#Peter Mennin

[menandwomanofhistory]

Peter Mennin

[musicaespansiva]

The Julliard Orchestra program was interesting, but as much it was just good timing -- Monday is a light day for concerts and it was cheap. It had a Peter Mennin piece and Hindemith's 'Symphonic Metamorphosis'. And, an oddity -- Elgar's Cello Concerto in a viola (!) arrangement.

The Mennin was perhaps his most common piece -- 'Moby Dick', but it makes sense that they would play it given his Julliard connection. And some of his relatives were there because it was some kind of anniversary. It reflects the thrilling part of the novel -- the chase, the passion of Ahab and the crew, etc. -- rather than the reflective, contemplative part. And it sounded pretty good -- I'll have to compare it to the Schwartz recording.

The Hindemith was even better in person. It had all the vitality, along w/ different string & wind balances than I've heard on recordings. And the slashing strokes at the end would be bombastic on a recording, but live were pretty fun!

The first half started w/ Roberto Sierra's 'Fandangos', which I remember as being just as fun as the title suggests, but I didn't take any notes.

It was the uniqueness (weirdness) of the following concerto that made me start writing notes -- Elgar's Cello Concerto arranged for Viola. Amazingly, Elgar's Cello Concerto wasn't that popular in his lifetime -- Jacqueline du Pre really did vault it into its current status. So, when the violist Lionel Tertis asked Elgar if he would approve his transcription it for Viola, Elgar enjoyed it very much and he authorized his publisher to to print it. Indeed, Elgar conducted Tertis in this 'viola' concerto in the last concert he ever conducted.

So, is it sanctioned -- certainly. Does it work? Well, not really. I can't unhear the cello. And the viola, though it has a fascinating range, doesn't sing as low or with as much melancholy as the cello does. A fascinating experience, but not one I'd ever buy or be interested in again.

Julliard Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, Conductor; Haixan Wan, Viola. Alice Tully Hall, 12 February 2024.

[armchairarchivist]

Gordon Parks, Peter Mennin

[inneroptics]

Gordon Parks - Peter Mennin, New York

[the-funtime-autocrat]

“ Symphony No. 3″ by Peter Mennin (1923-1983).

“Peter Mennin (born Mennini) (May 17, 1923 in Erie, Pennsylvania – June 17, 1983 in New York City) was a prominent American composer, teacher and administrator. In 1958, he was named Director of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and in 1962 became President of the Juilliard School, a position he held until his death in 1983. Under his leadership, Juilliard moved from Claremont Avenue to its present location at Lincoln Center. Mennin is responsible for the addition of drama and dance departments at Juilliard. He also started the Master Class Program, and brought many artists to teach including Maria Callas, Pierre Fournier and others.”

His third symphony was his doctoral disseration, submitted in May 1946. The following February, it was performed at the New York Philharmonic under conductor Walter Hendl.

[seathose2-blog]

The Philadelphia Orchestra Appoints Two New Musicians to Flute Section for 2018-19 Season

(Philadelphia, August 21, 2018)—The Philadelphia Orchestra is pleased to announce the addition of two new musicians to the roster beginning in the 2018-19 season: Patrick Williams, associate principal flute, and Olivia Staton, flute.

“The start of a new season is always thrilling and made even more so when we have new friends and colleagues joining us,” said Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. “Patrick and Olivia are both extraordinary musicians. I am excited to work with them and hear all they will bring to our flute section.”

Hailed for his artistry in concert performances with the Curtis Symphony, Music at Angel Fire, and the Steamboat Orchestra, Associate Principal Flute Patrick Williams complements his passion for orchestral performance with concerto, chamber music, and recital performance. He was previously principal flute of the Louisiana Philharmonic and co-principal flute of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Nishinomiya, Japan. He has also performed in such ensembles as the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Columbus Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Princeton Symphony, and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan. During the 2010 and 2011 seasons, Williams was mentored by Mark Sparks as a Flute Fellowship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival. He has collaborated with Maestros Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski, Fabio Luisi, Neville Marriner, Robert Spano, Michael Stern, Rossen Milanov, and Otto-Werner Mueller.

Williams served as adjunct professor of flute at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and has been a clinician at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Loyola University of New Orleans, and Louisiana State University. He has regularly participated in youth concerts and outreach programs for the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, the New York Pops, Music at Angel Fire, and the Curtis Institute of Music.

