BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 9 for Piano and

OSCAR SHUMSKY - Violin CHARLES CURTIS - Cello BARBER EARL WILD - Piano Sonata for Cello and Piano IN CONCERT 1979 TCHAIKOVSKY Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello Beethoven •Barber •Tchaikovsky OSCAR SHUMSKY, Violin • CHARLES CURTIS, Cello • EARL WILD, Piano IN CONCERT 1979

Disc I Disc II

BEETHOVEN - Sonata No. 9 for Piano and (36:25) TCHAIKOVSKY - Trio for Piano, Violin (43:23) Violin in A Major Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’ and Cello in A minor Op. 50 1 Adagio sostenuto - Presto - Adagio 13:30 1 Pezzo elegiaco (Moderato assai - Allegro giusto) 18:20 2 Andante con Variazione 14:27 2 A. Tema con Variazioni (Andante con moto) 17:53 3 Finale (Presto) 8:15 Var. I. L’istesso tempo Var. II. Più mosso Oscar Shumsky, Violinist Var. III. Allegro moderato Var. IV. L’istesso tempo Earl Wild, Pianist Var. V. L’istesso tempo Var. VI. Tempo di Valse Var. VII. Allegro moderato Var. VIII. Fuga BARBER - Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 6 (18:28) Var. IX. Andante flebile ma non tanto Var. X. Tempo di Mazurka Var. XI. Moderato 4 Allegro ma non troppo 8:16 5 Adagio - Presto - Adagio 4:14 3 B. Variazione finale e Coda 7:03 6 Allegro appassionato 5:55 (Allegro risoluto e con fuoco - Andante con moto) Charles Curtis, Cellist Oscar Shumsky, Violinist Earl Wild, Pianist Charles Curtis, Cellist • Earl Wild, Pianist Total Time 54:53 Total Time 43:23

– 2 – i (1770-1827) j Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’

Mystery surrounds most of Beethoven’s works that carry fanciful titles and the Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Opus 47 is no exception. Of his ten sonatas for the instrument only two have nicknames, and we are left wondering if this work’s popularity was a contributing factor in the per- manent affixing of the title ‘Kreutzer.’ What we do know is this: Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831) was a French violinist who first met Beethoven in 1798. However, it was another man, the mulat- to violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower (c.1780-1860), who would give the first performance with the composer at the piano on May 24, 1803 at the Auergarten Hall in Vienna. Though Beethoven was thoroughly impressed by Bridgetower, who even helped to make improvements to the violin part, there was a falling out between the two after which Beethoven dedicated the sonata to Kreutzer who, ironically, never even played the work. It was with this piece that Beethoven sealed the fate of the violin sonata as a concert work. Through his ten sonatas for the instrument, composed over a relatively short period of fifteen years between 1797 and 1812, he slowly brought the medium out of the private salon and into the per- formance hall. In the Kreutzer, Beethoven’s ninth contribution to the genre, he enlarged the role of the violin and piano to concert proportions. The piano writing is no less involved or demand- ing than a solo sonata for the instrument, and the level of the violin’s importance is no less than that of a concerto. The outer movements of the work are both marked ‘presto,’ suggesting a bril- liance not present in violin sonatas of the late eighteenth century. These movements display Beethoven’s intellectual mastery and feature dazzling virtuoso writing for both of the performers. Also not previously explored is the level of dialogue between the violin and piano that plays such an important role in this work, which is immediately evident in the first movement. The second movement is perhaps the enigma of this sonata. Both in style and content, the theme and variations seem mismatched with the sonata’s grand outer movements. There is no doubt that Beethoven fully explores the theme’s potential and, in what is the longest of the three movements, shapes the variations to a satisfying dramatic arch; however, he curiously allows the violin’s importance to diminish, as in the works of many earlier composers. The first half of the theme is played by the piano alone, and in Variation I the violin’s role is reduced to providing brief

