Wolpe/Crumb split release

Stefan Wolpe/George Crumb - split release

Trio by Stefan Wolpe

Performers: Trio of the Group for Contemporary Music at Columbia University

Harvey Sollberger - flute

Charles Wuorinen - piano

Joel Krosnik - cello

TRIO, composed in 1963, is an excellent example of Wolpe's late period. In it may be found more or less traditional constructs merged with contemporary attitudes and orderly harmonic processes and thorough development of material combined with logically discontinuous methods of articulating them. One of Wolpe's techniques is his use of unordered pitch groups which, like a scale in tonal music, function as the source for melodic and harmonic events. In the first movement of this Trio, two groups of four pitches are set off against each other, and are projected in constantly changing rhythms, as lines or chords in large or small compasses.

...

The opening of the second movement reflects in detail the totality of the work. The first three phrases are an exposition. Each phrase is constructed traditionally: a referent situation is stated, then varied to become more intense, and then a cadential resolution is defined. For example, the cello states a motive using a core of only three pitches, then varies it and extends it by the addition of new pitches to the field. The variations are so extreme, however, because of their new rhythms and the addition of new intervals, that they create both contrast and continuity simultaneously.

...

Wolpe, then, belongs to no "school." The immediacy and directness of his musical utterances combined with the complexity, even virtuosity, of his composing are uniquely his own. (Edward Levy)

Eleven Echoes of Autumn by George Crumb

Performers: Aeolian Chamber Players

Lewis Kaplan - violin

David Gilbert - flute

Lloyd Greenberg - clarinet

Jacob Maxim - piano

The ELEVEN ECHOES of AUTUMN, 1965 were composed during the spring of 1966 for the Aeolian Chamber Players (on commission from Bowdoin College). The eleven pieces constituting the work are performed without interruption:

Eco. 1. Fantastico

Eco. 2. Languidamente, quasi lontano ("hauntingly")

Eco. 3. Prestissimo

Eco. 4. Con bravura

Eco. 5. Cadenza I (for Alto Flute)

Eco. 6. Cadenza II (for Violin)

Eco. 7. Cadenza III (for Clarinet)

Eco. 8. Feroce, violento

Eco. 9. Serenamente, quasi lontano ("hauntingly")

Eco. 10. Senza misura )"gently undulating")

Eco. 11. Adagio ("like a prayer")

Each of the echi exploits certain imbral possibilities of the instruments. For example, eco 1 (for piano alone) is based entirely on the 5th partial harmonic, eco 2 on violin harmonics in combination with 7th partial harmonics produced on the piano (by drawing a piece of hard rubber along the strings). A delicate aura of sympathetic vibrations emerges in echi 3 and 4, produced in the latter case by alto flute and clarinet playing into the piano strings. At the conclusion of the work the violinist achieves a mournful, fragile timbre by playing with the bow hair completely slack.

The most generative element of Eleven Echoes is the "bell motif" - a quintuplet figure based on the whole-tone interval - which is heard at the beginning of the work. This diatonic figure appears in a variety of rhythmic guises, and frequently in a highly chromatic context.

Each of the eleven pieces has its own expressive character, at times overlaid by quasi-obbligato music of contrasting character, e.g., the "wind music" of the alto flute and clarinet in eco 2 or the "distant mandolin music" of the violin in eco 3. The larger expressive curve of the work is arch-like: a gradual growth of intensity to a climactic point (eco 8) followed by a gradual collapse.

Although Eleven Echoes has certain programmatic implications for the composer, it is enough for the listener to infer the significance of the motto-quote from Federico Garcia Lorca: ". . . y los arcos rotos donde sufre el tiempo" (". . . and the broken arches where time suffers"). These words are softly intoned as a preface to each of the three cadenzas (echi 5-7) and the image "broken arches" is represented visually in the notation of the music which underlies the cadenzas.

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Stefan Wolpe - Trio: first part {12:14}

2. Stefan Wolpe - Trio: second part {5:10}

Side B

1. George Crumb - Eleven Echoes of Autumn {15:38}

(1)