Chamber Music of David Conte SONATA for VIOLONCELLO & PIANO STRING QUARTET NO

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Chamber Music of David Conte SONATA FOR VIOLONCELLO & PIANO STRING QUARTET NO. 2 PIANO TRIO

friction quartet Miles Graber, piano | Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano Emil Miland, ’cello | Kay Stern, violin

Acknowledgments Recorded at the Caroline Hume Concert Hall; San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Recording engineers Jason O’Connell: Sonata for Violoncello and Piano Stephanie Webster: Piano Trio Zach Miley: String Quartet No. 2 Mastering: Rob Murray

David Conte’s music is published by E.C. Schirmer Music Company.

TROY1573 Sonata for Violoncello & Piano (2010) 1 I. Allegro moderato appassionato [6:48] 2 II. Passacaglia: Adagio serio [7:18] 3 III. Lied: Andante, always serenely confident & expressive [5:57] 4 IV. Gigue: Allegro giocoso [4:52]

Emil Miland, ’cello | Miles Graber, piano

String Quartet No. 2 (2010) 5 I. Molto Moderato; Allegro [12:22] 6 II. Scherzo/Chorale: Allegro scherzando [3:46] 7 III. Fugue: Adagio serio [6:46] 8 IV. Elegy: Lento assai [6:37] 9 V. Allegro energico [4:28] friction quartet Kevin Rogers, violin | Otis Harriel, violin Taija Warbelow, viola | Douglas Machiz, ’cello

Piano Trio (2011) 10 I. Allegro moderato [5:37] 11 II. Chaconne: Slow and expressive [6:55] 12 III. Rondo: Allegro [4:01] Kay Stern, violin | Emil Miland, ’cello

Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

Total Time = 75:26 TROY1573

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1573 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 © 2015 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. Chamber Music of David Conte The Composer David Conte (b. 1955) is the composer of more than 80 works published by E.C. Schirmer Music Company, including six operas, a musical, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, chamber music, organ, piano, guitar, and harp. He has received commissions from Chanticleer, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the Dayton, Oakland and Stockton Symphonies, the American Guild of Organists, Sonoma City Opera and the Gerbode Foundation. In 2007 he received the Raymond Brock commission from the American Choral Directors Association. His six operas are The Dreamers; The Gift of the Magi; Firebird Motel and America Tropical (both commissioned by San Francisco theater company Thick Description, for whom Conte has been Composer-In-Residence since 1991); Famous, based on the book Famous for 15 Minutes - My Years with Andy Warhol by Ultra Violet; and Stonewall. Conte’s operas have been produced at the Berlin International Opera, USC, University of Minnesota, Hidden Valley (Carmel California), and many other colleges, universities, and regional companies. He has composed songs for singers Barbara Bonney, Thomas Hampson and Phyllis Bryn-Julson, and his work is represented on many commercial CD recordings. His musical, The Passion of Rita St. James, was produced at the San Francisco Conservatory in 2003. David Conte co-wrote the film score for the acclaimed documentary Ballets Russes, shown at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals in 2005, and composed the music for the PBS documentary, Orozco: Man of Fire, shown on the American Masters Series in the fall of 2007. In 1982, Conte lived and worked with Aaron Copland while preparing a study of the composer’s sketches, having received a Fulbright Fellowship for study with Copland’s teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris, where he was one of her last students. He was also recipient of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Fellowship and an Aspen Music Festival Conducting Fellowship. David Conte earned his Bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University, where he studied with Wallace DePue, and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Cornell University, where he studied with Karel Husa and Steven Stucky. He is Professor of Composition and Chair of the Composition Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has taught at Cornell University, Keuka College, Colgate University and Interlochen. In 2010 he was appointed to the composition faculty of the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, and in 2011 he joined the board of the American Composers Forum. In 2014 he was named Composer in Residence with Cappella SF, a professional chorus in San Francisco. The third movement I call a Lied, as it is modeled on songs by Schubert and Schumann. The The Music movement is a quietly expressive Andante in the sunny and regal key of E-flat major, featuring a singing As a composer I have specialized in vocal music, choral music, and opera, but in recent years I have been line in the cello’s middle register, accompanied by steady eighth-note repeated chords in the piano. The turning my attention to instrumental music. Beginning in 2008 I made a conscious effort to provide musical accompaniment includes continuously rising lines in the inner voices, and the cello takes up this rising line friends and colleagues with pieces. The three works on this CD represent my longest and most ambitious in the climax of the movement. essays in instrumental forms. Quite happily and naturally, I was able to confirm in composing these pieces The fourth movement is a spirited Gigue in D major and 9/8 time built on three contrasting themes: what my long study of the works of the composers I most admire had taught me: that instrumental music the first dance-like, the second humorous, the third broadly sung and lyrical. The first theme from the first is informed by a vocal impulse. Thus, I have striven to imbue these works with both dramatic and lyrical movement is quoted in the last section of this movement, leading to a restatement of the lyrical theme and melodies, along with a respect for the kind of rhetorical narrative that is also found in my favorite composers. the dance theme. The movement concludes with a brisk and lively coda.

