The Louisville Orchestra 121st Release

The Louisville Orchestra - 121st Release

LP released sometime in 1974 or 1975 and includes three pieces

Mantrajana (1971) composed by Matthias Bamert

recorded December 12, 1973

conducted by Matthias Bamert

instruments used: two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contra-bassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones and tuba, harp, piano, strings, four gongs differently pitched

Mantrajana is a Buddhist belief which seeks redemption through the repetition of sacred formulas (Mantra).
Mantrajana makes use of four oriental gongs. These four gongs are in front of the orchestra, two on each side of the conductor. Each gong is played by one person using six different sticks, striking the instrument on six different points. To the rear of the stage, two violinists will play - one in the right corner and the other in the left corner. The seating for the remainder of the orchestra is left to the discretion of the conductor.
Mantrajana contains no oriental themes or rhythms. It is strictly occidental music based on an oriental philosophy. As in the religious use of Mantra, repetition becomes the most important factor in Mantrajana. Intervals and rhythmic figures are repeated, then these figures are often inverted, reversed, transposed, interrupted, shortened, and used in varying combinations. This makes these repetitions sometimes obvious to the listener, sometimes not. (Mathias Bamert)

Some Marches on a Ground (1970) composed by Gordon Crosse

recorded December 12, 1973

conducted by Jorge Mester

This is almost two pieces in one; layers of quite different musical character being superimposed throughout. The marches are variations in differing tempi, for winds and percussion. The theme, heard after an opening fanfare, is of a deliberately "fatuous" national-anthem character. The ground (is used) in two senses; firstly a ground bass, or passacaglia, based on a short theme in parallel thirds. Secondly, a ground swell of string colour, in particular pizzicato, which keeps up a constant background thrum and patter emerging as the dominant idea in the brief central section which is a king of a battle symphony. (Gordon Crosse)

Museum Pieces for String Quartet and Clarinet (1973) composed by Phillip Rhodes

recorded October 2, 1973

James Livingston - clarinet

The Louisville String Quartet:
Paul Kling - violin
Peter McHugh - violin
Virginia Schneider - viola
Guillermo Helguera - cello

Movements:

I. Equestrian Bronze
(artwork is Italian, dates from early 16th century)

II. The Pierrot Music Box
(artwork dates from 19th century)

III. Landscape
(artwork created by George Seurat, French, dates from 19th century)

IV. Station of the Cross
(artwork created by Theodore Chasseriau, French, dates from 19th century)

V. Le Bouquet
(artwork created by Pablo Picasso, Spanish, dates from 20th century)

VI. A Bacchanal
(artwork created by Brueghel-van Balen, Flemish, dates from late 16th century)

For anyone fascinated with the interrelationships between music and the visual arts, the disappearance of most of the original Victor Hartmann originals which inspired the various episodes of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is an incalculable loss. Scarcely a handful of the architect's sketches, costumes, and drawings survive although the vivid illustrations by his musical friend have given us the materials from which to reconstruct the originals in our mind's eye. The twentieth century is rich with examples of painting-into-music ranging from traditional works such as Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead (Bocklin) and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler (Grunewald) to more contemporary efforts along the lines of Bohuslav Martinu's Three Frescoes of Piero della Francesca and Gunther Schuller's Seven Studies on Paul Klee.In 1973, Phillip Rhodes, then the Kentucky Arts Commission's Composer-in-Residence, was asked to provide a new composition for the dedication of the Hattie Bishop Speed Music Room of the J. B. Speed Art Museum of Louisville. The six movements of the Museum Pieces take their points of departure from a half dozen works in a variety of genres that make up a part of the museum's permanent collection. They consist of three substantial pieces (Movements I, IV, and VI) balanced by three further episodes of a slighter nature. Unlike Mussorgsky's famous work, where the presence of the "viewer" is represented by the series of Promenades which link the various sections, the contrast between art work and audience seems here to be represented in the texture of the ensmeble itself - the juxtaposition of the intricate ensemble writing for string quartet against the more expressive and personal reactions of the solo clarinet. That the latter is inclined to be a follower and interpreter is clear from such a piece as Movement III, a "Landscape" by Seurat. The smudged forms of this tiny (6" x 9") country scene are suggested by the string chords in harmonics while the clarinet's fanciful flight comes as an afterthought, an airy commentary from the poetic imagination. (Robert McMahan)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Mantrajana {9:03}

