Nancy Galbraith is an American composer who was born in and spent most of her professional life in the Pittsburgh Area. This concerto is a thirty-two minute work in the standard three-movement form, tonal, rhythmically exciting, and particularly colorful in sound. It was composed in the summer of 1993 and premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in January, 1995. The orchestra begins the concerto quietly, but when the piano enters, the strings begin rhythmic pulsations. The scoring of the first movement frequently uses the wind instruments and percussion to extend the sound of the piano, rather than pitting orchestra and soloist against each other. An ethereal high string tremolo makes an unbroken transition to the second movement. The central part of the movement has an unaccompanied piano solo. This lyrical movement ends with other-worldly combinations of piano and orchestral sounds in a mood of meditation. The orchestra contributes the main melodic ideas in the third movement, which begins with strong rhythmic pulses in an explosive fashion. The piano's part is highly rhythmic, adding a lot of punch to the rhythmic side of the composition. Towards the end the piano takes over the melodic ideas. A powerful and driving cadenza (featuring percussion instruments joining the piano) leads to an impressive conclusion for all forces.
     —New Music Review (ca. 1996)

"Nancy Galbraith is a Pittsburgh composer whom I'd never heard of before. But I'm glad I obtained this recording because she's really quite good... This disc contains a flute sonata, a string quartet, a 'wind symphony,' a major piano sonata, and two Latin dances for wind octet. And each one is worth listening to. This disc, with pieces from several genres recorded in a number of different venues in clear, lifelike sound by Albany Records, convinces me that Nancy Galbraith has an original voice that deserves to be heard."
     —Amazon.com (Feb 28, 2003)

"Ms. Galbraith's Piano Concerto is wonderfully lyrical while creating a beautiful world of sound that is refreshingly original. Like all of her music, this concerto is expertly written and full of orchestral imagination. Being a wonderful pianist herself, she knows how to write for the instrument and make it shine in every setting."
     —Amazon.com (Jul 17, 1999)

"Atacama Sonata, for flute and piano, is in three movements: I is a sprightly capriccio with darting shards of flute over a choppy but driving array of quartal and quintal piano harmonies, II is a lengthy improvisation..., III a whirligig toccata with emphatic syncopations.

"Inquiet Spirits is Galbraith's compact second string quartet... [It] is indeed spirited and restless, deploying lots of Bartokian snap, crackle, and pop to create a 9-minute carnival of cheerfully manic energy.

"The First Piano Sonata is, like the Atacama Sonata, choppy and driving in the exciting outer toccatas.

Galbraith's music for wind ensemble gives her a chance to show off her considerable skills as an orchestrator of winds and percussion. Her Wind Symphony I is a gaudy creation, imposing in its martial and celebratory granduer. It mixes lush harmonies and minimalist pulsings with gamelan-style superimpositions of long, slow lines over faster ostinatos...

"Finally the Two Latin Dances—a suitably insinuating and lascivious habanera (with faint echoes of Kurt Weill) and a humorously puttering and shaking samba—scored for a wind octet. This cunning, winsome, and smile-inducing pair is, along with the opening movement of the Atacama Sonata, the best crafted and most purely enjoyable music on the program. Performances are very good, recordings—from various venues—mostly excellent."
     —American Record Guide (Jul/Aug 2003)

"These four chamber works date from the mid-90s and serve to demonstrate how far American academic composition has come in just one generation. No cerebrally dissonant flailings here: instead the general ambiance is pleasant, cheery, and, even at its most intense, fundamentally gentle. The language is post-minimalistically modal, with chromaticism in short supply."

"The disc opens with Galbraith's Quartet 1 (1996), an exciting three-movement work... Motoric rhythms, jazzy motives, and plenty of rustic quintal harmony supply the action for the outer movements; the Night Music-like slow movement finds a romantic cello solo accompanied by suspiciously Glass-y arpeggiations. Call it Ginastera Lite, but the work makes a joyful noise and deserves to be heard."

