Kathleen Orr’s senior recital was held last Thursday in the Alexander Recital Hall.
She performed five pieces, each with its own unique quality.
The first piece, Jascha Gurewich’s “Capriccio,” had to conform to the music department’s requirements of being a European piece. With the song’s expressive, sustained notes and lively piano accompaniment from Randolph Blouse, the audience was awestruck by Orr’s outstanding performance.
The second piece, Pierre Max DuBois’ “La Gremelittle,” needed to be worked on independently without assistance from anyone. Orr also said she needed to interpret and learn from the music on her own in order for the piece to count. The piece required Orr to make frequent use of her upper register, creating high notes with impressive ease.
“I chose these songs because of what I could learn from them,” Orr said. “The cadenzas, and the variation were what drew me to them.”
The third piece she performed, fulfilling the ensemble requirement for her recital, was Leon Stein’s “Suite for Saxophone Quartet.”
This piece was performed with Adam Sniezek, alto; Bradley Coleman, baritone; Orr, tenor; and her saxophone professor, Max Plank, on alto. The only piece of the show that didn’t have Orr demonstrating her solo skills displayed another one of her useful talents—teamwork. This quartet was filled with soothing harmonies from all four saxophone parts and nice moving lines in between.
Ryo Noda’s “Mai, La Bataille de Mer” fulfilled the requirements for an American piece. This modern piece featured highly advanced techniques only a seasoned saxophonist would be able to pull off.
Her fifth and final piece was Jacques Ibert’s “Concertino da Camera,” which was a widely known saxophone masterpiece and the final requirement for her performance.
“I knew for a long time that I wanted to play “Concertino da Camera,”’ Orr said. “I heard someone from the same studio play it three years ago, and I fell in love with it.”
Orr’s performance proved not only her ability to play amazing music, but also to prepare well for an “examination” like this. It is not easy to get in front of a large crowd and show the last four years of music education have paid off, but Orr blew her outstandingly large crowd away.
Orr was accompanied at her recital by an overwhelming amount of friends and family, all there to watch her perform for one of the last times in her undergraduate program.
Before beginning her final piece, Orr came back onstage after a brief intermission and played a heartfelt chorus of “Happy Birthday” to her mother, whose birthday was on Sunday.
“I know I’ll regret this later, but I just couldn’t pass it up,” Orr said with a smirk.
