WIU Wind Ensemble Recording Released Friday

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WIU Wind Ensemble Recording Released Friday

November 11, 2019

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MACOMB, IL – A professional recording of the Western Illinois University's performance of "Symphony No. 10 – The River of Time," by composer David Maslanka and his son, Matthew Maslanka, was released for online sale Friday, Nov. 8.

The piece was premiered on the WIU campus in February, and WIU Director of Bands Mike Fansler and the Wind Ensemble traveled to Geneseo, IL, in March to professionally record the composition on PARMA Records at the Geneseo Performing Arts Center.

The recording can be purchased at bit.ly/36HVzSd.

This was the first time in 40 years the WIU Wind Ensemble has made a professional studio recording of its work.

The piece by David and Matthew Maslanka was commissioned by the WIU School of Music and 50 other college-level music programs in 2016. While he was working on the piece, his wife, Alison, passed away. Just six weeks after her death in 2017, David passed away, shortly after learning he had terminal cancer, leaving the symphony unfinished. Before his death, David had completed the first and second movements of the composition and sketched out portions of the fourth movement.

"He was a very introspective and contemplative composer. He would go into deep meditation to seek musical ideas and thoughts as he wrote," said Fansler. "In the first movement, he wrote a love song for his dying wife. It's just a beautiful, skipping-ly happy melody, yet monumentally sad if one thinks about the circumstances behind it."

Fansler said David wrote the second movement in dedication to his son, Matthew, who is a euphonium player. David had just started the third movement when he received his fatal diagnosis, so he asked his son to finish the composition.

"To lose your mom and dad within six weeks and then have to finish a major symphony… the third movement is dark, it is dissonant, it is angry and there is pain and anguish and it expresses the dealing process," said Fansler. "It's not supposed to be a comfortable event for the listener. One could imagine a sweet melody interrupted by a sudden sucker punch of anger."

Matthew traveled to Macomb in February to attend Wind Ensemble rehearsals and teach classes.

For more information on the Wind Ensemble, visit bit.ly/1NFUtp5.