Music schedule to open with organ recital

The Department of Music will open its 2000-01 season with an organ recital by faculty member Roland E. Martin featuring Johann Sebastian Bach's final-and incomplete-work, The Art of the Fugue.

The recital will be held at 8 p.m. Sept. 1 in Slee Concert Hall. David Fuller, professor emeritus of music, will present a pre-concert lecture on the program at 7:15 p.m.

Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht states in the preface of his book on this subject that "Bach's The Art of the Fugue is held in great awe, and scarcely any other work in the history of music suggests so many artistic possibilities. At the same time, however, this cycle of fugues and canons has thoroughly mystified manyŠ"

Martin, professor of organ and harpsichord, will be joined by members of the SUNY-Fredonia brass faculty, who will perform brass quintet arrangements of select fugues from the cycle.

On Sept. 12, the Slee Sinfonietta, UB's chamber orchestra, will be joined by soprano Elizabeth Farnum under the direction of Magnus Mårtensson in a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in G Major. The performance will take place at 8 p.m. in Slee.

Symphony No. 4 in G Major ("Ode to Heavenly Joy") is probably Mahler's most-loved symphony, thought to express in its charming melodies his admiration for the great composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

A specialist in contemporary music, Farnum comes to UB with many credentials, the most notable being her touring activity with the renowned Waverly Consort and recent performances as a featured singer with Riverdance.

The first piece in the Sinfonietta program will be Silbury Air by Harrison Birtwistle. Birtwistle's style has been compared to the music of Igor Stravinsky.

Christopher Gibbs, professor of music, will present a pre-concert lecture on the program at 7:15 p.m.

The Cassatt String Quartet, the Slee Quartet-in-Residence, will open the 45th annual cycle of complete Beethoven string quartets with a concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 15 in Slee.

The Cassatt will perform Beethoven's Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127, Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No.1, and Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3.

UB's other resident chamber ensemble, the Amherst Saxophone Quartet, will kick off its season with a program entitled "A Tribute to Marcel Mule" at 8 p.m. Sept. 21 in Slee.

Mule was the founder of the famed Paris Saxophone Quartet, the ensemble that inspired composers to write so much great music for these instruments.

During the concert, the Amherst Saxophone Quartet will perform masterpieces composed by Alfred Desencios, Gabriel Pierne and Alexander Glazunov.

For further information, including ticket prices, contact the concert office at 645-2921 or at the Slee Concert Hall website.