PiecesLukas Foss of Genius

New York New Music Ensemble with guests David Broome, Lois Martin, and Deborah Wong

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1644 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2016 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL.

Foss_1644_book.indd 1-2 8/22/16 5:06 PM During the 1980s and 1990s, Foss wrote several noteworthy compositions, including The Composer Elegy for Anne Frank, American Landscapes, two symphonies (no. 3 “Symphony of Sorrows” and no. 4 “Window to the Past), and two string quartets (nos. 4 and 5), Lukas Foss was born in Berlin on August 15, 1922. The Foss family fled Nazi while maintaining a high profile as a conductor and educator. He joined the faculty Germany in 1933, going first to Paris and then to the United States in 1937. Foss of Boston University in 1991, which would become the longest-running post of a graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute in 1942, where he studied piano teaching career that also included stops at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, and the with Isabelle Vengerova, composition with Rosario Scalero and Randall Thompson, Manhattan School of Music. In 2000, his contributions to American music were and conducting with Fritz Reiner. His training was supplemented by summers at honored by the Gold Medal for Music from the American Academy of Arts and the Berkshire Music Center under Serge Koussevitzky and by composition lessons Letters, to which he had been elected a member in 1962. He remained a practicing with Paul Hindemith at Yale. Foss’s first major composition, the 1944 cantata The musician into his eighties, writing several new works, conducting, and continuing Prairie, won the New York Music Critics Circle Award. Foss was the pianist of the to teach. After struggling with Parkinson’s disease in his final years, Foss died in Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1944 to 1950 before securing a fellowship at the New York on February 1, 2009 at the age of 86. With a number of recent live and American Academy in Rome for 1950-51, where he wrote his Piano Concerto no. recorded performances of his works, the last several years have shown that the music 2. Succeeding Arnold Schoenberg as Professor of Composition at UCLA in 1953, he created by his unique approach to composition is likely to endure. founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble there in 1957. Foss’s Time Cycle for soprano and orchestra (1959-60), which featured improvised interludes, earned him another New York Music Critics Circle Award. The Music Foss was appointed music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1963, and the Twentieth century music is characterized by an extraordinary degree of diversity, a same year he established the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY diversity that was largely facilitated by technological innovation. New inventions such Buffalo, which became an important venue for the creation and performance of as phonograph recordings and radio provided access to an amount of music that was new music. Composers whose works were performed at the Center during Foss’s never before available, and the invention of electronic instruments created an entirely tenure included Henry Cowell, George Crumb, La Monte Young, and Luciano new palette of sounds. With more and more music competing for the public’s attention, Berio. After leaving Buffalo in 1970, Foss became music director of the Brooklyn composers were forced to respond by creating music that was novel in some obvious Philharmonic (1971-90), the Kol Israel Orchestra in Jerusalem (1972-76), and way, which led to unprecedented experimentation, new compositional techniques, the Milwaukee Symphony (1981-86). His conducting career was characterized by and fusion of musical styles. Even by the standards of the twentieth century, the original approaches to programming, such as the Meet the Moderns series of new music of Lukas Foss stands out for its variety. music performances and discussions with composers and the “marathon” concerts with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Among his important works of the 1960s and The German-born Foss, who arrived in the United States in 1937 at age 15, paradoxically 1970s are Baroque Variations, Curriculum Vitae, and American Cantata. began his compositional career as an Americanist with Copland-influenced works such

