Joseph Hasper
Joseph Hasper
Composer

Blog

20 Aug 2012

3 New Compositions by Joseph Hasper

On September 6, 2012, three of my recent compositions will be performed! The concert is at 6pm on September 6, 2012, at the Catlett Music Center on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma. Admission is free.

Dream Trajectories is an organ solo I composed for my colleague Dr. Joseph Henry, and he played its first performance at the University of Minnesota School of Music in April, 2011. Since then I have revised the piece, and I'm very happy that Dr. Henry will perform it again for us. He will play on the magnificent Fisk Opus 111 Organ: built in 1999 by C.B. Fisk, Inc. of Gloucester, Mass., Opus 111 is a three-manual and pedal organ that features 33 voices, 45 ranks, direct mechanical key-action, electric stop action and 128 levels of combination memory. The organ sits prominently on the second floor gallery in Gothic Hall, the lobby area of the Catlett Music Center. "This airy, spacious, cathedral-like entrance to the Music Center has superbly resonant acoustics that are very agreeable to the organ."

Prelude and Allegro (violin and piano) is a work in two movements, beginning with a showy, technical fantasia for violin and then moving into an intricate sonata allegro. I composed this is 2012, and it is being premiered by Marat Gabdullin and Andrea Isaacson. Marat is a member of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and has been a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Enid Symphony Orchestra (USA), Oklahoma City Community Orchestra (USA), National Symphony Orchestra of the republic of Bashkortostan (Russia), the Ufa Theater of Opera & Ballet Orchestra (Russia), the Symphonic Orchestra of Volgograd (Russia), the Kazan Chamber Orchestra “La Primavera”(Russia), the Ufa Youth Chamber Orchestra “Evo Moderno” (Russia).

Five Forms (woodwind quintet) is a work in that focuses on organization and balance. Each of the five movements is a different form; there is a rondo, a song form, a through-composed form, an invention, and a theme and variations. Another level of structure is the way the instruments are combined: the outer movements have a balanced texture, where all of the instruments plays an equal role; the second movement features the clarinet and oboe; the fourth movement gives the horn and bassoon the spotlight; and the middle movement centers on the solo flute. This give the piece a sense of drama, through the shifting centers of focus, and gives each performer a chance to step out from the texture and show off their instrument. Five Forms will be performed by the University of Oklahoma Graduate Woodwind Quintet, led by horn player Logan Fish. Mr. Fish performs with the Boulevard Brass Quintet as well as the OU Graduate Woodwind Quintet, and has played at a number of festivals including the 2011 International Horn Symposium at the University of North Texas; 2010 and 2011 Eisenstadt Music Festivals in Austria, and the 39th International Horn Symposium in La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland.


 

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