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Dominant 7 Composers’ Recital
Dominant 7 is an initiative at the Aaron Copland School of Music to have undergraduate and graduate composition students have their pieces performed in front of a live audience. There are six recitals every year featuring various student artists. On December 7, at 7:00 PM in the LeFrak Concert Hall, Vanessa Carmela, Anthony Izzo, Michael Lofaso, Britlin Losee, Ely Moskowitz, George Weisman, and Andrew Whitbeck were spotlighted. These students range from 19 to 27 years, showing that compositional talent has no age. The pieces performed were extremely varied in terms of for whom they were written. There were vocalists, violinists, flautists, pianists, and even a marimba player!
My favorite piece of the night was probably Britlin Losee’s Ave Maria. It was performed a cappella by the women’s choir. Because it was sung without any accompaniment, there was a lot of focus put on the voices. One of the coolest parts of the piece was the pronunciation of the words. At one point, the singers were chanting different words, and the consonant sounds were emphasized, creating an almost eerie aura to the section. The piece was very well put together and I was able to follow a distinct melody.
Another interesting piece was Andrew Whitbeck’s Duo for Violin and Contrabass in G Minor. Out of all the pieces, this was by far the lengthiest. I was very impressed that even as it was a very long composition, he was able to keep a theme throughout.
I must mention Ely Moskowitz’s Djinn Trio for bass clarinet, piano, and marimba. What an odd combination of instruments! A very interesting thing that I noticed were the two types of mallets that the marimba-ist was using. One pair (or actually, he used four at a time) had a much harsher quality and didn’t bring out the tone as well as the others. The pair gave a more percussive and harsh sound to the piece when it was used. These are such small things that composers think of when they write music! It is absolutely incredible!!!
Overall, I was very impressed with the selection and I definitely will be going to the rest of the concerts this year! Not to mention, the reception afterward is extremely well stocked with great food.
Dominant 7 Composers’ Recital
December 7, 2012
LeFrak Concert Hall
Marina B. Nebro