Regency Concert Series
Lyric Brass Quintet
Sunday, April 23, 2017, at 3pm
Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center
Pacific Lutheran University
School of Arts and Communication / Department of Music presents
Regency Concert Series
Lyric Brass Quintet
Sunday, April 23, 2017, at 3pm
Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center
Welcome to Lagerquist Concert Hall.
Please disable the audible signal on all watches, pagers and cellular phones for the duration of the concert.
Use of cameras, recording equipment and all digital devices is not permitted in the concert hall.
PROGRAM
7 Chansons Populaires Espagnoles ........................................................................ Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
1. Le drap mauresque
arr. Taz Eddy
2. Seguidille murcienne
3. Asturienne
4. Jota
5. Nana
6. Chanson
7. Polo
Street Song........................................................................................................ Michael Tilson Thomas (b. 1944)
INTERMISSION
A performance in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation,
with introductory comments by the composer.
Luther, Seven Scenes for Brass Quintet ........................................................................... Jerry Kracht (b. 1941)
I. Præambulum, Storm and Vow
II. The Monastery
III. Rōma
IV. Wittenberg and the Ninety-five
V. Trial, Excommunication and Flight
VI. At Wartburg
VII. Finale: Hymn and Dance
About the Performers
The Lyric Brass is the resident faculty brass ensemble at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma,
Washington. Its members teach private lessons at PLU and are all active solo, chamber, and orchestral
performers throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The players enjoy performing a wide range of
repertoire from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century, including several works that have been
commissioned for them. In 2012, The Lyric Brass released a CD “American Music for Brass Quintet” which
includes works by Gwyneth Walker, Charles Ives, David Snow, and a new work written for the group by Sy
Brandon. The members of the Lyric Brass get along surprisingly well with each other given the potentially
volatile combination of Red Sox, Yankees, and Mariners fans.
Zachary Lyman, trumpet, is Associate Professor of Trumpet and Music Theory at Pacific Lutheran University
(PLU) in Tacoma, Washington where he teaches classroom music, directs the trumpet ensemble, coaches
chamber music, and performs with the Lyric Brass Quintet. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in
Trumpet Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa where he was the recipient of the prestigious
Iowa Performance Fellowship. Dr. Lyman received the Bachelor of Music degree with honors from The
College of Wooster, and the Master of Music degree with Honors and Distinction in Performance from the New
England Conservatory of Music. He is active as an orchestral, chamber, and solo performer and has performed
with the New England Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, Cedar Rapids, and Quad Cities Symphony
Orchestras. He has also performed as featured soloist with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, PLU Wind
Ensemble, PLU Orchestra, PLU Chorale, and the Choir of the West, and plays throughout the northwest as a
member of the Seattle-based Mosaic Brass Quintet. He has appeared with the Vashon Opera and Tacoma
Symphony Orchestras, at the Olympic Music Festival, and is a faculty member at Evergreen Music Festival.
Dr. Lyman’s articles have been published by American Music and the International Trumpet Guild Journal. His
trumpet warm-up book Practical Daily Warm-Ups for Trumpet is published by Keveli Music. The Lyric Brass
Quintet’s CD, American Music for Brass Quintet, is available from Emeritus Recordings. Zach lives in Tacoma
with his wife, Anne, and his extremely energetic eight-year-old son Milo and four-year-old daughter Eleanor.
In his spare time he enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and being a disgruntled Red Sox fan.
Edward Castro, trumpet, is a regular member of the Tacoma Opera, Lyric Brass Quintet, and the Mosaic Brass
Quintet. Ed appears occasionally with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. He serves on the faculty of
Pacific Lutheran University and Northwest University. Ed received his bachelor of music from The Manhattan
School of Music. Then he attended Yale University School of Music where he received the degree master of
music. He received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Washington. Ed's principal teachers
include Chris Gekker (former member of the American Brass Quintet), Tom Smith (member of the New York
Philharmonic), Alan Dean (trumpet professor at Yale University, member of Summit Brass, St. Louis Brass
Quintet and is a former member of the New York Brass Quintet), Stephen Hendrickson (principal trumpet of the
National Symphony) and international recording artist Allen Vizzutti.
Gina Gillie, French horn, is an Associate Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University where she teaches
horn and aural skills, conducts a horn choir, and performs frequently with faculty groups and in solo and
chamber recitals. As an orchestral player, she is currently Assistant Principal with the Tacoma Symphony and
has also played with the Northwest Sinfonietta, the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra, the Central Wisconsin
Symphony Orchestra and the Beloit-Janesville Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of two faculty chamber
ensembles at PLU, the Camas Wind Quintet and the Lyric Brass Quintet. In 2006, she attended the Tanglewood
Music Festival as an orchestral fellow where she worked with world-class musicians such as James Levine,
Elliot Carter, Bernhard Haitink, Stefan Asbury, Herbert Blomstedt, Charles Rosen, Barry Tuckwell and John
Williams. Dr. Gillie studied horn performance with Douglas Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where
she received her master’s degree in 2006 and her Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2009. She completed her
Bachelor’s degree at Pacific Lutheran University in 2004 as a horn player in Kathleen Vaught Farner’s studio.
