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Haskell Haskell Small (b. 1948) tableau vivant of these actual friends of the artist. The among his fellow revelers, and led the composer to Lullaby of War • Renoir’s Feast • Three Etudes in Sound train arrives at the riverside bistro in , the mimic the artist’s manner of painting: Renoir was owner’s son takes the ladies for a boat ride, and the “known to begin a new piece with a splattering of ideas, SMALL A composer, like any artist, is the sponge of his humanity seen in the trenches of World War I, Uri various merrymakers chat and flirt (comic actress then allow the painting to take form in the same way as (b. 1948) environment, absorbing influence, surroundings, even Greenberg’s evocation of the moon rubbing its face uses her wiles on roué art-lover Paul his cork on water.” Lullaby of War (2007) 29:47 (in the slang sense of the term) resources of friends or “like an animal” on the boot nails of dead soldiers, Walt Lhote, as Lestringuez, the public official with a mystical Finally, the Three Etudes in Sound are non- A setting of six war poems for piano and narrator patrons to keep the artistic vision alive. One can imagine Whitman’s own moon hymn for his fallen comrades, to edge, tries to capture her attention), as we hear the piano programmatic studies that (as the composer says) “are (commissioned by Soheil Nasseri) Haskell Small’s youth in Washington, D.C., as the son Paula Tatarunis’ agonized evocation of Guernica. painting for our ears what Renoir gave us on the canvas. mainly concerned with color and sound control.” 1 War is Kind (text by Stephen Crane (1871-1900)) 7:21 of an Army colonel who promoted chess playing among Throughout, the pianist oscillates between the The sliver of an unidentified man in profile in the 2 No (first published version) (text by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)) 5:02 the ranks, leading to two of the primary compositions on elegiac, poignant, and even monotonous side of war, painting led Small to imagine that Renoir himself is Robert Aubry Davis 3 Recitative (excerpts) (text by Yvan Goll (1891-1950)) 3:06 this disc: one centered on an iconic artwork in this town, and the outrage that underlies every poetic line and 4 Naming Souls (text by Uri Zvi Greenberg (1896-1981)) 5:08 and the other a meditation on war. every note. 5 Look Down, Fair Moon (text by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)) 1:14 Lullaby of War, written for pianist Soheil Nasseri, Anyone weighed down by thoughts of war, or Haskell Small 6 Guernica Pantoum (text by Paula Tatarunis (b. 1952)) 7:56 was (in the composer’s words) “both an expression of indeed any sad thing, need only venture into The outrage at our perpetual rationalizations for making war Phillips Collection in Washington and see one work of The works of Washington, D.C. native Haskell Small have been Renoir’s Feast (2005) 27:17 and an offering of compassion for its victims.” The art: Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party. It is performed in Germany, France, Poland, Iceland, Brazil, Canada, A Musical Celebration of The Luncheon of the Boating Party concept – two Civil War poems, two from World War I, summer, it is sunny, it is safe, it is sweet, reminding us Japan, China and in important venues in major American cities from (commissioned by ) and two from the anthology “Poets Against the War” – as Renoir’s great film-maker son Jean wrote of his San Francisco to New York, as well as being heard on recordings on 7 The River 1:36 are interconnected by a “prayer theme” that allows the father, he “chose to live like a cork floating on water.” the MSR Classics, Museum Music, 4Tay, Albany, Klavier, 8 Alphonse Fournaise 1:19 pianist and narrators to limn the ghastly rainbow of war The Seine dances happily in the background, and Northeastern, and now Naxos labels. His music has been championed 9 The River 0:28 in an arc from Stephen Crane’s War is Kind through Joy the “river theme” the composer creates in Renoir’s by many notable artists, including violinist Sidney Harth, cellist 0 Charles Ephrussi 1:48 Harjo’s bitter lullaby, Yvan Goll’s indictment of all Feast weaves together an only slightly-imagined Ignacio Alcover, bassoonists Shigeru Ota and Arnold Irchai, 2-piano ! Jules Laforgue 1:32 teams Quattro Mani and the Paratore Brothers, chamber groups Brave @ The River 0:41 New Works, the Dorian Wind Quintet and the American Chamber # Jeanne Samary, Paul Lhote & Eugène-Pierre Lestringuez 1:54 Ensemble, orchestras such as the Georgetown Symphony and the $ Renoir 3:53 Mount Vernon Orchestra (composer-in-residence 2000-2003), and a % Ellen Andrée 2:09 number of pianists including the internationally renowned Soheil ^ The River 0:20 Nasseri. As a composer of music for dance, Mr. Small was the winner & Baron Raoul Barbier & Alphonsine Fournaise 2:04 of the 1999 Marin Ballet Dance Score Competition, and his * The River 0:39 choreographed music has also been presented at the Kennedy Center ( Maggiolo, Angèle & Gustave Caillebotte 2:18 by . Mr. Small has received commissions from ) Aline Charigot and her dog 2:53 and been funded by such organizations as the American Composers ¡ The Party 2:29 Forum, 21st Century Classical, the Phillips Collection (Renoir’s Feast ™ The River 1:15 on present recording), and the Paul Hill Chorale, and has been featured at China’s Sister Cities Festival and Poland’s 2007 Festival Three Etudes in Sound (1993) 7:15 of American Music. His principal publisher is PeerMusic Classical. £ Sound Layers 2:25 Haskell Small received his musical training at the San Francisco ¢ Sound Swirls and Spikes 1:24 ∞ Conservatory and Carnegie-Mellon University, and studied Sound Sustained 3:25 composition with Roland Leich and Vincent Persichetti. Following in Photo: Sarah Small Poems used in Lullaby of War that are not in the public domain are used with permission from the copyright owners. the tradition of 18th- and 19th-century composer-pianists, Haskell Regarding the poem ‘Naming Souls’, the copyright is owned by the family of Uri Zvi Greenberg. Small is also an accomplished pianist, often performing his own works. He studied piano with William Masselos Full permissions and copyright information can be found with the texts, at www.naxos.com/libretti/559649.htm and and is currently piano department Chair of the Washington Conservatory of Music. © 2011 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. For further information about Haskell Small, please visit his website at www.haskellsmall.com. 8.559649 2 3 8.559649 4 8.559649 559649 bk Lullaby US 25/2/11 07:55 Page 5

