Notes from the booklet (enclosed) by Lejaren Hiller:
This is the second of a series of three VOX BOX albums of music for solo piano written by American composers. The first, performed by Neely Bruce, contained concert and salon music or 19th Century America. the present album takes up where that one left off, roughly at the turn of the century, and continues to mid-century. The final album, to be recorded, as is this one, by Roger Shields, will contain music of the present- with emphasis on music of the avant-garde.
(Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, this projected album was never recorded-Dr I).
Specialists in the history of American music like Gilbert Chase (America's Music, McGraw-Hill) and H. Wiley Hitchcock (Music in the United States, Prentice-Hall) have found it convenient to divide the period represented here (approximately 1900-1950)
into three main periods; the years prior to WWI, the decade of the 1920's and lastly, the years of the Depression and WWII. The pre-WWI period closes a long period of musical growth in America, during which the profession of composing acquired respectability, symphony orchestras and other performance ensembles were established and the teaching of music began to be accepted as an academic discipline. The model for all this was Germany, so it was considered correct and proper that aspiring young performers and composers be sent to Germany to polish off their studies. I speak here of course of the concert world, not of popular music which flourished perfectly well on its own.This stage of music history culminates in the singular career of Charles Ives, who not only combined in his music all the diverse trends of his times, but also because of his experimental turn of mind, prophetically anticipated much of what was yet to come.
In the music of the 1920's the focus abruptly shifted away from Germany. In foreign study, France replaced Germany; also, experimentation, iconoclasm, anti-Romanticism and an interest in jazz replaced former ideals. Perhaps the most important American composer of this period was Edgard Varese, who cannot be included in this album since he wrote no piano music. Then, of course, the Depression came, and with it, artistic as well as economic retrenchment. Moreover, America became the refuge for nearly all of the most famous European composers escaping the Nazi assault. Not surprisingly, these displaced Europeans dominated American musical life in the 1940's and it wasn't until afterwards that newer and different native musical impulses began to assert themselves.
Piano Music In America Vol.2: 1900-1945
Side One:
Charles Ives:
a1-The Anti-Abolitionist Riots (before 1908)
a2-Some Southpaw Pitching (1908)
a3-"The Alcotts" from "The Concord" Piano Sonata No.2 (1909-15)
Edward MacDowell:
a4-Five Movements from "Woodland Sketches", Opus 61 (1896)
Side Two:
Henry Cowell:
b1-Exultation (1919)
b2-Invention (1950)
b3-Aeolian Harp (1923)
b4-Advertisement (1914/59)
Charles T. Griffes:
Two Movements from "Roman Sketches", Opus 7 (1915-17)
b5-The White Peacock
b6-The Fountain Of The Acqua Paola
George Antheil:
Second Sonata, "Airplane" (1922)
b7-First Movement-As fast as possible
b8-Second Movement-Andante moderato
Side Three:
George Gershwin:
Three Preludes (1926)
c1-Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
c2-Andante con moto e poco rubato
c3-Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
John Alden Carpenter:
c4-Impromptu (1913)
Wallingford Riegger:
c5-Six Movements from "New And Old" (1944)
-The Twelve Tones
-The Tritone
-Seven Times Seven
-Tone Clusters
-Twelve Upside-Down
-Fourths And Fifths
Side Four:
Carl Ruggles:
Evocations, Four Chants For Piano (1937-43, revised 1957)
d1-Largo
d2-Andante con fantasia
d3-Moderato appassionata
d4-Adagio sostenuto
Roy Harris:
d5-Piano Sonata, Opus 1 (1928)
-Prelude (Maestoso, con bravura)
-Andante Ostinato (Misterioso)
-Scherzo (Vivace)
Side Five:
Roger Sessions:
From My Diary (1939)
e1-Poco adagio
e2-Allegro con brio
e3-Larghissimo e misterioso
e4-Allegro pesante
William Schuman:
e5-Three-Score Set (1943)
-=circa 96
-=circa 40
-=circa 144
Aaron Copland:
e6-Piano Variations (1930)
Side Six:
Walter Piston:
f1-Passacaglia (1943)
Virgil Thomson:
f2-Piano Sonata No.3 (1930)
-Bold
-Softer (same speed)
-very soft and without accent (same speed)
-Gay, and getting gradually louder and gayer
-Sustained
Two Movements from Ten Etudes (1943)
f3-Parallel Chords (Tango)
f4-Ragtime Bass
Samuel Barber:
f5-Nocturne, Opus 33 (1949)
f6-Fuga, from the Piano Sonata, Opus 26 (1949)
Roger Shields-Piano
(...) Only briefly exploring the usual contest/concert circuit (winning a Busoni prize and the Kinly Award), Shields prefers the new, unusual, and seldom-played repertoire. Works of Lutoslawski, Syzmanowski, Antheil, Zez Confrey and promising young composers figure as prominently in his concerts as do the Liszt Don Juan Fantasy, Stravinsky's Petrouchka, the Hammerklavier Sonata of Beethoven and Chopin Mazurkas. During the past 5 years, Shields has worked as pianist for the Center of Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo, New York,and has been artistic director of the East European Concert Series(...)
(notes from 1976)
(1)
(2)
(3)