A proud Colorado native, Williams began studying the Suzuki flute method in Steamboat Springs. After just one year of study, he traveled to Nagano, Japan, to perform with thousands of Suzuki students in a multicultural celebration during the 1998 Olympics. He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy High School, studying with Nancy Stagnitta, and graduated with a distinguished award for excellence in flute performance. At the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, he studied with Michel Debost while pursuing a double degree in flute performance and environmental studies. Williams received his performance degree at the Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Flute Jeffrey Khaner.

Olivia Staton is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Flute Jeffrey Khaner. Upon graduating, she was awarded the prestigious Peter Mennin Prize. This past summer she was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and for three previous summers she attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she served as principal flute of the Aspen Conducting Academy for two summers.

Staton has substituted with the National Symphony and the New World Symphony in addition to participating in the New York Philharmonic Biennial as a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. During her time at Juilliard, she performed as a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, AXIOM, and the New Juilliard Ensemble. In 2017 she was selected as one of two flutes to represent Juilliard in a collaboration with the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki to celebrate the centenary of Finnish independence.

Born and raised overseas, Staton began studying the flute while living in Italy. After moving to Virginia, she was principal flute of the American Youth Philharmonic for three years and served as principal flute of the New York Youth Symphony for her first year in New York. She has also won first prizes in the Richmond Flute Competition and the Flute Society of Washington Competition. Before moving to New York, she was a National Symphony Youth Fellow and studied with Aaron Goldman of the National Symphony. Staton is a Yahama Performing Artist.

  About The Philadelphia Orchestra

Source: https://www.philorch.org/press-room/news/philadelphia-orchestra-appoints-two-new-musicians-flute-section-2018-19-season

[todayclassical]

