Orchestral counter-revolution

In August of 1968, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. Karel Husa, a composer and native of Czechoslovakia then teaching at Cornell University, wrote a piece for concert band in response to the invasion, Music for Prague, 1968. Steeped in the Czech traditions of Smetana and Janáek, the piece was a strident political response to the invasion, and it drew the ire of the Communists then in power in Czechoslovakia, who permanently banned Husa from reentry into the country. Not until 1991, after the fall of Communism in that nation, was Husa invited back. There he conducted Music for Prague in Prague, over 20 years after it was written.

On Fri., Mar. 30 the Yale Concert Band will perform Husa's work in Woolsey Hall as part of a program that Music Director Thomas C. Duffy says is focused on "larger-form pieces. Band music often comes in bite sizes, but I'm interested in long-form works for this concert." The other pieces on the program include the Children's Suite by Duffy himself, along with works by Ron Nelson and the British composer William Walton.

The high point of the concert will undoubtedly be Music for Prague, however, which is in four movements and clocks in at over 20 minutes. "Husa is a contemporary neoclassicist," said Duffy, who studied composition with Husa at Cornell and accompanied the composer on his first return to Prague. "His harmonic language is contemporary, his melodic gestures will remind you of Mahler, but it's within a modern rhythm scheme. His use of music as a political manifesto is also unique; several of his pieces provide commentary on social and political issues."

The work is certainly contemporary in sound, but there is plenty to like even for those ordinarily averse to modern classical music. The first movement, "Introduction and Fanfare," starts with barely audible percussion and a piccolo solo, gradually growing into dissonant chords and swelling brass flourishes. Movement two, the "Aria," is more meditative in nature, while the third movement uses only percussion in complex rhythmic interplays, to impressive effect. A rolling snare drum connects the third movement to the fourth, which features call and response between winds and percussion, repeated brass motifs, and a dramatic ending followed by sudden silence. This last movement is the most political in nature, an angry protest against injustice.

"The piece is unique in that it was Husa's first work for concert band," Duffy remarked. "It's received over 7,000 orchestral performances, but in its original form it is a band piece."

Such modern works are often challenging for audiences, but they can also be difficult for the musicians performing them. "At first, everyone said, `Oh, this is interesting,'" Brooke Leary, DC '03, publicity director for the Concert Band and an alto saxophonist, said. "But especially in the past week, people have gotten really excited. It's not really like any other piece I've played before. It's wrought with emotion. When you play it or when you listen to it, you can sense that there's a reason and a story behind it. There's specific symbolism in the piece."

Duffy says that he chose to program Music for Prague because he knew the band would be touring in Prague this summer, as well as in Salzburg, Germany, and Vienna, Austria. He has chosen different works for the tour, including both American pieces like Gershwin's American in Paris, John Williams' The Cowboy and Aaron Copland's Outdoor Overture, and pieces by composers like Hindemith and Bruckner, who hail from the countries where the band will be playing.

The prospect of playing Music for Prague in Prague itself was too good to pass up, though, especially since Husa himself will be at the podium. "It's exciting to be playing in Prague with Husa conducting," Leary said. It's not the first time Husa has conducted the Yale Concert Band: he conducted the same piece on their 1987 tour through Japan. Nonetheless, this tour, and Music for Prague in particular, will be a new opportunity for all the current band members, one which they're all thrilled about. "[The piece] sounds great!" Leary said.

The Yale Concert Band performs at 8 p.m. Friday night in Woolsey Hall. Admission is free.

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