promoted a multinational style that moves seamlessly from Mozart to

bebop to Latin. He has served as codirector of the United National

Orchestra, a post formerly held by his mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, and has

toured with his own quintet. In addition, he leads the Caribbean Jazz

Project with Dave Samuels and Andy Narell. D’Rivera has made

numerous appearances as classical clarinet soloist with symphony

orchestras. As a jazz and Latin artist, he has been the recipient of rave

reviews on both the clarinet and the saxophone, with television 

appearances on the David Letterman, the Regis and Kathie Lee, and the

CBS Sunday Morning shows. These activities have been just a part of his

diverse experience in the music world.

A ires Tropicalesfor Woodwind Quintet is a seven-movement work that

was commissioned by the Aspen Wind Quintet and performed at its 1994

premiere by Barli Nugent, flute, Robert Ingliss, oboe, Todd Levy,

clarinet, Chris Komer, horn, and Susan Heineman, bassoon. The venue

for the performance was the Frick Collection in New York City. The

movements are: 1. Alborada, a slow introduction; 2. Son, an ostinato

bass line in the bassoon and horn; 3. Habanera, a trio movement for

flute, clarinet, and bassoon in the style of Ravel; 4. Vais Venezolano, a

lively Venezuelan waltz; 5. Dizzyness, an homage to the late master of

the jazz trumpet, Dizzy Gillespie; 6. Afro, a dance that begins with a flute

solo, followed by an energetic, rhythmic dance in six-eight time over an

African ostinato bass line; and 7. Contradanza, an upbeat Cuban dance

honoring Ernesto Lecuona.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that all

electronic devices are turned off

For the convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2426th Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY CHAMBER PLAYERS

WIND QUINTET

GEORGE MANOS, artistic director

SARA NICHOLS, flute DONALD L. SIPES, oboe

JAMES BRYLA, clarinet PHILIP C. MUNDS, French horn

DANNY K. PHIPPS, bassoon

Sunday Evening, 23 June 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court
Admission free

PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven Sextet in E-flat Major, Op. 71 (1796)

(1170-1827) Arranged for Quintet by

the Philadelphia Wind Quintet

Adagio; allegro

Adagio

Menuetto (quasi allegretto)

Rondo: Allegro

Franz Danzi

(1763-1826)

Quintet for Wind Instruments in G Minor

Op. 56, No. 2

Allegretto

Andante

Menuetto: Allegretto

Rondo: Allegro

INTERMISSION

Percy Grainger 

(1882-1961)

Walking Tune: A Music Room Tidbit

(1900-1905)

Paquito D’Rivera

(b. 1948)

Aires Tropicales for Woodwind Quintet

(1994)

1. Alborada

2. Son

3. Habanera

4. Vais Venezolano

5. Dizzyness (to Dizzy Gillespie)

6. Afro

7. Contradanza (to Ernest Lecuona)

Since the enthusiastic public reception of its first concert in 1995, the

National Gallery Chamber Players Wind Quintet has become a

regular feature of the Gallery’s popular Sunday evening concerts. Under

the guidance of the Gallery’s music director George Manos, the

ensemble explores and presents masterpieces of chamber music that are

not often heard, as well as the standard classics for wind quintet.

Sara Nichols is the principal flutist of the Baltimore Opera Orchestra

and performs regularly with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where

she was acting assistant principal flutist for two seasons. In addition to

performing on traverso flute as a member of Pro Musica Rara, she is a

member of the Towson Fine Arts Wind Quintet. She and other members

of the Towson ensemble have given master classes and recitals at

Russia’s famed Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Nichols is currently on

the faculties ofTowson University and the Baltimore School for the Arts.

Oboist Ronald Sipes, who studied with Marc Lifschey, received his

bachelor and master of music degrees from the San Francisco

Conservatory of Music. He has played principal oboe in the Orquesta

Sinfonica de Castille y Leon (Valladolid, Spain), the New World

Symphony, and the Orquesta del Estado de Mexico. Since moving to the

Northern Virginia area in 1994, Sipes has played with numerous

orchestras and ensembles, including the National Gallery Orchestra, the

Washington Opera, and the Theater Chamber Players.