Foss_1644_book.indd 3-4 8/22/16 5:06 PM as Symphony no. 1 and The Prairie (both 1944), the latter based on a poem by Carl F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on February 17, Sandburg. This early experience with cultural and artistic adaptation set the stage for 1987. The Tibetan word “tashi” can be translated as “good fortune.” Foss described Foss’s later absorption of a number of progressive compositional techniques, such as the compositional process for this work as both difficult and time-consuming: “I sat atonality, controlled improvisation, free forms, and indeterminacy. Some of the most there morning, noon, and night. My son said, ‘Dad, you’re just glued to that seat. I’ve important works of this era are Time Cycle (1959-60), Baroque Variations (1967), never seen you so single-minded.’ Well, what did I come up with after four months of and, included on this recording, Echoi (1961-63). With his compositions of the this ordeal? A seventeen-minute piece called Tashi. Seventeen minutes. I mean, the mid-1970s and beyond, Foss sought to reconcile the progressive and traditional amount of time and effort that goes into a piece of music is incredible.” aspects of his musical personality (the composer described his late work as an “amalgamation” of the middle period’s “wild, experimental style” with his earlier The first movement of Tashi, Lento, opens with a simple figure of harmonics and period). American Cantata (1976) was the first work of a later career distinguished pizzicato in the strings and a piano technique in which notes are played by one hand by compositions such as Renaissance Concerto (1985), Elegy for Anne Frank (1989), while the involved piano strings are muted with the other hand. This figure alternates and, featured on this CD, Tashi (1986) and Solo Observed (1982). with wide-ranging and rhythmically ambiguous clarinet lines, all of which serve to set up a beautiful whole-tone melody introduced by the violin. Frequent pauses create The New York New Music Ensemble’s Pieces of Genius by Lukas Foss presents three the impression of a sequence of related but quasi-independent sound events rather of Foss’s best chamber works in reverse chronological order of composition. The than traditional formal development. The overall effect of the movement communi- recording opens with the most recent work, Tashi, working its way backwards through cates a strong Eastern flavor, facilitated by its timbre, melodic material, and formal Solo Observed and concluding with Echoi. This presentation allows listeners to enjoy structure. An orchestrated version of Tashi, retitled Clarinet Concerto no. 2, would a musical narrative that begins at the end, with a work that represents the culmina- later be commissioned and premiered at Japan’s Suntory Hall on December 2, 1988 tion of more than forty years of compositional inquiry. The significance of Tashi’s during the artistic directorship of Toru Takemitsu. Listeners can easily hear why Foss assimilation of stylistic elements is then understood retrospectively through the thought this work, with the exotic yet accessible music of its first movement, was other two works, each more strongly associated with forward-looking compositional appropriate for the occasion. techniques than the last. The serialism and minimalism of Solo Observed provide an aesthetic bridge to the “wild experimentalism” of Echoi. Foss himself, who as a The interior movements of Tashi build on the work’s colorful opening. The second conductor was known for his innovative programming, would undoubtedly have movement, Allegro, is strongly reminiscent of a minuet and trio form, but with enough appreciated this approach to the recording of his music. departures from that standard framework to keep the listener guessing. The first section features rapid clarinet passagework, performed over a syncopated accompa- Tashi, a four-movement work for B-flat clarinet, piano, and string quartet, was com- niment in the context of frequent changes of time signature. The “trio” section, aside missioned by Carnegie Hall, the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts, and the Abe from occasional bursts in the piano, is played by the strings alone. The interest here Fortas Memorial Fund. Written for the Tashi chamber music ensemble, the world is centered on an inventive harmonic progression and effective spacing of the heavily premiere was performed by members of the group with Foss on piano at the John chordal texture. The main clarinet theme then returns, but is interrupted by a piano

