Syzygy Trio
Album Release - 2026
You can find our album on your favorite streaming platforms!
You can find our album on your favorite streaming platforms!
The SYZYGY Trio: Three Celestial Objects in Perfect Alignment
Audio Engineer: Owen Taylor, OT-AV
Recordings can be found on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZK-Rv8LmmmnE0Owyi8Umtg
Digital Liner Notes
Craig B. Parker, Ph.D., Kansas State University School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Grace Baugher Dunlap (born 1995)—Windfall for bassoon, tuba, and piano (2025)
Grace Baugher Dunlap is a Kansas-born composer, horn player, and music educator. Her music is known for its memorable melodies and highlights emotional aspects of the human experience. While in high school, she participated in the Kansas City Symphony’s young composer’s institute with composer-in-residence Adam Schoenberg, where she became acquainted with compositional and orchestration techniques, observed first readings, and worked with the symphony musicians. The program culminated with a premier of her first chamber work, Luminescent Skies by members of the Kansas City Symphony at Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center.
She earned her bachelor’s at Kansas State University in music composition (where she studied with Craig Weston) and French horn performance (with Jacqueline Fassler-Kerstetter) as well as a minor in Leadership Studies, and a graduate certificate in music education. She also earned a master’s in music composition (under Andy Sigler) and a graduate certificate in music theory pedagogy from the University of Tennessee. Her music has an international presence and has been performed at many colleges and conferences across the country. Grace lives in Kansas City with her husband Max, her cats Elsa and Willett, and many, many plants. In addition to composing, performing, and teaching brass, she is in demand as a speaker on creativity and mental health.
Windfall was commissioned by Steven and Susan Maxwell and was premiered on K-State’s Hale Library Concert Series on April 25, 2025. The composer wrote:
Windfall is inspired by my love of the music from the Legend of Zelda games. I was introduced to the games early in my relationship with my now-husband. We would spend evenings playing these games and exploring the world of Hyrule. Or rather, he would be playing the games and I would be napping on the couch. But the soundtrack made the most beautiful musical landscape to my dreams. I was drawn to the simple melodies and motivic ideas throughout the game as well as how the music helped establish various cultural landscapes. For Windfall, I specifically pulled from the moments that captured the magic of the games for me, the romantic moments, battle scenes, and scenic landscapes.
Gwyneth Walker (born 1947)—After Manhattan: Duets for Bassoon and Tuba (2022)
Born March 22, 1947 in New York City, Gwyneth Walker graduated with degrees in music composition from Brown University and the Hartt School of Music. She taught at the Oberlin College Conservatory and the Hartt School of Music before leaving academia in 1982 to be a full-time composer. A resident on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont for nearly 30 years, Dr. Walker now lives near her childhood hometown of New Canaan, Connecticut.
Walker began composing at the age of 2. She has written more than 400 commissioned works in virtually all genres. Her musical output ranges from folk song settings for school choruses through concertos for professional orchestras. Her compositions often reflect “Americanisms” such as rhythmic vitality, open sonorities, and influences of American vernacular music such as blues, jazz, rock, and folk music. Among her many accolades are the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vermont Arts Council, the 2018 Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts New England, the Hartt Alumni Award, presented to her by her alma mater in 2020.
During the spring of 2022, Gwyneth Walker visited K-State, where she met Steven and Susan Maxwell. She created this series of duets dedicated to the Maxwells: After Manhattan. The first movement, “Give and Take,” has a blues-like melody in the bassoon while the tuba has a syncopated ostinato. A three-note motive consisting of an ascending minor third followed by a descending minor second permeates the middle movement, “Circling.” The concluding movement, “The Slow Walk Home,” has a swinging melody in the bassoon over a walking bass in the tuba.
