Enest Bloch - Helvetia; Suite pour alto et orchestre; Suite Hébraïque (2003)

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 composes Helvetia 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:

1. Helvetia
2. Suite pour alto et orchestre - I. Lento - Allegro - Moderato
3. Suite pour alto et orchestre - II. Allegro ironico
4. Suite pour alto et orchestre - III. Lento
5. Suite pour alto et orchestre - IV. Molto vivo
6. Suite Hébraïque pour alto et orchestre - I. Rhapsodie (andante moderato)
7. Suite Hébraïque pour alto et orchestre - II. Processional (andante con moto)
8. Suite Hébraïque pour alto et orchestre - III. Affirmation (maestoso)

Download Links: Enjoy the Music.

Other Recordings of music by Ernest Bloch:

• Ernest Bloch: Violin Concerto; Baal Shem; Suite Hébraïque
• Ernest Bloch: Sacred Service
• Ernest Bloch, Music for viola and piano, Two piano pieces
• Jewish Cello Masterpieces
• Howard Hanson Conducts Bloch
• Ernest Bloch: Complete Works for Viola & Piano 
• Ernest Bloch - Violin Works
• Bloch: Piano Quintets
• Bloch: String Quartets 1-4
• Bloch: Concerti Grossi Nos. 1 and 2 / String QuartetErnest Bloch: America (An Epic Rhapsody); Suite hébraïque
• Bloch: Four Episodes; Two Poems; Concertino; Suite Modale
• Bloch: Hebrew Suite; Schelomo; Violin Concerto

Carl Nielsen - Songs, Vol. 1 (1988)

Liner Notes:

Carl Nielsen's songs are part of the Danish national heritage, but it may surprise many people to learn that these popular songs amount to only one fifth of his total production of approximately 250 songs. There are many reasons for this. When Carl Nielsen published his first songs—»Five Poems« and »Songs and Verse« with texts by J.P. Jacobsen—at the end of the last century, they seemed singularly odd in comparison with the romantic song tradition familiar from the works of Heise and Lange-Müller. It was not until he composed songs like »O, Danish Man« and, in particular, Jeppe Aakjær's »Jens the Roadman« that he struck a popular note which was to make him widely loved, even by people who did not generally appreciate his music. It was strophic songs that Carl Nielsen came to concentrate on in his vocal music, one of the few exceptions being »The Song of the Bear«, which, with its use of polytonality and dissonance, stands in sharp contrast to the songs that have become known through the Folk High School Song Book.

But Carl Nielsen's song production is richer and more varied than these songs suggest, as for example his »Four Jutland Songs«, in which he, a native of Funen, so successfully brings out the essentially Jutland character of the poems by Anton Berntsen, or his settings for Johannes V. Jensen's two humorous though bitter ballads from The Fall ofthe King.

Hans Christian Andersen's »Studies from Nature«, which could well be the motto for all Carl Nielsen's works,—not the outward appearance of nature, but nature as he himself formed—was composed in 1916 and published separately the same year.

»Ariel's Song« was written for a small play by Helge Rode, performed at Kronborg, Elsinore, also in 1916, on the occasion of the tercentenary of Shakespeare's death. It was published separately and dedicated to the singer Anders Brems.

During the years 1902-1907 Carl Nielsen composed two volumes of »Strophic Songs«, which were published in 1907 as Op. 21. »Shall the Flowers Wither Then« and »The Hawk« are from the first volume, while the two ballads from The Fall of the King—»Homeless« and »Good Nights—are from the second.

»Songs and Verse by J.P. Jacobsen«, Op. 6, were composed in the same year as Carl Nielsen's first collection of Jacobsen poems, Op. 4, and were published in 1893. The piano part plays an important role here. In many places, as for example in The Seraphs«, Carl Nielsen seems to hover between major and minor keys—a peculiarity that was later to become characteristic.

Like, »The Golden River«, »The Land of the Future«, was printed for the first time in Ubberup High School's yearbook. The latter is dated 28 November, 1929, but was not included in the Folk High School Music Book until 1940; the former was composed in the previous year and printed in the Folk High School Paper in 1928. It has never been reprinted.

In 1924 Carl Nielsen became interested in Anton Berntsen's collection GjemmÆvvel. From this he first of all set to music, partly in through-composed form, the amusing and dramatic account of the fisherman Jens Madsen, who was out spearing eels when the ice started to break up. In 1925 he composed another three songs originating from the same collection. The four songs were published posthumously in 1941 under the title »Four Jutland Songs«.

