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Owen Middleton (b. 1941) enjoys an established and growing reputation as a composer of classical guitar music, but his works for piano are comparatively little known. The close investigation offered here of Middleton's works for piano reveals the same impressive craftsmanship, compelling character, and innovative spirit found in his works

Owen Middleton (b. 1941) enjoys an established and growing reputation as a composer of classical guitar music, but his works for piano are comparatively little known. The close investigation offered here of Middleton's works for piano reveals the same impressive craftsmanship, compelling character, and innovative spirit found in his works for guitar. Indeed, the only significant thing Middleton's piano music currently lacks is the well-deserved attention of professional players and a wider audience. Middleton's piano music needs to be heard, not just discussed, so one of this document's purposes is to provide a recorded sample of his piano works. While the overall repertoire for solo piano is vast, and new works become established in that repertoire with increasing difficulty, Middleton's piano works have a significant potential to find their way into the concert hall as well as the private teaching studio. His solo piano music is highly effective, well suited to the instrument, and, perhaps most importantly, fresh sounding and truly original. His pedagogical works are of equal value. Middleton's piano music offers something for everyone: there one finds daring virtuosity, effusions of passion, intellectual force, colorful imagery, poetry, humor, and even a degree of idiomatic innovation. This study aims to reveal key aspects of the composer's musical style, especially his style of piano writing, and to provide pianists with helpful analytical, technical, and interpretive insights. These descriptions of the music are supported with recorded examples, selected from the works for solo piano written between 1962 and 1993: Sonata for Piano, Childhood Scenes, Katie's Collection, and Toccata for Piano. The complete scores of the recorded works are included in the appendix. A chapter briefly describing the piano pieces since 1993 concludes the study and invites the reader to further investigations of this unique and important body of work.
ContributorsMoreau, Barton Andrew (Author) / Hamilton, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Spring, Robert (Committee member) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Despite the wealth of folk music traditions in Portugal and the importance of the clarinet in the music of bandas filarmonicas, it is uncommon to find works featuring the clarinet using Portuguese folk music elements. In the interest of expanding this type of repertoire, three new works were commissioned from

Despite the wealth of folk music traditions in Portugal and the importance of the clarinet in the music of bandas filarmonicas, it is uncommon to find works featuring the clarinet using Portuguese folk music elements. In the interest of expanding this type of repertoire, three new works were commissioned from three different composers. The resulting works are Seres Imaginarios 3 by Luis Cardoso; Delirio Barroco by Tiago Derrica; and Memória by Pedro Faria Gomes. In an effort to submit these new works for inclusion into mainstream performance literature, the author has recorded these works on compact disc. This document includes interview transcripts with each composer, providing first-person discussion of each composition, as well as detailed biographical information on each composer. To provide context, the author has included a brief discussion on Portuguese folk music, and in particular, the role that the clarinet plays in Portuguese folk music culture.
ContributorsFerreira, Wesley (Contributor) / Spring, Robert S (Thesis advisor) / Bailey, Wayne (Committee member) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
Numerous orchestral reductions for piano are plagued by cumbersome passages that impede pianists from delivering phrases with flow and elegance. The vocal works of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) and Richard Wagner (1813–1883) are among the more unwieldy of these. While arrangers of the piano vocal scores by these two composers

Numerous orchestral reductions for piano are plagued by cumbersome passages that impede pianists from delivering phrases with flow and elegance. The vocal works of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) and Richard Wagner (1813–1883) are among the more unwieldy of these. While arrangers of the piano vocal scores by these two composers admirably include as much orchestration as possible, their efforts often result in writing that is not idiomatic for the piano. The frustrating difficulties in the orchestral reductions of Handel’s “Empio, dirò, tu sei” (Giulio Cesare), his Messiah chorus “For unto us a child is born” as well as Wagner’s aria “Du bist der Lenz” (Die Walküre) all plead for a new, fresh arrangement for the working pianist. Concerning itself with the formation of one’s hands, stamina preservation, and the need to give proper support to the singers, this paper makes examples of these three pieces to document and justify the steps and techniques one may take to customize both these and any variety of orchestral reductions. With great emphasis on the methodology of rewriting operatic and choral orchestral reductions, this document presents newly arranged note–for–note piano vocal scores of the above arias and chorus. By customizing and rewriting complex scores, our partners benefit by singing above the identical accompaniment every time. It is the intent that the collaborative pianist can apply these methods to future rewrites, with the result of producing scores that are conducive to proper technique and flow.
ContributorsPeterman, Jeremy Patrick (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Committee member) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Reber, William (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
ContributorsGardner, Joshua (Performer) / Novak, Gail (Pianist) (Performer) / Pan, Tiffany (Performer) / Murphy, Patrick (Performer) / Gardner, Stefanie (Performer) / Kluesener, Joseph (Performer) / Egide Duo (Performer) / Paradise Winds (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2022-09-04
ContributorsGardner, Joshua (Performer) / Novak, Gail (Pianist) (Performer) / Gardner, Stefanie (Performer) / Spring, Robert (Performer) / Pan, Tiffany (Performer) / Murphy, Patrick (Performer) / Kluesener, Joseph (Performer) / Egide Duo (Performer) / Paradise Winds (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2023-09-10
ContributorsGardner, Joshua (Performer) / Novak, Gail (Pianist) (Performer) / Stapley, Sara (Performer) / Bowlin, Sarah (Performer) / Chen, Yi-Chia (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2008-12-06
ContributorsGardner, Joshua (Performer) / Novak, Gail (Pianist) (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2009-03-21
ContributorsOwens, Pearl Gonzales (Performer) / Hickman, Miriam, 1955- (Performer) / Gardner, Joshua (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2006-03-22
ContributorsNovak, Gail (Pianist) (Performer) / Dominguez, Vincent (Performer) / Georges, Julia (Performer) / Piske, Rachel (Performer) / Gardner, Joshua (Performer) / Thompson, Anthony (Performer) / Palmer, Katie (Performer) / Endel, Kim (Performer) / Miracle, Matthew (Performer) / Clausen, Kevin (Performer) / Spring, Robert (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2009-04-28
ContributorsSpring, Robert (Performer) / Mancuso, Simone (Performer) / Wier, Alex (Performer) / Gudaitis, Amber (Performer) / Miracle, Matthew (Performer) / Campbell, Andrew (Pianist) (Performer) / Gardner, Joshua (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2014-09-21