December 29, 2020

Enjoy this culturally, chronologically, and geographically diverse performance recorded in December 2020 by Windscape, MSM’s resident wind quintet.

Tara Helen O’Connor, flute
Randall Ellis, oboe
Alan R. Kay, clarinet
Frank Morelli (BM ’73), bassoon
David Jolley, horn

Enjoy this a culturally, chronologically and geographically diverse performance recorded in December 2020.

Program

Anonymous “Two Deer Calling in the Forest” (10th Century Japan)
J.S. Bach/Mordechai Rechtmann Chorale Prelude: “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” (1740)
Eugene Bozza Aria: “Andante cantabile” for Oboe Solo (1938)
Chen Yi Monologue: Impressions on “The True Story of Ah Q” for Clarinet Solo (1983)
Mario Lavista Three Short Dances (1994)
Allison Loggins-Hull “Color Wheels” (2016)
Akmal Parwez “Korelana” for Horn Solo (1987))
Adolphus Hailstork “Lento e teneramente” from Bassoon Set (1996)
Maurice Ravel/Frank Morelli “The Fairy Garden” from Mother Goose Suite (1910)

About the Works and Recording Process

Three of the works (The Bach, Lavista and Ravel) are for full quintet. Each of recorded audio files in our homes, which were then collected and combined by Frank Morelli and Tara Helen O’Connor in applications like Garage Band and Logic Pro X. With this technology available to us, we were able to create a cohesive group sound and respectable acoustic. The first work, “Two Deer Calling in the Forest,” is for two players (flute and oboe) and was put together similarly.

The other works on the program are individual solo works. Each of us recorded at home and either merged “live” or more “psychedelic” video (see Tara’s performance of “Color Wheels”!) with the audio track or turned the audio files over to Frank, who expertly overlaid public domain photos to create vibrant video to accompany the music.

The subheading of this program, “Joining Together, While Apart,” gives a heartfelt sense of how meaningful it has been for us, as five colleagues who are as devoted to each other as ever, to come together as a group, despite the difficulties of the pandemic, and to share music we love with our audience. As always, we are reminded also of our love for and gratitude to the Manhattan School of Music, as well as to our students and colleagues at the school, where we have been in residence for over 25 years.