June 17 in Music History

1710 FP of Campra's opera Les Fetes Venitiennes in Paris.

1717 Birth of Bohemian violinist, composer and conductor Johann Wenzel Stamitz in Nemecky Brod, Czech Republic. 

1725 Birth of composer Joseph Anton Bauer.

1750 Birth of composer Michel Woldemar.

1806 Birth of German tympanist Ernst Pfundt. 

1818 Birth of French composer, conductor and organist Charles Gounod.

1822 Birth of baritone Enrico Delle Sedie in Leghorn.

1848 Birth of French baritone Victor Maurel in Marseilles. 

1854 Death of soprano Henrietta Sontag. 

1855 Birth of German conductor Fritz Steinbach in Grunfeld, Baden. 

1858 Birth of Russian mezzo-soprano Maria Slavina in St Petersburg. 

1861 Birth of composer Sidney James Jones.

1873 FP of Cellier "The Foster Brothers" London.

1880 Birth of American music writer Carl Van Vechten. 1882 Birth of Russian-American composer Igor Stravinsky.

1883 Birth of composer Alexandre Cellier.

1885 Birth of Swedish tenor Knut Ohrstrom in Stockholm. 

1886 Birth of Scottish-American baritone Fraser Gange in Dundee. 

1888 Birth of composer Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer.

1892 Birth of French tenor Georges Jouatte in Monaco. 

1893 Death of Austrian composer Johann Schrammel. 

1894 Birth of mezzo-soprano Magda Strack.

1894 Birth of Russian-American pianist Pierre Luboshutz in Odessa. 1895 Birth of Yugoslavian composer Slavko Ostec.

1897 Birth of Italian baritone Antenore Reali in Verona.

1900 Birth of German composer Hermann Reutter in Stuttgart, Germany. 

1901 Death of German composer Cornelius Gurlitt in Altona, Germany. 

1903 FP of Victor Herbert's Babes In Toyland in Chicago. 

1904 Birth of German bass-baritone Alexander Baturin in Oschmjany. 

1908 Birth of American composer John Verrall in Iowa, raised in Seattle.

1910 Birth of American composer Herbert Owen Reed in Odessa Mo. 

1912 Birth of American composer Don Gillis in Cameron, MO. 

1914 Birth of Italian tenor Pietro Medici in Sassuolo Modena. 

1916 Birth of French tenor Serge Rallier in Paris. 

1916 Birth of Finnish composer Einar Englund.

1919 Birth of Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya.

1922 Birth of composer Herbert Kelsey Jones.

1924 Birth of English conductor Sir Edward Downs.

1924 FP of Andreae's "Abenteuer des Casanova" Dresden.

1925 FP of George Auric`s ballet Les Matelots in Paris.

1926 Birth of composer Manuel Enriquez.

1928 Birth of American mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn in Memphis, TN. 

1929 FP of Clutsam's "The Damask Rose" musical comedy; arranged from Chopin's melodies, London.

1930 FP of Ernst Toch`s Geographic Fugue in Berlin.

1930 Birth of composer Romuald Twardowski.

1932 Birth of Bulgarian soprano Wiener-Chenisheva.

1933 Birth of French violinist Christian Ferras in Le Touquet. 

1936 Birth of mezzo-soprano Shelagh Squires. 

1938 Birth of American composer Dexter Morrill.

1938 Birth of Irish bass-baritone Thomas Lawlor in Dublin. 

1940 Birth of American composer Donald Wheelock.

1941 Death of Dutch composer and organist Johan Wagenaar in The Hague. 

1944 FP of S. Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 94a. A transcription of his Flute Sonata, Op. 94, violinist David Oistrakh and pianist Lev Oborin in Moscow.

1947 Birth of Italian composer Livio Baldissera in Venice.

1952 Death of Argentine composer Alberto Williams in Buenos Aires. 

1953 Death of Portuguese mezzo-soprano Marie Giudice. 

1954 Birth of English baritone Gwion Thomas in Swansea. 

1955 Birth of American composer Thomas Duffy.

1956 FP of Martin's "Der Sturm" The tempest, after Shakespeare, in Vienna.

1957 Birth of American composer and horn player Tom Varner.

1957 FP of Igor Stravinsky's ballet score Agon. conducted by Robert Craft at a 75th birthday concert for Stravinsky in Los Angeles.

1958 Birth of American countertenor Derek Lee Ragin in West Point NY. 

1959 FP of Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoletto, Italy. 

1969 Death of American tenor Brian Sullivan. 

1972 Birth of American soprano Annelise Skovmand.

1973 Birth of American composer Reynold Tharp. 

1979 FP of Henderson's "The Last Leaf" 1-Act Chamber Opera in Saratoga.

1982 Death of German soprano Dorothea Weiss. 

1982 Death of Austrian bass-baritone Gottlieb Zeithammer. 

1983 Death of American composer Peter Mennin in Erie, PA. 

1983 FP of Leonard Bernstein's opera A Quiet Place. Houston Grand Opera, John DeMain conducting. 

1985 Death of Polish composer Czeslaw Marek in Zürich, Switzerland. 

1988 FP of Elliott Carter's Oboe Concerto. Zurich Collegium Musicum conducted by John Carewe, with Heinz Holliger in Zurich.

[philcatelinet]

Here's what I have to do to correct some hapless copyist's error when they accidentally write two measures of the second violin part in the viola part and I'm not allowed to tape in a photocopied correction. Again, it's Concertato by Peter Mennin. This might be the worst printed part I've ever seen, and we've played Martinu parts that were completely illegible.

[roofshipping]

15 21 39

15. Most hated song of all time.

Canzona by Peter Mennin because my band director forced us to play it even though the band as a whole clearly could not...

21. Favourite guitar solo.

I actually can’t choose ;w;

39. A song that reminds you of someone you love.

Have I ever told you guys that my boyfriend is like..super into Weird Al songs? Like, he’s gone to concerts and everything. So I’d have to say anything by him, because all of his songs are now permanently associated with my huge dork of a boyfriend. :P

[sonyclasica]

JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET

JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET: THE EARLY COLUMBIA RECORDINGS

Las primeras grabaciones de Juilliard para Columbia Records transferidas y remasterizadas para su primera edición en CD, a la venta el viernes 18 de junio de 2021.

Consíguelo AQUÍ

Tras el éxito de las reediciones de los álbumes completos de Juilliard Quartet para Epic y RCA Victor --publicadas por primera vez entre 1956 y 1960-- Sony Classical se complace en presentar una nueva caja recopilatoria que reúne los primeros álbumes de este prestigioso conjunto estadounidense. Realizadas entre 1949 y 1956 en el estudio de Columbia en la calle 30 de Manhattan, la mayor parte de estas grabaciones emblemáticas se publican en CD por primera vez.

When William Schuman fundó un cuarteto de cuerda en la Escuela Juilliard de Nueva York en 1946, no solo contemplaba un conjunto para enseñar a los estudiantes del conservatorio de élite de Nueva York sino también sus propias actuaciones públicas, para "interpretar el repertorio con sensación de emoción y descubrimiento de una nueva obra y tocar obras nuevas con una reverencia normalmente reservada para los clásicos." De sus primeras apariciones en Nueva York, el Juilliard Quartet ha sido reconocido como abanderado de la música moderna. Sus primeras grabaciones para American Columbia, todas aquí incluidas, fueron dedicadas a los trabajos de Alban Berg y Béla Bartók (fallecido hacía poco tiempo), al igual que a Arnold Schonberg (que estaba vivo), y a compositores estadounidenses activos, incluyendo al mismísimo Schuman.

