Franz Schubert(Born in Vienna in 1797; died in Vienna in 1828) Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 78, D. 8941. Molto moderato e cantabile2. Andante3. Menuetto: Allegro moderato – Trio4. Allegretto Schubert spent almost all of his adult musical life in search of both a stable income as well as recognition for his astounding compositional […]
William Grant Still(Born in Woodville, Missouri in 1895; died in Los Angeles in 1978) Miniatures for Woodwind Quintet1. I Ride an Old Paint2. Adolorido3. Jesus is a Rock in the Weary Land4. Yaraví5. A Frog Went A-Courtin’ In 1955, when most African-American citizens in some Southern states were forbidden from even drinking out of the […]
Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda(Born in 1975) Three Nature Walks1. Autumn Woods2. Winter Moonlight3. Cherry Blossom Path Composer Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda “attended George Mason University where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition and was awarded the Music Department’s Most Outstanding Musician award for 1998… Alexandra has performed extensively in many different professional ensembles, and at such prestigious […]
Darius Milhaud(Born in Marseille, France in 1892; died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1974) La Cheminée Du Roi René, Op. 2051. Cortége (Procession)2. Aubade (Morning love song)3. Jongleurs (Jugglers)4. La Maousinglade (A village in Provence)5. Joutes Sur L’Arc (Jousting on the Arc River)6. Chasse A Valabre (Hunting at Valabre)7. Madrigal – Nocturne (Night-time song) French composer […]
György Sándor Ligeti (Born in Diciosânmartin (renamed Târnăveni in 1941) in Transylvania, Romania in 1923 (then part of Hungary); died in Vienna, Austria in 2006) Sechs Bagatellen (Six Bagatelles) 1. Allegro con spirito György Ligeti was one of the 20th Century’s great composers, and one of its most innovative. Though his music was typically in […]
Norman Hallam(Born in Coventry, England in 1945) Dance Suite for Wind Quintet1. Waltz2. Bossa Nova3. Quickstep4. Charleston Norman Hallam is a celebrated musician and composer in England. Although childhood polio left him wheelchair dependent, it never stopped him from becoming a great clarinetist. His performing career was spent almost entirely as a clarinetist with the […]
Franz Ignaz Danzi(Born in Schwetzingen, Germany in 1763; died in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1826) Wind Quintet in G minor, Op. 56, No. 21. Allegretto2. Andante3. Menuett – Trio4. Allegro German composer Danzi was a highly respected cellist, composer and teacher in a long career that was witness to Mozart’s last years and Beethoven’s entire career, […]
Johann Sebastian Bach(Born in Eisenach, Germany in 1685; died in Leipzig, Germany in 1750) Contrapunctus IX, “alla duodecima,” from The Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 As Bach’s life entered into its last decade, he renewed his interest in keyboard music and especially counterpoint, or the way in which fugues are made and how musical […]
The Art of the Fugue may well be Bach’s seminal work and contains 14 fugues and four canons, all in D-minor, and arranged in increasing difficulty. … Instead of calling them “counterpoint(s),” Bach preferred the Latin word “Contrapunctus.” Number IX (9) is a study of turning that simple subject into a new derivation and into a double fugue (two themes treated as a fugue at the interval of a twelfth, thus the subtitle “alla duodecima”)…