»The Song of the Bear« has acquired an opus number of its own, and it the longest through-composed song Carl Nielsen ever wrote. In a letter to his friend, the composer Rudolf Simonsen, dated 29 June, 1922, he writes: » ... and I have meet the Swedish poet Almqvist (1793-1866), a most remarkable, extremely distinctive and varied poet (I feel as if I were »Wahlverwandt« with this strange man)—and I shall probably become closer acquainted with him later on . . .«

This was to be in the following year. Carl Nielsen had persuaded Aage Berntsen, the poet responsible for »Springtime in Funen«, to re-create Almqvist's saga of the wilderness, »The She-Bear« from Book of the Rose, in rhymed verse. This extremely complicated tone poem was finally dated 15 November, 1923. Carl Nielsen wrote to his son-in-law Emil Telmanyi: » ... my daughter Irmelin thinks it very dramatic, and I my self am reasonably satisfied with the work.«

On 21 December, 1929, Carl Nielsen wrote a melody in a ballad style entirely his own to Thøger Larsen's poem »Denmark, Now Sleeps the Light Night«. Oluf Ring's well-known setting to this poem was then already eight years' old, and has retained its popularity:

»Danish Weather«, a poem by Ove Rode set to music by Carl Nielsen, was published separately by Borup's Music Publishers in 1927, the same year as it was composed.

»Reunion«—to a text by Paludan-Müller—was composed on Saturday 4 January, 1930, and printed in the April edition of the Folk High School Paper in the same year. It has never been reprinted.

From the two famous collections »Twenty Danish Songs I-II«, respectively 1915 and 1917, come »She Knows Me Not« and »My Little Bird«—both to poems by Hans Christian Andersen—as well as »Look Around, One Summer Day«. These are all from the second volume, while »Farewell, My Blessed Town of Birth« and »The Refsnæs Lads« are from the first.

»The Groves Are Shining Green Now« was printed for the first time in the collection »Twenty Folk Melodies, 1921« and, with its simple, catching melody, it became part of the Danish national heritage when included in the Folk High School Music Book together with another song from the same collection: »Morning Dew Which Gently Trembles.«

The melody to »In Cooling Shadows« from Johannes Ewald's »The Joys of Rungsted« was published for the first time in Johan Borup's Danish Song Book from 1926, for which Carl Nielsen had been asked, as previously, to write melodies. However, to judge from some correspondence with, for example, the High School principal Harald Balslev, Carl Nielsen does not appear to have been entirely satisfied with them.
Thus, in a letter to Balslev dated 10 May, 1926, he writes: » ... but don't you think I could soon stop composing these popular songs?« What Carl Nielsen does not mention, however, is that he also composed an arrangement, with independent piano passages. It is this version, the manuscript of which is housed in the Royal Library, that has been used in this recording.

»My Native Soil« was composed in 1929 to a text by Frederik Poulsen, but was not printed until 1940, nine years after Carl Nielsen's death.

Peder Severin. Trained at the Opera Academy of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Thereafter awarded grants for continued studies at St. Cecilia in Rome, with Professor Georges Cunelli in London and Anton Dermota in Vienna.

Debut in 1971 at the Jutland Opera—in 1972 at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen. Since then Peder Severin has sung a great many lyrical tenor parts, in opera and operetta and as a soloist in classical oratorio both with Danish symphony orchestras and symphony orchestras abroad, such as the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Slask and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. He has also given many lieder recitals.

His collaboration with Dorte Kirkeskov began in 1981 with a lieder concert in the Tivoli Concert Hall. Since then they have given many recitals, their repertoire ranging from Danish and Norwegian composers like Carl Nielsen, Lange-Müller, Peter Heise, Grieg, Sibelius, and Peterson-Berger to lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Beethoven and Mahler.

Dorte Kirkeskov was taught by Esther Vagning at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, graduating in 1973. Thereafter she studied for a period with Hans Leygraf at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik and Theater in Hannover. From 1975-77 she studied in the soloist class under John Damgaard at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, from which she made her debut in 1977. She has since supplemented her education with international master classes, and today she is very much in demand in Denmark as a chamber music player, and not least as an accompanist of lieder.

