Well, I am back to working on my blog again. No promises, but I hope to post a new out of print recording at least every two weeks. Time will tell. Enjoy the latest recording below!
Liner Notes:
CRI 101, the first record put out by Composers Recordings, Inc., consisted of Farm Journal by Douglas Moore (one of CRI's co-founders), and two works for string orchestra by Marion Bauer.
Douglas Moore and Marion Bauer had very different backgrounds and though their music is not, on the surface, very much alike, in fact,they had a lot in common. Born in the last decades of the century of romantic music, they both had distinguished careers as composers,writers and educators. They were trained in France and helped to shift the focus of American musical culture away from the heavy German influence that had been dominant for so long. And both represented moderate, eclectic views about music and musical expression in a scene often dominated by the sometimes shrill, opposing voices of experimentalism, neo-classicism, and expressionism.
Douglas Stuart Moore, the more popular and the more populist of the two, came by his penchant for Americana very naturally. He was born, on August 10, 1893, in the colonial hamlet of Cutchogue in Southold Town, on the North Fork of Long Island, New York.Cutchogue's seventeenth-century heritage can still be seen in some of the oldest remaining domestic architecture in the United States and the settlement is still surrounded, as it was in 1893, by farms (the major difference is that wine grapes have replaced potatoes as the major crop). On his father's side, the composer was in the direct line of Thomas Moore who sailed from Connecticut in 1640 to foundSouthold Township; on his mother'sside, he was descended from both Miles Standish and John Alden. All his life, he maintained, as his permanent residence, the house in which he was born. He died in neighboring Greenport on July 25, 1969.
Although it was not unusual for a well-brought young man in 19th century New England and New York to play the piano and dabble in music, a full-fledged musical career was usually considered out of the question. But Moore was consistently encouraged by his teachers and, after long hesitation, took the plunge. He studied at the Hotchkiss School, Yale (with Horatio Parker, who was also Charles Ives' teacher) and, after a World War I stint in the navy, with Vincent d'Indy and Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
In 1921, he was appointed director of musical activities at the Art Museumin Cleveland where he continued his composition studies with Ernst Bloch. Four years later he returned to New York, started writing music for the American Laboratory Theater, and began his long association with Columbia University where he headed the music department for many years before his retirement in 1962. He was the author of two widely known music appreciation books and served as president of both the National Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It was in the autumn of 1954 that he co-founded Composers Recordings, with the composer Otto Luening also of Columbia University and the arts administrator Oliver Daniel.
Moore's musical style—simple and direct, often to the point of homespun—is almost entirely organized around his gift for melody. Not surprisingly, he is best known for his twelve operas, notably The Devil and Daniel Webster (1938) which he wrote with Steven Vincent Benet, Giants in theEarth (1949) with E. R. lvag and which earned the 1951 Pulitzer Prize, and The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956) with John Latouche, perhaps the most performed American opera after Porgy and Bess and the work which launched Beverly Sills' career, and his final opera Carry Nation (1966). But the orchestra—chamber and symphonic—was also an important medium for him and his catalogue includes two symphonies and a number of suites and tone poems, many of them evoking American themes: P. T. Barnum, Moby Dick, Babbitt (later retitled Overture on an American Tune), Village Music, Down East.
It is certainly fitting that CRI's first release included music by one of the most important American women composers. Marion Eugenie Bauer was born in WallaWalla, Washington, on August 15, 15,1887. She studied in Portland, Oregon, in New York and in France where she is thought to have been Nadia Boulanger's first American pupil. Beginning in 1919, she became part of a group of composers who regularly summered at the MacDowell Colony and which included a number of notable women, among them being Amy Beach, Mabel Daniels, Miriam Gideon and Ruth Crawford. Bauer began her long and distinguished teaching career in 1926 at New York University where she remained until her retirement in 1951; she also taught at Juilliard and lectured at the Chatauqua Institute in western New York and elsewhere. She helped to organize the American Music Guild and the League of Composers, served as music critic for the
Evening Mail and Musical Leader, and was the author or co-author of a number of important articles and books, most notably, her Twentieth-Century Music, long a standard reference. In the 1920s, she was described as "a radical member of the musical left wing," but by the1940s her music was being described as a "middle-of-the-road impressionist." Neither view does justice to the range and accessibility of her works. She died in South Hadley,Massachusetts, on August 9, 1955.
