6/19/2006
George Antheil: The Zelig of 20th Century Music
Piano Concertos
Nos. 1, 2; "A Jazz Symphony," "Jazz Sonata," "Can-Can," Sonatina, "Death of Machines," "Little Shimmy"
George Antheil
Markus Becker, piano; NDR Radiophilharmonie; Eije Oue, conductor
cpo
George Antheil was the Leonard Zelig of 20th Century music. Here he is in 1920s Paris, the son of a Trenton shoe-store owner living above Sylvia Beach’s bookstore, and consorting with Joyce and Hemingway and that lot. He meets Stravinsky and basically rewrites large sections of Petruska for his own 1922 single movement Piano Concerto No. 1--and does it better than Stravinsky could have done it himself. Now, he’s in New York introducing the locals to his scandalous “mechanical ballet” which triggered riots in Paris, and out-gershing Gershwin (and channeling a future Leonard Bernstein) with A Jazz Symphony for Paul Whiteman. Then it’s off to Berlin for the Brecht of it, enter Hitler, and then cut to Hollywood where Antheil forges a modestly successful career as a film composer and invents a “secret communication systems” with Hedy Lemarr. Wait, is this the same guy who also writes a syndicated advice-to-the-lovelorn column and articles about romance and endocrinology? In his later years we find Antheil writing chamber music that Dvorak would have been pleased to claim as his own. Antheil’s colorful life and the difficulty of pigeonholing his music have often obscured the fact that he was one of the most naturally gifted composers of the 20th century, a kind of walking time machine whose mind moved easily across centuries of musical ideas and styles—sometimes going forward to places that nobody else had yet been. With this extraordinary new release, and the symphonies that preceded it, cpo has provided us with the performances we need to assess Antheil, the composer, rather than Antheil, the entertaining bad boy. The bottom line is that he’s a genuine American maverick and almost as good as he thought he was himself. posted by Jerry Bowles 7:17 PM
6/11/2006
Piano ConcertosNos. 1, 2; "A Jazz Symphony," "Jazz Sonata," "Can-Can," Sonatina, "Death of Machines," "Little Shimmy"
George Antheil
Markus Becker, piano; NDR Radiophilharmonie; Eije Oue, conductor
cpo
George Antheil was the Leonard Zelig of 20th Century music. Here he is in 1920s Paris, the son of a Trenton shoe-store owner living above Sylvia Beach’s bookstore, and consorting with Joyce and Hemingway and that lot. He meets Stravinsky and basically rewrites large sections of Petruska for his own 1922 single movement Piano Concerto No. 1--and does it better than Stravinsky could have done it himself. Now, he’s in New York introducing the locals to his scandalous “mechanical ballet” which triggered riots in Paris, and out-gershing Gershwin (and channeling a future Leonard Bernstein) with A Jazz Symphony for Paul Whiteman. Then it’s off to Berlin for the Brecht of it, enter Hitler, and then cut to Hollywood where Antheil forges a modestly successful career as a film composer and invents a “secret communication systems” with Hedy Lemarr. Wait, is this the same guy who also writes a syndicated advice-to-the-lovelorn column and articles about romance and endocrinology? In his later years we find Antheil writing chamber music that Dvorak would have been pleased to claim as his own. Antheil’s colorful life and the difficulty of pigeonholing his music have often obscured the fact that he was one of the most naturally gifted composers of the 20th century, a kind of walking time machine whose mind moved easily across centuries of musical ideas and styles—sometimes going forward to places that nobody else had yet been. With this extraordinary new release, and the symphonies that preceded it, cpo has provided us with the performances we need to assess Antheil, the composer, rather than Antheil, the entertaining bad boy. The bottom line is that he’s a genuine American maverick and almost as good as he thought he was himself. posted by Jerry Bowles 7:17 PM
6/11/2006
Hippocrates Swings
The Adventures of Hippocrates
Chick Corea, John Harbison, Marc Neikrug
Orion String Quartet
Koch International
As Edward Ellington so famously remarked: it doesn't mean anything unless it has that certain syncopation. That is a lesson seldom forgotten by jazz musicians when they decide to write "serious" music and Chick Corea proves true to form in the title piece of this CD comprised of works commissioned for the Orion Quartet by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, where the group is in residence. Corea's five-part work isn't really a string quartet but it is delightfully whimsical; sounding, in places, like some of Beth Anderson's hipper "Swales." And, man, does it swing. Harbison's four-movement Quartet No. 4 is the most conventional piece on the recording, relentlessly post-tonal and "modern," yet oddly user-friendly. Harbison has a talent for writing difficult music that is also highly listenable. Marc Neikrug's piano quintet, with the composer himself at the keyboard, is the most concentrated, intense and ultimately powerful of the three pieces on the disk although it could be a bit shorter. The Orion Quartet plays with amazing clarity and resonance. These guys are fabulous players who perform new music with great skill and empathy. posted by Jerry Bowles 5:00 PM