Barbara York (1949-2020)—Conversations for bassoon, tuba, and piano (2005)
Barbara York (born February 23, 1949 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; died November 6, 2020 in Pittsburg, Kansas) worked as a collaborative pianist, choral and theatrical music director, elementary music teacher, and composer for nearly a half century. Following her graduation from McGill University in Montreal at the age of 20, she worked a variety of theatrical jobs in Toronto with such future stars as John Candy, Andrea Martin, and Martin Short. In 1993, she moved to Kansas City, where she worked primarily as a collaborative pianist and church musician. The last ten years of her life were spent as a staff accompanist for Pittsburg State University and playing at numerous conferences.
She received numerous commissions for solo, chamber, wind ensemble, and orchestral pieces from Canadian and U. S. musicians and musical organizations. Among her composition awards was the Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada’s version of a Tony) in 1981 for her score and lyrics for the musical Colette. York was one of the most prolific and widely performed composers of music for low brass instruments, with over 40 works involving tuba/euphonium ranging from solos, duets, chamber works, through sonatas and concerti. Many of her works for low brass instruments have become standard repertoire works and the subject of doctoral dissertations. Her obituary stated: “She changed the landscape of music for those who play low brass—instruments often relegated to depict large mammals while the musicians who played them sat in the back row.” Frequent York collaborator and current Chanute High School band director A. J. Beu remarked: “It’s as if she gave us permission to play beautiful melodies and invited the audience to enjoy them.” The International Tuba Euphonium Association posthumously awarded York its Lifetime Achievement Award during its May 2021 Virtual Tuba Euphonium Conference.
In 2006, York won the Harvey Phillips Award for Euphonium in Chamber Music for her Conversations for euphonium, alto saxophone, and piano. At the request of Susan and Steven Maxwell, she later rewrote this work for the instrumental combination heard tonight.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)—Trio in E-flat, Op. 40 (1865)
In the centennial edition of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Nicolas Slonimsky describes Johannes Brahms as “great German composer, the preeminent guardian of the classical tradition in the late Romantic era.” Johannes (born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg; died April 3, 1897 in Vienna) first studied music with his father, a bassist with the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society in Hamburg. Johannes became a prodigy on the piano and soon earned a living as a pianist in taverns, restaurants, and several disreputable establishments before concertizing regularly with Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi. He later became active as a choral and orchestral conductor while his compositional career flourished. Brahms wrote masterworks in all genres of his time (except for opera and ballet). A very self-critical composer, Brahms is unique in music history in that every one of his orchestral works is a part of the standard repertoire. His chamber music output includes string quartets, quintets, and sextets, piano trios, various works with mixed ensembles, and sonatas (including two for clarinet and piano which are the gems of that repertoire).
Brahms’s Trio in E-flat, Op. 40 was composed in 1865 and was in memory of his mother, who died in February of that year. It was premiered in Zurich on November 28, 1865. It was originally scored for violin, Waldhorn (a natural horn without valves), and piano. This ensemble of violin, horn, and piano was unique for its time but has been utilized by over one hundred composers since. Even though the valved horn had been in common use, Brahms preferred the Waldhorn (an instrument he had learned as a child) because of its association with nature. Brahms spent his summer months in the Black Forest with friends every year from 1862 through 1872 and claimed that some of the themes in this Trio were first envisioned there.
This trio is in four movements but follows the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern of the Baroque-era sonata da chiesa. The first movement is unusual for a late 19th-century work in that it is an “Andante” rather than a fast movement and does not use sonata form. Instead, this movement has three slow song-like sections which are interrupted by two rhapsodic interludes. The second movement is an animated scherzo featuring shifts between duple and triple meters. Its trio section is elegiac. The diverse nature of this movement has led some critics to speculate that it represents Brahms’s happy memories of his mother. The sorrowful third movement is a tribute to the composer’s mother, and transforms a folksong taught to Brahms by his mother. The final movement is a spritely rondo in compound time that ends triumphantly.
Perhaps fearing that the use of a horn in this piece might hinder sales, Brahms approved of substituting the cello for the horn. In 1884, he reworked the horn part so that it could be played on viola. Perhaps had he lived longer, Brahms might have approved of the substitution of the flute for the violin and the tuba for the horn.