Credits:
F. Charles AdlerConductor
Alfredo AntoniniConductor
Japan Philharmonic Symphony OrchestraOrchestra
Oslo Philharmonic OrchestraOrchestra
Eric SalzmanLiner Notes
William StricklandConductor
Vienna Philharmonic OrchestraOrchestra
Track Listing:
Douglas Moore (1893-1969)
FARM JOURNAL (1948)
I. Up Early
II. Sunday Clothes
III. Lamp Light
IV. Harvest Song
COTILLION SUITE (1952)
I. Grand March (2:08)
II. Polka (1:29)
III. Waltz (3:35)
IV. Gallop (2:01)
V. Cake Walk (1:56)
VI. Quickstep (2:57)
SYMPHONY IN A (1945)
I. Andante con moto; Allegro giusto
II. Andante quieto simplice
III. Allegretto
IV. Allegro con spirito
Marion Bauer (1887-1955)
PRELUDE & FUGUE FOR FLUTE & STRINGS (1948)
I. Prelude
II. Fugue
SUITE FOR STRING ORCHESTRA (1955)
I. Prelude
II. Interlude
III. Finale: Fugue
Download links: Enjoy the music, or here.
A used copy of this recording is available at Amazon.com.
the significant French composer and conductor, was born in Lyons in 1910 and died in Paris in 1976. He is best known in America as the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1968. He was a champion of new music, and during his tenure in Chicago he conducted over 60 new works by American and European composers, incurring the wrath of some influential members of the board of the orchestra as well as of Chicago's press. He consequently resigned, returned to France and led the National Orchestra of the Paris Radio as well as the Residente Orchestra of The Hague.
Martinon's compositions are neoclassical, but also owe a debt to the late 19th century romantic French masters as well as to the impressionists. His Duo is a major work for violin and piano in the tradition of the sonatas by Debussy and Ravel. It is truly "Musique en forme de sonate" with four large scale movements containing long themes and extraordinary contrasts. The first movement, in sonata form, contains two easily discernible elements: one lyric and easy-flowing, the other chordal with some quick arpeggiatton. The ending of the movement is a very poetic, quiet summation of the two gestures. The second movement is a light scherzo in 6/8 time. Perpetual motion is the character of this scherzo, which is contrasted by a long flowing violin line with the piano keeping up the initial rhythm as accompaniment to form the "B" section, or Trio. A short bridge leads back to the scherzo which is repeated with elaborations. A very beautiful slow movement follows. It has an intriguing form: A piano solo characterized by a dotted rhythm which we will call "A". The violin begins at first imperceptibly, then plays a lyric theme "B". This episode is followed by a variation of "A" and then a variation of "B" a fourth higher. Next, another variation of "A" by the piano, this time followed by the violin entering a fifth higher from the original and carrying the "B" theme to a climax, all followed by a short, very delicate coda which ends the movement with a very soft Db held by the violin. The Finale is developed out of the small fragments heard at the outset with spacious long lines as well as spunky interactions between the two instruments. It is a movement full of energy and imaginative counterpoint leading to an ending that is evocative of the beginning and yet ends the work on a light and even whimsical note.
The Sonatine #5 for violin alone was written several years before the Duo and is Op. 32, No. 1. It is a very powerful and grand expression of fine musical material. The work is in two vastly contrasting movements. The first is a strong, rather romantic, flowing movement that constantly moves in eighth notes with expressive longer notes to keep up the rhythmic tension. This gives way to a rather curious, indecisive second movement; meaning that it seems to stop and start, setting forth some new material dominated by double stops, especially consecutive fifths. This leads to a climax and a very decisive start of fast and furious music which then forms the main body of the final movement. It is a perpetually moving dance requiring incredible virtuosity and brings the work to a most exciting close.
One can only wonder why these two Martinon pieces have not made it into the standard repertoire since they are so musically gratifying both from the listener's as well as the performer's perspective. Perhaps the excellent performance on this recording will rectify this situation.