6/3/2006
The Adventures of HippocratesChick Corea, John Harbison, Marc Neikrug
Orion String Quartet
Koch International
As Edward Ellington so famously remarked: it doesn't mean anything unless it has that certain syncopation. That is a lesson seldom forgotten by jazz musicians when they decide to write "serious" music and Chick Corea proves true to form in the title piece of this CD comprised of works commissioned for the Orion Quartet by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, where the group is in residence. Corea's five-part work isn't really a string quartet but it is delightfully whimsical; sounding, in places, like some of Beth Anderson's hipper "Swales." And, man, does it swing. Harbison's four-movement Quartet No. 4 is the most conventional piece on the recording, relentlessly post-tonal and "modern," yet oddly user-friendly. Harbison has a talent for writing difficult music that is also highly listenable. Marc Neikrug's piano quintet, with the composer himself at the keyboard, is the most concentrated, intense and ultimately powerful of the three pieces on the disk although it could be a bit shorter. The Orion Quartet plays with amazing clarity and resonance. These guys are fabulous players who perform new music with great skill and empathy. posted by Jerry Bowles 5:00 PM
6/3/2006
Angela Hewitt Plays Chabrier
Piano Music by Emmanuel Chabrier
Angela Hewitt
Hyperion
Having taken a mere ten years to hammer her way through the entire piano oeuvre of Bach, the formiable Angela Hewitt has now taken on the French impressionists with her usual quirky, yet strangely compelling, flair. Poulenc said of Chabrier's Dix pieces pittoresques that they were “as important for French music as the preludes of Debussy” and Hewitt makes a persuasive case that Francis wasn't just whistling La Marseillaise. All of the pieces here are highly atmospheric and charming; their "Spanish" rhythms sound as they were filtered through the ears of a Frenchman on holiday which, of course, they were. "Impressions" is exactly the right word for these delightful short pieces. Chabrier's work relates to that of Dubussy and Ravel rather like Cezanne's relatively crude early paintings compare to the more sophisticated works of Manet and Monet. They are precursors but they also have a power that is uniquely their own. posted by Jerry Bowles 6:00 PM
5/22/2006
Piano Music by Emmanuel ChabrierAngela Hewitt
Hyperion
Having taken a mere ten years to hammer her way through the entire piano oeuvre of Bach, the formiable Angela Hewitt has now taken on the French impressionists with her usual quirky, yet strangely compelling, flair. Poulenc said of Chabrier's Dix pieces pittoresques that they were “as important for French music as the preludes of Debussy” and Hewitt makes a persuasive case that Francis wasn't just whistling La Marseillaise. All of the pieces here are highly atmospheric and charming; their "Spanish" rhythms sound as they were filtered through the ears of a Frenchman on holiday which, of course, they were. "Impressions" is exactly the right word for these delightful short pieces. Chabrier's work relates to that of Dubussy and Ravel rather like Cezanne's relatively crude early paintings compare to the more sophisticated works of Manet and Monet. They are precursors but they also have a power that is uniquely their own. posted by Jerry Bowles 6:00 PM
5/22/2006
Learning Lieberson, Rethinking Rorem, Loving Lou
Rilke Songs; The Six Realms; Horn Concerto
Peter Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo soprano, Peter Serkin, piano
William Purvis, horn, Michaela Fukacova, violoncello
Odense Symphony
Bridge
If you’re going to write art songs, it doesn’t hurt to be married to one of the world’s great singers. Peter Lieberson is especially fortunate in this regard; his wife, mezzo soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson could sing the BMW owner’s manual and make it sound good. Lieberson’s settings of five Rilke poems is considerably better than that and this performance, recorded live at the Ravinia Festival with Peter Serkin at the piano, is first-rate. Having never heard Lieberson’s orchestral work before, I found the two other pieces that fill out this generous disc to be even more revelatory. Lieberson's music balances tonality and atonality in ways that are likely to please or, perhaps, not offend either side of the great harmonic divide. The Horn Concerto for horn and a chamber orchestra, played by its dedicatee, William Purvis is a lively 18-minute composition in two movements that showcases Purvis’ virtuosity, not to mention lung capacity. The Six Realms is a 27-minute concerto for amplified cello in six movements, originally composed for Yo Yo Ma. Lieberson is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and The Six Realms travels much the same dark, foggy highway of human consciousness as John Adams’ Dharma in Big Sur although Lieberson’s writing is denser, more complex and less serial. Lieberson’s path is more direct and well-traveled, less risky, perhaps, but more likely to endure.
