The Contemporary Composer in the USA [Rochberg-Imbrie-Waxman]

various artists compilation - The Contemporary Composer in the USA [Rochberg-Imbrie-Waxman]

released in 1973

George Rochberg - Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano

Performers: Kees Kooper - violin; Fred Sherry - cello; Mary Louise Boehm - piano

Following written by Rochberg: It is one continuous movement which is articulated structurally by an essential soloistic/ensemble dichotomy. Each instrument, therefore, has its own level of solo activity. Beyond that there are "duos" and "trios"; so in a sense the "conversation" between the three instruments is open and dynamic. Only at the very end of the work do they combine to produce one single gesture.

As in all my music - and my 12-tone works in particular - I tried in the Trio to discover a "harmony" special to the conditions of that work which would unify the sounds around a basic aural concept - whether that concept is analyzable or not - and produce, as a result, an identifiable, definable musical substance.

Andrew Imbrie - Dandelion Wine

Performers: Bert Lucarelli - oboe; Arthur Bloom - clarinet; Kees Kooper and Alvin Rogers - violins; Richard Maximoff - viola; Fred Sherry - cello; Mary Louise Boehm - piano

Following written by Imbrie: Dandelion Wine is the title of a novel by Ray Bradbury concerning memories of a boyhood spent in a small town. It describes the bottling of dandelion wine, with each bottle dated. These become symbols of memory, since each date recalls a particular summer day and its activities.

My piece attempts to implant and then, at the end, recall certain musical ideas in new contexts to give, if possible, the effects of poignant reminiscences, all "bottled" in a very brief container. It was written in Princeton, at a time and place quite conducive to a mood similar to that invoked in the novel.

Donald Waxman - Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon

Performers: Bert Lucarelli - oboe; Arthur Bloom - clarinet; Donald MacCourt - bassoon

Following written by Waxman: Many composers, hearing an earlier composition, will often be flooded with memories of the time and circumstances when the work was written. I am, myself, more often taken back to the time of the rehearsals for a work's first performance rather than to its actual composition. After all, the composing of one's music so often takes place in the same room and at the same writing desk - but the rehearsals, the preparation for performance, are always different. My Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon brings back memories of an unlikely site, the West Point Military Academy in the Hudson Highlands. For it was here that three young wind virtuosi, camouflaged as soldiers, prepared for that work's first performance in November of 1960. I can rarely hear the Trio now without being reminded of the bleak late Autumn drives up to West Point, where the imposing and almost forbidding grounds and fortress-like structures seemed such an incongruous setting for the rehearsals of this bright, tart and occasionally impudent wind music.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. George Rochberg - Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano {18:18}

Side 2

1. Andrew Imbrie - Dandelion Wine {4:39}

2. Donald Waxman - Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon: I - Comodo {6:27}

3. Donald Waxman - Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon: II - Andante Cantabile {6:08}

4. Donald Waxman - Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon: III - Allegro - Allegro vivace {6:42}

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