– 3 – ‘bird-calls;’ this is the first of many moments in which he appears to be writing a piano sonata with obbliga- to violin. Variation II, while possessing a charming quality and simplistic beauty, seems more like a tech- nique exercise than a mature development of the theme, and in the minor mode Variation III the vio- lin seems only to add color to the piano harmonies. Variation IV shows the violin engaging in brief dia- logue with the piano despite much trill and pizzica- to figurations; the remainder of this final variation continues on in much the same manner, and though the piano shows an evolution of the theme, the vio- lin is never truly allowed to make any significant contributions. Beethoven used all three movements of the Kreutzer to further exploit the development of his use Ludwig Van Beethoven of unconventional tonal centers. In the four measure introduction, the unsupported violin majestically establishes the work in the vibrant key of A Major; however, the first movement quickly shifts modally to the minor, and though A remains the tonal center throughout the rest of the movement, it is in the minor - not the major - that the movement is destined to end. As if adding to the con- fusion, Beethoven then chose to keep the second theme group in E Major, a peculiarity if we are in minor mode as the second theme group is traditionally in the relative major key. Beethoven favored third relationships in his music and let these harmonic relationships dictate his musical structures. Such is the case of his choice of F Major for the theme and variations of the second movement. This kind of tampering with the tonal structure was common in Beethoven’s musical output dur- ing this period, and he slowly but consistently pushed the audience - and other composers - toward the acceptance of such practices. In later works he would progress even farther, using third rela- tionships within individual movements, such as in the Waldstein Piano Sonata, Op. 53 where one can find more than a few similarities with the Kreutzer. The Waldstein Sonata was composed only a year later. The first movement of the work, in C

– 4 – Major, has a second theme group in E Major. The bare triadic texture of this theme is very simi- lar to that of the Kreutzer’s second theme, also in E. Beethoven also originally intended to compose a Rondo for the slow movement of the Waldstein that was very similar in style to the Variations of the Kreutzer, but would eventually discard the idea in favor of the more appropriate half slow-move- ment, half introduction-to-the-finale that was composed for the piano sonata’s premiere. One may even say that Beethoven was moving toward a sense of the progressive tonality that we see in the works of later composers, starting with Schubert who would compose some of the first works to begin in a major key only to end in the minor mode, through Mahler’s progressive tonality over the course of an entire symphonic work. The Kreutzer Sonata, in its daring virtuosity and formal experimentation, points the way toward many of Beethoven’s own subsequent masterpieces, as well as those of later Austro-German composers. i SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981) j Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6

On October 1, 1924 the Curtis Institute of Music in , Pennsylvania opened its doors to students for the first time. The first to enter was Max Aronoff, a violin student who would later play in the famous Curtis String Quartet and eventually join the faculty as a professor. The second student through the doors was a lanky, fourteen-year-old high school student named Samuel Barber. The educational philosophy of the institute was stated in the school’s catalogue written my Mary Curtis Bok, daughter of a prominent publisher and founder of the school of music. She stated:

It is my aim that earnest students shall acquire a thorough musical education, not learning only to sing or play, but also the history of music, the laws of its making, languages, ear-training and music appreciation. They shall learn to think and to express their thoughts against a background of quiet culture, with the stimulus of contact with artist- teachers who represent the highest and finest in their art. The aim is for quality of the work rather than quick, showy results.