Flute Concerto; Violin Concerto; Pilgrims
Ned Rorem
José Serebrier, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Performer: Jeffrey Khaner, Philippe Quint
Naxos
I've always thought of Ned Rorem as something of a lightweight, a composer of amusant art songs and a pre-Wonkette tattletale diarist--more Reynalodo Hahn than Saint-Saens. Since his 80th birthday (nearly three years ago), a string of new recordings and performances has forced me to reconsider. Jose Serebrier, who cracked the door on Rorem's strengths as a symphonist a couple of years ago with his splendid Naxos recording of the three symphonies, has now flung the barn door open with this dazzler of a disc that showcases Rorem at three different stages of his career. Pilgrims, a short, somber piece for string orchestra, was written in 1958, not long after Rorem returned from Paris. The Violin Concerto, played eloquently and persuasively here by Philippe Quint, dates from 1984.
The real treasure of the disc--the Flute Concerto--was premiered by Jeffrey Khaner, principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002, and plays it here. Khaner obviously loves the piece and performs it with both virtuosity and tenderness. Because it is organized in six movements with the subtitles "The Stone Tower," "Leaving-Traveling-Hoping," "Sirens," Hymn," "False Waltz," and "Resume and Prayer," it is probably not inaccurate to describe it as a series of songs without words. This is not to diminish its cohesiveness and cumulative power, or to reinforce the old Rorem cliche, however. This is a flute concerto built for the long haul.
Chamber and Gamelan Works
Lou Harrison
New World Records
Like but-ter. A most welcome re-issue of a long out-of-print CRI release, with many of Harrison's greatest hits like "Concerto in Slendro," "Main Bersame-Sama," and "String Quartet Set." This is perfect music for plotting the overthrow of Indochine while sipping a gin and tonic with Somerset Maugham's ghost on the shaded veranda of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. Sure, it's easy listening but the just intonation keeps it real. Resistance is futile. posted by Jerry Bowles 7:08 PM
5/15/2006
Rilke Songs; The Six Realms; Horn ConcertoPeter Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo soprano, Peter Serkin, piano
William Purvis, horn, Michaela Fukacova, violoncello
Odense Symphony
Bridge
If you’re going to write art songs, it doesn’t hurt to be married to one of the world’s great singers. Peter Lieberson is especially fortunate in this regard; his wife, mezzo soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson could sing the BMW owner’s manual and make it sound good. Lieberson’s settings of five Rilke poems is considerably better than that and this performance, recorded live at the Ravinia Festival with Peter Serkin at the piano, is first-rate. Having never heard Lieberson’s orchestral work before, I found the two other pieces that fill out this generous disc to be even more revelatory. Lieberson's music balances tonality and atonality in ways that are likely to please or, perhaps, not offend either side of the great harmonic divide. The Horn Concerto for horn and a chamber orchestra, played by its dedicatee, William Purvis is a lively 18-minute composition in two movements that showcases Purvis’ virtuosity, not to mention lung capacity. The Six Realms is a 27-minute concerto for amplified cello in six movements, originally composed for Yo Yo Ma. Lieberson is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and The Six Realms travels much the same dark, foggy highway of human consciousness as John Adams’ Dharma in Big Sur although Lieberson’s writing is denser, more complex and less serial. Lieberson’s path is more direct and well-traveled, less risky, perhaps, but more likely to endure.