Sonata for Violoncello and Piano was written especially for cellist Emil Miland. As a performer, Mr. Miland has frequently appeared with many of the world’s finest singers, and his playing for me has always embodied String Quartet No. 2 was commissioned by the Ives String Quartet and composed between July 2009 and many features of vocal technique, including a special kind of portamento, and varying speeds of vibrati. To that January 2010. I wrote my First String Quartet in 1979 as my Master’s Thesis at Cornell University, and end, I fashioned in this piece long, arching melodies that are unabashedly lyrical and romantic in character. having composed a great deal of music for strings in the intervening 30 years, I was eager to return to a The first movement, marked Allegro moderato appassionato, is cast in an expansive sonata-allegro medium that I believe, next to a cappella choral music, shows a composer’s strengths and weaknesses form, and its trajectory unfolds with bold, sweeping gestures. Though firmly in D major, the entire melodic more clearly than any other. and harmonic texture of the movement is highly chromatic, giving the musical character a sense of Karel Husa was my primary composition teacher during my years at Cornell. He guided every phase heightened inflection and intensity. of the composition of my First String Quartet, and I have studied deeply and been inspired by his string The second movement is a Passagaclia in F minor built on a three-measure bass line that includes quartets. String Quartet No. 2 is dedicated to him, after 38 years of friendship. all twelve tones of the chromatic scale. The mood of the movement is predominantly solemn and serious, The first movement is at 13 minutes, the longest movement of any of my chamber music works. It begins though there is a recurring contrasting section based on a more lyrical, expressive theme. The variations Molto moderato with a very long introductory theme stated twice. In composing this theme I was thinking on the ground bass become progressively more rhythmically animated, leading to a climax featuring the of the very long first themes of the first movement of the Copland Third Symphony, and the Harris Third second melodic idea. The work ends solemnly, with the cello moving from its highest register down to come Symphony, two works that I deeply love, and that I think share deep connections. The music quite suddenly to rest on its lowest note, the open C string. breaks into an Allegro tempo, with a fast version of this introductory theme. The movement unfolds through many moods and tempos, ranging from agitated to passionately expressive, ending on a note of solemnity. The second movement, marked Allegro scherzando, is slightly quirky, and is built out of contrasting sections of a main theme with partial statements of the chorale How Brightly Shines the Morning Star by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608). (I used this chorale as the basis for the final scene of my opera Firebird Motel.) All the instruments have a turn in singing successive phrases of the chorale, culminating in a complete statement of the chorale by the first violin at the end of the movement. The third movement is a Fugue based on a subject that is a 12-tone row. Marked Adagio serio, the music The second movement is a slow and expressive Chaconne in E major, built on a three-measure has a very serious, introspective character. After all four instruments have stated the subject, the second chord progression. The violin and ‘cello sing in turn long, sustained melodies over this repeated series half of the Fugue is a nearly-exact retrograde inversion of the first half, both rhythmically and pitch-wise. of chords. Statements of this three-bar phrase are alternated with a second melodic idea, in a slightly The fourth movement is an Elegy, and is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Ruth Knestrict faster tempo. With each return of the chaconne phrase, the music becomes more and more rhythmically Smith, who died in 2009. Ruth was a gifted singer and this movement honors her memory through its animated, leading to a broad climax with massive chords in the piano and double-stops in the strings. The essentially vocal lyricism. Marked Lento assai, the Elegy is based on a single, cantabile theme first sung movement ends quietly with the opening melody stated in octaves by the strings. by the first violin, and accompanied by a chordal “walking bass” texture, thus giving the feeling of a rhythm The third movement is a driving Allegro cast as a rondo, with steady sixteenth-note runs in the section supporting a singer. strings. The piano picks up this material, leading to a somewhat jazzy second theme. The main driving The fifth movement is a spirited and energetic Allegro in 4/4 meter. This finale is designed as a sixteenth-note theme returns and is followed by a more lyrical third theme in a slightly relaxed tempo, modified rondo form with three contrasting themes. The third of these is related to the second theme of supported by pizzicato figuration. The main theme returns a third time and progresses resolutely to a the first movement and, like that melody, is consciously romantic and expressive in character. The finale climactic statement of the second theme in a broader majestic tempo. The finale concludes with a brisk concludes with brisk coda in compound meter that concludes with a flourish in all instruments. coda, ending the entire trio in the affirmative key of B major. My thanks to the Ives Quartet, which includes my San Francisco Conservatory colleagues violinist Bettina Mussumeli and violist Jodi Levitz, and Stanford University faculty violinist Susan Freier and cellist —David Conte Stephen Harrison, for the opportunity to compose this work for them. I am particularly indebted to Jodi Levitz, who gave me invaluable advice about bowing and phrasing and was a great support to me while composing this piece.

