Criteria for Music Review
1. Attend an approved live concert.

2. Take copious notes during performance.

3. Look up information about the composer(s). Use this information in your review.

4. Write a review focusing on who, what, when, where, how did they do, what was your response, and what was especially moving or enjoyable?

5. Use at least 20 vocabulary words using capitol letters that you learned this semester. Use a highlighter and highlight the 20 vocabulary words.

6. Format: Typed, Double-spaced, 400-500 words.

6. Put titles of songs in quotation marks, such as "I Could Have Danced all Night." from My Fair Lady.

8. DUE: Friday April 11. No late reviews accepted.

By Audrey Townsend
Music Correspondent, Music 153
November 17, 1996
The Lionel Hampton School of Music Recital Hall, 4:00 p.m.

The University of Idaho was blessed with the performance of the Penta Wind Quintet on Sunday. The Penta Wind Quintet consists of five members, including Holly Wissler on flute, Jill Hooper on oboe, Del Hungerford on clarinet, Robert Dickow on horn, and Steve Hanna on bassoon. The program that evening consisted of four pieces from varying time periods. These five collaborated and produced beautiful SOUNDS ranging from the CLASSICAL to the NEO-CLASSICAL periods with inspirations from the ROMANTIC period.

The first piece served as an opening of varying RANGES and DYNAMICS. This piece is titled, "Pastoral," Op. 21 by Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987). The Quintet blended their tones with a combination of both HOMOPHONIC and POLYPHONIC TEXTURES. Each instrument was a complement to each other and took part in VARIATIONS of STACCATO and smoother tones. The piece started PIANISSIMO, gradually became FORTISSIMO, then ended in a beautiful pianissimo. The mood of the melody was very moving, flowing, and with a smooth feeling.

The Quintet moved on to perform a piece called Quintet, Op. 88, No. 2. This beautiful piece of music was composed by Anton Reicha (1770-1836) during the Classical period. Reicha was known to be a VIRTUOSO composer. He started composing music in Vienna, Austria with Beethoven and played there on many occasions. He eventually went on to the Paris Conservatory where he wrote 24 quintet pieces, this piece included in that set. The piece was composed with four movements, starting with a Lento Tenuto in Allegro Moderato, then moving through a series of MINUETS AND TRIOS, followed by a Poco Andante Grazioso written in a RONDO form. This SECULAR, instrumental piece of music was performed with much grace and perfection. The stage presence of the musicians was astounding as very rhythmic music patterns evolved, and then the bassoonist performed a beautiful CADENZA.

After a brief intermission, the Quintet introduced a piece by an American composer, Irving Fine (1914-1962). Although this composer lived a very short life, he produced many quality pieces of music during the Neo-Classical period. This GENRE of music contains many FORMS and structures found in both the Classical and Romantic periods, and basically builds on them. This piece, called Partita (1948), is an imitation of Stravinsky, only made as a quintet piece. It is very dance-like and descriptive, as well as in a SONATA ALLEGRO FORM. It opens with a very slow TEMPO, but builds into a faster-paced piece. The TONALITY was of a very good quality as the performers displayed a wide range of PITCHES in a homophonic texture. The MOOD begins very cheerfully, then moves into a sad but mysterious phase, then ends gracefully but still mysterious and quiet. This piece was very soothing to the ear.

The final piece performed was composed by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963). He was a composer during the Neo-Classical period, creating melodies derived from the BAROQUE PERIOD and EMBELLISHING them. This piece is one of many in a quintet series. It is a WALTZ, as well as a type of REPERTOIRE, challenging each musician's knowledge as an ENSEMBLE PLAYER. The INTRODUCTION is very cheerful with a quick tempo in TRIPLE METER. The players then moved into a series of solo performances, starting with the flute, then the bassoon, followed by the clarinet, the oboe, and finally the horn. The gentle and subtle tones created a mood of relaxation. A break in the music created an opportunity for a trio between the flute, bassoon, and clarinet. Then the piece became more cheerful as a faster tempo emerged. The piece ended on a happy note, making each listener want to do a series of cartwheels and back flips. The audience was quite captivated throughout the entire performance, and the Quintet proved to be quite impressive as the audience clapped very loudly at the end as each player bowed in acceptance.

The Penta Wind Quintet won the hearts of many college listeners. They were able to recreate through their instruments the pieces constructed in each composers' mind. Each piece was played elaborately and beautifully. I believe that anyone listening who had never shown any interest in instrumental music would most likely change their minds after Sunday evening. They gave a very impressive performance. The most moving and captivation feature of the Quintet is the well-blended tones that they so eloquently weave. Each piece flowed and moved every listener in the recital hall. The entire concert was very riveting and enjoyable. I am sure that every person who attended that recital will be looking forward to the Penta Wind Quintet's next performance as I do.

Jazz Combo Concert Pleases All

By Jacqui Fisher
Music Correspondent, Music 153
November 22, 1996
Bryan Hall Room 305, 8:00 p.m.

Jazz lover's will agree that WSU's School of Music and Theatre Arts' presentation of the Fall Jazz Combo Concert was the place to be on Wednesday night. Performing that evening were five different jazz combos put together by the School of Music and one duet group who came up with a great jazz number. The five groups featured were The Kingswell Cogs, Blue on Wednesday, The Four Freshman (and Joel), Bad Credit, and Hack n' Sack. Each group performed two or three songs written by various artists, including Miles Davis, a popular jazz artist from the mid-1900's.

