Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web.
This week, we showcase five extraordinary performances of Recitation Book, Mvt. V, Fanfare/Variations on Durch Adams Fall from 2018.
Each December, Maslanka Weekly features the best performances of David’s most popular works that were uploaded to the web that calendar year.
Recitation Book, Mvt. V, Fanfare/Variations on Durch Adams Fall
From David Maslanka’s original Program Note:
I have loved Italian madrigals since my student days. Recitation Book for saxophone quartet feels something like a madrigal collection, but with a grand finale. My approach to composing is vocal, and the singing quality of saxophones is one of their finest strengths. The movements in this piece are relatively brief and intimate songs.
Much of my recent music draws its inspiration from the distant past. An old melody pushes open a door in my mind and a parallel world or dream makes its way out. Each piece in this set found its inspiration in that way.
The title, “Recitation Book,” implies a set of lessons. I don’t want to say explicitly what each “lesson” means, but the titles of the pieces circle around the theme of death, which for me implies the passing of the old, and the coming of the new.
I have not only quoted a number of old melodies in Recitation Book, but two whole brief pieces as well. This first is J.S. Bach’s four-part chorale Jesu, meine Freude, and the second is an arrangement for the four saxophones of the five-voiced madrigal Ecco, morirò dunque by Gesualdo di Venosa.
Watch below as the Ignis Saxophone Quartet gives a performance from January 29, 2018.
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Watch below as the Siam Saxophone Quartet gives a performance from January 14, 2018.
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Watch below as the OCSA Saxophone Quartet gives a performance from February 10, 2018.
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Watch below as the Vitruvian Saxophone Quartet gives a performance from February 25, 2018.
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Watch below as the Tantamount Saxophone Quartet gives a performance from March 12, 2018.
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For more information on Recitation Book, please visit Recitation Book @ davidmaslanka.com
We would love to hear from you! If you know of any outstanding performances of David Maslanka’s music on the web, please email us at maslankaweekly@maslanka.org.