Foss_1644_book.indd 5-6 8/22/16 5:06 PM interlude, representing an effective amount of textural, timbral, and structural variety In 1981, Foss composed Solo, his first work for solo piano in nearly three decades within the movement as a whole. (which is somewhat surprising given his career as a concert pianist). Foss would subsequently add various combinations of instruments to create three other versions Tashi’s third movement is divided into two contrasting segments, entitled “Free” and of the work: Toccata: Solo Transformed (for solo piano and large chamber orchestra), “Lento.” The first of these sections resembles a cadenza for the clarinet. Interpolated Solo Observed (for solo piano and small chamber orchestra), and included here, Solo between virtuoso clarinet lines, however, is material that recalls the very beginning of Observed (for solo piano and three accompanying instruments, on this recording the work, but this time with unsynchronized entrances and unspecified repetitions of cello, electric organ, and percussion). The first performance of Solo Observed was at note patterns in the piano and strings. Foss has effectively combined one of the most the New World Festival of the Arts in Miami on June 7, 1982, with Foss playing the traditional elements of a concerto-like work with aspects of indeterminacy, which is piano part. Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall was the site of the New York premiere on among the most avant-garde of compositional techniques. The subsequent Lento May 1, 1983, again with the composer at the piano. section provides an eerie and ominous counterweight to the “free” music, cultivated by glissandos in the strings and dissonant chords in the piano. Solo Observed represents Foss’s attempt to put his own stamp on minimalism, serialism, and stylistic fusion all in one work. “It is a piece that violates all the rules,” The energetic Allegro commodo brings Tashi to a close. This movement is built from he said in 1988. “You’re not supposed to change styles. Well, this one changes styles two main musical themes that share the same rhythm and many of the same melodic ruthlessly. It starts twelve-tone, and ends up pop.” Minimalism is named by the features, but are nonetheless each of distinct character. The first theme’s wide composer as one of the aesthetic influences of the work, but with more variety than melodic skips are contrasted with the second theme’s repeated notes, and both ideas is typical of that label: “You’re not supposed to develop in minimal music, you’re sup- flirt with Classical Period aesthetics without truly committing to them. The latter idea posed to repeat. But I thought, well, life isn’t like that.” Foss also hints at an original in particular will remind listeners of Mozart, but the effect is more a distortion of the approach to serial composition “that is totally different from any accepted technique.” eighteenth century than a quotation (this is a technique that Foss used several times, The title Solo Observed is a deliberately literal description of musical events, where most famously in Baroque Variations). Variety in the Allegro commodo is facilitated the other instrumentalists “observe” the pianist performing alone for the work’s first by presenting the two main themes at several different degrees of tonal stability, ten minutes before joining in. which creates a dramatic sense of forward motion. The finale concludes with a Lento section that quotes from earlier movements. The opening Lento’s whole-tone melody, While conceding the influences of minimalism on this work many times, Foss claimed which has actually made several previous appearances disguised in the accompani- in the notes for the published score that Solo Observed was not, strictly speaking, ment, moves to the forefront of the musical texture, followed immediately by allusions a minimalist piece. Listening to the solo piano portion of the work will help listeners to the Lento section of the third movement with string glissandos. The music then understand the apparent contradiction. Most minimalist compositions are strongly gradually decrescendos until it disappears into inaudibility, unifying the work by tonal, which many consider essential to the hypnotic effect of the style. Solo Observed recalling the soft dynamics of its opening measures. begins with a strict tone row that deliberately avoids defining any key, and easily digestible “tunes” are also absent from this section of the work. The piece does,