Norman Dello Joio
was born in New York City in January, 1913, and at an early age showed great promise as a pianist and organist. He entered the Juilliard School in 1939 to study composition with Bernard Wagenaar. After studying with Paul Hindemith at Tanglewood in 1941, he followed him to Yale University to continue his studies (1941-1943). Dello Joio has written operas, ballets, and a great deal of orchestral, choral, and vocal music, plus a good bit of chamber music. Both in 1947 and again in 1959 he was awarded the New York Music Critics' Award. His compositions are widely performed by orchestras and choral organizations all over the world. He has also distinguished himself as a teacher of composition, having held posts at Sarah Lawrence College, Mannes College, and served as dean of the School of Fine Arts at Boston University from 1972 to 1979. Dello Joio's style can be described as neoclassical, but it is mixed with very fresh ideas stemming from his jazz background and his life-long involvement in actual musical performance. It is because of their freshness that many of his works have become staples in the orchestra, especially the choral and wind-ensemble repertory.
Variations and Capriccio was written in 1948 and consists of a theme with six variations followed by a Capriccio.
The theme is stated by the piano alone. Its characteristics are dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note then two repeated eighth notes; this leads to a figure consisting of an eighth note followed by two sixteenths and its inversion, two sixteenths followed by an eighth.
Variation I. The violin takes up the theme and varies it all by itself except for the final chord in which the piano supplies the low bass note "C". This is significant because the cadence of each variation ends with the piano low "C" becoming a unifying element in the entire work.
Variation II. A brilliant dance variation with prominent pizzicato passages for the violin. Occasional lyric moments for the piano contrast to the ever spirited violin passages.
Variation III. Another fiery rhythmic piece almost perpetually for the violin. Once again the piano supplies some lyric relief, and here Dello Joio uses some "bluesy" harmony.
Variation IV. A lovely Siciliana brings a good contrast to all the more muscular previous variations.
Variation V. A happy, rather fast variation with characteristically American dance rhythms of shifting accents, relieved at times by stabilizing elements which quote the original theme exactly.
Variation VI. The violin and piano each introduce this final variation with separate lyric passages. These are followed by a very beautiful theme with 'romantic' harmony. This variation is built on the tune introduced by the left hand accompaniment beginning in measure two of the original theme.
The Capriccio is introduced by a solo violin melody that sounds as if it were a continuation of the one heard in Variation VI. This is especially so since we have an emphasis once again on the cadence, where the piano enters after a long violin solo, supplying the chord. This time, however, it is a mixed chord of G major over a 'C' bass. This cadence leads to a true Scherzo or Capriccio which does use gestures from the theme as well as of the previous six variations. This unifying aspect creates not only a most effective work, but one which is quite easy to follow.
Ottorino Respighi
was born in Bologna in 1879 and died in Rome in 1936. Besides his studies in composition, Respighi was trained as a violinist and violist. Before teaching composition at Santa Cecilia Academy in 1913 he played the viola in the St. Petersburg (Russia) Imperial Opera, was active as a concert violinist from 1903 to 1908, and then joined the Mugelini Quartet as a violist. While in St. Petersburg, Respighi studied with Rimsky-Korsakov. This had a great influence on the young composer, especially in his colorful orchestrations in later works. In 1925-6 and 1928, he made tours of the United States as a pianist and a conductor. His output is quite large, containing operas, ballets, orchestral works, chamber music and songs. Important in his works were transcriptions and editions of works by early Italian composers such as Monteverdi, Vitali, Corelli, Marcello and others.
The Violin Sonata in b minor was composed in 1917, and though he composed a great deal for violin and piano this was the only "formal" sonata. It is dedicated to Ernest Consolo and Arrigo Serato.
This is a major work in the tradition of the late 19th century sonatas of Brahms, Franck and Fauré. The first movement is in the large-scale sonata form, with beautifully long lyric lines in the violin accompanied by a very active, ever moving piano part. The characteristic of the first theme group is a large skip, either of a seventh or ninth, to begin each phrase. The second theme group is distinguished by three stepwise pitches followed by a skip. Respighi succeeds in making the listener aware of this contrast throughout by further emphasizing the difference with his treatment of the accompaniment, although the notion is sustained throughout both themes. There is an extensive development of both thematic ideas: an elaborate key scheme and many tempo variations lead to a calm poetic ending in B major with the juxtaposition of the two themes, one upon the other.
