Musicatlas
Composer Margaret Buechner Grave Marker
Music
Margaret’s early compositions were atonal and mostly for small chamber music groups.
Phantomgreen (the story of the Princess and the Pea) was her first CD.
Erlkönig, performed by the Royal Scottish Orchestra under John Varineau, is a grand tone poem and tells the story of Goethe’s ballade “The Erl-King.”
She turned to her now-familiar grand symphonic style with the story ballet Elizabeth; featuring soprano Susan Anthony, tenor James McLean and the Nürnberger Symphoniker (Nuremberg Symphony) with conductor Georg Schmohe. The Love Duet from Elizabeth is perhaps her most beloved piece and is immediately a favorite of most audiences.
The Liberty Bell, an “Orchestral-Choral Reminiscence of the Birth of the American Nation,” includes four pieces for full choir and a gorgeous “ah” chorus. It has become popular for the 4th of July and now for September 11th. The Liberty Bell is performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Chorus under the direction of conductor Neil Mantle and chorusmaster Christopher Bell.
The American Civil War trilogy, with conductor John Varineau leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, incorporates gentle arrangements of period songs into a symphonic storytelling of that part in American history.
Life
Margaret Buechner was born in Germany in 1922 and came to the USA in 1951, becoming a US citizen ten years later. She died in Midland, Michigan on June 8, 1998.