Dr. Robert Belser and the Wind Symphony hope to excite audience members Thursday with their performance of time-honored works and an original composition by Dr. Belser.
The pieces being performed include works by John Philip Sousa, Samuel Barber, Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, Frank Ticheli, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the premiere of Belser’s own composition “Passacaglia,” the third movement of “Concerto Grosso for Military Band,” originally written by Vaughan Williams and edited by Robert Grechsky.
This is the second concert the Wind Symphony will perform, the first being a “pops” concert that featured movie music, back in September.“To do a concert three weeks after school is probably cruel and unjust punishment to the students, but they rise up to it and that makes them strong and they have a great work ethic for the rest of the year,” Belser said.
To prepare for this concert the Wind Symphony, which is the top tier concert band on campus, rehearsed approximately 15 hours.
“I treat them like some of my pros,” Belser said. “Because about half of the members in there are wanting to be professional musicians later in life, either after going to grad school or trying to get a job as a studio musician.”
Belser estimates that a quarter of the symphony members are majoring in subjects outside music, with the rest of the symphony containing majors of music education, performance or bachelor of arts majors.
“I tried to at this second concert do some major works that are pretty big, that take some time, that push even the best player in the ensemble, because I have a philosophy that instead of [focusing to the middle], I have [the music] a little bit harder than the most talented person. And my rationale is that I want everybody to grow,” Belser said.
Second year master flute student, Emily Nazario said. “I’m most excited about performing the Samuel Barber piece,” “It’s called ‘Second Essay’ and it starts with a beautiful flute solo that I’m playing, and I like it because it’s in the low register of the flute and it sounds really dark and rich, and this whole piece is based off of this tune that I play in the beginning.”
In the program for the concert, Belser explains the origins of ‘Concerto Grosso for Military Band’ by Vaughan Williams, and how he came to compose the third movement. Robert Grechesky, Professor Emeritus of Butler University, gave a presentation about the unfinished works of Vaughan Williams that Belser attended, and years later, scored ‘Passacaglia’ while keeping in communication with Grechesky.
“These are the Shakespeare’s and Faulkner’s of the band world,” said Belser. “That’s why it’s called Classic Creations.”
This new compilation is a hopeful classic of symphonic melodies.
“This is kind of a big deal, and I feel like for the first time putting a child out in public. I’m excited; usually I never get a little bit antsy, a little bit nervous,” said Belser. “But I know it’s gonna work, and the kids like playing it and they’re doing a great job with it. I think the audience will like it. In the idea of Classic Creations, it’s actually; we are creating something that may be a future classic.”
The concert is Thursday in the Buchanan Center for Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m.
“I just hope that they enjoy the music, a lot of it is really fun music,” Nazario said. “There are a couple of moments in the pieces that we’re playing that are quite surprising, so I hope they are shocked when we play those.”
