Collegio Online

Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Salman Alkhulif Stella Hastings conducts the Southeast Kansas Symphony during its concert titled "The Devil, You Say!"

A blaring trumpet fanfare opened the Southeast Kansas Symphony's concert on Saturday night, Feb. 16, in McCray Hall.
The first half of the program, performed by PSU faculty, was dedicated to Igor Stravinsky, the composer of the two-trumpet piece "Fanfare for a New Theater" and "Soldier's Tale."

The second half was reserved for the SEK Symphony Strings, consisting of PSU faculty, students and community members, performing Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Symphony No. 9 in C minor."

For some of the audience, the night's program was confusing. A rarely performed and complex trumpet fanfare, written for a New York City performance of Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" ballet, was later explained by music education major James Ryals.

"While seemingly unpleasant to the untrained ear, the trumpet fanfare was performed flawlessly and used all twelve notes of a chromatic scale," said Ryals.
Stravinsky's work is rarely performed and usually not accompanied by narration. However, John Ross, music professor at PSU, read the narration at Saturday's event.

"The hardest part, actually, is that the part I read tonight doesn't exist," Ross said. "I had to adapt from the play and make it cohesive."

But Ross' work was appreciated by some in the audience.

"My favorite part was the narration," said Kristen Taylor, a student in attendance. "I liked that there was a story to accompany the music."

The story was derived from
Stravinsky's admiration of Alexander Afanasiev's collection of Russian tales, and paralleled the familiar "Peter and the Wolf." A soldier is on leave from war and travels home to visit his family. Along the way, he is sidetracked by the devil and his games. The soldier loses sight of his goals as he gives way to worldly temptations.

"Soldier's Tale" was written in 1918, following World War I. In this piece, Stravinsky incorporated elements of jazz, of which he had only seen written examples.

The instrumentals wind around one another as the soldier struggles with right and wrong. After the struggle, the other instruments drop out, leaving the violin and the percussion, representing the soul and the devil, to battle it out.
At the end, however, only the drum continues.

The Mendelssohn piece, on the other hand, sounded graceful, smooth and harmonious compared to the choppy, marching feel of the Stravinsky piece. The instruments blended to sound like the first months of spring.

Future performances by the Music Department include a tribute to Walter McCray at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 13, in McCray Recital Hall; Beethoven's 8th Symphony will be showcased at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, also in McCray Recital Hall.

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