Composition Commons^™

A Performance Project With An Historical And Analytical Perspective On The Concerto For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra, Op. 31 By Peter Jona Korn, Brian Sanford Ransom

Dissertations

Peter Jona Korn (1922-1998) is not a name immediately recognized in American music circles, yet during the 1940s and '50s he led a successful career as an American composer. His Saxophone Concerto - composed in 1956 for the virtuoso Sigurd Rascher, and revised by Korn in 1982 - is an important contribution to the saxophone repertoire.

Many composers, including Glazounov, Ibert, and Larsson, wrote concertos for Sigurd Rascher. These works, once considered highly virtuosic, are now studied and performed by college level saxophonists. The original version of Korn's Concerto, among the most technically demanding works, has remained in obscurity for …

Comparative Analysis Of Representative Marimba Works By Nebojsa Jo Van Zivkovic, Jefferson Lavelle Grant Iii

Dissertations

Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic has been an active performer and composer since the late 1970s. He is the closest modern percussionists have to the tradition of the virtuosocomposer from the Romantic period. He holds degrees in composition, music theory, and percussion performance. His music merits study based on the fact that he is an accomplished marimbist who composes at the instrument. This lends to his music a uniquely idiomatic quality. The two works presented in this treatise span almost twenty years of the composer's thirty-year career. The unifying element in both works is that they feature a marimba soloist as the …

William Kempster, Associate Professor Of Music (Cola) Travels To Czech Republic, William Kempster

Faculty Travel Reports

Along with Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů is the most revered composer in his native land, now known as the Czech Republic. Little wonder, therefore, that a competition bearing the composer’s name draws the best choirs in the country, as well as from abroad, to the town of Pardubice for the International Bohuslav Martinů Festival and Choir Competition. This year (2009) in June, at the 6th such staging of the competition, choirs from Finland, Serbia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Israel, Estonia, Belgium, Slovenia and the USA joined with numerous Czech choirs not only to compete against each other, but also to …

The Music Of Jerry Sieg: A Descriptive Catalogue Of His Piano Music And An Analysis Of The Five Miniatures For Piano, Nuria Mariela Royas

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to present the solo piano music of the American composer Jerry Sieg, whose output includes works for orchestra, voice, opera, chorus, and numerous compositions for solo instruments.

It opens with the biography of the composer, including information concerning bis musical training, followed by a brief survey of his solo piano works. A discussion of his compositional style in his Five Miniatures for Piano, written in 1994 for the American pianist Marian Lee, is also included in this work. The analysis of the Five Miniatures for Piano in Chapter IV presents a detailed analysis of …

A Comparative Analysis Of Roman Palester's Concertino Pour Saxophone Alto Et Orchestre A Cordes, Brian Donald Kauth

Dissertations

The music of Roman Palester (1907-1989) is little known outside his native Poland. Before World War II, he experienced a great deal of musical success, with many of his compositions being performed at prestigious music festivals throughout Europe. Palester completed his one solo work for the saxophone, the Concertino pour Saxophone Alto et Orchestre a Cordes, in 1938, but its scheduled premiere in 1939 never took place due to political tensions on the eve of World War II.

In 1978, Palester revised the work for saxophonist David Pituch, who premiered and recorded this version. A comparison of the original and …

Leo Brouwer's Estudios Sencillos For Guitar: Afro-Cuban Elements And Pedagogical Devices, Carlos Isaac Castilla Penaranda

Dissertations

This document presents a detailed performance and pedagogical analysis of the Estudios Sencillos by the Cuban composer, Leo Brouwer. Such pertinent musical aspects as biographical data of the composer, Afro-Cuban traditions, Cuban composers, and philosophical and artistic trends that impacted Brouwer's aesthetic world are studied and discussed.