A lover of early music, she lectures and performs on natural horn as well as baroque horn. During her time in
Madison she appeared in period performances with the Madison Bach Musicians playing repertoire including
Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Dr. Gillie’s doctoral dissertation is entitled “Twentieth and Twenty-First Century
Music for Soprano, Horn and Piano: an Original Composition, Professional Recording, and Research of
Significant Pieces.” Information and recordings from the project are featured on Dr. Gillie’s website.
Rebecca Good, trombone, is Lecturer of Trombone at Pacific Lutheran University where she teaches trombone,
coaches chamber music, and performs with the Lyric Brass Quintet. In addition to her position at Pacific
Lutheran University, Rebecca serves as trombone faculty for Cornish College of the Performing Arts,
Evergreen Music Festival, Vivace Chamber Players Organization, Bellevue Youth Symphony Organization and
the Endangered Instruments Program branch of the Seattle Youth Symphony Organization, which provides
focused instruction to budding musicians on “endangered” orchestral instruments in a public school
environment. Rebecca enjoys an active performance schedule throughout the Puget Sound region. She can be
regularly heard with ensembles such as Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Seattle
Opera, Tacoma Opera, Northwest Sinfonietta, Seattle Modern Orchestra, and Bellingham Music Festival
amongst many others. She is also joyfully involved in chamber music with various ensembles, including a
recent premiere performance with the Trombone Collective in May 2016. Rebecca received her Bachelor’s
degree from the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied under the tutelage of Steve Witser
and Richard Stout. Other primary teachers include James Box, David Ritt, and Mark Babbitt. When she’s not
holding a trombone, Rebecca enjoys gardening, hiking, fermenting food (on purpose) and going on adventures
with her loving husband and two wonderful boys.
Paul Evans, tuba, is the Principal Tuba of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra and Lecturer of Tuba at Pacific
Lutheran University. An active performer in the Pacific Northwest, Paul also performs with the Northwest
Sinfonietta, Bellevue Philharmonic, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and with the Lyric Brass at PLU. He
studied tuba performance with Ron Munson in Seattle, Steve Call at Brigham Young University, and Gary
Ofenloch at the University of Utah. Before coming home to the Pacific Northwest, Paul was Principal Tuba of
the Boise Philharmonic and played frequently with the Utah Symphony. He performs regularly as a soloist and
chamber musician and has been soloist with the Boise Philharmonic, Tacoma Symphony, and Lyric Brass. Paul
lives in Tacoma with his wife, soprano Karen Early Evans, and their three beautiful daughters.
A note from the composer about Luther, Seven Scenes for Brass Quintet
Martin Luther (1483-1546), founder of the Protestant Reformation and the Lutheran Church, once wrote:
“Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” Indeed, his passion for
music, taken with his undying faith, led him to compose numerous hymns that are still sung around the world to
this day, the best known and most beloved undoubtedly being “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” His work as a
reformer helped establish congregational singing as a central part of the protestant worship service and his
insistence that it be in the vernacular made the words meaningful to all. To attempt his story through music
seems entirely fitting. Fitting, too, that such an effort should come in anticipation of the 500th anniversary of
the Lutheran Reformation to be celebrated in 2017.
The present work, “Luther, Seven Scenes for Brass Quintet,” recalls seven singularly significant events in
Luther’s life: his sudden change of course from the study of law to becoming a monk; his early devotion to the
monastic life; his eventual disillusionment with the Roman Catholic Church; his posting of the Ninety-five
Theses; his ensuing trial for heresy and resulting excommunication; his prayerful and productive refuge at
Wartburg; and, finally, his return to Wittenberg and the rise of the new church bearing his name. The score
incorporates both music original to this work and adaptations of music from Luther’s own time, the late
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The choice of brass quintet harks back to the same time, when early brass
instruments were gaining prominence.
Scene I, “Præambulum, Storm and Vow,” opens with music by two German contemporaries of Luther.
Heinrich Finck’s “Veni sancte spiritus, Veni creator spiritus” sets an appropriately ecclesiastical mood, and
Heinrich Isaac’s German part song “Zwischen Berg und tiefem Tal” (“Between Mountain and Deep Valley”)
might well describe the place Luther, the young university student, found himself caught in a horrific thunder
storm. Fearing for his life, he cried out to St. Anne for help, vowing to become a monk if his life were spared.
