Department of Music

American composer Randall Thompson was the head of University of Virginia Music Department from 1941 to 1946 and was acting conductor of the Virginia Glee Club. It has an unusual combination of instruments, which provides the composers with no real bass, but rather with three instruments similar in range. This Suite was one of Thompson’s favorite pieces.

Maurice Wright was born in Front Royal, VA. He wrote Grand Duo for Barbara Westphal and Harvey Price who premiered it at New York’s Merkin Hall. This piece explores the rich alto register of the viola and the marimba and also includes brief passages for a small bell or gong, wood blocks, two toms, and two drums.

Ingrid Stözel has been described as having “a gift for melody” (San Francisco Classical Voice). The Voice of the Rain was inspired by Whitman’s poem of the same title and has a great overall musical arc. Stözel said “It is my hope that the music captures the essence of Whiteman’s powerful meditation on nature and humanity.”

Malcolm Arnold is an English composer, and the Divertimento for wind trio was written in 1952. The three instruments are essentially equal partners in this sequence of six short movements (miniatures), none of them lasting more than about two minutes. There are only three instruments, all pretty close in range. Arnold not only solves these basic problems, he creates a work of surprising depth, all through miniatures.

Our new faculty member Max McNutt (Trumpet) will perform several duets including Georg Philipp Telemann’s Fantasia and Sonata pieces and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier’s Sonata with the Nathaniel Lee (Trombone). These pieces have been edited and arranged for a brass duet.