The Wisconsin Wind Orchestra, conducted by Professor of Music Lawrence Dale Harper, returns to Carroll University for a concert on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. in Shattuck Music Center, 218 N. East Ave., Waukesha. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students and seniors 60 and older; call the Campus Center box office at 262.524.7633.
This concert will highlight two of the most important masterworks in the repertoire for winds: "Sonatina" from the "Happy Workshop" by Richard Strauss and the "Gran Partita" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The "Gran Partita," first performed in Vienna in 1784, is widely considered the pinnacle of achievement in music for chamber winds. The piece calls for adding basset horns and an extra pair of horns to the traditional Harmoniemusik octet of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns. The pieces by Mozart and Strauss are particularly appropriate for pairing in one concert because of their similar instrumentation and Strauss's dedication of the "Sonatina," "to the memory of the immortal Mozart at the end of a thankful life." Strauss was deeply inspired by Mozart's wind music, written more than 150 years earlier, and even went so far as to borrow motives from the "Gran Partita" as germinal ideas for his own "Sonatina."
This concert will highlight two of the most important masterworks in the repertoire for winds: "Sonatina" from the "Happy Workshop" by Richard Strauss and the "Gran Partita" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The "Gran Partita," first performed in Vienna in 1784, is widely considered the pinnacle of achievement in music for chamber winds. The piece calls for adding basset horns and an extra pair of horns to the traditional Harmoniemusik octet of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns. The pieces by Mozart and Strauss are particularly appropriate for pairing in one concert because of their similar instrumentation and Strauss's dedication of the "Sonatina," "to the memory of the immortal Mozart at the end of a thankful life." Strauss was deeply inspired by Mozart's wind music, written more than 150 years earlier, and even went so far as to borrow motives from the "Gran Partita" as germinal ideas for his own "Sonatina."
This concert will highlight two of the most important masterworks in the repertoire for winds: "Sonatina" from the "Happy Workshop" by Richard Strauss and the "Gran Partita" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The "Gran Partita," first performed in Vienna in 1784, is widely considered the pinnacle of achievement in music for chamber winds. The piece calls for adding basset horns and an extra pair of horns to the traditional Harmoniemusik octet of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns. The pieces by Mozart and Strauss are particularly appropriate for pairing in one concert because of their similar instrumentation and Strauss's dedication of the "Sonatina," "to the memory of the immortal Mozart at the end of a thankful life." Strauss was deeply inspired by Mozart's wind music, written more than 150 years earlier, and even went so far as to borrow motives from the "Gran Partita" as germinal ideas for his own "Sonatina."
The Wisconsin Wind Orchestra was established in 1995 and became the resident professional ensemble of Carroll University in 1998. The group features some of the finest musicians in southeast Wisconsin, many of whom are on the applied music faculty at Carroll University, and is recognized as one of the only ensembles of its kind in the world. In a review of their recent CD, "The American Record Guide" said, "Listening to these readings of excellent wind band literature is a lovely listening experience," and called the conductor "a stickler for detail, a motivator, and a first-rate musician who brings nuance and insight to a piece of music." In 2002, the Wisconsin Wind Orchestra embarked on a European concert tour, where it was the featured ensemble on a live radio broadcast from the famed Amsterdam Concertgebouw, home of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
