Contemporary composer Christopher Caliendo was present to introduce his Sonata for Horn and Piano, No. 1, in its world premiere. Heavily indebted to jazz style, the composer cited such influences as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, and has produced a three-movement work that reveled in the possibilities of "crossover" without any musical sacrifce to either."
Once again, Berg, Dean of the School of Music, threw himself into the rhythmic swing of the piece with obvious pleasure. Richard Todd's horn playing was astonishing as he manipulated his instrument to execute blue notes, slurs and swoops that gave the work its full dimension. This is a totally entertaining composition that hopefully will have much success in future performance.
Bop improvisers would often deploy phrases over an odd number of bars,
and overlap their phrases across bar lines and across major harmonic
cadences. Charlie Christian and other early boppers would also begin
stating a harmony in their improvised line before it appeared in the
song form being outlined by the rhythm section. This momentary
dissonance creates a strong sense of forward motion in the
improvisation and was one of the inspirations for the movements
material.
This movement was inspired by listening to Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige criticized
for its discontinuity and formlessness. Arbitrary classical transitions
permeate the work, especially Beige which goes even further towards a
loose, episodic kind of development with almost no recapitulation of
previous material.
This movement's music characterized by fast
tempo, and instrumental virtuosity emphasizes weak beats and off beats.
Thelonious Monk's characteristic unorthodox approach to the piano,
combining a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of
silences and hesitations became a key factor in shaping this
movement's structure and phrasing.