Henrik Poulsen, designer and one of Denmark's leading Carl Nielsen specialists, has taken the initiative regarding this recording of Carl Nielsen's songs, most of which are relatively little known, and many of which have never been published or recorded before.

Credits:

• Peder Severin, tenor
• Dorte Kirkeskov, piano

Track List:

1. Studie efter naturen (Study after Nature), song for voice and piano, FS 82
2. Ariel's Song ('Selv naar Tordenen tynger'), for voice and piano (from FS 80)
3. Strophic Songs (7), for voice and piano, FS 42 (Op. 21): No 1, Skal Blomsterne da visne? (Shall the Flowers Wither Then?)
4. Strophic Songs (7), for voice and piano, FS 42 (Op. 21): No 2, Høgen (The Hawk)
5. Viser og vers (Songs and Verses) (5), FS 14 (Op. 6): No 1, Genrebillede (Genre Piece)
6. Viser og vers (Songs and Verses) (5), FS 14 (Op. 6): No 2, Seraferne (The Seraphs)
7. Viser og vers (Songs and Verses) (5), FS 14 (Op. 6): No 3, Silkesko over gylden Læst (Silken Shoes on a Golden Last)
8. Viser og vers (Songs and Verses) (5), FS 14 (Op. 6): No 4, Det bødes der for (A Moment of Pleasure, and Age of Pain)
9. Viser og vers (Songs and Verses) (5), FS 14 (Op. 6): No 5, Vise af Mogens (Song from Mogens)
10. Fremtidens land (The Land of the Future), song for voice and piano, FS 145
11. Strophic Songs (7), for voice and piano, FS 42 (Op. 21): No 6, Husvild (Homeless)
12. Strophic Songs (7), for voice and piano, FS 42 (Op. 21): No 7, Godna (Good Night)
13. Fire Jydske sange (Jutish Songs) (4), for voice and piano, FS 115: Jens Madsen a An-Sofi (Jens Madsen)
14. Fire Jydske sange (Jutish Songs) (4), for voice and piano, FS 115: Wo Dætter (Our Daughter)
15. Fire Jydske sange (Jutish Songs) (4), for voice and piano, FS 115: Den Jenn a den Anden (One and the Other)
16. Fire Jydske sange (Jutish Songs) (4), for voice and piano, FS 115: Ae Lastræ (The Haypole)
17. Balladen om bjørnen (The Ballad of the Bear), song for voice and piano, Op. 47 (FS 109)
18. Guldfloden (The Golden River), song for voice and piano, FS 127
19. Danmark, nu blunder den lyse Nat (Denmark, now sleeps the pale Night), song for voice and piano, FS 146
20. Dansk vejr (Danish Weather), song for voice and piano, FS 122
21. Gensyn (Reunion), song for voice and piano, FS 151: Gensyn
22. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Hun mig har glemt (She Knows Me Not)
23. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Min lille Fugl (My Little Bird)
24. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Farvel min velsignede Fødeby (Farewell, My Blessed Town of Birth)
25. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: De Refsnædrenge, de Samsøpiger (The Refsnæs Lads, the Samsø Lasses)
26. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Se dig ud Sommerdag (Look Around, One Summer Day)
27. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Nu lyser Løv i Lunde (The Groves Are Shining Green Now)
28. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Morgendug der sagte bæver (Morning Dew Which Gently Trembles)
29. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Rungsteds Lyksaligheder: I kølende Skygger (The Joys of Rungsted: In Cooling Shadows)
30. En snes danske vise (20 Danish Songs), FS 70: Hjemstavn (My Native Soil)

Download Links: Enjoy the Music, or here.

Other recordings of music by Carl Nielsen:

• Carl Nielsen: Orchestral Music
• Carl Nielsen: Symphonies
• Carl Nielsen: Chamber Music, Vol. 1
• Carl Nielsen: String Quartets, Vol. 2 [Hybrid SACD]
• Carl Nielsen: Violin Concerto & Songs; Rued Langgaard: String Quartet No. 3
• Carl Nielsen: Complete Symphonies (Box Set)
• Nielsen: Orchestral Works
• Carl Nielsen: Complete Piano Works
• Carl Nielsen: Complete Symphonies 1-6 - London Symphony Orchestra / Ole Schmidt
• Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 2 "The Four Temperaments"; Aladdin Suite
• Nielsen: Clarinet Concerto & Works for clarinet & orch.
• Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 5/Bohemian-Danish Folk Tune/Symphonic Rhapsody
• Carl Nielsen: String Quartets Op. 5 & 13Carl Nielsen: Songs
• Carl Nielsen: Chamber Works for Wind
• Carl Nielsen: Chamber Works for Violin & Strings
• Jean Sibelius / Carl Nielsen: Violin Concertos

