Carl Schimmel (1975-Present)

Introduction
Schimmel is a composer based out of Iowa and Illinois. He was born in 1975. He uses literary and older musical references in his recent music. He is currently the Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Illinois State University.

Work Analysis
I chose to analyze Roadshow for Otto by Schimmel. The piece gets off to a quick start as a bunch of quick phrases and then resolves. Schimmel utilizes long rests throughout this piece and uses space well. This piece is written for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. There is a part with the violin just before the three minute mark in the piece where it sounds like a dance is about to happen. He seems to also utilize jazz elements in this piece as well.

Comparisons
This piece reminded me of Beethoven's fifth symphony if it had a little brother. I don't know why. I think it is just the fact that there is just so much going on right at the beginning that it almost jumped out at me and scared me.

Observations
I enjoyed the piece mostly. There are contrasting styles and genres in this piece that seem to work well. It seems the further in time we get, the more styles are going to be mixed with a standard classical style.