At the end, brief allusion is made to the opening theme of J. S. Bach’s much later “St. Anne” fugue, and finishes
with a complete statement of the 1708 “St. Anne” hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”
Scene II, “The Monastery,” gently weaves three Gregorian chants—Salve Regina, Ave Maria and Pater
noster—into the fabric of its deeply devotional mood. Luther would have heard these chants daily within the
walls of his Augustinian cloister at Erfurt. Along the way, brief reminders of his earlier prayer to St. Anne grow
in intensity.
Scene III, “Rōma,” begins with a salutatory Intrada by Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630), then continues
reverently as Luther makes pilgrimage through Rome. Naive serenity gradually erodes into growing dissonance,
however, as Luther discovers disturbing practices among some of the Roman priests encountered there. The St.
Anne motive returns only to be mocked, and a hastily uttered “Pater noster” is rudely interrupted. Luther leaves
Rome, his faith unswayed, but his disillusionment with the Church begun.
Scene IV, “Wittenberg and the Ninety-five,” begins as Luther takes his new assignment as professor of
theology at Wittenberg University. The scene opens with a few bars of the ancient yet familiar university hymn
and drinking song, Gaudeamus igitur (“So let us rejoice”). The text of this song originated as early as 1287 and
would likely have been sung by the students at Wittenberg. Though the tune commonly associated with it today,
and quoted here, probably dates from the early eighteenth century, it serves nonetheless to set the scene. After
its brief announcement, scholarly decorum prevails and passion rises as Luther’s teachings gradually confirm
for him the troubling differences he has with the papacy. His resolve solidified, Luther posts his Ninety-five
Theses on the cathedral door, October 31, 1517. The nails are driven—nine and five. So begins the fight.
Scene V, “Trial, Excommunication and Flight:” Luther stands firm (“Here I stand!”) through intense debate and
trial, refusing to recant his criticisms of the Church, finally to be excommunicated in 1521 and declared a
heretic and a criminal. His books are burned and his supporters fear for his life. In a staged kidnapping Luther is
whisked away to the safety of the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach. The music connects without pause to Scene VI.
Scene VI, “At Wartburg,” begins with brief reference to music from Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser, “Arrival of
the Guests at Wartburg.” Though written long after Luther’s time, the medieval scenes portrayed there by
Wagner were played out in the very fortress that would later come to provide Luther safe haven throughout his
nearly year-long exile. After the arrival fanfare, reverent calm prevails as Luther begins work on his translation
of the New Testament from Greek into German. With this, and his continued doctrinal writings, the foundations
of his new church are firmly established.
Scene VII, “Finale: Hymn and Dance,” celebrates Luther’s safe return to Wittenberg and his formal
organization of the Lutheran Church. “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” figures prominently as the music
attempts tribute to these words of Luther:
We marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while
three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its
simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical
effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance, where all meet in a spirit of
friendliness, caress and embrace.
Luther’s hymn appears first in its now-familiar and traditional form, then in his original rhythmic tune variant,
which sets the dance in motion. Subsequent verses weave a number of melodies and motifs from previous
scenes into the fabric, with the final statement of the hymn tune recalling the majestic finale to Mendelssohn’s
Reformation Symphony. A lively coda concludes, allowing brief pause just before the end for one final
utterance of “Thy will be done” and “Here I stand.”
So ends the work. Of course, Martin Luther’s life and accomplishments, his significance to the Protestant
Reformation and the history of Christendom in general, cannot be told in a mere seven scenes. Not even
seventy-seven would do, so complex was his story in the context of the times and so lasting his legacy. But the
present seven scenes at least try to provide a fair, if overly-simplified, outline of the story. Far from a Luther
expert or even Lutheran myself, I relied heavily for background on Roland H. Bainton’s distinguished and
widely acclaimed biography of Luther, Here I Stand—A Life of Martin Luther. It is a richly rewarding read.
The Historical Anthology of Music by Archibald T. Davison and Willi Apel provided the early German works
adapted here. The Gregorian chants were found in their original neumatic notation in The Parish Book of
[Catholic] Chant, edited in 2012 by Richard Rice. Their transcriptions to modern notation are mine. The tune
referencing Gaudeamus igitur is known today thanks in large part to Brahms and his Academic Festival
Overture. This, and the works of Bach, Mendelssohn and Wagner, are all readily available. And, of course, the
“St. Anne” hymn (“O God, Our Help in Ages Past”) and Luther’s own “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” can be
found in most any modern hymnal. The rest of the music is my own. Hopefully, with the help of the others, it
will be found rewarding as well.
Jerry Kracht, Emeritus Professor of Music
Pacific Lutheran University
Dr. Kracht served on the music faculty of Pacific Lutheran University as conductor of the University
Symphony Orchestra, professor of clarinet and member of the faculty woodwind quintet from 1967-68 until his
retirement in 2001. Since then he has devoted his time to composition and arranging, with some thirty scores
now to his credit. Of his fifteen original works, Luther, Seven Scenes for Brass Quintet is the fourth to be
performed at PLU.