Paul Creston - Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 (1994)

 This recording combines two things I like: the Seattle Symphony (my home town is Seattle) and Paul Creston. Creston is not one of the better known American composers, but he should be. His music is innovative and modern, but not to the point of discouraging less determined listeners. He was essentially a self-taught composer who won fame the hard way. His compositions are often very rhythmic and always tonal, although with his own distinctive style.

Liner Notes:

“I make no special effort to be American," Paul Creston once declared. "I conscientiously work to be my true self, which is Italian by parentage, American by birth, and cosmopolitan by choice." Despite this disclaimer, there is in fact something very American indeed about Creston, both the music and the man. The music, in large forms like the Fifth Symphony, radiates a breadth and boldness that seem to reflect the robust quality of the American experience. And as for the man, his rise from poverty and his extraordinary tenacity in developing his own Capacities capture the very essence of the American tradition of optimism and opportunity.

He was born Giuseppe Guttoveggio in New York City in 1906, the son of an immigrant housepainter, and was forced to leave high school after two years to go to work. His family had bought him a $10 piano, but a mediocre teacher did little to further his talents at the keyboard, and like so much else in his life, he learned for the most part on his own. In his teens he changed his name, "Creston" suggested by a high school play he took part in, "Paul" picked at random.

He worked as errand boy for a publishing company, then as a bank clerk and an insurance claim examiner. At the end of the working day his real life began. He studied Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, Debussy and Ravel, "assisted by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Scriabin, and Stravinsky." He practiced the piano until midnight, then spent two or three more hours reading history, literature, and philosophy. To stay awake, he smoked ground coffee beans in his pipe, and later said he decided that if Thomas Edison could get along on four hours' sleep, so could he.

The piano practice paid off when he was able to get work as a theater organist for silent movies and then as a regular church organist in New York, and at 26 he determined to devote his life to composition. He married a young dancer in Martha Graham's company, and she is credited with sharpening his perception of rhythm, which became one of the important keystones in his approach to music—so important, in fact, that he wrote two books on the subject.

Creston's first professional showcase was provided by another self-educated American composer, Henry Cowell, who presented a work by him at a composers' forum at New York's New School for Social Research in October, 1934; after that, honors began to accrue—a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1938 and the New York Music Critics' Circle Award for his Symphony No.1 in 1941—the latter, incidentally, given in preference to works by an impressive roster of young Americans: Roy Harris, William Schuman, Morton Gould, and Aaron Copland (whose "Lincoln Portrait" was the work under consideration).

Henry Cowell described Creston as a man of "sincerity, self-discipline, and earnest reflection," and something of these qualities emerges in Creston's statements about music, which are indeed unfailingly earnest and often just a bit ponderous. But they are worth considering, as they give the flavor of a man who won his laurels by hard work and willpower, and who had found his own way with little help from others. "I look upon music, and more specifically the writing of it, as a spiritual practice," he once wrote. "This may be at complete variance with the speculations of art theorists, but inasmuch as it pertains to my way of life, I have found it the most satisfactory justification of my pursuit of art.. ..To me, musical composition is as vital to my spiritual welfare as prayer and good deeds; just as food and exercise are necessities of physical health and thought and study are requisites of mental well-being."

On the more specific aspects of his music, he had this to say: "My philosophical approach to composition is abstract. I am preoccupied with matters of melodic design, harmonic coloring, rhythmic pulse, and formal progression; not with imitations of nature, or narrations of fairy tales, or propounding of sociological ideologies. Not that the source of inspiration may not be a picture or a story. Only that regardless of the origin of the subject matter, regardless of the school of thought, a musical composition must bear judgement purely on musical criteria. Its intrinsic worth depends on the integration of musical elements toward a unified whole."

Creston spent his life as a teacher imparting these truths to students at Swarthmore, the New York College of Music, and Central Washington State College. In 1975 he moved to San Diego, where he died on August 24, 1985.