Virtually any of Brouwer's works can serve to convey this information, but it is particularly this group of pieces that better suits the study of Afro-Cuban elements within a pedagogical focus since no other of Brouwer's compositions is set with this particular target in mind: etudes for the development and/or implementation of a …

2008-2009 New Music Festival, Joseph Turrin, Lisa Leonard

New Music Festival

Third Annual New Music Festival

• Joseph Turrin, Composer-in-Residence
• Lisa Leonard, Director

Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 7:30 pm

• Opening Night Faculty Concert
• Venue: Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall

Friday, April 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm

• Forum (Panel: Kenneth Amis, Thomas McKinley, Joseph Turrin ; Mediator: Lisa Leonard)
• Venue: Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall

Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 4:00 pm

• Young Composers
• Venue: Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall

Monday, April 27, 2009 at 7:30 pm

• Joseph Turrin Spotlight
• Venue: Louis and Anne Green Center for the Expressive Arts

Commissioned Work

Joseph Turrin, the composer-in-residence, composed a musical work called, Chamber Symphony, for this festival. In …

Twentieth Century Saxophone With A Touch Of Baroque, Sesha Wallace

Undergraduate Research Conference

The saxophone has progressed immensely since its invention in 1846 by the Belgian musician instrument designer, Adolphe Sax. This fairly new addition to the musical world has developed over the years into an extremely versatile instrument capable of being used in a wide range of musical settings, anything from classical to jazz to rock and roll. Throughout the Twentieth Century, the saxophone has seen an enormous growth in contemporary repertoire. Advanced techniques have become widely accepted as part of this new output and a variety of musical outlets have opened saxophonists worldwide. The pieces in this study illustrate some of …

The Flute Through Time: A Senior Recital, Teresa Powell

Undergraduate Research Conference

The flute is a wind instrument of ancient origin formerly made of wood but now of silver and other metals. It is one of the first wind instruments to have published works. Music for the modern flute spans from the early Baroque era through history, and is still being written to this day.

Microtonality As An Expressive Device: An 
Approach
 For 
The 
Contemporary 
Saxophonist, Seán Mac Erlaine

Dissertations

This dissertation provides a critical examination of the use of microtonality as an expressive tool for the improvising saxophonist and offers a new method for quarter-tone production drawing on cultural references from European art music, Arabic Maqam and Contemporary Jazz. The thesis is underpinned by an historical, musicological analysis of tuning systems and theory necessary for the performer of microtonal music. The dissertation is presented in three chapters. In Chapter One, a discussion of tuning theory and a history of temperament systems contextualises the current uses of equal temperament and extensions of it including the quarter-tone tempered system. Chapter Two …

Much More Than Ragtime: The Musical Life Of George Hamilton Green (1893-1970), Ryan C. Lewis

Books and Monographs

This document preserves and synthesizes the unpublished information within the Green Family scrapbooks and miscellaneous archival materials with existing source materials to construct an accurate and documented account of the musical life of George Hamilton Green (1893-1970) hitherto deficient. The stereotype of Green as a novelty ragtime xylophonist diminishes as the many facets of Green’s diverse musical career are revealed: talented musician, versatile performer, recording and radio artist, pedagogue and author, composer-arranger, and influential instrument designer, as well as formidable athlete, talented artist-cartoonist, and devoted family man. George Hamilton Green is a significant twentieth-century American musician who lived an extraordinarily …

“Etc. Etc.” Reliquias Y Fragmentos De Una Sonata De Schubert, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Resumen:

Tomando como ejemplo el caso de Reliquie, Sonata para piano en do mayor D. 840 de Schubert, este ensayo explora los entresijos que generan las obras musicales incompletas. ¿Qué diferencia hay entre un fragmento amputado y uno inacabado? ¿Qué autoridad tienen las reconstrucciones de obras incompletas? ¿Qué opciones tiene el intérprete a la hora de ejecutar esta obra? ¿Por qué nos atraen los fragmentos? La Sonata para piano en do mayor consiste en dos movimientos completos y otros dos inconclusos. Si bien algunos pianistas como Paul Badura-Skoda han grabado esta obra con su propia compleción, Sviatoslav Richter interrumpe su …

Crossing The Stream (By Trillium), Doug Lofstrom, Mim Eichmann, Ed Hall, Jonathan De Souza

Doug Lofstrom

Music performed by Trillium, released on Little Miracles Music from Downers Grove, Illinois in 2009. Trillium consists of: Mim Eichmann, hammered dulcimer, vocals, percussion - tambourine; Ed Hall, guitar, banjo, vocals; Jonathan De Souza, violin, mandolin, bodhran, whistle, viola, vocals; Doug Lofstrom, bass, vocals.

Debussy & Dukas - Two Orchestral Fanfares, For Eight-Part Trombone Choir, David Mathie

David G. Mathie

From the publisher [www.alessipublications.com]: Two amazing fanfares by Debussy and Dukas arranged by David Mathie. A performance of the Dukas Fanfare by the University of Michigan Trombone Choir, Dr. David Jackson conducting, is linked here.