various artists compilation - Leonard Bernstein Conducts Music of Our Time
performed by the New York Philharmonic
additional performers on "Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists": Don Ellis - trumpet; Barre Phillips - bass; Joe Cocuzzo - drums
released in 1965
Part of the excitement of living in the mid-twentieth century is our fever for exploration. Outer space, inner space, the cosmos, the atom, the intellectual realm of mathematics and the intuitive world of music: all our worlds are expanding with the speed of an interplanetary missle, a speed both exhilarating and frightening.
As recently as 1950, neo-classicism seemed to dominate contemporary music. Yet, barely seven years later, Robert Craft could declare that a majority of the youngest West European musicians, having embraced serialism, now characterized their time as "the age of Webern." And that age had hardly been named before it was over. Important serial music continued to be written, of course, but the excitement of exploration shifted to a still newer wave of composers, for whom serial procedures were a stale formula. Electronic music (including musique concrete) and chance music lured a whole platoon of composers. Many explored musical styles in which form and constructive methods lost their importance, and interest shifted to sheer physical sound, acoustical "events," in a striking parallel to the optical "events" of current "pop" art.
It is a striking fact that the three works in this album, by György Ligeti (born 1923), Morton Feldman (born 1926), and Larry Austin (born 1930), were all composed in the year 1961.
In a way, György Ligeti's "Atmospheres" is the most conservative of the three, for it is the only one completely composed by the composer. Commissioned by the Southwest German Radio of Baden-Baden, it was first performed at Donaueschingen on October 22, 1961, under the direction of Hans Rosbaud. Ligeti, who was born in Hungary and now lives in Vienna, writes of his music: "My personal development began with serial music, but today I have passed beyond serialism. In 'Atmospheres', I have attempted to supersede the structural approach to music which once, in turn, superseded the motivic-thematic approach, and to establish a new textural concept of music. . . . This so-to-speak informal music is embodied in a new type of orchestral sound: the sonorous texture is so dense that the individual interwoven instrumental voices are absorbed into the general texture, and completely lose their individuality. This is the reason for the unusual format of the orchestral score, which is noted on eighty-seven staves, since the string instruments are written completely divisi, that is, with an individual part for each player."
Morton Feldman's "Out of 'Last Pieces'" is a more radical work in the sense that it is only partly composed in advance. Such details as pitch and rhythm of the notes are left to the individual orchestral player's discretion. For his new, semi-improvised music, Mr. Feldman had to invent a new system of musical notation. He chose graph paper. "The discovery that sound in itself can be a totally plastic phenomenon, suggesting its own shape, design and poetic metaphor, led me to devise a new system of graphic notation," writes Mr. Feldman. "'Out of 'Last Pieces'' (1961) was written on coordination paper, with each box equal to mm. 80 [or one-eightieth of a minute]. The number of sounds to be played within each box is given, with the player entering on or within the duration of each box. Dynamics throughout are very low. The amplified guitar, harp, celesta, vibraphone, and xylophone may choose sounds from any register. All other sounds are played in the high registers of the instruments, except for brief sections in which low sounds are indicated."
Larry Austin's "Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists" is based in part on the popular American tradition of jazz improvisation and the jam session. Composed in June, 1961, it was first performed in May, 1962, during the first International Jazz Festival held in Washington, D.C. Discussing his aim, Mr. Austin writes: "At strategic points throughout the work are brief moments in which individual performers - at times orchestral, at times jazz, at times both - invent rhythmic designs on given pitches within specified spans of time. I believe this 'uncontrolled' element injects moments of creative tension in the work not readily obtained in a situation completely controlled by the composer. I strive to involve the performer and the listener in active music making." The work is divided into three connected sections: the first based on variants of the traditional twelve-bar blues, the second a slow blues, and the third based on a Charleston-like rhythm.
The most radical of the four pieces on this disc, "Four Improvisations by the Orchestra," was composed at the moment of the recording. In other words, it is almost one hundred percent improvised. "The orchestra and I are going to compose on the spot," said Leonard Bernstein to the audience in Philharmonic Hall, when he and the orchestra first improvised in public. "Nothing has been fixed or decided upon in advance except two or three signals for starting and stopping. Otherwise, every note you hear will have been spontaneously invented by the New York Philharmonic, with its conductor serving only as a kind of general guide, or policeman. Here is the New York Philharmonic's 'Improvisation No. 1,' which has never been played before, and never will be again."
The New York Philharmonic's "Improvisations Nos. 2, 3 and 4" were heard at succeeding concerts at Philharmonic Hall. The "Improvisations" on this disc bears no number. Like the earlier Philharmonic improvisations, this had never been heard before the moment of recording and, by its nature, it can never be performed again. (Edward Downes)
Tracklisting:
Side I
1. György Ligeti - Atmosphères {6:38}
2. Morton Feldman - Out of "Last Pieces" {10:34}
Side II
1. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic - Four Improvisations by the Orchestra: I {0:55}
2. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic - Four Improvisations by the Orchestra: II {1:51}
3. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic - Four Improvisations by the Orchestra: III {1:29}
4. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic - Four Improvisations by the Orchestra: IV {2:19}
5. Larry Austin - Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists {11:51}