– 5 – This was the standard which would govern the nine years Barber spent in his studies at Curtis both during and after high school. He would immedi- ately engross himself in three areas of study, excelling in both piano (studying with Isabelle Vengerova from 1926-31) and voice (with Emilio de Gogorza from 1926-30), but perhaps most importantly in his study of composition with Rosario Scalero (from 1925-34). Among many other things, Barber would learn to take advantage of the aid offered by his fellow students to familiar- ize himself with the idioms and possible uses of the various instruments, a practice he would not aban- don throughout his career. It was in this manner that he became friends with Orlando Cole, a young cello student at Curtis. When asked of his initial Samuel Barber impressions of Barber, Cole recalls: He was born in West Chester, PA., a town near Philadelphia, and he came to Curtis when the school first opened in 1924; he was four- teen and I was sixteen. We were in classes together and we became friends later when he was writing his Cello Sonata (Op. 6), Dover Beach (Op. 3), the Serenade for String Quartet (Op. 1), and other works; I was a member of the Curtis Quartet and we were helpful in playing his music. He majored in composition, of course, but he was also a fine pianist. He was a beautiful singer as well; our quartet recorded his Dover Beach for baritone and string quartet with him in 1935 for RCA Red Seal. It’s still available today on many labels. Barber had previously writ- ten a violin sonata during his Curtis days; it was performed at the school, won a prize, and then Barber destroyed the music. He was very demanding of himself. We had a lot of fun together, we gave many concerts in Italy; I had – 6 – almost daily contact with him, and a little later on with his lifelong friend Gian Carlo Menotti. I visited in 1936 when he was on the American Academy’s Prix de Rome scholarship where he had begun writing a string quartet for us. Later he sent me a let- ter to say that he had finished the slow movement and that “it’s a knock-out,” and he underlined ‘knock-out.’

Work on Barber’s Cello Sonata began in the summer of 1932 during a visit to Italy with Menotti. Two weeks after arriving at the Menotti family villa Barber had completed the first movement of the Sonata and had begun composing the Presto in the second movement. He wrote to his parents saying that he was proud that he had written it with- out the aid of a piano, and that it would soon Charles Curtis and Oscar Shumsky behind be played for him by the principle cellist of the stage at Wolf Trap, 1979 the La Scala Orchestra. Upon his return to school in the fall, he showed the work-in-progress to Orlando Cole, and as Barber continued working on the sonata the two students would meet weekly to look over the newly composed sections. Cole describes the collaboration: I had only a minor influence on the Cello Sonata. At the time, Barber was twenty-two and still a student; in those days, we stayed at Curtis as long as the teachers wanted to keep us.

– 7 – While he was writing the Sonata I would play through the pages as they were completed and I was also free to make any suggestions. He wrote on my printed copy: to Orlando - physician at the birth of this Sonata in appreciation of his help and interest Samuel Barber New York seven years late. Sam made all kinds of changes to the Cello Sonata; the original copies that I played from, many times, showed numerous corrections. We didn’t have tape in those days so the corrections were glued and pinned on, scratched out, and so forth. While the work shows strong influences of the music of Brahms, notably the cello sonatas which Barber had great admiration for, Barber’s Sonata also displays many contemporary features despite this Romantic tone. Complex rhythms, rapid shifts between duple and triple meter, and a unique balance of key relationships help to affix the work in the twentieth-century and conflicting rhythms between the piano and cello in the presto section of the second movement present techni- cal challenges at an unforgiving tempo. The Sonata is cast in the standard three-movement form and shows an amazing combination of contemporary sparkle and creativity with long, warm tonal melodies that mark so many of Barber’s works. Barber completed the Sonata on December 9, 1932; less than a month would pass before he and Orlando Cole would unofficially premiere the work. Cole remembers the experience, saying:

We rehearsed the piece, but we’d been playing parts of it as it was being written so it wasn’t any great chore to put it all together. We gave the first official performance on March 5, 1933 in New York at a League of Composers concert and it was very well received; later we played it in broadcasts along with his String Quartet. This lead to its publication and I think he also won some prizes for the piece in school. Today I believe it’s one of the most frequently performed of his compositions, except for the Adagio for Strings which I find is really overplayed.

