Albany Records: New American Scene III

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New, accessible music for large Chamber orchestra.

Solstice, by Donald Erb, is celebratory in nature. It was commissioned by the Ohio Chamber Orchestra and premiered on June 3, 1988. It was originally intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Organization, but the premiere occurred one year later. About his Lyric Intermezzo George Perle writes: "The Lyric Intermezzo was composed on commission from the Seattle Symphony and completed April 12, 1987, but its very first conception goes back some years before that, when my friend (now my wife), Shirley Rhoads, played Schumann's Waldszenen for me. I decided that I too would like to write a set of lyrical Charakterstucke for the piano." William Duckworth's Mysterious Numbers stemmed from an experiment that essentially involved collaboration of a composer with an ensemble to create a new work while an audience witnessed the process during a series of workshops. It happened in Florida in 1995-96, as part of a series of residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts by the New Performance Group of Seattle. Salvatore Martirano writes about Isabela "that it was originally aimed at music festivals celebrating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. However, music festivals celebrating Columbus ran aground as the implications for native Americans became apparent. Whether from habit or from a persistent motive, what started as a working title became a name as I considered that like Columbus, who began a journey across the sea without knowing where his course would lead him. "I began to compose without really knowing what would result from my plan." This disc contains the result of Martirano's own voyage.

William Duckworth, composer
Mysterious Numbers
Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin London, conductor

Donald Erb, composer
Solstice
Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin London, conductor

Salvatore Martirano, composer
Isabela
Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin London, conductor

George Perle, composer
Lyric Intermezzo
Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin London, conductor

Review:

"...All four works on the program are strong, individual expressions. Donald Erb's (b. 1927) Solstice (1988) is an intensely expressionist work, expertly orchestrated, with a host of extended techniques that contribute quite seamlessly to the composite sound without unduly spotlighting themselves. Of all four works, it creates the most traditionally "orchestral" sound. George Perle (b. 1915) is probably the most successful American composer to adopt the techniques of Viennese serialism and give them a personal spin - he calls his system "12-tone tonality," and one really hears harmonic function throughout the music, no matter how chromatic the materials. His Lyric Intermezzo (1987) is an elegant, five-movement suite whose primary attributes are wit, clarity, and graciousness. More than any of his generation, Perle has cultivated a Mozartean stance in his work, and deft touches of orchestration give the music sparkle, a type of glistening reserve..." (Fanfare)

New, accessible music for large Chamber orchestra.

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