Foss_1644_book.indd 7-8 8/22/16 5:06 PM however, give the impression of minimalism’s incessant repetition with its almost in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war uninterrupted eighth-note rhythm, and the lack of a tonal center makes the changing the following year). ideas more difficult to detect. The piano writing therefore steers listeners toward areas of interest other than melody and harmony, such as exploitation of the keyboard’s The work’s title, suggested by a friend, ostensibly refers to the “Arabian” modes, range, shifting melodic peaks that create sub-rhythms within the basic eighth-note but Foss later admitted that this is mostly an erudite affectation (he did also assert framework, and use of dissonant tone clusters for percussive effect. the continuity between the plural form of the word “echo” and the aesthetics of the piece). The composer genuinely suffered to produce this work, enduring a lengthy It is interesting that Foss chose to use the general term “pop” when referring to the and difficult period of composition that forced him to seek medical treatment for end of Solo Observed, avoiding more specific stylistic descriptors. In the final section blurred vision and other suspected maladies. “Lukas, it looks like your last will,” of the piece, the primary musical themes are taken up by the accompanying instru- remarked Leonard Bernstein upon seeing the completed score. Echoi is considered ments. Foss’s conception held that this culminating aesthetic change was inevitable: Foss’s first fully experimental piece, and he claimed that its compositional process “These three other instruments that are watching, observing, and then suddenly they provided him with all of the necessary musical vocabulary for his subsequent can’t help but play along, and that’s when it moves into that other realm.” The music progressive compositions of the 1960s. for the full ensemble is far more melodically accessible than the ideas that appear in the solo piano section, which to some extent justifies Foss’s references to pop music. Echoi I is built around atonal melodic figures that explicitly avoid rhythmic coordination The last minute of the work in particular will suggest jazz or blues to many listeners, between the instruments, except where occasionally indicated with dotted vertical but without truly settling in either of those styles. Foss was generally fond of quirky lines in the score. Foss published a collection of work notes in the journal Perspectives endings to his pieces, and Solo Observed, which concludes with a “reminiscence” of New Music in 1964, describing Echoi I as “four simultaneous cadenzas.” The of the work’s first measure “as if a wound-up piano plays on although the pianist has rhythmic freedom of this structure allows each player to display his or her virtuosity stopped,” is no exception. while contributing to a richly varied and spontaneous musical texture. Echoi II, conversely, is “completely composed” music that follows the “not-yet music of Echoi, a four-movement composition for clarinet, cello, piano, percussion, and tape Echoi I” with “symmetry, clarity, and order on the heels of anarchy.” An atonal recorder, took Foss three years to write. A recipient of the New York Music Critics section for solo piano begins this movement, and the texture gradually thickens Circle Citation, Echoi was first performed at Columbia University’s McMillin Theater with subsequent passages for clarinet and percussion and then clarinet, cello, on November 11, 1963. According to the composer, the piece requires “four virtuoso and percussion before concluding with music for the full ensemble. Symmetry is performers,” and it is especially challenging for the percussionist, whose part uses consistent with the concept of the echo, realized in this movement with imitative more than twenty instruments (including glass chimes, bongos, and a garbage can figures that follow each other “like a shadow.” lid) in addition to tape recorder duties. Though Echoi was never given any overt politi- cal meaning by the composer, this dark and dissonant work captures the angst of a With its randomized approach to rhythmic coordination, Echoi I deals with the issue tumultuous era in international affairs (construction of the Berlin Wall was completed of time in the literal sense. In Echoi III, Foss also provides metaphorical commentary

Foss_1644_book.indd 9-10 8/22/16 5:06 PM on the time concept through the use of distinct levels of audibility to represent different eras. The composer described an aesthetic arrangement in which “foreground” music The Performers represents the present, while the “background” music denotes the past. Foss referred to a “children’s tune” in this movement, performed by the vibraphone, which is also Since its inception in 1976, The New York New Music Ensemble (NYNME) has related to the past. Echoi IV features a section with a quasi-improvised structure. At this commissioned, performed, recorded, taught, and fiercely advocated for the music of point in the piece, the percussionist randomly chooses moments to strike an anvil, our time, achieving international acclaim in its endeavors. Described as “pulsating which signals the other players to proceed to an interpolated passage, which is then with life and timbral excitement” (Los Angeles Times), the ensemble is widely admired randomly ended by another anvil stroke. This procedure is undertaken a total of by both composers and audiences seeking thoughtful and passionate performances. six times. In the final segment of the piece, the live players are accompanied by NYNME is credited with codifying the classic new-music sextet, also referred to as tape-recorded passages of music. “Pierrot Plus Percussion,” and is known for “…champion[ing] the more rigorous end of the contemporary repertory” (NY Times). NYNME has been recognized The three chamber works included on this recording provide an effective overview of and supported by many significant American foundations, including the Jerome Foss’s eclectic compositional style and insight into his aesthetic and expressive moti- Foundation, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable vation. As a German immigrant to the United States; a multi-faceted professional with Trust, the Mellon Foundation, and the Koussevitzky Foundation, as well as the NEA strong interests in composition, performance, and teaching; and a composer who and the New York State Council for the Arts. The ensemble’s musical interests span was simultaneously a modernist and a traditionalist, Foss was a musician whose life the 20th and 21st centuries, classics of the modern repertoire as well as emerging and career were steeped in opposing forces. Reconciliation of the often contradictory composers, and music involving extended instrumental and electronic techniques, components of his artistic personality produced music that continues to edify listeners theater, interactive and live electronics, and graphics. while commenting (in both subtle and more obvious ways) on many aspects of the twentieth century world. As historical documents, Foss’s compositions utilize several Over the years, NYNME has amassed a substantial discography of important chamber of the most important twentieth century compositional techniques while avoiding works (over 25 recordings) that includes Arnold Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” dogmatic adherence to any of them. Foss’s legacy as a musician is both representative (GM Recordings: GM2030CD), Music of Arthur Kreiger (Albany Records: TROY609), of and in tune with the diverse artistic spirit of his era. Music of Wayne Peterson (Koch International: 37498-2HI), and Music of Carter, Davies, —Lars Helgert and Druckman (GM Recordings: GM2047CD). To date, the ensemble has also commissioned and premiered over 130 new works by some of the most distinguished American composers. Significant works commissioned and premiered by the ensemble include John Cage’s “Music for Six,” Joseph Schwantner’s “Music of Amber,” Milton Babbitt’s “Playing for Time,” Charles Wuorinen’s “New York Notes,” and Mario Davidovsky’s “Flashbacks.”