Flute Concerto; Violin Concerto; PilgrimsNed Rorem
José Serebrier, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Performer: Jeffrey Khaner, Philippe Quint
Naxos
I've always thought of Ned Rorem as something of a lightweight, a composer of amusant art songs and a pre-Wonkette tattletale diarist--more Reynalodo Hahn than Saint-Saens. Since his 80th birthday (nearly three years ago), a string of new recordings and performances has forced me to reconsider. Jose Serebrier, who cracked the door on Rorem's strengths as a symphonist a couple of years ago with his splendid Naxos recording of the three symphonies, has now flung the barn door open with this dazzler of a disc that showcases Rorem at three different stages of his career. Pilgrims, a short, somber piece for string orchestra, was written in 1958, not long after Rorem returned from Paris. The Violin Concerto, played eloquently and persuasively here by Philippe Quint, dates from 1984.
The real treasure of the disc--the Flute Concerto--was premiered by Jeffrey Khaner, principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002, and plays it here. Khaner obviously loves the piece and performs it with both virtuosity and tenderness. Because it is organized in six movements with the subtitles "The Stone Tower," "Leaving-Traveling-Hoping," "Sirens," Hymn," "False Waltz," and "Resume and Prayer," it is probably not inaccurate to describe it as a series of songs without words. This is not to diminish its cohesiveness and cumulative power, or to reinforce the old Rorem cliche, however. This is a flute concerto built for the long haul.
Chamber and Gamelan WorksLou Harrison
New World Records
Like but-ter. A most welcome re-issue of a long out-of-print CRI release, with many of Harrison's greatest hits like "Concerto in Slendro," "Main Bersame-Sama," and "String Quartet Set." This is perfect music for plotting the overthrow of Indochine while sipping a gin and tonic with Somerset Maugham's ghost on the shaded veranda of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. Sure, it's easy listening but the just intonation keeps it real. Resistance is futile. posted by Jerry Bowles 7:08 PM
5/15/2006
Currier & Riley
Quartetset; Quiet Time
Sebastian Currier
Cassatt Quartet
New World Records
New World Records is on a chamber music hot streak. First, Ben Johnston's brilliant String Quartets 2, 3, 4 and 9 in January; this gem from Sebastian Currier in February, some revelatory music for strings by Robert Carl in March. Currier's 1995 Quartetset, written for the Cassett Quartet, is a long (45 minute) seven movement piece that pits tonality versus atonality, dissonance versus consonance, with results that are not only wildy imaginative but surprising listenable. The composer describes it as "a post-modern interpretation of the string quartet." The same might be said of Quiet Time, another seven movement suite, in which the dialectic is natural versus artifical sound.
Cadenza on the Night Plain
Terry Riley
Kronos Quartet
Hannibal
Terry Riley as the modern Dvorak. Who knew? Pure joy from start to finish.
Quartetset; Quiet Time Sebastian Currier
Cassatt Quartet
New World Records
New World Records is on a chamber music hot streak. First, Ben Johnston's brilliant String Quartets 2, 3, 4 and 9 in January; this gem from Sebastian Currier in February, some revelatory music for strings by Robert Carl in March. Currier's 1995 Quartetset, written for the Cassett Quartet, is a long (45 minute) seven movement piece that pits tonality versus atonality, dissonance versus consonance, with results that are not only wildy imaginative but surprising listenable. The composer describes it as "a post-modern interpretation of the string quartet." The same might be said of Quiet Time, another seven movement suite, in which the dialectic is natural versus artifical sound.
Cadenza on the Night Plain Terry Riley
Kronos Quartet
Hannibal
Terry Riley as the modern Dvorak. Who knew? Pure joy from start to finish.
Jerry Bowles is founder and editor of Sequenza 21, the contemporary classical
music web portal which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award in 2005.
music web portal which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award in 2005.
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George Antheil: The Zelig of 20th Century Music
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Angela Hewitt Plays Chabrier
Learning Lieberson, Rethinking Rorem, Loving Lou
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