Performances
about Euphonic Blues
“The concert opened with Nancy Galbraith’s Euphonic Blues, a piece that the professor of composition wrote for the 100th anniversary of the CMU School of Music…Ms. Galbraith was influenced by American blues and minimalism…But it also navigates a rich orchestration and varied tonal landscape, at once poignant then triumphant, like a dramatic movie score. Her harmonic language has a moving familiarity to it; those comforting flavors contrasting with an exotic-sounding 7/8 section in the middle. Dramatic conducting from Mr. Runnicles added zing to the piece’s two major climaxes. It was an affecting performance.” — Elizabeth Bloom, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There were many compelling aspects to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert guest conductor Donald Runnicles led Friday night in Heinz Hall. The gently reflective spirit that opens Nancy Galbraith’s Euphonic Blues proved an alluring way to start the concert. The nine-minute piece is impressive in its emotional range, rewarding for the course of its musical ideas and masterly in its orchestral palette. Reminiscent in some ways of the era of Aaron Copland and Roy Harris, it was a joy to discover and received a standing ovation. — Mark Kanny, TribLIVE.com
about Sonata for Bassoon and Piano
“Bassoon Transcended: Contemporary Music for Bassoon and Piano by Women Composers” MSR Classics MS1439
Christin Schillinger, bassoon
Nancy Galbraith’s Sonata is traditional in form, but her vibrant rhythmic textures and unusual harmonic choices make it cutting edge contemporary music. In the first movement, she uses whole tone scales and polytonality. She follows it with a meditative second section and a dance like Finale that has a beautifully written bassoon cadenza. — Maria Nockin, Fanfare Magazine
about Danza de los Duendes
“Galbraith has penned a score of a bright allure, its minimalist touches deftly applied and its energetic personality balanced by lyrical finesse.” — Donald Rosenberg, The Pittsburgh Press
“Nancy Galbraith – one of the most outstanding composers of her generation along with Philip Glass and John Adams.” — La Gaceta (Argentina)
“Ms. Galbraith has a real flair for band writing: this should become an important part of the college wind ensemble repertory along with with brightness round about it.” — American Record Guide
“A musically piquant and sonically opulent sample of “new music” in a postmodernist and unashamedly neo-Romantic vein” — Fanfare
“Nancy Galbraith’s orchestral writing has combined an impressionist’s mastery of texture and a minimalist’s sense of rhythm. Her pulsating, shimmering textures often feel as though they’re a living part of the ecosystem…” — Stephen Baum, Pittsburgh Magazine
“A major contribution to the twentieth century concerto literature” — Riccardo Schultz
about Morning Litany
“‘Morning Litany’ is an epic piece. The celebration of color and light is impressive.” — Lukas Foss