Foss_1644_book.indd 11-12 8/22/16 5:06 PM NYNME has made appearances at major music festivals such as the Ravinia Festival, been featured at numerous festivals, including the MATA Festival, Borealis Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, June in Buffalo, the Pacific Rim Festival, and Electronic Music Midwest, the Frequency Festival, and the 92nd St. Y’s Fridays the Thailand International Composition Festival (TICF). They have held numerous @ Noon. He is a frequent collaborator with Ensemble Pamplemousse, The Actors residencies at universities across the United States, including Rice University, Emory Company Theater (TACT), Random Access Music (RAM), Corky Has a Band, and University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brandeis University, University of the Story Pirates and also serves as the music director of the Congregational Church Pittsburgh, California State University at Long Beach, and the Institute for Advanced of Huntington. Study. The ensemble’s activities also include tours in Europe, Asia, and South America. Lois Martin began viola studies with Arthur Lewis at the Peabody Preparatory School. The ensemble’s current members are flutist Emi Ferguson, clarinetist Jean Kopperud, She served as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic during her undergraduate violinist Linda Quan, cellist Chris Finckel, pianist Stephen Gosling, and percussionist studies at the Eastman School of Music, as a scholarship student of Francis Tursi. Daniel Druckman. Her graduate work at the Juilliard School included studies with Lillian Fuchs.

