New Music by Allan Blank and David Cope

Allan Blank/David Cope - New Music by Allan Blank and David Cope

Yes, it's another obscure avant-garde LP provided by yours truly for you to enjoy.

About Music for Solo Violin, Mr. Blank writes: "Though my background includes training as a violinist, this is only the second long work I have written for solo violin. The first, with the same title, dates from 1961. In both works my concern has been with a virtuoso and expressive attitude towards the violin. Music for Violin: 1972 is a four-movement work, with dramatic movements on the outside, each consisting of a number of contrasting ideas, and shorter character-like vignettes on the inside.

"Esther's Monologue is a dramatic cantata commissioned and dedicated to Stephen Colburn and Marlee Sabo. It is based on the biblical character Esther. She is viewed, through the eyes of my wife, who wrote the text, as a woman of royal station, who must expose the villain Haman in order to save her people. (The name of Haman does not appear in the text; the only direct biblical reference is to Mordecai.) Esther moves through a series of uncertainties, doubts and hesitations to the final realization of what she must do. I call it a dramatic cantata since the music attempts to reflect these varying emotional states. The vocal part is conceived in nine sections of varying lengths. All but the first section start softly and build up to climaxes of different strengths. The work opens and closes with energetic sections for the instruments alone. The texture of the work, as a whole, is contrapuntal and requires considerable virtuosity on the part of the performers.This recording was made from a tape of the first performance given by the Pro Musica Nova at Vogel Hall, Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, January 31, 1971."

Margins for trumpet, cello, percussion & 2 pianos

[Margins] explores the marginal aspects of the instruments (trumpet, cello, percussion, and two pianos) in a tight single movement structure. The composer equally explores the contrast and developmental possibilities of dynamics and contrupuntal articulation. The tempo remains very slow throughout and the beat is divided into multifold groupings of often very quick and pointillistic integrations from instrument to instrument. The work is performed here by the Performance Group under the direction of Larry Baker.Arena is for cello and tape and performed here by the composer [David Cope] on cello. The tape was realized in the Electronic Studios of Miami University of Ohio, of which the composer is director. The work was premiered by the composer in New York City at the Composers Theatre on May, 3 1974. Of this performance Tom Johnson wrote in the Village Voice: "For me the high point of the Composers Theatre concert at Washington Square Church Friday night was "Arena," a new work for cello and tape by David Cope. In most pieces for live performers and tape, the electronic sounds pull against the instrumental ones in some sort of dialogue, but here the two elements are carefully blended. Particularly in the lush opening sonorities, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the tape from the cello, and throughout the piece, the two elements remain perfectly attuned to each other, like a fine chamber ensemble."

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Allan Blank - Music for Solo Violin: quarter note = c.88 {5:48}

2. Allan Blank - Music for Solo Violin: Pizzicato Ostinato {1:42}

3. Allan Blank - Music for Solo Violin: quarter note = c.72 {3:18}

4. Allan Blank - Music for Solo Violin: quarter note = c.80 {4:39}

5. Allan Blank - Esther's Monologue {8:30}

Side 2

1. David Cope - Margins {9:47}

2. David Cope - Arena {8:50}

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