Hartford Symphony Orchestra - Elgar’s Enigma - Daniel McCarthy (Born November 20, 1955 in Onekama, Michigan

Daniel McCarthy (Born November 20, 1955 in Onekama, Michigan

American Dance Music, Concerto for Brass Quintet and Percussion with Orchestra (1995)

World Premiere: 1997
Last HSO Performance: HSO Premiere
Instrumentation: piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, timpani, percussion, strings,
brass quintet
Duration: 10'

Daniel McCarthy, born in Onekama, Michigan in 1955, has enjoyed a wide-ranging career as composer, conductor, educator and author. Before joining the faculty of the University of Akron School of Music as Professor and Chair of the Composition Department in 2000, he had taught music theory and directed jazz and new music ensembles at Lakeland College in Ohio, Indiana State University and DePauw University. After receiving his undergraduate degree at Kent State University in 1978, McCarthy worked as a studio and club trumpet player and writer and arranger for commercial recordings, radio and TV jingles, and rock and dance groups in the Cleveland area. In 1982, he returned to his roots in classical music, started composing seriously, and went on to earn a master’s degree in composition from the University of Akron and a doctorate from Kent State. McCarthy has also been active in the performance and promotion of new music, founding and directing the Akron New Music Festival, Akron New Music Ensemble, Composer’s Institute at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, and Midwest Composer’s Forum. He has also served as President of the Cleveland Composer’s Guild, co-authored the textbook Theory for Today’s Musician with University of Akron faculty colleague Ralph Turek, and conducted the Interlochen Festival Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony and Terre Haute Symphony Youth Orchestra. His compositions, eclectic in style and many featuring wind and percussion instruments, have been performed widely, recorded on the Albany, Centaur, d’Note Classics, Gasparo and Klavier labels, and earned him commissions, awards and grants from the Ohio Arts Council, Indiana Arts Commission, Indiana State University Arts Endowment, University of Akron, and National Arts Endowment, as well as the Ohio Music Educators Association Composer of the Year Award, Connie Weldon Prize, International New Music Consortium Award, and Life Time Achievement Citation from the Michigan State Legislature. Daniel McCarthy is also an advanced black belt martial artist in Tae Kwon Do and Asian Weapons.

“American Dance Music,” according to the note published in the score, “was commissioned by Rhythm & Brass in 1995 for a piece that
would be musically challenging for the group and appealing to audiences. The work celebrates uniquely American music popularized by American dance crazes.

“The Unsquare Dance pairs tuba and xylophone in a sophisticated ‘hoe-down’ with frequent meter changes creating music that is very ‘un-square.’ Latina is patterned after the ‘Lambada,’ the dance made famous in the film Dirty Dancing, and combines Latin rhythms with a Baroque-style canon. Serenade recalls the 1940s-style slow dance with a Tommy Dorsey-like trombone solo and a musical language of modem jazz. Jazz borrows from 1950s be-bop and the influences of Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan and Stan Kenton with another tuba and xylophone duet. ROKlT! is dedicated to the composer’s favorite rock/funk group, Tower of Power. With an important drum solo, this movement combines the elements of jazz, rock and funk prevalent in such 1970s-styles groups as Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago.”