Martin Rayner Soheil Nasseri AMERICAN CLASSICS Martin Rayner is a stage actor in New York City. His On and Off Broadway rôles include Hans in Sixteen Wounded, Pater in Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, Charles VI in Henry V (Central Park), Henry in Travels with My Aunt Haskell

Photo: Morris Kagan (Drama Desk, Outer Circle Awards), Frizer in

Kit Marlowe (The Public Theatre), and Freud in Photo: Wolfgang Kleber the Off Broadway Freud’s Last Session (The Majorie Deane Theatre). SMALL

Lullaby of War Renoir’s Feast Three Etudes in Sound

Soheil Nasseri performs regularly in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center), Weill Recital Hall () and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Berlin’s Philharmonie Martin Rayner, Kammermusiksaal and Konzerthaus, London’s Purcell Room, Tokyo’s Musashino Center, Florence’s Teatro Comunale, and Palermo’s Teatro Politeama. As concerto soloist he has appeared with conductors including Fabio del Cioppo, Justus Narrator Frantz, David LaMarche, John Lopez, Edward Polochick, and Ormsby Wilkins and as a recording artist he has released solo discs on Centaur, Mahoor, and 21st Century Classical. He has given premières of 24 new works and nine composers have written pieces specifically for him. Born to Iranian parents in Santa Monica, California, Soheil Nasseri studied privately with the late Karl Ulrich Schnabel before meeting his current mentors Jerome Lowenthal and Claude Frank. He divides his time between residences in New York and Berlin. For more information, please visit www.soheilnasseri.com. Soheil Nasseri,

8.559649 5 6 8.559649 Piano