were symbolized with various techniques from the composer’s toolkit. Evil was represented by low dissonant notes in the brass and polytonality. The divine took the form of an eclectic assortment of sounds associated with Christianity: high ethereal pitches produced by the percussionists playing Whirlies, angelic text in a high range beautifully sung from the balcony above the stage, a festive arrangement of a Hebrew folk song, and the joined forces of the organ and Wind Ensemble playing “Old Hundredth,” otherwise known as Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow. The program was concluded by Dusk by Steven Bryant and Silverado by Bruce Broughton. Thank you to the Wind Ensemble—especially those graduating—for your wonderful work. ★