Clarinetist Janies Bryla studied the clarinet with Sidney Forrest and

received the bachelor and master of music degrees from The Catholic

University of America, where he served on the faculty. He made his solo

debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at age twenty-one as the

winner of the 1987 Young Soloist Competition. In addition, he has won

numerous other awards, including the Milton W. King Memorial

Certificate, the Presser Scholar Award, and the International Clarinetist 

Competition (both in 1986 and 1987). Bryla is currently principal

clarinetist in the National Gallery Orchestra, the Alexandria Symphony,

and the East wind Consort.
French homist Philip C. Munds occupies the chair of assistant principal

French horn in the Baltimore Symphony. A native of Napa, California,

and a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he 

performed with the San Francisco Symphony and as principal homist of

the Santa Cruz, Modesto, and Berkeley, California, Symphony

Orchestras. From 1989 to 1997 he was associate principal hom of the

United States Air Force Band. He has also played with the National

Gallery Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, and the Alexandria

Symphony. He resides in Owings Mills, Maryland.

Senior Master Sergeant Danny K. Phipps is the principal bassoonist

with the United States Air Force Concert Band at Bolling Air Force

Base. He is also principal bassoonist of the Air Force Symphony

Orchestra, the Air Force Wind Quintet, and the Air Force Chamber

Players. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia,

Sergeant Phipps has his master of music and doctor of musical arts

degrees from the Catholic University of America.

A “particular predilection” for the wind instruments is how biographer

W. A. Thayer described Beethoven’s approach to his instrumental

writings from the early stages of his composing career, before he

emerged as a brilliant virtuoso pianist. The Sextet in E-flat Major, Op.

71, one of several works in this genre extant from that period, was not

among his best efforts, according ot Beethoven’s own account. In a letter

to his publisher, Breitkopf and Hartel, he wrote: “The Sextet belongs to

my earlier things, and was written, moreover, in a single night. One can

really say nothing about it but that it is by a composer who has produced

at least a few better works—but to many people works of this kind are

the best.” Although it does not contain the maturity of musical ideas

found in Beeethoven’s later compositions, the Sextet did make a good

first impression. Following its premiere performance in April 1805, a 

review in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung stated: “There were at

times longer pieces that were performed. Yet, among these particular

offerings, joyous pleasure was given by the beautiful Beethoven Sextet in

E-flat, a composition that shines with lovely melodies, an unforced

harmonic flow, and an abundance of new and unexpected ideas.”

The German composer and teacher Franz Danzi was bom in

Schwetzingen, the son of Innozenz Danzi, an Italian composer and

cellist. Apart from his of operas, masses, and other vocal works, Danzi

wrote a considerable number of instrumental chamber works. The

Quintet for Wind Instruments in G Minor is the second of three in Op.

56. He composed an additional six quintets, his Opp. 67 and 68. While

effective writing for chamber winds proved a difficult task for most

composers of his day, Danzi possessed a unique gift for instrumentation

and a thorough command of the harmonic effects possible through the

combination of woodwind instruments. Consequently, he produced a set

of quintets that musicologists and ensemble players alike have ranked

next to those of the Czech-bom French music theorist, pedagogue, and

composer Antoine Reicha (1770-1836), who was Danzi’s colleague and

an acknowledged master ofthe genre.

Percy Grainger was bom in Brighton, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne,

Australia, and emigrated to the United States in 1914. His early studies

were with his mother. He completed his musical education in Germany and

in 1901 settled in London, where he met and interacted with other

musicians of his era. It was during this time in London that Grainger, the

concert pianist and composer, began seriously collecting folk songs. He 

was interested in music reflecting every race and culture, from sources as

distinct as American, British, Chinese, and Japanese folk music as well as

works of Bach, Faure, Gershwin, Stephen Foster, Frederick Delius, and

Henry Cowell. Walking Tune (No. 3), according Grainger, “is based on a

little tune I made on a three day walk in the Scottish Highlands (in 1900) as

a hummed accompaniment to my tramping feet. It was worked out and

scored in 1905."

A four time Grammy winner, including the 1997 Grammy Award for

best jazz performance, Cuban-born American clarinetist, composer, and

saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera has garnered for himself the distinction of

being one ofthe best-known crossover artists in the field of music today.

D’Rivera defected from Cuba in 1980 and since then has assumed the

role of a cross-cultural ambassador, for which he has created and