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Read They're Playing Her Song by Kim Fitzsimmons, The Connecticut Post.
Download an a MP3 file of the first movement of this work performed by the Peninsula Symphony, Mitchell Sardou Klein, conductor.
Download an a MP3 file of the second movement of this work.
Download an a MP3 file of the third movement of this work.
Download an a MP3 file of the first movement of this work performed by the Southwest Missouri State University Orchestra, Robert Quebbeman, conductor.
Download an a MP3 file of the second movement of this work.
Download an a MP3 file of the third movement of this work.
View/download a perusal PDF file of the full score of this orchestral work.
Commissioned by the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Youth Orchestra, Robert Genualdi, music director.
The intention in writing Concert Suite was to create music with a directness and freshness of sound well-suited to a youth of community orchestra. Thus, the three movements of the suite speak in a language that is often open and sparse, while emphasizing rhythmic energy and clarity of musical line. This is particularly "American" music, drawing upon folk, jazz, and rock idoms.
"Light Up the Sky" employs simple rhythmic patterns which are repeated and superimposed as the music evolves. Glissandi in the strings rise into a celebration of sound as if to "light up the sky."
In contrast, "Two As One" is a quiet, reflective and intense movement. Often instruments are paired in duets. Sometimes they answer one another, sometimes they merge into a unison. The musical ideas are presented in broad gestures, slowly unfolding.
"Up-Tempo" is jazz-influenced with frequent changes of meter. This movement is intended to elicit a spirited response from the orchestra, regardless of the age of the players! And the percussion section is kept especially busy.
Concert Suite was composed during the Summer-Fall of 1994 at the composer's studio on the Brainstorm Dairy Farm in Braintree, Vermont, and at her family home in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Notes by the composer