My Piano Trio was composed between January and March of 2011. The work was commissioned by the Cha Family Foundation for the International Chamber Music Festival, Shanghai Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, co-sponsors, and was premiered on May 11th, 2011 at the Shanghai Conservatory by the Shanghai Conservatory Piano Trio: Wu Shuting, violin; Chen Tian, cello; and Huang Shuo, piano. The first movement, in B minor, opens with eight rich, complex chords that outline the harmonic character of the entire movement, and establish a dark, brooding, and passionately intense mood. The first theme is characterized by dotted rhythms and broad upward leaps, supported by a turbulent piano accompaniment. This opening theme is succeeded by a contrasting theme with a more lyrical character, which in turn leads to a very expressive closing theme built over a pedal. The form unfolds, culminating in a climax featuring the dotted rhythm motive. The movement ends with a very soft but rhythmically intense “scampering” coda. Friction regularly commissions emerging and established composers to write new works for string The Performers quartet. They received a Chamber Music America grant to commission a new piano quintet from Andy Akiho to be performed with Jenny Q Chai. Other commissions include works by Kyong Mee Choi, Max Stoffregen, Ian Schankler, Stephen Feigenbaum and Ben Hjertmann.

Miles Graber received his musical training at the Juilliard School. He has performed with numerous artists, including Sarah Chang, Cho-Liang Lin, Camilla Wicks, Axel Strauss, Mimi Stillman, Judith LeClair, Frederica von Stade, Martha Aarons, and Lev Polyakin. Mr. Graber has been associated with such organizations as the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Midsummer Mozart, the Oakland-East Bay Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, Oakland Lyric Opera, Berkeley Opera, Opera San Jose, and the California Symphony. His accompanying posts include the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the San Domenico Conservatory, the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, the Summer Brass Institute, the Mondavi Young Artist Competition, and Northern California Flute Camp. He is a member of the Alcyone Ensemble, MusicAEterna, the GGR Trio, the Sor Ensemble, and the new music group Sounds New.