– 8 – Mary Curtis Bok had taken a special interest in the career of one of the finest students at her school, and in 1934 she introduced Barber and Menotti to Carl Engel at G. Schirmer, Inc., which later became the exclusive publisher of Barber’s music. After the Cello Sonata began to enjoy a cer- tain degree of fame it was brought to Engel, who by 1935 had already published three of Barber’s songs; the production costs for the Cello Sonata were provided, possibly without Barber’s knowl- edge, by Mary Curtis Bok. Officially, Barber dedicated the Cello Sonata to his teacher Rosario Scalero, this being the last composition completed under his guidance at Curtis. Samuel Osmond Barber II died on January 23, 1981 in New York after suffering a stroke.

i PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) j Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50

In October 1880, Nadezhda von Meck took a sudden, new interest in works composed for piano trio. The wealthy widow of a railway engineer named Karl von Meck, Nadezhda requested that three musicians in her service form a piano trio to satisfy her daily cravings for works in the genre; and thus it would be that the Polish violinist Wladislaw Pachulski, the cellist Peter Danilchenko and the young French pianist Claude Debussy (who was at the time busy with the composition of his own piano trio) found themselves per- forming these works for her. Nadezhda von Meck was also a patroness to, and correspondent with, Tchaikovsky to whom she eagerly wrote a letter enquiring, “Peter Ilyich, why have you not writ- Tchaikovsky ten a single trio?” Tchaikovsky’s reaction to her new fascination was, most likely, an unsuspected one. He wrote back saying, “How unnatural is the union of three such individualities as the pianoforte, the violin and the violoncello! Each loses something of value. A trio implies equality and relationship, but do these exist between stringed solo instruments and the piano? They do not; and this is the reason why there is always something artificial about a pianoforte trio. I do not care

– 9 – for the trio as a form, there- fore I shall never produce anything sincerely inspired through the medium of this combination of sounds.” Previously in 1866, the celebrated conductor and pianist Nikolai Rubinstein had been appointed as the first director of the Moscow Conservatory and he in turn offered Tchaikovsky a posi- tion there as a professor of harmony. Rubinstein was an extraordinary teacher, and his directorship at the conserva- tory allowed him the oppor- tunity to lay the foundations for the Russian school of piano playing. He was also Oscar Shumsky, Earl Wild and Charles Curtis performing Tchaikovsky’s most ardent the Tchaikovsky Trio on stage at Wolf Trap, July 15, 1979 supporter and was responsi- ble for the premiere of many of his protégé’s new compositions. However, no matter how much the two men respected one another, their relationship could never develop into a real friendship. A depressed social outcast, Tchaikovsky must have found Rubinstein’s demanding character and his excessively sociable lifestyle very foreign. After his estrangement in 1875 with Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky wrote, “As an artist, I have always held Nikolai Rubinstein in the very highest regard, but (especially of late) have felt no inner allegiance to him as a person.” In late 1881, Tchaikovsky wrote again to Nadezhda von Meck, surprisingly informing her that he had just begun the composition of a new work - for piano trio. This was a rather unex- pected change of heart considering his opinions of the genre. He explained his newfound motiva-

– 10 – tion by saying, “I hope you will believe me when I say that the only reason for reconciling myself to the combination of piano and strings was the hope of giving you pleasure by this work.” However, this was not the only reason for his sudden inspiration, nor was it even the principle one. On March 23, 1881, Nikolai Rubinstein had died. He was only 45 years of age. Tchaikovsky was devastated, and resolved to compose a work in memory of the man who had played such an important role in his professional life. Choosing to compose a piano trio allowed Tchaikovsky to create a work that would suit Oscar Shumsky, Earl Wild and 19-year-old Nadezhda von Meck and could Charles Curtis backstage at Wolf Trap also contain an engrossing piano part that would stand as a tribute to Rubinstein’s outstanding piano skills. Tchaikovsky began com- posing the work in December of 1881 and worked briskly, completing it on February 9, 1882. Pianist Sergey Taneyev, violinist Ivan Hrimaly and cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen gave the work its first private hearing at the Conservatory in Moscow on March 2, 1882 on the occasion of the first anniversary of Rubinstein’s death; later that year, Tchaikovsky thoroughly revised the work and it was published by Jurgenson in a deluxe edition. Dedicated ‘To the memory of a great artist,’ the Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 received its public premiere on October 30 of the same year at the opening concert of the Moscow Russian Musical Society. Did Tchaikovsky, in the composition of his piano trio, betray the strong beliefs he commu- nicated to Nadezhda von Meck regarding the genre? The short answer is no. He further addressed