The second movement is slow, but actually takes over the "atmosphere" of the ending of the first movement. The difference here is that the piano accompaniment obscures the rhythm of the song-like first theme by the use of quintuplets which have the fifth and the first note tied, creating an undulating but a-rhythmic background. The second theme, which begins on Db major, is accompanied with rhythms that make one feel the beats much clearer. This dichotomy is exploited throughout the development section, which again takes us through a number of keys and tempo changes, and climaxes in a cadenza-like return of the first theme of the first movement played by the violin over sustained piano chords. This activity leads eventually to a recapitulation and another beautifully quiet ending in E major, the main key of the movement.
The final movement is a Passacaglia. This is an old pre-Baroque form in which a ground bass of eight measures in 3/4 time is used over and over again with variations on top of it. Respighi uses this devise, but only in principle: there is a ten measure bass line stated by the piano at the beginning which is elaborated upon nineteen times. These variations can be divided into three groups. In the first group, the theme and the first eleven variations are vigorous and become faster and ever more exciting. In order to slow this down, variations ten and eleven have 15 measures each instead of 10, creating a slightly unbalanced feeling. This is "relieved" by the beginning of a series of four slow variations, forming the second group. Once again, the composer adds an extra four bars, this time to variation 15, leading to the final four variations. This becomes the most unevenly divided group since the variations are of unequal measure lengths, but beautifully provides an accumulative effect of getting faster before coming to a brilliant conclusion.
—notes by Samuel Adler
William Steck
has been Concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra since 1982 when he was personally selected by conductor Mstislav Rostropo-vich. Active as a soloist and recitalist since the age of four, Mr. Steck has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony as well as many other orchestras, including Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, St. Louis and Philadelphia.
His chamber music experience is both varied and extensive. He is currently first violinist of the Stratford String Quartet and violinist of the Flathead Festival Piano Quartet which offers a series of concerts based at the festival, located in Whitefish, MT. Previously he has been the violinist of the Lanier Trio of Atlanta, GA, and first violinist of the Severence String Quartet in Cleveland.
Mr. Steck has held the posts of Assistant Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell, and Concertmaster of both the Dallas and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. His violin is contemporary: made in 1979, it is a fine example of the work of the late noted maker Sergio Peresson.
Lambert Orkis,
chamber musician, soloist, interpreter of contemporary music, recitalist with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, as well as fortepianist with the Castle Trio and the Smithsonian Chamber Players, has received international recognition for his brilliant pianism and the probing musicianship of his performances and recordings.
Mr. Orkis has premiered and recorded works of prize-winning contemporary composers George Crumb and Richard Wernick, and has appeared as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician worldwide. His recordings include two releases, with Anne-Sophie Mutter and with Anner Bylsma, which have garnered Grammy Award nominations, and others with Lucy Shelton, the late Arleen Augér and the Castle Trio.
Mr. Orkis holds the positions of Principal Keyboard of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC, and Professor of Piano at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music where he was honored with the University's Faculty Award for Creative Achievement.
Track List:
Jean Martinon - Duo, Musique En Forme De Sonate, Op.47: I Allegro Espressivo
Jean Martinon - Duo, Musique En Forme De Sonate, Op.47: II Molto Vivace
Jean Martinon - Duo, Musique En Forme De Sonate, Op.47: III Lento
Jean Martinon - Duo, Musique En Forme De Sonate, Op.47: IV Allegro Molto Vivace (Finale)
Jean Martinon - Jean Martinon - Sonatine No.5, Op.32, No.1: I Allegro Espressive
Jean Martinon - Sonatine No.5, Op.32, No.1: II Allegro-Adagio-Allegro (Segues)
Norman Dello Joio - Vars And Capriccio, Part 1
Norman Dello Joio - Vars And Capriccio, Part 2
Ottorino Respighi - Sonata in b: Moderato
Ottorino Respighi - Sonata in b: Andante Espressivo
Ottorino Respighi - Sonata in b: Allegretto Moderato Ma Energico
I have enjoyed the music of Ernest Bloch since I was a teenager, my first introduction being his concerti grossi for orchestra. This recording contains some other works by him, and I think this is the first time I have heard Helvetia.