The Fifth Symphony was commissioned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the National Symphony in Washington, and was given its premiere there on April 4, 1956 under the direction of Howard Mitchell. The conductor's enthusiasm for Creston's music dated back at least to the mid-1940s, when he had performed the Symphony No. 2 in Belgium, and later recalled the occasion: "I was in my dressing room after the concert receiving visitors, when one of Belgium's most distinguished citizens came and embraced me, saying 'At last we in Belgium have heard the real strength and greatness of America in the music of Paul Creston.' Paul once said to me that writing music came as naturally to him as breathing."

In 1948, Henry Cowell had written of Creston, "There is no one known to me who handles more expertly the traditional types of development of a musical germ." That characteristic is evident in the Fifth Symphony, of which Creston himself wrote, "The keynote of the emotional basis of this symphony is intensity, and the feeling is generally one of spiritual conflicts which are not resolved until the final movement. All thematic material stems from the series of tones presented at the very beginning by the cellos and basses, evenly measured but irregularly grouped. From these tones, three definite, rhythmically patterned themes evolve: The first, aggressive and defiant, the second lyric and impassioned (an inversion of the first theme); and the third, tender and poignant..." It is helpful to keep in mind that the "germ" theme begins on a rising triad; its inversion, of course, first appearing in oboes and violas, is a descending triad. Despite passages of relative quiet and repose, the tenor of the first movement is indeed one of urgency and pressure, punctuated by explosive outbursts of percussion.

The pressure does not let up entirely, as one might have expected it to do, in the Largo. The movement is built around the solemn and somewhat mysterious opening motif of the strings in unison, with their upward rush of 16th notes; along the way to a pulsing central episode the motif is touched on by solo oboe and solo flute, and following this intense episode both the English horn and later the flute enter with lovely references to the theme. A final prodding climax makes way for the English horn to appear once again, guiding the movement to a serene conclusion.

The finale embraces a variety of moods, from its portentous opening through an expansive, rhapsodic section based on the "germ" theme in its inverted form, to a jubilant march-like segment that seems to capture the optimism of the movement as a whole.

The Choreografic Suite, commissioned by the Rebekah Harkness Foundation in 1965, reveals a quite different aspect of Creston's orchestral imagination. While the rhythmic pulse so innate in his writing is always apparent, as one would expect in a set of dance movements, the orchestration is consistently airy and transparent, with much sunlit writing for woodwinds. Each movement has its own distinct character. The Preamble (I), robust and assertive, allots a solo to each of the upper wind instruments. The Sarabandesque (II), grave and solemn, in keeping with the stately nature of the traditional sarabande, includes a rhapsodic melody for the oboe, followed by a variety of individual wind statements. The Burletta (III) is a sparkling, rather comic essay in which the clarinet is particularly impish. The Cantilena (IV) is led by the flute in a calm and pastoral vein; and the Festive Dance (V), driven by repetitive, off-center motoric rhythms, eventually gives rise to a closing flourish.

"Toccata" was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra in celebration of its 40th anniversary in 1957, and was premiered under Georg Sze11 on October 17 of that year. In honor of this virtuoso orchestra—and in keeping with the title, which historically exploited the "touch" and brilliance of the performer—Creston made soloistic demands of almost every instrument. After its propulsive opening, the work moves on to spotlight each wind in turn, starting with the clarinet and leading into a striking passage for the pair of flutes; even the bassoon is brought into the unaccustomed spot of center stage. A slow middle section, marked Andante, continues the soloistic work in a relatively serene atmosphere (and includes the tuba, another orchestral wallflower); the fast tempo returns, making further demands on individual players as well as the rhythm-driven string sections.

Shirley Fleming

Young People’s Notes:

Paul Creston, who was born in New York in 1906, proved one thing very clearly: you can do just about whatever you set your mind to, if you are really determined. He was a poor boy, and because his father was a house painter and never made much money, young Paul left high school after his second year and went to work as an errand boy for a publishing company. He did move on to better-paying jobs, but he was determined to continue his own education—and not only his musical education. So when he came home each evening he practiced the piano and studied music until midnight, and then spent two or three more hours reading on all kinds of subjects. He stayed awake by smoking ground-up coffee beans in a pipe—not recommended for anyone else to try.