Cuando las grabaciones de nuevos cuartetos estadounidenses se publicaron por primera vez a mediados de los años 50, los críticos de High Fidelity los elogiaron con entusiasmo: "El cuarto cuarteto de cuerdas de William Schuman es un gran trabajo, serio y sólido, implicado en la forma, rico en color armónico, pero especialmente rico en la variedad y originalidad de sus ritmos." "El cuarteto de [Leon] Kirchner tiene el acento de la urgencia, la fuerza y la imaginación absoluta que uno asocia con las composiciones de Béla Bartók para el mismo medio... El trabajo tiene un perfil propio e inmensamente individual. Uno siente que es música que tenía que ser escrita, y siente que detrás de ella está la mente de un gran compositor." "El [Irving] Fine destaca por su textura fantástica y altamente disonante, y sus elementos formales individuales; emplea el sistema de 12 tonos dentro de un marco libremente tonal."

Pero el plato fuerte de este lanzamiento de 16 CD de nueva masterización y que también incluye piezas de Mozart, Ravel, Webern, Milhaud, Copland, Peter Mennin, Alexei Haieff y Andrew Imbrie, es el estreno de seis cuartetos de Béla Bartók en tres discos, grabados en 1949. Aparecieron en LP y 78s el año siguiente, dando al Cuarteto Juilliard su primera oportunidad de fama. Grabado en discos de shellac en 78 rpm en lugar de en cinta, esta edición pionera está compuesta por interpretaciones en directo y sin editar. Cuando se reeditó algunos años atrás en CD --la única parte de la nueva caja recopilatoria de Sony Classical que ha aparecido anteriormente en discos de plata-- fue ampliamente aclamada por la revista Fanfare por "su entusiasmo por el descubrimiento, que sigue siendo completamente fresco y vívido" a pesar de que, mientras tanto, habían aparecido numerosas otras versiones del ciclo de Bartók, incluyendo dos remakes en estéreo de la misma Juilliard -- en 1963 y, con tecnología digital, en 1981. Fanfare continúa: "El conjunto merece su renombre en Bartók, a quien interpretó ... con calidez y a veces incluso con romanticismo. Su impecable ejecución estableció un nuevo estándar".

Otro de los hitos de Juilliard fue el estreno de los cuatro cuartetos de Arnold Schonberg en disco, grabados en 1951-52. En una reseña del LP original, High Fidelity calificó estas interpetaciones de "vitales, de autoridad... La soprano Ute Graf hace maravillas con las dificilísimas canciones del segundo cuarteto, y su voz se integra con las cuerdas para crear la clase de unidad que Schonberg debe haber soñado, pero que pocas veces ha podido escuchar." Por fin, todas estas grabaciones históricas del Cuarteto de Cuerdas Juilliard están disponibles para los amantes actuales de la música.

 CONTENIDOS:

 DISCO 1:

Milhaud: Cantate de l'enfant et de la mère (Cantata of the Child and the Mother) (Remastered)   

Milhaud: The Household Muse (Remastered) - Darius Milhaud, piano   

DISCO 2:

Bartók: String Quartet No. 1, Sz.40 (Remastered)   

Bartók: String Quartet No. 2, Sz. 67 (Remastered)   

DISCO 3:

Bartók: String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85 (Remastered)   

Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91 (Remastered)   

DISCO 4:

Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102 (Remastered)   

Bartók: String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (Remastered)   

DISCO 5:

Berg: Lyric Suite (Remastered)   

Ravel: String Quartet in F Major, M. 35 (Remastered)   

DISCO 6:

Copland: Sextet for Clarinet, Piano and String Quartet (Remastered)   

Kohs: Chamber Concerto for Viola and String Nonet (Remastered) - Ferenc Molnar, viola

DISCO 7:

Schuman: String Quartet No. 4 (1950) (Remastered)   

Dahl: Concerto for Clarinet, Violin & Cello "Concerto a Tre" (Remastered) - Mitchell Lurie, clarinet; Eudice Shapiro, violin; Victor Gottlieb, cello

DISCO 8:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7 (Remastered)   

DISCO 9:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 10 (Remastered)   