"The program's closer, Rhythms and Rituals (1995), for woodwind quintet and piano, is a skillfully wrought divertissement setting a sunny diatonic interplay to a laid-back post-minimalist harmonic movement. This attractive piece certainly deserves consideration by university wind chamber groups looking for fresh repertoire."
     —American Record Guide (Jul/Aug 1999)

"Like Ms. Galbraith's with brightness round about it, this minimalism-charged work is full of imagination and energy."
     —American Record Guide (Jan/Feb 1999)

"There was a recent recording by the Carnegie Mellon University Wind Ensemble... Ms. Galbraith's with brightness round about it was the best work on the disk; it showed her ability to use minimalism with skill and subtlety. The same is true here of her Piano Concerto, a wonderful work..."
     —American Record Guide (Mar/Apr 1997)

"This is one of the best band recordings in recent years...my favorite kind of disc: thrilling, cutting-edge works performed by an excellent ensemble..."

"Nancy Galbraith's with brightness round about it (the title comes from the book of Ezekiel) frames its splashy, minimalism-influenced middle section with a quiet beginning and ending. Ms. Galbraith...has a real flair for band writing: this should become an important part of the college wind ensemble repertory."
     —American Record Guide (Mar/Apr 1996)

"More bright and 'up' music in a very accessible tonal style from the fertile imagination of Ms. Galbraith. She uses bits of modern techniques such as minimalism and polyrhythms, but never loses sight of great melodies and rhythms—showing again that we don’t need to throw out nice diatonic tonality in order to keep writing interest[ing] new music today."
     —Audiophile Audition (Jun 2003)

"Not the least bit 'listener unfriendly' but it couldn't have been written at any other time but now. An example of the kind of piece that should be the 'sound of classical music' on today's radio stations."
     —Chamber Music Magazine (Jun 2000)

"Mr. Lockhart leads Ms. Galbraith's Piano Concerto. A formidable work for piano in three movements, this is an equally virtuoso piece for orchestra, and a welcome addition to the concerto literature of this century."

"Her concerto is rich in textures and rhythms. The first movement dawns with an ethereal pianissimo, which introduces percussive, rhythmic chords in the piano that recall Prokofiev. A section of bongo drumming and syncopated piano chords soon dissolves into a flowing, lyrical melody for piano."

"An unearthly mood is set in the second movement by shimmering dissonances created by high harmonics and tremolo mixed with vibraphone, against a haunting piano melody."

"The finale is an explosive perpetuum mobile, with lively themes in winds against changing rhythmic patterns in the piano. Especially arresting is a piano cadenza, a driving ostinato against percussion and low brass, performed with exciting, almost primordial fervor."

"This is truly a thrilling performance..."
     —Cincinnati Inquirer (Sep 22, 1966)

"CollegiumUSA is proud to present this wonderful recording of Galbraith's Missa Mysteriorum. For those who may be hesitant to explore contemporary music, HAVE NO FEAR. Galbraith's work possesses genuine melody, with a sweeping American character—at time, almost cinematic in their arc; her harmonies are transparent and attractive; and her propulsive rhythms are reminiscent of the music of John Adams (El Niño, The Chairman Dances, etc.) and Michael Nyman (The Piano)."
     —CollegiumUSA (2004)

"The next number, which we greatly enjoyed, was the first performance in Mexico of the symphonic poem Tormenta del Sur by the American Nancy Galbraith. This work, first performed in Argentina in 1995, is characteristic of the purest American style of the composer, who creates modern music without disdaining rhythm and melody, as well as a very peculiar lyricism."

"El siguiente número, que gustó muchisimo, fue el estreno en México del poema sinfónico Tormenta del Sur de la estadunidense Nancy Galbraith. Esta obra, estrenada en Argentina en 1995, es charateristica del estilo netamente estadunidense de la autora, quien crea música moderna pero sin desdeñar el ritmo y la melodía, así como un lirismo muy peculiar."
     —El Día; Mexico City, Mexico (July 27, 1999)

"Nancy Galbraith (b. 1951) delivers a high-energy score with her Elfin Thunderbolt (1998). The music drives hard from its opening to a lullaby-like woodwind passage about two-thirds of the way through. The dreaminess is dispatched by the arrival of a snare drum that slowly ratchets the excitement level back to that of the work's opening."
     —Fanfare Magazine (May/Jun 2002)

"The disc entitled Dream Catchers begins promisingly with an exercise in enriched minimalism by Nancy Galbraith. It begins briskly enough, then gains further push and momentum along its nine and a half minutes to a slam-bang conclusion."
     —Fanfare Magazine (May/Jun 1999)

"...the music itself certainly lives up to the meaning of the disc's overall title—New Energy From the Americas—in that an unconstrained flow of rhythmic and orchestrational flash and momentum characterizes both works."