The evening started out with The Kingswell Cogs who performed three songs, including an entertaining number called "Route 66." It was obvious that this group was comprised of musicians who were experienced with playing in COMBO BANDS. The amazing SCAT that vocalist Adam Taylor exhibited was an example of this. Another example was every member's ability to IMPROVISE with such great ease that it appeared as if they had been doing it for many, many years. For this group their LEAD SECTION was comprised of a tenor SAX and an alto sax and a VOCALIST. There was not a BRASS SECTION, but in the RHYTHM SECTION, they had a piano, bassist, and drums. This group had a great performance and were able to truly capture the essence of jazz.

The next group to play were Blue on Wednesday who were a younger, not as experienced combo group. Bob Ratcliff, who was the host for the concert, informed the audience that one of this group's main goals was to play many STANDARD pieces of music. And although they did a fine job, it was obvious that they were a "younger" group. They did not seem to do as much improvising as The Kingswell Cogs and it appeared that their pick of music was not as difficult.

The third group to perform was The Four Freshman (and Joel). This group was also a younger group and their performance was very good. The instrument that I truly enjoyed listening to in this group was the trumpet because at times the songs would call for it be MUTED. The high and almost nasal PITCH the trumpet gets with a mute stands out and gives the instrument great CLARITY.

The fourth group to play was named Bad Credit and was the only group with a trombone player. This group had two aspects that stood out to me. The first one was that this was the only group where I noticed the STRONG DOWNBEATS associated with TRIPLE METER. Another aspect that I liked from this group was their clarity. Their songs and emotions rang out from their music and when they were finished there was loud applause for the exceptional entertainment.

One of the songs that Bad Credit played was "Eighty-One" which was written by Miles Davis. Miles Davis was a wonderful jazz artist who was an important part of the jazz world while alive. Davis started playing the trumpet around nine or ten and by the age of 19 was playing in a quintet with Charlie Parker and showed listeners a different trumpet style than the great Dizzy Gillespie. Davis' "Eighty-One" is an entertaining piece and was a pleasure to listen to.

After Bad Credit was a duet with VOCALIST Jamie Robinson and BASSIST Roger Shew. These two were able to show their great musical talents with the fancy finger work from Shew and the wonderful LYRICS from Robinson. One thing that these two did well was the strong MELODY from Robinson while singing, and the great backup with the HARMONY from Roger.

To finalize the evening was the group Hack n' Sack. This group only had four performers, but all were very experienced and had great musical ability. Each member of this group was given a solo throughout one of their two songs and one solo that stood out was Bob Ratcliff's on tenor sax. Ratcliff is a fine musician and was able to have produce great DYNAMICS as he would go from FORTISSIMO to PIANO. His CRESCENDOS and DESCRESCENDOS also made his part of the piece very enjoyable to listen to. These four musicians came together well and provided an energized finale to a great evening of music.


WSU Jazz Band II Puts On Fine Performance

By Ken Droz
Music Correspondent, Music 153

On Friday, Nov 15, WSU’s Jazz Band II performed in Kimbrough Concert Hall. Some friends and I attended the performance together, and enjoyed the show they put on. They played BIG BAND JAZZ, and other GENRES popular in the early 20th century, including a BLUES number, a BALLAD, a shuffle, a number that was classified as "slightly FUNKY," and the other three were all medium SWING tunes. The band didn’t perform any true STANDARDS, and none of the songs were LYRICAL, so there was no SCAT SINGING. The music they played used a lot of TENSION, DISSONANT CHORDS that often would not RESOLVE. This style is very characteristic of JAZZ MUSIC. Like much of POPULAR MUSIC, an OSTINATO theme could be found in several of the tunes performed, borrowed from African culture.

There were two songs written and arranged by (relatively) local musicians. Dave Barduhn, a Washington State resident, wrote the ballad "Therese" which the jazz band performed close to the middle of the concert, a song which featured the tenor sax throughout. The otherlocal composer was Dave Jarvis, the WSU professor of percussion, who wrote "2:34 Shuffle". The song, obviously, was the shuffle piece, and it featured alto sax. There was also a song, "A Pair Of Aces" performed that was written by Sammy Nestico, who generally is an arranger for groups of all musical ability.

The alto sax had four IMPROVISED SOLOS (one in each of the first four songs) and was, in my opinion, the most skilled improvisational soloist in the group. It was evident that he was very familiar with the CHORD PROGRESSIONS, and was well versed in the amount of jazz he listened to. His solos sounded deliberate, and kept in time the best of all soloists that performing that evening. I was a little disappointed with the other soloists however. It seemed that if they kept good time it was at the expense of their creative ability, and vice versa. The drummer seemed especially skilled, both at KEEPING TIME, and in the last song of the evening, there was a drum BREAK, which was impressive, even to those who generally dislike the drumset as a solo instrument. His skill made for a solid RHYTHM SECTION. I was a little disappointed at the decision to use an electric bass guitar instead of the traditional upright bass. This particularly stood out to me in songs such as "Passing Lane" where the bass at times was completely exposed and it was clear that it had more treble in it than a surf-guitar rock band. The piano player took a few brief solos as well, and used primarily HOMOPHONIC texture, COMPING chords in her left hand while soloing with a single line in her right. The BRASS SECTION was also solid, particularly the TRUMPET line.

The WSU Jazz Band II put on a fine performance Friday night, and I will be sure to take note of their next performance.

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