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 (Remastered)   

DISCO 10:

Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (Remastered)   

Webern: 5 Movements for String Quartets, Op. 5 (Remastered)   

Berg: Strinq Quartet, Op. 3 (Remastered)   

DISCO 11:

Kirchner: String Quartet No. 1 (Remastered) - American Art String Quartet

Fine: String Quartet (1952) (Remastered)   

DISCO 12:

Mennin: String Quartet No. 2 (Remastered)   

Imbrie: String Quartet No. 1 in B-Flat Major (Remastered)   

DISC 13:

Mozart: String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K. 499 "Hoffmeister" (Remastered)   

Mozart: String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575 "Prussian No. 1"   

DISCO 14:

Thomson: String Quartet No. 2 (Remastered)   

Schuman: Voyage (A Cycle of Five Pieces for Piano) - Beveridge Webster, piano

DISC 15:

Haieff: String Quartet No. 1   

Barber: Hermit Songs, Op. 29 - Leontyne Price, soprano; Samuel Barber, piano

DISCO 16:

Foss: String Quartet No. 1 (Remastered) - American Art String Quartet 

Bergsma: Third String Quartet No. 1 (Remastered)   

 Official Artist Website: https://www.juilliardstringquartet.org

Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JuilliardStringQuartet/

Official Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/thejsq

[talhaghafoor2019-blog]

Music Post: American music for strings

There was a golden age of classical music from 1850 to 1890 in the German-speaking lands of Europe. The leisure classes were eager to hear new works, and the hot performers of the day, including the old Liszt, the young Brahms and Clara Schumann, all on piano, Joseph Joachim on violinist, and several acclaimed quartets, were welcome, indeed expected, to play new works.

That nurturing of classical music, especially chamber music, happened later in Paris when the wealthy wives of industrialists would feed and water artists and musicians at Sunday soirees, collectively producing an incubation area for French composers.

In more recent generations we have seen Britain become a congenial place for community orchestras and bands, leading to, among other things, a large body of listenable British string music. The Naxos label has been recording this sort of thing and has gone above half a dozen releases without any sign of running out of material.

America incubated movie music and jazz and rock, but its classical concert audiences have remaining mostly interested in fresh performances of core repertory, which is to say, music written for Vienna in 1860 and Paris in 1910.

It’s big country, though, and there is more than enough American music for strings, to a two-hour episode of “Howard’s Day Off” with it.

Roy Harris (1898-1979) is remembered mainly as a symphonist, and there are some godawful recordings of Harris chamber works, seemingly designed to bury them. Finally, however, there are some new recordings which, among their many fine attributes, are in tune. Harris’s Third Quartet is an interesting work. Instead of the usual four movements it is a collection of preludes and fugues. We’ll open the first hour with the first prelude, and start the second hour with the third fugue.

William Schuman (1910-1992), a student of Harris who often sounds like Harris on a sugar high, is also remembered principally for his orchestral music (and his tenure as genial administrator of Juilliard and Lincoln Center) but wrote several quartets. We’ll hear the finale of the second one.

Elliott Carter (1908-2012) was also a genial man but most of his music wasn’t. He treated composition as an arithmetic problem and wrote tons of stuff that is far too important to enjoy. But his 1943 “Elegy,” originally for viola and piano but later scored for strings, speaks from the heart and can be enjoyed without a math degree.

Arthur Foote (1853-1937) is the composer most to be missed if you never hear music by pre-Gershwin Americans. Foote managed to remain innocent of an 1870s European education, and seemed more enthralled by Bach then late Romantic sorts.

John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951) is remembered chiefly for the witty “Adventures in a Perambulator,” a suite describing a baby stroller walk in the park from the point of view of the baby, and most listeners who later encounter his “Skyscrapers” are astonished by the different style. But Carpenter was a craftsman who avoided getting into a rut. We’ll hear the finale of his 1927 quartet.

Benjamin Lees (1924-2010) was a Russian born in China, but by the age of five he was a music student in San Francisco. He would later teach at Peabody in the 60s and at Juilliard in the 70s. Lees’ music is rhythmic but without the clichés of Americana. We’ll hear the third movement of his 2002 Fifth String Quartet.

Samuel Barber was just a boy when he decided to be a composer – a letter to his mother about this survives – so it should be no surprise that his mature style us evident in his Op. 1, “Serenade for Strings.” We’ll hear the first movement.

George Gershwin (1898-1937) died of brain cancer in his late thirties or we might have a lot more fine classical music. His “Lullaby for String Quartet” is marvelous.