– 11 – his concerns to her by saying that “the piano should only be employed in three cases: as a solo instrument; opposed to the orchestra; or for accompaniment, as the background to a picture.” If the violin and cello fulfill the role of the orchestra in the trio, then the writing for the piano close- ly follows the guidelines and options Tchaikovsky had set for it. The historical model Tchaikovsky used for this work was Beethoven’s final Piano Sonata (Op. 111), therefore the Piano Trio is set in two lengthy movements with a theme and variations as the second half. The opening melancholy theme is stated by the cello before the formally ambiguous first movement (entitled Pezzo elegiaco, or ‘Elegiac piece’) continues. The role of this movement is not immediately evident to be a memorial; however, the initial theme is an expression of grief which functions as the ‘thematic glue’ that binds the work as a whole. Tchaikovsky will go on to present three more distinct themes, each one a testament to his melodic gifts, before subjecting them to a series of transformations. Just as one can be sure that the very prominent, and technically demanding, piano writing of the first movement is testament to Rubinstein’s capabilities as a pianist; the folk like melody used as the theme in the second movement recognizes his love of folk music. Through eleven variations, Tchaikovsky will fully develop the emotional and musical potential of the theme. Some have attributed each variation to some unspecified event or aspect of Rubinstein’s life, something that is easy to do after witnessing the kaleidoscope of treatments the theme undertakes. Though a few variations have a sadness about them, some of the more outstanding character variations include a scherzo (Var. III), the sounds of a music box (Var. V), a waltz (Var. VI), a fugue (Var. VIII), and a mazurka (Var. X). When critics questioned Tchaikovsky as to whether or not each variation was a representa- tion of various parts of Rubinstein’s life, he wittily replied, “How amusing! To compose music with- out the slightest desire to represent something, and suddenly to discover that it represents this or that, it is what Molière’s Bourgeois Gentilhomme must have felt when he learned that he had been speaking in prose all of his life.” Following the eleventh variation, Tchaikovsky presents a vast Variazione finale e Coda in full sonata form. The music moves majestically and fatefully towards a glorious return of the opening theme from the first movement. Played fortississimo, it is now the most powerful grief being expressed in the most public manner just before the overwhelming emotion collapses inwards. All that remains is a lingering funeral march which will finally succumb to the silence.

– 12 – i OSCAR SHUMSKY (1917-2000) j

Oscar Shumsky represents a direct link to the ‘Golden Age’ of violin playing. Born of Russian parents in Philadelphia on March 23rd 1917, he is widely acknowledged today as one of the great- est violinists of his time. A startling prodigy of the violin, having begun instruction on the instru- ment at the age of three, his first public recital was given at age five. He made his much-heralded orchestral debut in 1924 at the age of seven, with the conducted by in a performance of the Mozart Concerto No. 5 in A Major ‘The Turkish’. This concert introduced the phenomenal young violinist to the public at large in a most extraordinary way. Stokowski called Oscar Shumsky, “the most astounding genius I have ever heard.” Following that monumental occasion he was immediately offered many concerts and appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Orchestra playing Boccherini, Mendelssohn E minor, Mendelssohn D minor and the Julius Conus E minor Concerto. During this time Oscar was introduced to who took a personal interest in him. The eight-year-old prodigy astonished Kreisler by attending only two his performances of the Beethoven Concerto and memorizing all the Kreisler , which were still unpublished at the time. Following that encounter Kreisler, who played the piano quite well, accompanied Shumsky in four of his own pieces at a New York gathering of musicians. In 1925, at the age of eight, he began private studies with the legendary Russian violinist , who also taught Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman and . Mr. Shumsky was the youngest prodigy ever accepted by this master teacher. In 1928 he entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and upon the death of Auer in 1930, he was accepted into the class of Efrem Zimbalist. In 1932, while only fifteen years old Mr. Shumsky performed the Brahms and Elgar Violin Concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra on tour. He remained at Curtis until 1936 and then continued private studies with Zimbalist until 1938. In 1938, at the age of 22, he audi- tioned for and was invited to join the newly-formed NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Toscanini. While at NBC, Shumsky teamed up with fellow orches- tra members to form the Primrose String Quartet (Oscar Shumsky, first violin; Josef Gingold, sec- ond violin; William Primrose, viola and Harvey Shapiro, cello). Along with his many radio broad- casts throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s on New York stations WNBC, WOR, WQXR, WNYC and WABC, he built his career as a major soloist with appearances with most of the leading orchestras