Friction Quartet, whose performances have been called “terribly beautiful” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “chillingly effective” (San Francisco Examiner), exists to expand the string quartet repertoire and audience for adventurous contemporary music. Since forming in 2011, Friction has given 35 world pre- miere performances and commissioned 30 works for string quartet. Friction worked with Opera Philadelphia in a performance of selections from Missy Mazzoli’s opera, Breaking the Waves and were selected as one of eleven artists featured in the SF Bay Guardian’s 2014 On the Rise issue. Cellist Emil Miland is acclaimed internationally for his performances Keisuke Nakagoshi has performed to acclaim on prestigious concert stages of new and traditional repertoire as a soloist and chamber musician. across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the He made his solo debut at 16, the same year he was selected to Hollywood Bowl, and Davies Symphony Hall, as well as in Japan and Europe. perform for the Rostropovich master classes held at the University Mr. Nakagoshi and Swiss pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann formed the piano of California at Berkeley. He is a graduate of the New England duet ZOFO in 2009 with the goal of commissioning and performing music for Conservatory of Music. He has been a member of the San Francisco four hands at one piano. Their debut recording Mind Meld was nominated for Opera Orchestra since 1988 and has collaborated frequently as a Grammy award for Best Chamber Music Performance in 2013. Mr. Nakagoshi soloist in recitals with Joyce di Donato, Susan Graham, Marilyn Horne, is Pianist-in-Residence at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and he Frederica von Stade and the late Zheng Cao and Lorraine Hunt- serves as pianist in the production team for the award-winning Opera Lieberson. In 2010 Miland was invited by von Stade to perform her Parallèle. In addition to his frequent appearances as a concerto soloist, he farewell recital at Carnegie Hall. Many composers have written and also tours as principal pianist and slide guitarist with Bugs Bunny at the dedicated new works for him including David Conte, David Carlson, Symphony. A native of Japan, Mr. Nakagoshi earned a B.M. in composition Shinji Eshima, Jake Heggie, Andrew Imbrie, Lou Harrison, Richard and an M.M. in chamber music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Hervig, James Meredith and Dwight Okamura. His recordings include having studied composition with David Conte and piano with Paul Hersh. David Carlson’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Utah Symphony for New World Records and his Sonata for Cello and Piano with David Korevaar Kay Stern is Concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. She has on MSR Classics. He appears on many of Jake Heggie’s recordings beginning with the RCA Red Seal CD, served as assistant to Dorothy DeLay at the Aspen Music Festival, assistant The Faces of Love: The Songs of Jake Heggie. He is featured in the film The Heart of a Bell, by Eric to the Juilliard Quartet at the Juilliard School, and has been a faculty member Theirmann and Aleksandra Wolska, where he performs James Meredith’s Smirti, a haunting elegy for cello, at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of hand chimes and bells with Sonos. He also performs in the 2012 documentary, Lou Harrison - A World in Music. She has taught and coached at various music festivals around the Music, by Eva Soltes. world, and has been in residence at Wellesley College and San Diego State University. She has appeared in PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, CNN’s Women Today, Minnesota Public Radio’s Garrison Keillor A Prairie Home Companion and St. Paul Sunday Morning, and WQXR-NY Robert Sherman’s Listening Room. As former first violinist and founding member of the Lark String Quartet, she performed and gave master classes throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Kay is an active chamber musician, collaborating with colleagues in numerous venues in and around the Bay Area. Kay attended the Juilliard School as a student of Dorothy DeLay. While there she received full scholarships for her Bachelor, Master’s and Doctoral degree programs. Kay Stern’s concerto and chamber music recordings can be heard on Phillips, Nonesuch, Innova, MusicMasters, Koch International and Gramma Vision.