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UMD Prof. Tom Wegren releases CD
BY BECCA JAMES
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE 78/28
SUBMITTED PHOTO / BRETT GROEHLER
UMD Professor and former Chicago member
Tom Wegren.
UMD Music Professor Tom Wegren’s first CD, “NORTHERN CLASS,” is now available in the University’s bookstore. “NORTHERN CLASS” showcases Wegren’s talent as a pianist, by including what Wegren describes as “three magnificent pianos, each with a distinctive timbre.”
Containing the music of Chopin, Schubert, Joplin, De Falla and Gottschalk, all performances were recorded live. “I do not believe in digital editing—artistic integrity is compromised. Rather, the spontaneous flow of a live performance enhances the music’s aesthetic impact,” Wegren said. Accompanying some of Wegren’s favorite composers is his personal arrangement of “Tribute to America” and an original composition entitled “Magic Butterfly.”
“The common thread is that all the CD selections are listener friendly,” said Wegren on his song selections for “NORTHERN CLASS.” Wegren, a Chicago native, began playing piano when he was about three-and-a-half, giving his first piano recital in the first grade. In more recent years, Wegren did his post-doctorate piano study at The Juilliard School and has had some noteworthy guest piano performances, including taking place at Carnegie Recital Hall and with the Chicago Symphonic Wind Ensemble, just to name a few.
Currently, Wegren serves as UMD’s professor of piano, composition and theory, while also teaching a course he designed for the Liberal Education program—“Beethoven to the Beatles.” The impressiveness of Wegren’s experience makes the release of “NORTHERN CLASS” seem to be a long time coming. Wegren’s wife, Lisa, proved to be a large help with the entire development of “NORTHERN CLASS.” Not only did Lisa create a poem for the piece “Magic Butterfly,” she also created the CD’s title, he said.
“Essentially, ‘NORTHERN CLASS’ signifies the ambience and classical style of the music represented in the CD, while also describing this north woods geographical region we cherish,” Wegren said.
Wegren is also thankful for the help he received from the photographer and designer of the CD cover Don Trueman and also for Don Schraufnagel, who is a Weber Music Hall audio engineer. “[Recording] was a labor intensive but enlightening experience. Don’s patient and professional expertise, time and again, demonstrated the importance of the soundman in the mastering process,” Wegren said.
CD production also instilled an admiration for “Disc Makers” in Wegren. “Disc Makers are polished professionals, thank goodness, because their meticulous excruciating scrutiny in all aspects of design, color and content taxed my patience and will power,” Wegren said. Wegren also notes his appreciation of UMD’s bookstore “for making the CDs available to all the public and getting them out from under my piano,” said Wegren.
As for the future, Wegren hopes to produce a CD/DVD entitled “DOC’S ROCK,” which would feature music from the rock and pop genres while including a few DVD performances. Acting as his partner in crime this round of production is UMD Professor of English Joseph Maiolo. “Joseph and I feel that we have found our merged artistic voice and that we might well be ready to compose a fuller work. This will almost surely open us up, along the way, to some new directions,” said Wegren.