David Diamond (1915-2005) was a nasty man who wrote astringent symphonies, but one particular exception stands out, “Rounds for String Orchestra.” We’ll hear one movement.

Dave Brubeck (1920-2012) used his West Coast conservatory training mostly to develop an advanced form of jazz, but his also composed classical music, and his “Chromatic Fantasy” is excellent both in solo piano and quartet form.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) wrote little chamber music, but his “First Piece for String Quartet” has its points.

Peter Mennin (1923-1983), the buttoned-down president first of Peabody and then of Juilliard, wrote symphonies and concertos distinguished mainly by fierce propulsion. His slow movements tend to be suspenseful. We’ll hear the second movement of his second quartet.

John Adams (1947- ) wrote the masterpiece of the Minimalist movement, a sextet, and later for string orchestra, “Shaker Loops.” We’ll hear the finale of the fuller version of this 1978 work.

Wynton Marsalis (1961- ), the third generation jazz musician who returned to those roots after a remarkable career as a classical trumpet player, is the director of jazz at Lincoln Center. His first quartet, “At the Octaroon Balls,” is jazz-inflected classical music and it totally works.

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), longtime music for the New York Herald-Tribune, would later make a symphony of his second quartet, which we here sample in its original version.

Robert Moran (1937- ), an early collaborator with Philip Glass, has written some interesting works that seem to occupy the space between Minimalist and Post-Minimalist. His “Points of Departure” is a good orchestral example; for quartet, I refer you to “Music from the Towers of the Moon,” adapted from a film score. The opening movement is the music over which I read underwriting credits each weekend.

(Howard Dicus hosts “Howard’s Day Off” on Hawaii Public Radio’s HPR-2, 5am-7am HST Saturdays, with a replay at 5pm-7pm HST Sundays. If you join the Howard’s Day Off Listener Appreciation Society on Facebook you’ll see cue sheets for the programs along with advance notice of the following weekend’s topic.)

[musicaespansiva]

Focus 2022: Part 2

One more chamber concert and then the concluding orchestral concert.  The orchestral concert was probably the more interesting, but the theme of ‘yes, I’ve heard this before’ was mostly still present.

The one huge ‘never heard it live before’ moment was the Price Violin Concerto #1.  She’s been the (re-) discovery of the past few years, and the music certainly has quality -- it’s clear that she wasn’t an innovator, but she’s a solid second-tier composer who could craft very good music. (Think she’s a Samuel Barber, minus the Adagio, or a Peter Mennin.)  It’s tuneful, well-crafted and enjoyable and yes, let’s give her a chance to shine in the sun.  I’ve yet to hear any of the symphonies live.

The other main orchestral piece was Ives Symphony No. 2.  It’s hard to erase the sonic feel of the Bernstein recording, and this performance, though quite fine, wasn’t going to do that.  Things sometimes seemed to hit too slow -- for example, the final chordal blast wasn’t quite as sharp as expected, though the momentum of the last movement was there as always.  Good to hear, but nothing revelatory.

The chamber concert the previous night was a little more varied than the previous one.  The Ives America Variations for Organ was as fun as expected (though the organ seems to make transitions between registers & sections less flowing than I’d like).  Ives was preceded by a fanfare by Horatio Parker (ha!), that was traditional and perfectly fine -- but kudos that I’ve never heard Parker live before.  The selections from Lou Harrison’s Six Sonatas for Cembalo were amusing.  Hovhaness’s piece for two pianos “Imitating an orchestra of kazoos” was a good representation of him, though I think his best moments are orchestral.  Ruggles Organum, for two pianos, wasn’t exactly revelatory or unfamiliar, but it’s Ruggles so everything is familiar and it was a good representation.

We had a few Broadway selections that were only ok -- I thought the male singer had a better Broadway voice, and seemed obligatorily appropriate.  But that’s all.  The Gershwin finale of a two-piano version of the I’ve Got Rhythm variations was better and a good finale.

Sadly I missed the opening Colin McPhee (one of his Balinese pieces).

Sadly I didn’t miss the most disappointing programming choice.  The adagio from Barber’s String Quartet.  Is this the best we get from Barber in this kind of survey.  They played it fine, but from the first note, I bet most of the audience just filled in the audio gaps themselves.  Why not do something like play the whole quartet, so we get the adagio in context?  That would’ve been interesting.

