SPIRITED ABERRATIONS: SCHOLARLY PROGRAM NOTES FOR GRADUATE RECITAL

The purpose of this research paper is to provide a detailed overview examination of the lives and compositional styles of certain composers as well as how the specific pieces selected for this recital reflect those elements in the form of program notes. The composers and pieces examined in this paper are respectively Robert Mucsynki’s Time Pieces Op. 43 (1984), Derek Bermel’s Thracian Sketches (2003), Roberto Sierra’s Tema y Variaciones (1999), Béla Bartók’s Contrasts (1940), and Eric P. Mandat’s Chips Off the Ol’ Block (1999). Each chapter provides a brief biographical section, a description of that composer’s compositional style, and a brief analysis of the piece to be performed