He finally succeeded in winning attention to his music, and some of the most famous conductors of the time—Leopold Stokowski and Arturo Toscanini among them—performed hi works. It wasn't long before orchestras were asking for music to be written especially for them. All three pieces on this CD were written on request.

The Fifth Symphony was a celebration of the 25th birthday of the National Symphony Orchestra, which still "lives" in Washington, DC. Creston knew that there was plenty of power and muscle in this orchestra, and he was not in the least afraid to demand a lot of vigor and loud playing, especially from the big drums. The symphony is in three movements, and the composer tells us (in notes he wrote at the time) that he was thinking of conflicts—different clashing ideas—that are finally settled in the third movement. One thing you will notice right away about all of Creston's music are the pulsing rhythms that always drive it along. His wife was a dancer, and she must have reminded him that rhythm is one of the most important things in music as well as in dancing.

And speaking of dancing, the "Choreografic* Suite" was requested by a dance group (not the one his wife had worked with), and each of its five movements requires a different kind of speed and mood. It's easy to hear how different each of these movements is, and also easy to hear how light and airy the instruments sound—mostly because they are woodwinds: flutes, oboes, clarinets, each with its own distinct voice.
"Toccata" comes from an Italian word meaning "touch," and a toccata is supposed to show off the touch and skill of the performer. When he wrote this piece Creston intended to show off the players in the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the country's most famous musical groups, who asked him to write this in honor of the orchestra's 40th anniversary. Again, he calls on the woodwind players to show off a bit, and you can hear them do just that, if you listen carefully. You'll also hear those famous pulsing rhythms, which must have pounded away in Creston's head even in his sleep.

Shirley Fleming

*Creston's own spelling of "Choreographic"

Credits:

• Seattle Symphony
• New York Chamber Symphony
• Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Track List:

1. Toccata for orchestra, Op. 68
2. Choreografic Suite, Op. 86a: No. 1, Preamble
3. Choreografic Suite, Op. 86a: No. 2, Sarabandesque
4. Choreografic Suite, Op. 86a: No. 3, Burletta
5. Choreografic Suite, Op. 86a: No. 4, Cantilena
6. Choreografic Suite, Op. 86a: No. 5, Festive Dance
7. Symphony No. 5, Op. 61: No. 1, Con moto
8. Symphony No. 5, Op. 61: No. 2, Largo
9. Symphony No. 5, Op. 61: No. 3, Maestoso; Allegro

Download Links: Enjoy the Music.

Other Recordings of music by Paul Creston:

• Paul Creston: Janus Violin Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 4 
• Paul Creston: Symphony No.3; Partita for Flute, Violin & Stings, Op. 12; Out of the Cradle; Invocation & Dance, Op. 58
• Piano Music Of Aaron Copland, Paul Creston, and Mark Zuckerman
• Paul Creston: Symphony No. 5; Toccatta; Partita
• Paul Creston: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2
• American Music for Saxophone
• Great American Composers: Hanson, Diamond, Piston, Creston
• Norman Dello Joio: Variations Chaconne & Finale; Paul Creston: Dance Overture, Op. 62; Ernest Bloch; Evocations
• Piano Music of Copland, Creston & Zuckerman
• Creston: Piano Sonata; Six Preludes; Giannini: Piano Sonata; Flagello: Piano Sonata; Two Waltzes / Rankovich

Arthur Honegger - Symphonies 1 and 4 (1973)

Liner Notes:

The work of Arthur Honegger (1892-1955), a Swiss composer with close ties to French musical life and French culture, matured in the stormy and contradictory twenties and thirties of this century, when art discarded romantic subjectivism and mysticism to embrace openly the dynamism and variety characteristic of modern times. Honegger's early symphonic works, above all his Pacific 231 and Rugby, confirmed his affinity with the fresh and original aesthetics of The Six of Paris, but the philosophing composer's later works were inevitably different departures, in which he sensitively sought scope for spiritual, meditative activity of a musical creator in the less restricted opportunities for musical expression. Honegger's style becomes more monumental, more programmatic, and strives for greater general impact. The composer of much incidental music for the stage, radio and film, Honegger sought new outlets for music's social !unction, as well as an appropriate approach to the average listener. It was for the latter that he composed, above all, his eloquent oratorio frescoes on texts by French poets of the period, such as R. Morax (Le roi David, Judith), J. Cocteau (Antigone), P. Valéry (Amphion), P. Claudel (Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, La danse des morts), and others. In these works, one can discover the essential elements of Honegger's creative confession. In his symphonic works, above all in his five symphonies, we can trace the process of his maturing as composer: his respect for musical tradition (particularly Baroque and early Classicist), his non-ostentatious programmatic and subjective approach (2nd Symphony, a reflection of the anxious wartime moods, 3rd Symphony, "Liturgical", of 1946, a dramatic protest against war, and 5th Symphony, "Di tre re", which reflects moods of depression which the composer felt towards the end of his life), his touch for clear, transparent form, his masterful polyphony, plus the sharp, expressive and dynamic rhythm that constitutes the source of Honegger's dramatic pathos.

