Professor of Music Robert Mueller Releases Chamber Music Album

Music professor Robert Mueller, left, and the cover of the Dream Gardens Album.

Robert Mueller, professor of music, has just released a double album of chamber music on the MSR Classics label, featuring works he has written over the span of his career for two, three and four musicians. According to MSR, the set features "lyrical chamber music by American composer Robert Mueller."

The nine works on the album benefit from a range of instrumentation of varying combinations of flute, oboe, English horn, bassoon, saxophone, violin, viola, cello and piano. Oboist Theresa Delaplain plays a particularly large role in the performances. "Can you imagine the sounds, the colors, the moods? It is all quite enchanting. The performances, nuanced and polished, are captured by Candlewood Digital with warmth and clarity. The music beckons repeated hearings."

Mueller stated that "Dream Gardens is a collection of works written for my colleagues and friends across a 30-year time span, including familiar combinations of instruments such as the string quartet and the piano trio, as well as unusual combinations such as a trio for violin, saxophone and piano. It was a pleasure and an honor to collaborate on this recording project with such wonderful professional musicians and expert audio engineer Richard Price from Candlewood Digital."

Musicians on the recording include several U of A Music Department faculty, include Mueller on piano, as well as:

• Tomoko Kashiwagi, piano
• Er-Gene Kahng, violin
• Timothy MacDuff, viola
• Ronda Mains, flute
• Theresa Delaplain, oboe
• Lia Uribe, bassoon.

Other professionals on the recording include:

• Dominic K. Na, a freelance cellist/teacher
• Eric Troiano, saxophone and assistant professor at Ithaca College
• Alumna Suzanne McGowen, English horn who is second oboe/English hornist for the Fort Smith Symphony and music teacher at Ozark Middle School in Missouri
• Leigh Muñoz, bassoon and assistant professor at University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory
• Tara Mueller, violin and ssistant principal violinist with the Alabama Symphony

Lia Uribe, chair of the Department of Music, gives an enthusiastic description of the album: "Stunning and masterful, Dr. Robert Mueller's latest chamber music album is a tour de force that showcases the breadth and depth of his artistic vision. I feel so lucky to have participated in this project, in collaboration with colleagues and friends whose musical sensitivity and technical prowess are on full display through the recording. This album is yet another testament to Dr. Mueller's exceptional musicianship, collaborative spirit and generosity, which all have been tangible through the many years at the University of Arkansas Department of Music."

The new album is available on major streaming platforms or may be purchased in CD format from MSR Classics.