Liner Notes:
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)
This Swiss composer was born on July 24,100 in Geneva in a Jewish family. He composed his first masterpieces in Switzerland, Macbeth (his only opera) and the Jewish Cycle (Psalms, Three Jewish Poems, Israel, Schelomo). But his works did not have the audience they deserved and the Swiss cultural institutions did not offer him enough means for a proper living. In July 1916, he leaves for America; it will be «the greatest tragedy of his life.»
The United States will recognize him as one of the best musicians of his time when he creates the First Quartet in December 1916 and the Jewish Cycle in May 1917 in New York. It has to be kept in mind that, in spite of the fact that he is considered the greatest Jewish Composer, only one third of his works is of Jewish inspiration. Aside from the Suite Hébraïque, the other works appearing on this record are not thus inspired.
From 1920 to 1930, Bloch will the head of the Cleveland of Music and then the San Francisco Conservatory. It is during this period that he becomes an American citizen.
After a stay in Europe between 1930 and 1938, during which he composes the Sacred Service in 1933 in Switzerland, Bloch travels back to the U.S.A.
In 1941 he acquires a huge residence facing the Pacific Ocean at Agate Beach, Oregon and teaches half-time at the University of California at Berkeley from 1940 to 1951. He dies on July 15, 1959 at the Portland hospital, in Oregon.
SUITE FOR VIOLA AND ORCHESTRA
Bloch first composes a Suite for viola and piano in May 1919 in New York. In August, this work wins the first great international competition set up since the end of the war : the Berkshire Prize (Pittsfield, Mass.). It is dedicated to the sponsor who organized it, Mrs. F. S. Coolidge.
The composer belongs to the musical avant-garde. His fame reaches Europe. Consequently Zoltan Székely (viola) and Bela Bartók (piano) will create this composition on January 18, 1922 in Budapest, Hungary.
The Suite for viola and Plano is orchestrated in March 1920 in New York where it is created on November 5, 1920 by the French violist Louis Bailly accompanied by Artur Bodanzky conducting the National Symphony Orchestra. Bloch writes: «From the beginning, I had the idea of an orchestral version and took notes to that effect.
First of all my Suite does not belong to my so called "Jewish works", though perhaps, in spite of myself, one may perceive here and there, in a very few places, a certain Jewish inspiration. lt is rather a vision of the Far East that inspired me: Java, Sumatra, Borneo—those wonderful countries I so often dreamed of, though I never was fortunate enough to visit them in any other way than through my imagination. I first intended to give more explicit—or picturesque—titles to the four movements, as: I. In the Jungle; II. Grotesques; III. Nocturne; IV. The Land of the Sun. But those titles seemed rather incomplete and unsatisfactory to me...»
At this period, very few composers were attracted by the viola and Bloch was considered a forerunner. He wrote to Louis Bailly:
«The viola has always been one of my favorite instruments. It can express the whole range of feelings and passions with an intensity and colour that very few people imagine.»
SUITE HÉBRAÏQUE FOR VIOLA AND ORCHESTRA
After World War II, Jewish inspired works become rare. The most important one is the Suite Hébraïque for viola and orchestra written in March 1951 at Agate Beach, Oregon and dedicated to a Jewish organisation, the Covenant Club of Illinois This association had organized a «Six-Day Ernest Bloch Music Festival» in Chicago between November 28th and December 3, 1950 to celebrate Bloch's seventieth birthday.
The work is created on January 1, 1953 in Chicago by Rafael Kubelik conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with the participation of Milton Preves, principal viola.
Bloch writes in the Program notes: «It was to show my gratitude that I thought of writing these Jewish pieces, which were the first work I composed after the Chicago Festival.
In some of them I have used old and traditional melodies; but I have absorbed them to such a point that it may be difficult to determine what is traditional and what is Bloch.»
Bloch composed five pieces for viola and piano, then three pieces were later orchestrated.
