097 MTSU FACULTY PIANO RECITAL FEATURES PREMIERE OF NEW WORK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

MTSU FACULTY PIANO RECITAL FEATURES PREMIERE OF NEW WORK

(MURFREESBORO)—MTSU faculty pianist Lynn Rice-See will give a public recital at 3 p.m. Sept. 23 in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Rice-See will perform Chopin’s Nocturne in B major and Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 7, and Schubert’s Sonata in A major. Additionally, a special feature will be the premiere of In the Tower of Sleep, a new work by Paul Osterfield, associate professor of music composition and theory at MTSU.
Osterfield’s compositions have been performed from coast to coast in the United States, with recent performances in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ljubljana, Slovenia. His music has been performed locally by ensembles such as the Stones River Chamber Players (MTSU’s faculty chamber ensemble) and the Blakemore Trio, whose members are on the faculty at Vanderbilt University.
Regarding In the Tower of Sleep, Osterfield said, “This work is inspired by the title of André Masson’s painting, although the music does not reflect the tone of this vivid work of art. My work, on the other hand, is more subdued, blending the pianistic tones like watercolors or pastels, reflecting more of a dream-like state. I am very pleased that my friend Lynn Rice-See asked me to write this work for her.”
“A first performance of a piece is always exciting, and it is doubly exciting to perform a new work composed especially for me,” Rice-See remarked.
Regarding the other works, Rice-See said the Sonata in A major dates from the last two months of Schubert’s life, and the Scriabin Sonata No. 7 is also from his late and highly experimental period.
"Both works exhibit the most mature style of their composer," she explained. "The Schubert exhibits great depth and dignity in the face of his death, while the Scriabin includes wild, expressionist shrieks contrasting with other-worldly, almost Impressionist passages of great delicacy.
"The central section of the Chopin Nocturne in B major, Op. 15, No. 3, is also a great scream of anguish, although in a more familiar style," she continued.
"The Chopin Barcarolle, Op. 60, is also from his mature output, and has been called his greatest nocturne, even though not titled as such. Audiences usually enjoy these lyrical compositions,” she noted.
Since her 1982 Carnegie Recital Hall debut, Rice-See has appeared as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Asia and Europe. She has appeared three times with the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Her new CD, Evocacion, will be available from Americus CD (www.americuscd.com) in fall 2007. This recording will include European piano works from the 20 years prior to World War I.
The Sept. 23 recital is free and open to the public.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.
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