Lois is a founding member of the Atlantic String Quartet, dedicated to the performance of new music. She also has performed with the Group for Contemporary Music, the Guest Artists League/ISCM Chamber Players, Ensemble Sospeso, Ensemble 21, New York New David Broome has a playful taste for all genres of music. An imaginative and versatile Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, Da Capo Chamber Players, and Steve Reich and pianist and composer, his music seeks to investigate both sound and performance Musicians. Lois has recorded works by over 50 contemporary composers, including with humor and wide-eyed curiosity. As a skilled interpreter of new music, David is Charles Wuorinen’s Viola Variations, which she commissioned and premiered in New dedicated to presenting music that is quirky and original. He takes pleasure in finding York in 2008. familiar moments within unfamiliar material. In the way that one might see faces in a cloud, he seeks to discern unintended and cogent relationships from the abstract. Equally active on the jazz and popular circuit, she has performed with artists including During a career that has taken him across America, Australia, and Europe (includ- Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Ornette Coleman, String Fever, Shirley Bassey, Elton ing Russia), David has been acclaimed as a “deft and focused performer” (New John, Paul Simon, Tyne Daley, Gil Goldstein, Don Alias, Richard Bona, and Mike York Times) and “soaked with unbelievable talent” (AU Review). Critics have saluted Mainieri. Current highlights include an upcoming USA tour with Grammy Award his “juicily atmospheric music” (New York Times) and his “high-smarts goofiness” winner Esperanza Spalding and three jazz recordings: Imaginary Cities with the Chris (TheaterScene.net). Potter Underground Orchestra, Ryan Truesdell’s acclaimed Gil Evans Project Lines of Color, and saxophonist Angela Davis’ Lady Luck. David’s discography includes recorded works by Paul Simon (Concord), J.G. Thirlwell (Tzadik), John Supko (New Amsterdam), Elizabeth Brown (New World), and the Lois is Principal Violist for the Stamford Symphony, Amici New York / OK Mozart members of Ensemble Pamplemousse (Carrier). Compositions of David’s have Festival and The Little Orchestra Society. A member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Foss_1644_book.indd 13-14 8/22/16 5:06 PM and the American Chamber Ensemble, she frequently appears with Mostly Mozart and the New York City Ballet. Acknowledgments

Deborah Wong graduated from the Juilliard School with both a Bachelors and Produced and engineered by Judith Sherman Masters degree under the tutelage of the renowned Dorothy Delay. Her violinistic Engineering and editing assistant: Jeanne Velonis abilities span a wide range of styles and activities: from chamber music to Tashi and Solo Observed recorded September 26-27, 2015, at the American symphonies to cutting edge contemporary. Academy of Arts and Letters, New York. (Echoi tape track recorded May 26, 2015, at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York.) Echoi recorded June 26-27, As a soloist, she has performed with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Brattleboro 2015 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, New York. Bach Festival Orchestra, the Stony Brook Symphony, the North Country Chamber Players, the Civic Orchestra of New Haven, the American Chamber Orchestra and All works published by Carl Fischer. the Greater Bridgeport Symphony. As a chamber musician, she is a member of the Atlantic String Quartet and the Hawthorne Piano Trio. A champion of new music, Ms. Wong performs in New York with such groups as the Washington Square Contemporary Music Ensemble, Speculum, ISCM, and the New York New Music Ensemble. In 2010 she was invited as a master teacher-performer to Panama to work with the students at the Orquestra Juvenil de Nata.

With her duo cello partner Adam Grabois, Ms. Wong has recorded Martinu, Kodaly, and Ravel Duos on Mr. Grabois’ own label, Reflex Editions. She has also recorded for Deustche Gramophone, Elysium and CRI and New World Records.

Ms. Wong resides in New York with her husband, Chris Finckel, cellist and co-director of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival. She joined the New York City Opera Orchestra in 2003.

Foss_1644_book.indd 15-16 8/22/16 5:06 PM Lukas Foss New York Music Ensemble Lukas Foss Tashi [17:33] 1 Lento [4:04]

2 Allegro [3:10] Pieces of Genius 3 Lento [4:03] 4 Allegro commodo [6:15] TROY1644 Jean Kopperud, clarinet | Stephen Gosling, piano Linda Quan & Deborah Wong, violin Lois Martin, viola | Christopher Finckel, cello

5 Solo Observed [14:40] Stephen Gosling, piano | Daniel Druckman, percussion Christopher Finckel, cello | David Broome, electric organ PiecesLukas Foss of Genius New York New Music Ensemble Echoi [30:05] 6 Echoi I [4:33] 7 Echoi II [4:45] 8 Echoi III (on a childhood tune) [8:37] 9 Echoi IV [12:09] Jean Kopperud, clarinet | Christopher Finckel, cello Stephen Gosling, piano | Daniel Druckman, percussion

Total Time = 62:17 TROY1644

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1644 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. Pieces of Genius 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2016 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. Lukas Foss New York Music Ensemble

Foss_1644_inlay.indd 1 8/22/16 5:07 PM