For this section here I am thinking a blurb or something about the recital as well as maybe the program notes and program information. William Tell Overture Gioachino Rossini was one of the most popular Italian composers of the 19th century. This was his thirty-ninth and last opera. In four acts, it tells the story of William Tell, an archer and Swiss hero who helps to liberate Switzerland from Austrian occupation. This opera is less frequently performed, but the overture remains a concert favorite. Today, we are performing the first of four sections (an overture to the overture, if you will), which is written for five cellos. A Suspicious Pier This piece for solo piano is loosely based off of Franz Liszt’s etude for piano, Un Sospiro (”a sigh”). I wanted to play a piano piece for this recital, but the pieces that I was working on were too difficult to pull together without actually practicing, so I wrote something at 3am on the Sunday before the recital. It explores the relationship between the white and black keys on the piano, as well as the overtones of the two primary key centers, C and F#. String Quartet No. 4 This work is highly influenced by several things, most importantly my lessons in composition from Dr. Jay Batzner and Dr. Harding. They pointed out how new composers often make the mistake of including too many new ideas in their pieces. Both of these movements avoid this idea and repeat their own theme many times, possibly to a fault. Of course, this work is also influenced by both Ravel and Shostakovich’s string quartets (3rd and 4th movement, respectively). String Quartet No. 2 in A Major Tchaikovsky once remarked: “Oh Borodin, a good chemist, but he cannot write a proper measure without Rimsky helping him.” Yet Borodin’s quartet remains a beloved work among string players, showing his gifts extend well beyond the laboratory. The quartet’s third movement is regarded as a love song between the instruments. The opening melody, first played by the cello, is echoed by the first violin - a musical representation of Borodin’s wife. This theme repeats several times in different orchestrations, showing Borodin’s compositional skill in the quartet.
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