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Larry Dickson, Professor Emeritus at Northern Kentucky University,
taught in the Department of Literature and Language for thirty years.
In addition, he has maintained a second career as a professional
composer, arranger and saxophonist, performing extensively throughout
the Midwest. Dickson has played baritone saxophone with the Woody
Herman Band, Frank Sinatra's New York Orchestra and the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded with the Cincinnati Pops, Dave
Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Mel Tormé, Doc Severinsen and James Brown,
among many others. He studied music composition with Morris Knight at
Ball State University. Dickson is a charter member of Cincinnati's
nationally acclaimed jazz ensemble, the Blue Wisp Big Band, and also
performs with the Cincinnati Jazz Orchestra.
Blues Pentarchy for Double Reeds (1997) is written for three oboes, English horn and bassoon. The word "pentarchy" suggests a division into five parts, an idea which applies to this composition in two ways. The piece is written in a 5/4 time signature and, more significantly, each of the five players has a soloistic moment at some point in the performance. In the case of two of the oboes, their feature is performed in duet. The bassoon's unaccompanied rubato solo begins and also ends the composition.
Prelude (1997), written for two oboes, English horn, and bassoon, was originally envisioned by its composer as a prelude to a contrasting dance section, but eventually the Prelude developed into its own separate composition. The slow, melancholy theme is first stated by the English horn and then by the bassoon. Eventually a solo oboe develops a variation over a pedal point.
Duet Seasons for Oboe and Bassoon (1996) is a program piece whose four sections are linked to the four seasons. "Re-emergence" is built on arpeggios which move from a minor tonality to a major key, bubbling along like the first stirrings of a spring stream. "Running," with its playful 6/8 rhythms, suggests the energy and exuberance of a summer day. "Russets" is a minor-key waltz which expresses a feeling of wistfulness, as autumn moves toward the end of the year. "Reclamation" sometimes sounds angry; the numerous trills in both oboe and bassoon hint at the windy harshness of wintertime. And just as the opening section announced the coming of spring by the crescendo in the first note of the oboe, so the last section diminishes into the silence of a winter snow, as the bassoon sounds a final fading note.
Palimpsest for Oboe Quartet (1997) has a rather specialized title. The term "palimpsest" refers to a text which has been written upon two or three times, but whose lines have been imperfectly erased so that different layers of all the texts are visible and mix together. The musical counterparts for this literary occurrence are the four independent melodies that are gradually layered upon one another during the course of this waltz for oboe quartet.
Scottish Air for Solo Bassoon (1998) is based on a Scottish folk tune and is developed in five sections: the opening melody; a medium-tempo waltz; a Latin rhythm variation; a fast waltz; and the restatement of the primary melody.
Contrast Galleries for Oboe Quartet: Musical Impressions of Six African-American Poets (1997) is the most ambitious of all these chamber music compositions. Richard Johnson, principal oboist for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, describes this piece: "Contrast Galleries was written especially for, and at the request of, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra oboe section. The piece reveals both Dickson's considerable jazz skills, as well as his affection for the six poets. But as the piece proceeds, you will become aware that it sublimates into something apart from jazz and beyond biography. And it's a great chance for the CSO oboes to have some challenging fun, the kind of fun that sax sections in big bands seem to have when they play together."
On Track 15 of this CD the composer has provided additional commentary on Contrast Galleries, but this narration is by no means necessary for the listener's enjoyment of the six-part suite. The commentary is designed to provide further information concerning the poets (Phillis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Gwendolyn Brooks and Amiri Baraka) themselves and to suggest some connections between their writings and the music.
The Cincinnati Symphony Oboe Quartet - Richard Johnson, Lon Bussell, Michael Kenyon and Robert Walters - with guest artist Martin James, Bassoon.