The 1st Symphony of 1930 was not the product of a creative urge. Serge Koussevitzky, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's farsighted chief conductor, recognized the potential of Honegger's youthful talent and the promise inherent in Le roi David, and the 38-year-old composer never thought of rejecting a commission from a conductor of world renown. The result was a work which echoes—and, in a way, breaks with—the urgent, tumultuous onslaught of Pacific and Rugby. A break with the composer's initial creative stage, the 1st Symphony foreshadows the brilliancy of a work that was to emerge five years later, Jeanne d'Arc au hitcher. The restless and impatient chromatics and atonality of the 1st movement gives way to a more melodically expressive character of the 2nd movement, until the 3rd movement produces the becalming clear diatonics, simple form, and youthful flair.

The 4th Symphony for Chamber Orchestra of 1946 beers the sub-title "Deliciae Basilienses" (Pleasures of Basle). Written for Honegger's friend, conductor and patron Paul Sacher on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the latter's Basle Chamber Orchestra, the work is something in the nature of a benevolent divertimento, after the two symphonies of somewhat dramatic and tragical character. Indeed, Honegger himself considered the work to hate been conceived on Mozartian and Haydnian lines. The relaxed Swiss milieu of Paul Sacher's seat at Schönenberg, where Honegger often stayed and composed, is reflected in the 4th symphony's idyllic, even pastoral, parts. As the various themes of the Symphony's 1st movement merge to make the shape of the sonata form increasingly vague, that movement comes to assume the character of a free-form rhapsody. On the other hand, the 2nd movement is based on merely two themes, the second of which cites the old Swiss traditional song "Z'Basel an mim Rhy". The 3rd movement is "Swiss" as well: rondo-like in form, it mutes all other themes in the finale to give prominence to the quotation of the "Basler Morgenstreich" tune of 1200, the traditional carnival opening song. However, in the symphony the tune is the culmination of the fresh stream of music inspired by a happy moment in the composer's life.

Credits: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Serge Baudo

Track List:

1. Symphony No. 1 - I Allegro marcato
2. Symphony No. 1 - II Adagio
3. Symphony No. 1 - III Presto
4. Symphony No. 4 - I Lento e misterioso - Allegro
5. Symphony No. 4 - II Larghetto
6. Symphony No. 4 - III Allegro

Download Links: Enjoy the Music, or here.

Other Recordings of works by Arthur Honegger:

• Honegger: Symphonies #1-5, Pacific 231; Michel Plasson; Orchestre du Capitole du Toulouse
• Honegger: Le Roi David (Original version) 
• Arthur Honegger: Symphony No. 2 "For Strings" / Symphony No. 4 "Deliciae Basiliensis" - Charles Dutoit
• Strauss - Le bourgeois gentilhomme · Honegger - Symphonies 2 & 4 / López-Cobos
• Arthur Honegger: Symphonies Nos.2 and 4
• Arthur Honegger - Christmas Cantata/Une Cantate De Noel, Dance of Death/La Danse des morts (Erato)
• Arthur Honegger: Christophe Colomb
• Jeanne d'Arc au bucher (Joan of Arc at the Stake)
• Frank Martin, Arthur Honegger: Klavierwerke
• Arthur Honegger: König David
• Songs of Arthur Honegger & Jacques Leguerney
• Arthur Honegger: Complete Chamber Music (world première)
• Arthur Honegger: L'oeuvre pour piano
• Arthur Honegger: Skating Rink, L'Idée, Concertino pour piano et orchestre
• Arthur Honegger: Giovanna D'arco Al Rogo
• Arthur Honegger: Le Dit des Jeux du Monde & Concerto da camera
• Arthur Honegger: Les Mélodies