Audio Engineer: Owen Taylor, OT-AV
Recordings can be found on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZK-Rv8LmmmnE0Owyi8Umtg
Digital Liner Notes
Craig B. Parker, Ph.D., Kansas State University School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Grace Baugher Dunlap (born 1995)—Windfall for bassoon, tuba, and piano (2025)
Grace Baugher Dunlap is a Kansas-born composer, horn player, and music educator. Her music is known for its memorable melodies and highlights emotional aspects of the human experience. While in high school, she participated in the Kansas City Symphony’s young composer’s institute with composer-in-residence Adam Schoenberg, where she became acquainted with compositional and orchestration techniques, observed first readings, and worked with the symphony musicians. The program culminated with a premier of her first chamber work, Luminescent Skies by members of the Kansas City Symphony at Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center.
She earned her bachelor’s at Kansas State University in music composition (where she studied with Craig Weston) and French horn performance (with Jacqueline Fassler-Kerstetter) as well as a minor in Leadership Studies, and a graduate certificate in music education. She also earned a master’s in music composition (under Andy Sigler) and a graduate certificate in music theory pedagogy from the University of Tennessee. Her music has an international presence and has been performed at many colleges and conferences across the country. Grace lives in Kansas City with her husband Max, her cats Elsa and Willett, and many, many plants. In addition to composing, performing, and teaching brass, she is in demand as a speaker on creativity and mental health.
Windfall was commissioned by Steven and Susan Maxwell and was premiered on K-State’s Hale Library Concert Series on April 25, 2025. The composer wrote:
Windfall is inspired by my love of the music from the Legend of Zelda games. I was introduced to the games early in my relationship with my now-husband. We would spend evenings playing these games and exploring the world of Hyrule. Or rather, he would be playing the games and I would be napping on the couch. But the soundtrack made the most beautiful musical landscape to my dreams. I was drawn to the simple melodies and motivic ideas throughout the game as well as how the music helped establish various cultural landscapes. For Windfall, I specifically pulled from the moments that captured the magic of the games for me, the romantic moments, battle scenes, and scenic landscapes.
Gwyneth Walker (born 1947)—After Manhattan: Duets for Bassoon and Tuba (2022)
Born March 22, 1947 in New York City, Gwyneth Walker graduated with degrees in music composition from Brown University and the Hartt School of Music. She taught at the Oberlin College Conservatory and the Hartt School of Music before leaving academia in 1982 to be a full-time composer. A resident on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont for nearly 30 years, Dr. Walker now lives near her childhood hometown of New Canaan, Connecticut.
Walker began composing at the age of 2. She has written more than 400 commissioned works in virtually all genres. Her musical output ranges from folk song settings for school choruses through concertos for professional orchestras. Her compositions often reflect “Americanisms” such as rhythmic vitality, open sonorities, and influences of American vernacular music such as blues, jazz, rock, and folk music. Among her many accolades are the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vermont Arts Council, the 2018 Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts New England, the Hartt Alumni Award, presented to her by her alma mater in 2020.
During the spring of 2022, Gwyneth Walker visited K-State, where she met Steven and Susan Maxwell. She created this series of duets dedicated to the Maxwells: After Manhattan. The first movement, “Give and Take,” has a blues-like melody in the bassoon while the tuba has a syncopated ostinato. A three-note motive consisting of an ascending minor third followed by a descending minor second permeates the middle movement, “Circling.” The concluding movement, “The Slow Walk Home,” has a swinging melody in the bassoon over a walking bass in the tuba.
