VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University presents piano soloist Lyle Indergaard this evening, performing a virtuosic piano work of Franz Liszt and the American premiere of Dutch composer Johan de Meij’s monumental Symphony No. 3 “Planet Earth.”
The concert opens with “Totentanz (Dance of Death),” a “symphonic piece for solo piano and orchestra, which was originally planned in 1838 and completed in 1849. It is notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody ‘Day of Judgment,’ as well as for daring stylistic innovations.
Indergaard, associate professor of piano, holds degrees from Minot State College, the University of Wyoming and the Eastman School of Music. A Fulbright Scholar to Germany, he was awarded performance diplomas in piano and chamber music from the Freiburg Hochschule for Musik. His teachers include Paul Lyddon, Carl Seemann, Helmut Barth, Rosa Sabater and Jean Barr, and he has coached with Margo Garrett, Anne Epperson, Malcolm Bilson, Roger Vignoles, Gwendolyn Koldofsky and Hans Leygraf.
Indergaard has been at Valdosta State University since 1993. Before coming to Valdosta, he was on the faculty of the Freiburg Hochschule for Musik for 10 years as an accompanist and studio piano teacher. During that time, he worked closely with Heinz Holliger, Aurele Nicolet, Ifor James and Rainer Kussmaul. A specialist in collaborative piano, Indergaard received a performance diploma in chamber music from the Freiburg Hochschule for Musik and a doctor of musical arts in accompanying and chamber music from the Eastman School of Music. Indergaard has performed on some 200 recitals at VSU. In the last few years, he has performed at international conferences in Limerick, Ireland and Toronto, Canada. For the last eight years, he has performed music of the Holocaust throughout the United States. This program, consisting of music composed at Auschwitz and Theresianstadt, has been recorded on the CD “Mystic Chords of Genocide.”
In 2003, Indergaard suggested to Joe Brashier, the VSU Wind Ensemble conductor, that “Totentanz” would work well for wind band. That summer, while on Jekyll Island serving as musical director of the Jekyll Island Musical Theatre Festival, Brashier transcribed the work for band. This will be the first performance of the transcription.
Premiered just last year in Europe, de Meij’s Symphony No. 3 calls for a traditional wind band with the addition of a cello section, a large women’s chorus, and electronic sounds. The work has its creative roots in the early 20th century British composer Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”
The work actually opens with electronic sounds that have an ominous, space-like quality. The voices enter first, followed by a gradual layering of the instruments. The voices in this opening movement use only wordless syllables to create an additional tone color within the texture of the instruments. The movement builds to a big fanfare-like statement in the brass, which is followed by a layering of rhythmic patterns to create musical intensity. As the first movement, sub-titled “Lonely Planet,” winds down with a pulsating rhythm in the cello section, the electronic sounds re-enter, taking over the cello pattern and progressing into the second movement, “Planet Earth.” The second movement opens with a triumphant statement in the French horns, followed by building to a huge statement by the full ensemble. A very contemplative and chamber-like section follows that features pairs of flutes, bassoons, and clarinets. This leads to a driving rhythmic section that starts in the strings and leads to a repeated pattern in the woodwinds with chordal statements in the brass. A short ominous interlude leads to another section of repeated rhythmic patterns that build in intensity to a big ending and a new entrance of electronic sounds.
Conductor of the VSU Wind Ensemble is Joe H. Brashier and the Women’s Chorus is comprised of the ladies from the VSU Concert Choir, conducted by Paul A. Neal. Brashier, in his 11th year as conductor of the VSU Wind Ensemble, says that “Totentanz” and the Symphony No. 3 are pieces of music that will appeal to anyone.
The program was performed in Atlanta and Warner Robins earlier this week.
The local performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today, Whitehead Auditorium, VSU Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. Admission free and open to the public.