The three movements (Rhapsodie - Processional - Affirmation) of the Suite Hébraïque for viola and orchestra are linked by a real unity between atmosphere and writing. They are in the style of his Baal Shem Suite.
The Jewish melodies are clearly tonal. Most of them are derived from the Jewish Encyclopedia.
There is a violin version of this work, but the viola, instrument originally chosen by the composer is much better adapted to the Suite Hébraïque because of its coloured vibrant intensity.
HELVETIA
The Land of Mountains and its People A Symphonic Fresco for Orchestra
Bloch composesHelvetia in San Francisco in March 1929. The first drafts were made as early as 1900. After having celebrated the land of his ancestors with the symphony Israel (1916) and his land of adoption with America (1927), Bloch honors his mother country with Helvetia, therefore producing a trilogy.
The work is dedicated: «To all lovers of Mountains and Freedom, and to the memory of Ferdinand Nadler.»
Bloch writes:
«I dreamed of old Switzerland, the Switzerland so admirably depicted by the great painter Ferdinand Hodler. And the background of my work is not in the present, but in the past of a small people in the process of formation, fighting for their liberties, their independence. This Symphonic Fresco includes five parts: I. It depicts the Mountain itself, its mystery, its rocks, its forests. II. Then Dawn. The awakening of the Mountain and men. III. There is the «Landsgemeinde» the gathering in the open air, where events are discussed. With dignity but tragically, the «Elders» announce that «The Fatherland is in danger». IV. But suddenly the people arise! Their mountains shall not be enslaved! And then a true medieval battle is raging. It ends in a Victory, which I have symbolized by an old song of Geneva «Cé qué le no» (The One Who is Above). V. The mountain is freed, serene again, as after a storm.»
The first world performance is given on February 18, 1932 in Chicago by Frederick Stock conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
CONCLUSION
The composer reveals his essential thoughts in the Program notes of the first performance of Helvetia in Geneva, Switzerland on March 5, 1932. Ernest Ansermet was conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
«Most of my works have been inspired by a poetic or philosophic idea, even sometimes unconsciously. Art for me is an expression, an experience of Life, and not a jigsaw puzzle or an application in cold blood of mathematical theories—a laboratory dissection.»
«I would simply say that in none of my works have I cared about being «original» or «modern» Theories like «novelty» pass away so quickly. My only desire, on the contrary, my sole effort, has been to be faithful to my Vision, to be true.»
Dr Joseph Lewinski
Track List:
Helvetia
Suite pour alto et orchestre - I. Lento - Allegro - Moderato
Suite pour alto et orchestre - II. Allegro ironico
Suite pour alto et orchestre - III. Lento
Suite pour alto et orchestre - IV. Molto vivo
Suite Hébraïque pour alto et orchestre - I. Rhapsodie (andante moderato)
Suite Hébraïque pour alto et orchestre - II. Processional (andante con moto)
Suite Hébraïque pour alto et orchestre - III. Affirmation (maestoso)
Epigraph was commissioned by Mrs. Frederic H. Douglas in commemoration of her late brother, A. Lincoln Gillespie, Jr., for the Denver Symphony Orchestra. It was first performed by that group on January 29, 1952 with Saul Caston conducting. The composer describes it as "simply a piece written to the memory of a man. It is at best a musical inscription that is conceived in terms of my own imagination as to what A. Lincoln Gillespie was like. It is musically in form a three-part song. I did not feel compelled to write a dirge-like type of music, but a music that sang, maybe roughly at times, and maybe with humor—because I suspect that is what A. Lincoln Gillespie would have wanted. For me to give a technical analysis, I am afraid, would be boring. Music that has lasted for a long time is worthy of detailed treatment but let us not get confused by a composer who hopes that maybe sometime in the future the music may be worth that trouble for someone else."
Dello Joio's first musical studies were with his father, an organist and composer, from whom he went to Pietro Yon, then organist at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Enrollment at the Institute of Musical Art, undergraduate division of the famous Juilliard School of Music, brought him under the tutelage of Gaston Dethier, and it was while enrolled here that Dello Joio discovered his talents for composition. Later studies at the Juilliard School, at the Berkshire Music Center and the Yale School of Music were carried on under the noted composers Bernard Wagenaar and Paul Hindemith.
