Nickell’s Bag

It’s no secret that Missoula overflows with musical talent. Still, not many people realize that one of America’s most celebrated living classical composers lives right here in town.

His name is David Maslanka. His music – which includes eight symphonies, several concertos, and myriad smaller-scale works — is performed internationally. In a time when new recordings of even the established classics are made less and less often, Maslanka’s output continues to be extensively documented, with at least 48 commercially available records featuring his music. A Google search for his name turns up more than 100,000 hits.

As you read this, Maslanka is in Japan, where one of his newest works, Liberation for Wind Ensemble and Chorus, is being premiered.

Maslanka keeps himself so busy, in fact, that he won’t even be in town next Tuesday, March 16, when another of his newest works receives its Missoula premiere, in a performance by UM piano professor Christopher Hahn, UM percussion professor Bob Ledbetter, and North Carolina-based pianist Karen Beres and her percussionist husband, Lance Drege.

The piece, cumbersomely titled “This is the World We Know, the World of Air and Breathing and Sun and Beating Hearts,” was commissioned by Hahn’s ensemble, and has already played to rapt audiences in North Carolina and Oklahoma.

For anyone surprised to hear of this, Hahn said the 45-minute piece, which is scored for two pianos and two percussionists, should offer a powerful introduction to Maslanka’s music.

“In however many years that I’ve been playing, I’ve never had a moment in a performance where I’ve been brought to tears in my own performance – until we played this piece in concert,” said Hahn. “It’s just such profound music, crystalline and deeply moving. It’s genius, genius…So far when we’ve played it, the audience reaction has been the same as mine.”

Structured in five movements, the composition undermines any misgivings about the approachability or emotional power of modern classical music, said Hahn.

“I find so many new compositions are about frenetic rhythmic energy, making it almost impossible to perform; so the performance becomes a marathon,” said Hahn – who, to be sure, is an agile musical sprinter when called to the task. “But because you’re focused on that, the expressiveness isn’t there. This is completely not that; It’s completely tonal and just full of these beautiful percussion colors. I think audiences will find it refreshing.”

Here are a couple of samples of Maslanka’s music. Since he is particularly well-respected for his percussion music — and since, of course, this new piece is for all percussion instruments — I’ve picked a couple of shining examples from his wide repertoire written for beaten instruments.

First up, a hauntingly beautiful piece for percussion ensemble, called “Montana Music: Three Dances for Percussion.”

Next, check out this movement from his “Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble.” Beautiful stuff:

Tuesday’s concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall, and also features performances of works by Leo Hurley, Gary Kulesha, and Witold Lutosławski. Admission is $10 general, $5 students/seniors.

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