Contemporary Music

Music and Hardware

April 9, 2011

Elliott’s Hardware, a favorite institution in Dallas and a long-time sponsor of The Dallas Wind Symphony, inspires people to create things.  Composer-in-Residence John Gibson is no exception.  His latest composition, “Man Dreams in Hardware,” is played on instruments constructed from items found on the shelves at Elliott’s.  Imagine the Sawsaphone, the Patuba and Batuba, and the [...]

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The Stars Are the Limit

October 9, 2010

Professor Carol traces the path of film music up to the famous scores of master composer John Williams.  His ability to use “just a few notes” to intensify drama has captured our imaginations for four decades.

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Snakes, Lobsters, and Concertos

October 6, 2009

Titles are funny things, and Paul Richards knows how to grab your attention with titles like “A Butterfly Coughs in Africa” and “Falling on Lobsters in the Dark.” But he holds your attention with a rich palette of innovative and engaging sounds. The Dallas Wind Symphony will perform his concerto “Snake in the Garden” in [...]

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A Modern Medieval Mega-Hit

September 3, 2009

What’s this program about? Carl Orff selected vivid poems from a Medieval manuscript and super-charged them with color and energy to create the mega-hit “Carmina Burana” in 1937. An innovative music educator and proponent of Eurhythmics, Orff poured his understanding of natural melody and rhythm into this theatrical work, a spectacle for ear and eye. [...]

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The Musical World of Malcolm Arnold

April 10, 2008

What’s this program about? Enter the musical world of Sir Malcolm Arnold, a world of brisk expression and energy, evocative soundscape, precise instrumentation, and winsome melody. A world of richly colored, well crafted, deeply satisfying sound.   Many people discover Malcolm Arnold through his sets of appealing dances and through his film scores, especially Bridge [...]

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An Interview with Vladimir Lande

February 6, 2008

Conductor and oboist Vladimir Lande talks with Professor Carol about the legacy of Evgeny Mravinsky and Soviet composers Shostakovich and Khachaturian, as well as the influence of folklore and the bells of the Orthodox Church on Russian composers. He discusses performances of music by John Corigliano, Gaetano Panariello, and Lorenzo Ferrero and his enthusiasm for [...]

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Commissions, Dedications, and Premieres

October 17, 2007

What’s this program about? In today’s classical music world, there are not many composers who can stir up the excitement that might have accompanied the premiere of a new work by Brahms. But John Mackey is a composer who can. He has a popular following from all over the world. The Dallas Wind Symphony collaborated [...]

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They All Came to Hollywood

March 6, 2007

What’s this program about? Hollywood is heir to the European musical traditions. The classic films were scored by composers trained in Europe and schooled in the classical traditions and by immigrant composers who escaped Germany after their work was denounced by the Nazis as “degenerate music” (Entartete Musik). Works Discussed: Bernard Herrmann: Psycho, Vertigo; Erich [...]

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Big Band Swing

February 7, 2007

What’s this program about? Carol interviews Dean Bouras, arranger for the Dallas Wind Symphony Big Band concerts, and John Trapani, leader of the John Trapani Big Band about the era, the music, and its popularity today. Works Discussed: Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Norman Leyden Where you can find: Big [...]

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Just a Few Notes 2

December 19, 2006

What’s this program about? The tone poem of the late romantic era painted pictures and portrayed stories with a rich orchestral style that became the model for film music. In Part 2, Professor Carol explains features of John Williams’ famous film scores and how we hear music differently when it accompanies drama. Works Discussed: John [...]

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