Wind Currents

Professor of Music and instructor of music theory and composition at the University of Massachusetts, Robert Stern was educated at Eastman and the University of California at Los Angeles. His Ultima Fantasia was composed for the forces who have recorded it here. It reflects the composer's long standing interest in the 14th century Italian madrigal "O tu cara scienzia mia musica" by Florentia which began in 1968 with a series of works based on this madrigal. Joseph Turrin received his formal education at Eastman and the Manhattan School of Music. His Serenade Romantic was composed in the summer of 1982 for the New Jersey Wind Ensemble. The work is dedicated to the memory of Howard Hanson and is intended to be a cinematic tribute to this fine composer. Michael Daugherty writes about Motown Metal : "Motown Metal is a seven-minute composition for brass and percussion inspired by the rhythms of industrial Detroit: city of automobile clamor, the sixties Motown sounds and the nineties techno beat. It features only instruments made of metal and was premiered in February 1994 by the Detroit Chamber Winds under H. Robert Reynolds. David Maslanka's Morning Star was commissioned by the Grand Ledge, Michigan, High School Wind Symphony, Michael Kaufmann, conductor. "I was asked to write a celebratory piece for the opening of the wonderful new concert hall at Grand Ledge High. When it came time to compose, I took up a little tune that came to mind. The result is a happy piece, a concept which does not usually attach itself to my music." Maslanka's Symphony No. 4 was commissioned by a consortium of collegiate wind bands and premiered by the University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble during the Texas Music Educators' Convention in 1994. The backbone of the work is the weaving together of several hymn tunes. "The spontaneous rise of the impulse to shout for the joy of life" is how Maslanka describes this piece.