MENOTTI, GOTTLIEB, SCHAFER
The Unicorn, The Gorgon and the Manticore
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Presidential Suite
Carolina Chamber Choir, Timothy Koch, conductor
R. Murray Schafer, composer
A Medieval Bestiary
Carolina Chamber Choir, Timothy Koch, conductor
Gian Carlo Menotti, composer
The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore
Carolina Chamber Choir, Timothy Koch, conductor
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Choral
Menotti’s magically colorful work for chorus and chamber ensemble is coupled with two other American works of similar interest.
Jack Gottlieb's teachers were Karol Rathaus, Irving Fine, Robert Palmer and Burrill Phillips. He also studied with Aaron Copland and Boris Blacher at Tanglewood. From 1958 to 1966, Dr. Gottlieb was Leonard Bernstein's assistant at the New York Philharmonic. In 1977, he rejoined Bernstein as Publications Director of Amberson Enterprises, the company that manages Bernstein's multi-musical legacy. His Presidential Suite is a celebration of America's priceless heritage of liberty. Inspired by the wisdom and whimsy of some of our most colorful presidents, it juxtaposes the eloquence of John. F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the journalistic pith of Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman's blunt common sense, Abraham Lincoln's homespun wit and Thomas Jefferson's irony - plus a legendary quip from the taciturn Calvin Coolidge. This patriotic work combines idealism with light-heartedness, inspiration with a dash of salt. Raymond Murray Schafer was born in Ontario, Canada. Here is what Yehudi Menuhin had to say about him. "Schafer's is a strong and benevolent, highly original imagination and intellect - a dynamic power whose manifold personal expressions and aspirations are in total accord with the urgent needs and dreams of humanity today." In Canada, Schafer has won national and international acclaim not only for his achievement as a composer but also as an educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, visual artist and provocateur. Through his unique explorations of the relationships between music, performer, audience and setting, he has expanded the potential and appreciation of music and its place in the arts and culture of our time. The texts of the songs in A Medieval Bestiary are based on T.H. White's translation of a Latin bestiary dating from the 12th century. In the Middle Ages bestiaries were serious works of natural history. They were anonymous compilations of what was known or presumed about the characteristics and habits of animals, both real, and mythological. Because they were compiled by churchmen, the behavior of animals frequently seemed to point up an instructive moral for humans. The highlight of this disc is Menotti's The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore. Here is one of Menotti's most accomplished works. It was commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation and calls for chorus, dancers and nine instrumentalists. The text focuses on a well-to-do, but eccentric man in a castle and presents his life in three stages, his youth, middle and old age. Three unusual pets symbolize these stages - a unicorn, a gorgon and a manticore. Today, in his 90th year, Gian Carlo Menotti is one of the world's finest composers. It is a pleasure to welcome this delightful music back to the catalog.Contents:
Jack Gottlieb, composerPresidential Suite
Carolina Chamber Choir, Timothy Koch, conductor
R. Murray Schafer, composer
A Medieval Bestiary
Carolina Chamber Choir, Timothy Koch, conductor
Gian Carlo Menotti, composer
The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore
Carolina Chamber Choir, Timothy Koch, conductor