2. Some Marches on a Ground {13:02}

Side 2

1. Museum Pieces: I. Equestrian Bronze {2:53}

2. Museum Pieces: II. The Pierrot Music Box {1:54}

3. Museum Pieces: III. Landscape {1:47}

4. Museum Pieces: IV. Station of the Cross {6:35}

5. Museum Pieces: V. Le Bouquet {1:11}

6. Museum Pieces: VI. A Bacchanal {2:39}

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The Louisville Orchestra 103rd Release

The Louisville Orchestra - 103rd Release

ECHOES OF TIME AND THE RIVER (ECHOES II)

Composed by George Crumb.

Performance recorded on December 15, 1970.

This composition is another Pulitzer Prize winner. It won Crumb the award in 1968.

It is a follow up to Crumb's earlier piece, "Eleven Echoes of Autumn" composed in 1965.

There are four movements in this order: "Frozen Time", "Remembrance of Time", "Collapse of Time", and "Last Echoes of Time".

From the liner notes: The preoccupation with time dates from the earlier "Autumn" Echoes but in the new work, this central unifying theme includes a treatment of psychological and philosophical time as well. The spatial projection of the time continuum takes the form of various "processionals"; the four movements of the suite may be realized with the players actually marching about the stage in steps of various length synchronized with the music they are performing. Many of the players are given extra instruments in addition; the strings, for example, are outfitted with antique cymbals and glockenspiel plates.

"KALEIDOSCOPE," FOR ORCHESTRA, SYNTHESIZER, AND SOPRANO

Composed by Merrill Ellis

Featured Mezzo-soprano: Joan Wall

Recorded on December 15, 1970

An E-II Electronic Synthesizer built by Robert Moog is used in the performance of this piece. It is capable of handling numerous programmed inputs and a fast control section among other features.

From the liner notes: With the addition of the electronic dimensions of sound synthesizing devices and tape echo and reverberation, the modern concert hall ensemble comes into the electronic age. At the same time that the sound resources of the orchestra are enriching themselves beyond the dreams of even such an illustrious predecessor as Ravel, the forms of modern music are freeing themselves from the monumental rigidity of the classic tradition. All sorts of techniques have been developed to facilitate the process - the extended improvisations of jazz, the abstract scoring in boxes and timelines or other geometrical graphics that serve to delineate large-scale structures while allowing at the same time the player a limited freedom of action, even the incorporation of random events and sequences that allow for no predictability of continuity whatsoever. In Merrill Ellis' Kaleidoscope - a composition for orchestra, Moog electronic sound synthesizer, and soprano - a slightly different method is used to create much the same general effect. A series of strong instrumental colorings is presented in a long introductory section. The listener becomes familiar with the close array of trills in the strings and winds, the wide leaps of the melodic line in the brass, the glissandos and intermodulation effects of the Moog keyboard, the humorous and slightly sinister rhythmic patternings in the strings and percussion, and the expressive writing for the solo violin.

...

