Wind Quintet No. 4

Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1943, David Maslanka studied composition at Oberlin College with Joseph Wood. After a year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, he earned his master’s and Ph.D. in music theory and composition at Michigan State University, working primarily with H. Owen Reed. Maslanka’s wind music is especially well-known. About a third of his oeuvre are pieces for wind ensemble, including eight symphonies, 17 concertos, a Mass, concert pieces, and many chamber works. Following his death in 2017, his music has been preserved and circulated by his son Matthew, an accomplished euphonium player and trombonist as well as an engraver and copyist whose projects included the Pixar film The Incredibles 2.

One of Maslanka’s lesser-known chamber works, the Wind Quintet No. 4, was commissioned by The Florida West Coast Symphony and premiered in 2008 by its resident Florida Wind Quintet. Gayle Williams wrote in the Herald-Tribune before the work’s premiere, “In remarks made from the stage before the performance, Maslanka said that music connects the soul to the mind. He said he has no idea where the music or the consciousness comes from, but it is the most essential part of who we are. He also said that music, for us, in the space and time of the world, is about the transformation of pain and suffering.”