"Nancy Galbraith...has painted on a much more ambitious canvas in her thirty-three-minute Piano Concerto in three linked movements. Its two outer movements are shot through with a highly syncopated, Hispanic-influenced percussive propulsiveness, interrupted by shadowy interludes of almost trance-like musing—an element which dominates the comparatively brief slow movement, recalling the opening movement's contemplative and panoramically suspended prolog and coda."

"...the program does make for a lush and gutsy hour and it is played and recorded with total professionalism and elan."

"A musically piquant and sonically opulent sample of 'new music' in a postmodernist and unashamedly neo-Romantic vein."
     —Fanfare Magazine (Jan/Feb 1997)

"Galbraith, one of the most outstanding composers of her generation, along with Philip Glass and John Adams..."
     —La Gazetta; San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, (April 30, 1995)

"Although Galbraith writes beautiful and effective slow music, few things can compare with her fast movements. The raw kinetic energy of the choral writing, driven by a percussion-heavy orchestra is nothing short of exhilarating. It is in this kind of writing that she makes her most distinctive and individual mark as a composer of contemporary choral music."

"Kudos to composer Galbraith for what is a magnificent choral achievement. It is hoped that a recording may be available in the future and that this work might enter the repertory of community oratorio/choral societies, for whom it is tailor-made."
     —Music & Vision (Sep 25, 2004)

"Overall this is a disc of tremendous energy and wonderful exuberance. None of these works are pieces to listen to while falling asleep. This is stay awake! music that demands and compels active and repeated listening. Although Galbraith's musical language uses primarily diatonic elements (and heavy uses of modality—both traditional and idiosyncratic), none of this music reveals all its secrets on a first hearing. This is music to be played and heard again and again."
     —Music & Vision (Oct 1, 2003)

"Filled with echoes of Aaron Copland, Nancy Galbraith’s Atacama Sonata is overflowing with lyrical melodies, lively rhythms, and pastoral harmonies. Stylistically, Galbraith practices a post-minimal reductive romanticism, i.e. extremely simple diatonic gestures with clear dramatic direction but without the overwrought exaggerations perpetuated by most hardcore neo-Romantics."
     —New Music Box (Jul 2003)

"Composer Nancy Galbraith's collection of five works are works of artistry. [Her] musical palate is rich with excellent melodic lines and rhythmic energy... very impressive."
     —New Music Connoiseur (Mar 2003)

"A tremendous impact was generated in the mood of the audience at the premiere of the work Tormenta del Sur, by the American composer Nancy Galbraith, also a teacher of composition at Carnegie Mellon University. The composition in only one movement, allows us to feel its brilliance and its charm and at the same time its power..."

"Tremendo impacto consiguió en el ánimo de los espectadores, el estreno de la obra Tormenta del Sur, de la compositora estadunidense Nancy Galbraith, también maestra de composición en la Carnegie Mellon University. La obra en un solo movimiento, dejó sentir su brillantez y su encanto y al mismo tiempo su fuerza..."
     —Nuestro Pais; Mexico City, Mexico, (Jul 1996)

"The Mass is one of Galbraith's most ambitious works to date, and simultaneously one of her finest and most immediately appealing. As in the chamber and solo works we have had occasion to welcome in these pages previously, the composer's idiom of choice is a postmodern blend of twentieth-century styles, richly tonal and modal, and rhythmically vital, with nods in the direction of minimalism and neoromanticism. Its five movements setting the traditional Latin text of the Mass, the work's title refers to the mystery of faith viewed from a very personal standpoint and celebrated in music of grandeur and eloquent tenderness. The splendid concerto (her second) has a divertingly quirky energy and wit, tinged with the inflections of jazz and blues, framing a soulful slow movement with exuberant studies in sheer musical joie de vivre, tempered with an insistent, driven and at times almost hectic gaiety. The combination of these two works demonstrate Galbraith's standing as an individual contemporary communicator more surely even than the fine previous releases of her music."
     —Records International (Jun 2004)