Acting as a unifying agent, the soprano voice sings, intones, and otherwise assaults a bit of pyramidal (the syllables double in each successive line) poetry by Robert Lockwood quite in keeping with the loosely formed aggregates that surround it. Titled Wonderdome, the text describes a city in the future where everything is perfect.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Echoes of Time and the River (Echoes II): Frozen Time [composed by George Crumb] {4:39}

2. Echoes of Time and the River (Echoes II): Remembrance of Time [composed by George Crumb] {5:53}

3. Echoes of Time and the River (Echoes II): Collapse of Time/Last Echoes of Time [composed by Geroge Crumb] {9:15}

Side 2

1. "Kaleidoscope" for Orchestra, Synthesizer, and Soprano [composed by Merrill Ellis] {14:48}

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The Louisville Orchestra 110th Release

The Louisville Orchestra - The Louisville Orchestra 110th Release

The Louisville Orchestra released a series of LPs on their own label, First Edition Records, from the 1950s to the 1980s. The label was started in 1950 and the recordings focused on contemporary music (i.e. mid 20th century music). There were 158 LPs along with 10 CDs released according to this website. This orchestra may be the only one in the United States with its own label. It still performs contemporary music occasionally and it has a presence on the web.

Jorge Mester - conductor on this LP

DE NATURA SONORIS No. 2 by Krzysztof Penderecki

recorded May 17, 1972

The second De Natura Sonoris begins almost where its predecessor had left the argument, although the choice of initial percussion (including pennywhistle, musical saw, antique cymbals, and wind machine) suggest more exotic things are in store. The strings enter maintaining the lowest dynamic levels as they slide from a single pitch to tightly-packed sound bands and back again. A favorite device of the composer's is a massive crescendo for all players which leaves a novel texture at its sudden termination. Here it is used to introduce an awesome snazzle of four trombones in their lowest register spaced a semitone apart, the prelude to a series of strong contrasts of color ranging from fff to ffff. (Robert McMahan from the program notes)

Note: a performance of this piece conducted by Penderecki himself is also in this previous post

GENGHIS KHAN, OP. 37 by Gene Gutché

recorded March 16, 1972

It is scored for a full complement of winds (in threes), brass, and percussion but dispenses with all the strings except for the basses, thus giving to the orchestra the "hard-edged" texture beloved of Stravinsky and other contemporary colorists. The omission makes a certain sense. One hardly needs the lyric flow of orchestral strings as an accompaniment to the exploits of the Mongol conqueror (ca. 1167-1227) who parlayed daring and savagery into control of a kingdom that stretched half-way across the known world and managed the feat in less than two decades of campaigning. (Robert McMahan from the program notes)

MUSIC FOR PRAGUE 1968 by Karel Husa

recorded May 17, 1972

Three main ideas bind the composition together. The first and most important is an old Hussite war song from the 15th century, "Ye Warriors of God and His Law," a symbol of resistance and hope for hundreds of years, whenever fate lay heavy on the Czech nation. It has been utilized also by many Czech composers, including Smetana in "My Fatherland." The beginning of this religious song is announced very softly in the first movement by the timpani and concludes in a strong unison (Chorale). The song is never used in its entirety.

The second idea is the sound of bells throughout; Prague, named also the City of "Hundreds of Towers," has used its magnificently sounding church bells as calls of distress as well of victory.

The last idea is a motif of three chords first appearing very softly under the piccolo solo at the beginning of the piece, in flutes, clarinets, and horns. Later it reappears at extremely strong dynamic levels, for example in the middle of the Aria.

Different techniques of composing as well as orchestrating have been used in "Music for Prague 1968" and some new sounds explored, such as the percussion section in the Interlude, the ending of the work, etc.

Much symbolism also appears: in addition to the distress calls in the first movement (Fanfares), the unbroken hope of the Hussite song, sound of bells, or the tragedy (Aria), there is also the bird calls at the beginning (piccolo solo), symbol of the Liberty which the City of Prague has seen only for moments during its thousand years of existence. (Karel Husa from the program notes)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. De Natura Sonoris No. 2 [composed by Krzysztof Penderecki] {8:55}

2. Genghis Khan, Op. 37 [composed by Gene Gutché] {8:52}

Side 2

1. Music for Prague 1968: Introduction and Fanfare [composed by Karel Husa] {5:48}

2. Music for Prague 1968: Aria [composed by Karel Husa] {6:14}

3. Music for Prague 1968: Interlude - Toccata and Chorale [composed by Karel Husa] {10:47}

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