  [Concert #5, Sharp Theater, Julliard, 27 January 2022 & Concert #6, Alice Tully Hall, 28 January 2022 w/ the Julliard Orchestra, Mei-Ann Chen, conductor and Melissa White as replacement violin soloist (replacement due to ‘Covid Protocols’ -- she was excellent, so I presume they both learned the piece, rather than she being a last minute replacement).]

[theamericanscholar-blog]

Before I went on vacation three weeks ago, I assembled a list of 25 essential American symphonies, with the understanding that such a compilation could never be definitive and with the expectation that readers would augment the numbers with favorites of their own. I was pleased to find many such suggestions, all worthy pieces, all essential, some better known to me than others. One reader’s recommendation, the Symphony No. 2 (nicknamed “Sintram”) by George Templeton Strong—composed in 1888 and admired by Liszt, among others—was originally on my longlist and could easily have made the cut. Readers also mentioned two symphonies by Florence Price, a native of Arkansas who was largely forgotten until a cache of her scores and other papers was discovered in a derelict house near Kankakee, Illinois; the Symphony No. 7 by Peter Mennin, the longtime president of Juilliard and composer of nine symphonies, among other works; the Symphony No. 1 by Elliott Carter, a wartime piece that the composer revised in 1954; and the Symphony No. 14 by Gloria Coates, a composer, I’m ashamed to say, I was unfamiliar with, but whose microtonal pieces I’ve been dipping into with great eagerness these past few days. No other composer I’m aware of has made such striking use of the glissando.

Sudip Bose, Measure by Measure

[summertine-blog1]

Dedicato a Thomas Schippers.

Un americano moderno, Thomas Schippers

Preface by James Conlon for THOMAS SCHIPPERS by Maurizio Modugno

Non è un compito facile scrivere una mia riflessione su Thomas Schippers a trent’anni dalla morte: credo che la prospettiva giusta sia scrivere non tanto da artista ad artista o da direttore d’orchestra a direttore d’orchestra, quanto, più specificamente, da direttore d’orchestra americano a un grande collega della generazione precedente. Credo inoltre che l’unicità di Thomas Schippers debba essere considerata avendo ben presenti sia l’epoca in cui è vissuto; sia il problema del ruolo storico del direttore d’orchestra americano di musica classica nella nostra cultura; sia che egli fu tra i primi ad affermarsi nel dopoguerra. Oggi nel nostro paese, è raro parlare di lui in una simile prospettiva. I trent’anni che ci separano dalla sua morte sono già ben più di quelli della sua breve carriera. Aveva cominciato a dirigere qualche anno dopo che Leonard Bernstein aveva raggiunto l’apice del successo nel firmamento della scena musicale americana. Ma sarebbe passato del tempo prima che l’America ammettesse a se stessa che uno dei suoi figli potesse meritare di salire sulla torre dei grandi direttori d’orchestra, fino ad allora dominio esclusivo dei giganti della cultura europea. Non era concepibile l’idea che un americano, attraverso il suo talento, fosse in grado di assorbire e integrare sufficientemente la cultura europea tanto da diventare un degno rappresentante della sua eredità musicale. Thomas Schippers era su una strada simile a quella di Bernstein: ma stava per essere oscurato da una stella ancora più brillante e colpito da una morte prematura, che gli ha impedito di crescere verso i “golden years” della sua arte direttoriale.

E’ molto significativo notare che il paese dove la sua memoria è onorata, più che in qualsiasi altro, sia l’Italia. C’è una giustizia in tutto questo. A differenza di Bernstein, Schippers si è dedicato molto all’opera lirica italiana. La sua devozione, la sua genialità nel regno del Belcanto gli ha fatto meritare un posto di spicco in un “pantheon operistico”. Anche se l’energia titanica di Bernstein comprendeva incursioni sporadiche nella musica italiana, il suo genio imponente, il suo vigore artistico si erano orientati altrove. Questo portò l’America (non si sa se per caso o di proposito) alla percezione (falsa) che un direttore d’orchestra dei nostri giorni potesse considerarsi completo anche senza avere un particolare interesse o una speciale maestria nella tradizione italiana.

Io stesso sono stato coinvolto, con riverenza e con passione, dalla musica italiana. Per me, giovane studente di musica negli anni sessanta, Schippers era il modello d’artista e di uomo, nato e cresciuto in America, che poteva affermarsi con Verdi, il Verismo ed il Belcanto. Se era possibile per lui, pensavo, poteva esserlo anche per me. Se c’era posto per un direttore d’orchestra americano nato con “il desiderio dell’Europa”, ce n’era per un altro. Mi rendevo conto che anche un americano come me poteva, con lo studio e la sensibilità artistica, identificarsi con l’Europa della musica classica. Il suo sogno era anche il mio sogno. Confrontandomi con le mie energie artistiche, sono riuscito ad ottenerlo.

