David Maslanka (1943-) - Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble

 

 

David Maslanka (1943-)

David Maslanka - Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble

1.I. Song - “Fire in the Earth”
2. II. Interlude - “Bright Window, Your Night is Full of Stars”
3.III. Song - ”Dear Jesus, what have you done!?”
4. IV. Interlude - “Starry Night”
5. V. Song - “Mortal, have you seen this”

Joseph Lulloff, saxophone
Drew Lang, marimba
Gregg I. Hanson, maestro
University of Arizona Wind Ensemble

 

 

David Maslanka (1943, in New Bedford, Massachusetts) is a U.S. composer who writes for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music and symphony orchestra.

Best-known for his highly acclaimed wind ensemble compositions, Maslanka has published nearly 100 pieces, including eight symphonies, six of them for concert band, nine concerti and a full Mass. Maslanka’s compositional style is rhythmically intense and extremely complex, yet possesses an underlying delicate beauty. He works from a meditative standpoint of spiritual inspiration, and this gentle, warm quality permeates his music. Maslanka’s compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan (Savoie 2003).

David Maslanka is an American composer. He attended the Oberlin College Conservatory where he studied composition with Joseph Wood, and spent a year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria He also did graduate work in composition at Michigan State University with H. Owen Reed.

Maslanka's works for winds and percussion have become especially well known. They include among others, "A Child's Garden of Dreams" for Symphonic Wind Ensemble, "Concerto for Piano, Winds and Percussion," the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th symphonies, "Mass" for soloists, chorus, boys chorus, wind orchestra and organ, and the two Wind Quintets. Percussion works include, "Variations of 'Lost Love'" and "My Lady White: for solo marimba, and three ensemble works: "Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble," "Crown of Thorns," and "Montana Music: Three Dances for Percussion." In addition, he has written a wide variety of chamber, orchestral, and choral pieces.

David Maslanka's compositions are published by Carl Fischer, Inc., Kjos Music Company, Marimba Productions, Inc., the North American Saxophone Alliance, and OU Percussion Press, and have been recorded on Albany, Cambria, CRI, Mark, Novisse, and Klavier labels. He has served on the faculties of the State University of New York at Geneseo, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, and Kingsborough College of the City University of New York. He now lives in Missoula, Montana. David Maslanka is a member of ASCAP

Life
Maslanka received his Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory (1961–1965) and went on to earn a Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy from Michigan State University (1965–71). During his undergraduate work, Maslanka also spent one year studying abroad at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria (1963–64). While attending Michigan State University, Maslanka studied composition with H. Owen Reed (Maslanka 2004). He served over 20 years on the faculty at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York and has also served on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, New York University (Maslanka 2005). Dr. Maslanka is a freelance composer and has worked solely on commission since 1990. He currently lives in Missoula, Montana.

Awards and honors
Dr. Maslanka has received five residence fellowships at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1982), as well as generous grants from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation, the American Music Center, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, the State University of New York Research Foundation and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He has earned the National Endowment for the Arts Composer Award three times (1974, ‘75 and ‘89) (Carl Fischer 2005). In 1999, he was awarded the National Symphony Orchestra regional composer-in-residence award. Since 1980, Maslanka has served as a guest composer for over 100 universities, music festivals and conferences (Maslanka 2005).

He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

Works
Many of Maslanka’s compositions for winds and percussion have become established pieces in band repertoire. Among these pieces are “A Child’s Garden of Dreams,” “Rollo Takes a Walk,” and numerous concertos featuring a wide variety of solo instruments, including euphonium, flute, piano, marimba, alto saxophone and (most recently) trombone. Maslanka’s second and fourth symphonies have become particularly popular wind literature. His works for percussion include “Montana Music: Three Dances for Percussion,” “Variations of ‘Lost Love,’” “My Lady White,” “Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble” and “Crown of Thorns.” Maslanka has also written a complete Mass for full choir, soprano and baritone soli, with accompaniment by full symphonic band. Having spent his childhood in the New England area, a number of Maslanka’s compositions were influenced by his close relationship with the ocean (Alexander 1998). “Sea Dreams,” for example, as well as the second movement of his second symphony, reference large bodies of water. Maslanka’s works have been recorded and produced primarily by Albany Records, as well as Cambria, Crest, CRI, Klavier, Mark, Novisse, St. Olaf and Umass labels. Most of his music is published by Carl Fischer. See full list of compositions by David Maslanka.

Works for Winds
Child's Garden of Dreams, A (1981)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone (2000)
Concerto for Marimba (1990)
Concerto for Piano, Winds, and Percussion (1979)
Four Pieces for Band (1980)
Give Us This Day (Short Symphony) (2005)
Golden Light (1990)
Heart Songs (1998)
Hell's Gate (1997)
In Memoriam (1990)
Laudamus Te (1995)
Mass (1996)
Montana Music: Chorale Variations (1993)
Morning Star (1997)
Mother Earth (2006)
Prelude on a Gregorian Tune
Rollo Takes a Walk (1980)
Sea Dreams for Two Horns and Wind Ensemble (1998)
Song Book for Flute and Wind Ensemble (2001)
Symphony No.2 (1987)
Symphony No.3 (1991)
Symphony No.4
Symphony No.5 (2000)
Symphony No.7 (2008)
Tears (1994)
Testament (2001)
A Tuning Piece: Songs of Fall and Winter (1995)
Traveler
UFO Dreams: Concerto for Euphonium (1999)
Variants on a Hymn Tune (1995)