Barbara York (1949-2020)—Conversations for bassoon, tuba, and piano (2005)
Barbara York (born February 23, 1949 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; died November 6, 2020 in Pittsburg, Kansas) worked as a collaborative pianist, choral and theatrical music director, elementary music teacher, and composer for nearly a half century. Following her graduation from McGill University in Montreal at the age of 20, she worked a variety of theatrical jobs in Toronto with such future stars as John Candy, Andrea Martin, and Martin Short. In 1993, she moved to Kansas City, where she worked primarily as a collaborative pianist and church musician. The last ten years of her life were spent as a staff accompanist for Pittsburg State University and playing at numerous conferences.
She received numerous commissions for solo, chamber, wind ensemble, and orchestral pieces from Canadian and U. S. musicians and musical organizations. Among her composition awards was the Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada’s version of a Tony) in 1981 for her score and lyrics for the musical Colette. York was one of the most prolific and widely performed composers of music for low brass instruments, with over 40 works involving tuba/euphonium ranging from solos, duets, chamber works, through sonatas and concerti. Many of her works for low brass instruments have become standard repertoire works and the subject of doctoral dissertations. Her obituary stated: “She changed the landscape of music for those who play low brass—instruments often relegated to depict large mammals while the musicians who played them sat in the back row.” Frequent York collaborator and current Chanute High School band director A. J. Beu remarked: “It’s as if she gave us permission to play beautiful melodies and invited the audience to enjoy them.” The International Tuba Euphonium Association posthumously awarded York its Lifetime Achievement Award during its May 2021 Virtual Tuba Euphonium Conference.
In 2006, York won the Harvey Phillips Award for Euphonium in Chamber Music for her Conversations for euphonium, alto saxophone, and piano. At the request of Susan and Steven Maxwell, she later rewrote this work for the instrumental combination heard tonight.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)—Trio in E-flat, Op. 40 (1865)
In the centennial edition of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Nicolas Slonimsky describes Johannes Brahms as “great German composer, the preeminent guardian of the classical tradition in the late Romantic era.” Johannes (born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg; died April 3, 1897 in Vienna) first studied music with his father, a bassist with the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society in Hamburg. Johannes became a prodigy on the piano and soon earned a living as a pianist in taverns, restaurants, and several disreputable establishments before concertizing regularly with Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi. He later became active as a choral and orchestral conductor while his compositional career flourished. Brahms wrote masterworks in all genres of his time (except for opera and ballet). A very self-critical composer, Brahms is unique in music history in that every one of his orchestral works is a part of the standard repertoire. His chamber music output includes string quartets, quintets, and sextets, piano trios, various works with mixed ensembles, and sonatas (including two for clarinet and piano which are the gems of that repertoire).
Brahms’s Trio in E-flat, Op. 40 was composed in 1865 and was in memory of his mother, who died in February of that year. It was premiered in Zurich on November 28, 1865. It was originally scored for violin, Waldhorn (a natural horn without valves), and piano. This ensemble of violin, horn, and piano was unique for its time but has been utilized by over one hundred composers since. Even though the valved horn had been in common use, Brahms preferred the Waldhorn (an instrument he had learned as a child) because of its association with nature. Brahms spent his summer months in the Black Forest with friends every year from 1862 through 1872 and claimed that some of the themes in this Trio were first envisioned there.
This trio is in four movements but follows the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern of the Baroque-era sonata da chiesa. The first movement is unusual for a late 19th-century work in that it is an “Andante” rather than a fast movement and does not use sonata form. Instead, this movement has three slow song-like sections which are interrupted by two rhapsodic interludes. The second movement is an animated scherzo featuring shifts between duple and triple meters. Its trio section is elegiac. The diverse nature of this movement has led some critics to speculate that it represents Brahms’s happy memories of his mother. The sorrowful third movement is a tribute to the composer’s mother, and transforms a folksong taught to Brahms by his mother. The final movement is a spritely rondo in compound time that ends triumphantly.
Perhaps fearing that the use of a horn in this piece might hinder sales, Brahms approved of substituting the cello for the horn. In 1884, he reworked the horn part so that it could be played on viola. Perhaps had he lived longer, Brahms might have approved of the substitution of the flute for the violin and the tuba for the horn.
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