Come Bernstein, anche Schippers si era dedicato alla musica americana con zelo, pur difendendo il valore e l’onore della musica italiana. Ma la figura colossale di Bernstein ha offuscato quella di Schippers. La storia ed il destino avrebbero di nuovo offuscato la sua memoria. Mentre la sua stella si spegneva, un’altra nasceva. L’era straordinaria di James Levine era appena iniziata. Un americano moderno, affermatosi al Metropolitan, a New York ed alla nazione, nuotando, contemporaneamente in acque sia tedesche che italiane, avrebbe avuto ulteriori conseguenze, tra le quali oscurare ancor più la memoria di Schippers. Il cui prodigioso successo era dovuto tanto al suo carisma sul podio, quanto alla sua bellezza da Apollo. L’America, con il suo culto della giovinezza, ne era totalmente affascinata. Era destinato a morire giovane. Era difficile immaginarlo da ottantenne. Con il passare della sua vita, tra i suoi compatrioti, è passata anche la sua memoria. Tuttavia, resta il fatto che c’era molta più sostanza di quanto apparisse in superficie. Il suo carisma e la sua bellezza fisica tendevano ad oscurare il suo talento. Fortunatamente però questo talento e la sua sostanza rimangono nell’eredità delle sue registrazioni.

Era un maestro del colore con uno squisito senso estetico. In un ambiente sempre più dominato da un’ energia ritmica implacabile e talora ridondante, queste sue qualità venivano sottovalutate. Lui faceva cantare le orchestre. Trasmetteva il suo legame con la voce umana in tutto il suo stile interpretativo. Nei miei ricordi personali s’affollano esecuzioni eccezionali: lo Stabat Mater di Rossini, Il Giuramento di Mercadante, la Manon Lescaut di Puccini con la regia di Visconti. Il mio incontro personale con lui è collocato in un breve periodo, due anni. L’ho osservato preparare Il Giuramento al Festival di Spoleto del 1970. Nel 1971 invece, tra i miei compiti, avevo quello di assisterlo nella preparazione del Requiem di Verdi per il Concerto in Piazza. Suonavo sotto la sua direzione durante le prove al pianoforte con i solisti ed ho diretto la prova generale mentre lui si occupava della prova acustica.

Nel febbraio del 1972 venne alla Juilliard, dove ero all’ultimo anno di studio. Stava collaborando con Michael Cacoyannis ad una nuova produzione de La Bohéme. Osservavo le sue prove e l’ ho “ufficiosamente” sostituito nei giorni in cui era assente per malattia. Cancellò la sua partecipazione circa dieci giorni prima del debutto. Fui raccomandato da Maria Callas, che mi aveva tenuto d’occhio durante le prove, al Presidente della Juilliard, Peter Mennin, che mi chiese di dirigere la produzione. Fu il lancio della mia carriera professionale. L’ho visto dirigere molto altre volte dopo quell’occasione, ma non abbiamo più avuto contatti personali. Thomas Schippers, l’artista ed il musicista, hanno un posto importante nella storia dei direttori d’orchestra americani. Nel secolo scorso, la nostra straordinaria, complessa e spesso sconcertante terra è riuscita a crearsi un posto brillante nella storia della musica classica. Lo ha fatto attraverso il lavoro e l’intraprendenza. Ha importato la cultura, la tradizione ed il repertorio europeo. All’inizio ondate di immigrati componevano le file delle orchestre più importanti; poi la situazione ha iniziato gradualmente ad evolversi. Anche se gli americani facevano parte delle orchestre, dei teatri lirici e dei conservatori, l’ultima roccaforte riservata ai non americani era quella della direzione d’orchestra. Pur con alcune eccezioni, questa tendenza in America è valida ancora oggi.

Nello stesso periodo in cui morì Schippers, un mio vecchio e saggio amico mi disse: “Un direttore d’orchestra americano per avere successo deve ricordarsi di due cose: gli Americani preferiscono gli Europei e gli Europei preferiscono gli Europei. Devi lavorare il doppio…” Non ho dovuto pensarci su più di tanto. Ho solo pensato a Thomas Schippers.

[solitaryfossil]

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