In 1942 Dello Joio's "Magnificat” for Orchestra won him the Town hall Composition Award, and later recognition of his talents came in the grant of two successive Guggenheim Fellowships, a grant of $1,000 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the New York Music Critics' Circle Award, given him in 1949 for his "Variations, Chaconne and Finale".
SYMPHONY NO. 2 - RANDALL THOMPSON
Scored for 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, tuba, tympany, cymbals, and strings.
Randall Thompson was born in New York City in 1899, He received his B.A. and M.A. from Harvard University. His awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship and that of the American Academy in Rome, as well as the Eastman Publication Award, He taught at Wellesley and at the University of California; was Director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; head of the Department of Music at the University of Virginia, and Professor of Composition at Princeton University.
SYMPHONY NO. 2 was composed from July 1930 to September 1931. It received its first performance at an American Composers' Concert on March 24, 1932, Howard Hanson conducting. It was first performed in New York by Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic on November 2, 1933 and since has been widely performed. Lawrence Gilman writing in the Herald-Tribune said, The important point about this symphony is that he has really succeeded in keeping the music simple, unforced, unaffected. He has made use of popular idioms, melodic and rhythmic, and his manipulation of these is civilized and craftsmanlike. He has not hesitated at times to be obvious, he has not strained; he has not constricted his fancy and his feeling; he has not been afraid to sound quite different from Schoenberg. His music has humor and warmth and pleasantness; many will find it agreeable and solacing."
Thompson said of his symphony, "It is based on no program, either literary or spiritual. It is not cyclical. I wanted to write four contrasting movements separate and distinct, which together should convey a sense of balance and completeness."
"I have not used all the instruments in every movement. Limiting the percussion to cymbals and kettledrums may seem to be a curious twist for a contemporary composer. I have been sparing in my use of percussive punctuation in an attempt to make the music itself intrinsically rhythmic."
THOMPSON'S ANALYSIS
"I. ALLEGRO, E minor; 3/4 time. The movement runs from beginning to end without change in tempo. The principal theme is announced immediately by the horns, forte, and answered by the trumpets. From this motive is derived a series of rhythmic figures which form the toccata- like background of the entire movement. The subsidiary theme (G minor, oboes, English horn, and bassoon) is of a more reticent nature, but the celli accompany it in a persistent rhythm. "The development section begins quietly, and forms a gradual crescendo, at the apex of which the first theme returns in an ominous fortissimo against a counter-rhythm on the kettledrums. A more extended transition leads to a sinister presentation of the second theme (C minor, muted trumpets answered by bassoon and clarinets antiphonally). At the close, a major version of the second theme in augmentation is sounded fortissimo by the horns and trumpets against the continuous pulse of the strings. The movement subsides, apparently to end in the major. An abrupt minor chord brings it to a close.
II. LARGO, C major 4/4 time. The violins play a warm, quiet melody against pizzicato chords in the celli. A contrasting melody is sung by the oboe. The movement is not long, but its mood is concentrated. It ends simply, on a C major chord with lowered seventh.
III. VIVACE, 7/4 time. Scherzo with trio. The first section begins in G minor and ends in D minor. The trio (Capriccioso, 6/8 and 9/8 time) progresses from B major to G major. The first section returns transposed. Now beginning in C minor and ending in G minor, it serves as a kind of extended "subdominant answer" to its former presentation. There is a short coda making an intensified use of material from the trio.
IV. ANDANTE MODERATO—ALLEGRO CON SPIRITO—LARGAMENTE, E major. The slow sections which begin and end this movement serve to frame the Allegro, a modified rondo.
"The theme of the Allegro is a diminuation of the theme of the first and last sections. The Largamente employs for the first time the full sonorities of the orchestra in a sustained assertion of the prinicpal melody."