"This collection showcases Galbraith's exceptional communicative powers in music of emotional impact and appealing directness of expression. The flute sonata consists of two lively and colorful outer movements in the composer's trademark modally-inflected, slightly astringent tonal vocabulary, rhythmically incisive with incessant changes of meter, framing an eerily beautiful slow movement, 'in memory of the missing' which utilises breath-tones and multiphonics to-literally-breathtaking effect. The aptly titled Inquiet Spirits is a nervous, uneasy 9 minutes for string quartet, somewhat reminiscent of Bartók. Well-known for her contribution to the wind ensemble repertoire, the composer wrote the Danzas Latinas just in time for inclusion on this recording; a Habanera and Samba-witty and just a little melancholy, teasing the listener's expectations of these familiar forms. The Wind Symphony consists of three movements, which again, like the flute sonata, seem to suggest fantastic landscapes, especially the slow movement. Elsewhere, dynamic rhythms and a hint of minimalism propel the music forward. The Piano Sonata has been taken up by a number of fine pianists, and rightly so, as it presents a clear and cogent musical argument; energetic outer movements framing a slow movement of deep feeling and emotional depth."
     —Records International (Feb 2003)

"Alternately rhythmically insistent and dynamic, and tenderly melodic, Galbraith's music falls into a kind of modern-romantic category which allows the composer's individual voice to be heard uncluttered by the constraints of any particular school of composition. In the fast movements—the outer sections of the quartet, the Allegro (whose accompanying "Incantation" is hauntingly lovely), Rhythms and Rituals—some minimalist influence is certainly present—somewhat John Adams-like. Galbraith does not take refuge in overly simple harmonic progressions, and even when the music is most incisively rhythm-driven there is still a sense of harmonic argument. All these pieces are well worth getting to know."
     —Records International (Apr 1999)

"Galbraith's Aeolian Muses is an attractive piece, opening with lonely interweaving woodwind melodies over the piano's modal—aeolian, one assumes—block chords, and proceeding through increasingly active dance-like sections to a kind of delirious burlesque conclusion."
     —San Antonio Express News (Apr 1, 1994)

"Galbraith has such a way of creating texture in these very expressive works you can almost "feel" them. Beside the quartet, her three pieces for winds and piano show a deep love of melody, though they're not quite "easy-listening." Their Eastern-tinged, meditative qualities contrast well with other sections that are very playful in their rhythmic vitality. A Pittsburgh native, Galbraith has some real treasures in her hometown musicians who perform here."
     —Wet Paint (Jul 1999)

"Eduardo Alonso-Crespo and Nancy Galbraith are featured in five delightful compositions. Both composers are incredibly eclectic, showing influences from the eerie-humored waltzes of Prokofiev to the minimalism of John Adams."
     —Wet Paint (May 1997)

"Pittsburgh composer Nancy Galbraith's 30-year career continues to take on new dimensions. Her latest endeavor, "Sacred Songs and Interludes," gracefully integrates her characteristic rhythmic harmonic progressions with Middle-Eastern and Far-Eastern tunes and modes in a work that is both a sensitive celebration of humankind's rich diversity and a powerful musical prayer for wholeness and peace."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Mar 20, 2006)

"...a piece with universal appeal. Its seven sections included the powerful chords of the 'Tuba Mirum' and a tender 'Lacrimosa', indicating the scope and breadth of Galbraith's vision in a work that built, movement by movement, a contemporary spiritual connection."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Apr 12, 2005)

"The second half began with Nancy Galbraith's charmingly sophisticated "Dos Danzas Latinas." Galbraith asks for much from her musicians — leaping registers and rhythmic entanglements — and then imposes cleverly concealed endings that seem to dissipate into the air."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Feb 8, 2005)

"The concert's focal point was the premiere of "Four River Songs" by Pittsburgh composer Nancy Galbraith: "The Mountain and the River" by Pablo Neruda, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes, "the sky and a silver" by e.e. cummings and "Psalm 137: By the Waters of Babylon."

"Galbraith's distinctive compositional language vaunts crisply rhythmic harmonic progressions complemented by lyric, accessible melodies. For these works, she added the full spectrum of choral textures, eliciting pithy expressions of the texts.

