Wind Music from the Renaissance to the Present: A Summary of Dissertation Recitals

Abstract

The following dissertation recitals included music from the Renaissance to the present. Compositions for both large and chamber ensembles were represented. Each of the three recitals had created an underlying theme; the first recital as Inspirations, the second recital as Reflections, and the third recital as Musical Forms: The Road Map of Expression. The first recital, Inspirations, was a collection of performances with the University of Michigan Symphony Band, Symphony Band Chamber Winds, and Concert Band, which took place during the 2016–2017 academic year. Works for this recital, which examined the various motives and muses that stimulated the composers’ ideas, consisted of the following works: Reflections on a Sixteenth-Century Tune by Richard Rodney Bennett; Chester: Overture for Band by William Schuman; Dreamcatcher by Walter Mays; and Partita in B-flat Major, op. 67 by Franz Krommer. The second recital, Reflections, was a compilation of performances presented throughout fall 2017. Three of the performances were with the University of Michigan Symphony Band and Symphony Band Chamber Winds, while the remaining two pieces were part of an ad hoc performance in Britton Recital Hall on Thursday, October 26, 2017. Works for this recital, which represented the composers, their thoughts, and surroundings, consisted of the following: Three Dances and Final Scene from Der Mond by Carl Orff arranged by Friedrich Wanek; Trauermusik, WWV 73 by Richard Wagner; cheating, lying, stealing by David Lang; Aria della battaglia by Andrea Gabrieli; Octet by Igor Stravinsky. The final recital, Musical Forms: The Road Map of Expression, took place as an ad hoc performance in the McIntosh Theatre on Sunday, January 21, 2018. The works on the recital, which illustrated the use of traditional musical forms underlying developments in harmonic language, consisted of the following: Overture from the Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 by George Frideric Handel; Concerto for Cello and Wind Ensemble by Daron Aric Hagen; Octet, op. 216 by Carl Reinecke.