FRANKIE & JOHNNY - JEROME MOROSS
THE SCANDALOUS LIFE OF FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY was originally composed on commission from Ruth Page, and then presented by her in collaboration with the Chicago Federal Theater. It was completed in March, 1938 and first produced at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago, June 20, 1938. It is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 Bb clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, piano, timpani, percussion and strings. Scheduled to run for a few nights only, the work created a sensation and ran for six weeks through traditionally unremuneraive July. In 1945 the Ballet Ruse de Monte Carlo bought the ballet, and for a number of seasons FRANKIE AND JOHNNY was an established work in their repertoire. Alleged "extremes" in the choreography created a problem with censors in certain communities, and eventually the pressure won out: the work was dropped. It was resuscitated, however, in Paris in May 1950. There it was the subject of a typical French artistic scandale. The adherents of Serge Lifar used the performance to demonstrate their anger at the treatment he had received in America, and the next morning the New York Herald-Tribune and other New York papers were delighted to report that at last an American work had received the "chair-throwing" treatment that had been reserved until then for such revolutionary works as Le Sacre du Printemps and L'Apres-mmidi d'un Faune. After the premiere, counter-demonstrations began. The famous artist Le Corbusier wrote a panegyric for the press, and the ballet was performed 20 times in the month.
Formally, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY consists of an introduction and a suite of seven dances described by the composer as follows:
STOMP (The doings around town)
BLUES (A duet between Frankie and Johnny)
RAG I (The Barroom scene; Johnny goes off with Nellie Bly; Frankie comes looking for him; the local denizens help, Nellie and Johnny get away)
RAG II (The bartender's dance. The bartender tells Frankie what's what, in the meantime offering himself as a substitute)
TUNE (Frankie whips herself into a frenzy and goes off to get her gun)
FOX-TROT (Frankie catches Johnny with Nellie Bly and shoots Johnny)
ONE-STEP (The funeral. Everybody gets roaring drunk and Frankie and Nellie end up crying on one another's shoulders)
Throughout the piece, a trio of Salvation Army lasses wanders through the scenes beating cymbal, tambourine and bas-drum, and commenting on the action. At the end, they get three glasses of beer and sing the final lyrics with their feet on the coffin, as if it were a bar-rail. The whole is an astoundingly virtuosic orchestral setting of the familiar American folk tune. In the recorded version, the Blues is omitted. Otherwise, this is the complete music used for the ballet.
ABOUT MOROSS
Jerome Moross was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., August 1, 1913. He was educated in New York public and high schools and has a large number of newspaper clippings that testify he was the youngest student ever to graduate from a Metropolitan school. He graduated from New York University at 18. During his Senior year at college, he also held a Juilliard fellowship. Moross' works for the stage have brought him the major portion of his recognition to date. The first was his score for "Parade", a revue produced by the Theater Guild in 1935. A ballet, "American Pattern", was produced at the Chicago Opera in 1937. His most successful work so far has been his contributions to "Ballet Ballads", a folk dance production staged on Broadway in 1948 by the American National Theater and Academy. It has been performed since in Los Angeles, Cleveland, and in dozens of little theaters and colleges throughout the country. His most-performed piece, however, is his score for Garcia Lorca's drama, "Blood Wedding", which has been unusually popular with little theater groups. Moross also completed "The Golden Apple", a full-length work for the theater which was produced on Broadway in 1952. Mr. Moross has also written several classic film scores which include "The Proud Rebel" (1958), "The Cardinal" (1963), "The War Lord" (1965), and of course his most beloved work "The Big Country" (1958).
Moross' activity has been most pronounced in the fields of theater, radio and films, but he has not omitted formal concerts works. His First Symphony (1942) was premiered by Sir Thomas Beecham and the Seattle Symphony in 1944. His "Tall Story for Orchestra" was commissioned by the Columbia Broadcasting System and performed over that network in 1938, with Howard Barlow conducting. Other works for orchestra include Paeans, Biguine and The Wolf Waltzes.
Track List & Credits:
Norman Dello Joio
Epigraph for Orchestra
Vienna Symphony Orchestra - Hans Swarowsky, conductor
Randall Thompson
Symphony No. 2
I. Allegro
II. Largo
III. Vivace
IV. Andante moderato - Allegro con Spirito
Vienna Symphony Orchestra - Dean Dixon, conductor
Jerome Moross
Frankie and Johnny
Vienna Symphony Orchestra - Walter Hendl, conductor