"Galbraith's first major a cappella opus, "Four River Songs" exemplifies her versatility and insight. She filled the pieces with harmonic clusters, vocal ostinatos and complex counterpoint befitting the nimbleness of a chamber choir. The Camerata executed the sophisticated music adroitly.

"The concert repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Church of the Ascension in Oakland. Galbraith's compositions make it a must-hear."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Apr 29, 2003)

"Galbraith has taken one of the artiest of the new composing styles, minimalism, and made it her own. Her Wind Symphony No. 1 displayed a warmth and gentle touch ...complete with melodies and an admirable vulnerability."

"...the sound she drew from the CMU Wind Ensemble exhibited a deft understanding of what's the natural best with that instrumentation."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Mar 15, 2003)

"...a local gem..."

"Her music takes cues from minimalism, but is infused with deeper meaning. You can't get any deeper than the ordinary of the Mass, and Galbraith created stirring emotions."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Feb 14, 2002)

"Carnegie Mellon University composer Nancy Galbraith's Rhythms and Rituals is a splendid post-minimalist movement for winds, piano, bass and percussion. Two attractive and infectious melodies flow out of its rhythmically charged accompaniment, including a buoyant second theme first stated by the bassoon. For all its minimalist trappings and accompaniment, the work contained expressive color and deftly used dynamics, all within a comprehensible structure that approximated sonata form."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Feb 7, 2000)

"She composed a colorful piece with syncopated rhythms that explore the entire keyboard."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Jan 12, 2000)

"...both spiritual and radiant, with an immediacy that could not be ignored."

"...a powerful artistic statement..."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Nov 21, 1999)

"The best part of the concert, for me, was the world premiere of Nancy Galbraith's Danza de los Duendes...Galbraith's piece was impressive for its variety and skillful use of some minimalist techniques."
     —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Feb 20, 1994)

"Where last year's concert planted itself stubbornly in the past, this concert offered several contemporary works, chief among them Galbraith's Danza de los Duendes... Galbraith has penned a score of bright allure, its minimalistic touches deftly applied and its energetic personality balanced by lyrical finesse."
     —Pittsburgh Press (Feb 20, 1994)

"Fantasia achieves the splendor of its name, arching hige in ethereal passages and tinkling with other-worldly chimes. With an impressionistic feel, the piece had lovely images."
     —Pittsburgh Press (Nov 24, 1987)

"Galbraith's 'Requiem' is a masterpiece that had the audience members on their feet at the end, cheering with tears in their eyes."
     —Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Apr 12, 2005)

"...the season's best new music..."
     —Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Jun 14, 2005)

"Wednesday night, Robert Page and the Mendelssohn Choir brought Nancy Galbraith's Missa Mysteriorum back to the stage of Carnegie Music Hall, where it was a smashing success at its world premiere in the fall of 1999. She has broken free of the thorny harmonic problems of 20th-century music, and also has moved far beyond the limitations of minimalism. 'Missa Mysteriorum' (Mass of the Mysteries) is boldly conceived in detail and its overall shape. Her composition, which uses chant to open and close the 'Credo' section, emphasizes the millenium-long tradition she continues so rewardingly."
     —Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Feb 15, 2002)

"The world premiere of Nancy Galbraith's Fughetta Spirito [renamed to "Inquiet Spirits"] was another success for one of Pittsburgh's leading composers. Although she teaches at Carnegie Mellon, her music is anything but academic, as her new piece shows. Despite its title and some imitation, it does not employ four-part fugal textures as might be expected. This is high-energy music with forceful contrasts, leading to a winning conclusion with an admirably supple bass line played."
     —Pittsburgh Tribune Review (May 1, 2000)

"It has her characterisitc clarity, precision, proportion and charm."
     —Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Feb 7, 2000)

"Galbraith, who, like Zitterbart, teaches at Carnegie Mellon, wrote a three-movement work: Fugue, Religioso and Allegro. Her fugue is a lively affair, far removed from dry academics. How many fugues make you want to dance? Galbraith's second movement builds to a powerful climax, with broadly conceived harmonic motion. The finale moves from helter-skelter agitation to well-ordered confidence."

"Zitterbart played Galbraith's sonata with the same care and affection as had been applied to the music of past masters."
     —Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Jan 12, 2002)