– 13 – in the . A Shumsky concert or broadcast was always a special event that was not to be missed. Between 1938 and 1942 on the NBC radio network, Shumsky along with pianist Earl Wild performed vir- tually the entire repertoire for violin and piano. Oscar Shumsky combined an awesome virtuosity with the most refined artistry that ensured a special dignity to all his musical pursuits. His purity of style, beau- tiful tone and elegance of execution gained him the highest respect from his colleagues and critics alike. called Oscar Shumsky, “one of the world’s greatest violinists.” Other accolades included: “A violinist of superb equipment, and also a master musician;” “He may be ranked cer- tainly among the few great violinists of our time;” “Shumsky is flawless on both viola and violin;” “Oscar Shumsky immediately captured the audience with his magnificent achievements of virtuosity and artistry;” Violinist Leopold Auer with eight-year-old Shumsky is undoubtedly a virtuoso of the Oscar Shumsky highest class;” “It is seldom that one hears that kind of infallible mastery of an instrument.” Long considered a ‘violinist’s violinist, Gramophone magazine praised his “expression and musical experience, his playing combining Central European refine- ment with American chutzpah.” “Shumsky was the last living representative of a style where the violin was played with an aristocratic elegance and beauty of sound.” Mr. Shumsky made his debut at the Stratford Festival in Canada in 1959 while serving as artist-in-residence. His appointment as conductor in Stratford lasted until 1969. At Stratford he

– 14 – appeared with and Leonard Rose in works such as Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio and Strauss Sonata for Violin and Piano. He has also conducted the Westchester Symphony, the Madison NJ. Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Mostly Mozart Orchestra. He has performed frequently as guest soloist throughout the U.S. in venues such as: the New York and San Francisco Mostly Mozart Festivals, Wolf Trap Farm Park, the Tanglewood Festival and was featured on Lincoln Center’s ‘Great Performer Series’. Oscar Shumsky was also a member of the Bach Aria Group, and toured throughout the world with this group for about 10 years. He taught at the Peabody Oscar Shumsky (c. 1990’s) Conservatory of Music in Baltimore from 1942 to 1953 (although for two of those years 1942- 1944 he was assigned to the U.S. Navy Orchestra and Band playing clarinet and violin), The in New York from 1953 to 1961, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia from 1961 to 1965, in New Haven from 1975 to 1981 and later at The Royal Conservatory in Toronto. Oscar Shumsky’s repertoire was immense. At his immediate command he had the violin con- certos of Bach, Barber, Bartok, Beethoven, Block, Brahms, Bruch, Chausson, Dvorak, Elgar, Glazounov, Goldmark, Haydn, Hindemith, Joachim, Kreisler, Lalo, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Nardini, Paganini, Prokofiev, Respighi, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Sibelius, Spohr, Frederick Stock, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps, Viotti, Vivaldi, Walton, Vaughan Williams and Wieniawski. A formida- ble list when you consider that half of the above composers wrote several works for violin and orchestra. Shumsky’s sonata repertoire was also enormous along with his unending list of smaller pieces.

– 15 – With the Primrose Quartet in the 1940’s Shumsky recorded Haydn’s Seven Last Words from the cross, Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 in E minor “From my Life,” with Jesus Maria Sanroma at the piano, the Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat Major, Op. 44 and the Brahms Quartet. In the 1950’s he recorded the Mozart Concerto No. 5, five Mozart Sonatas, the Ravel Sonata for violin and cello with Bernard Greenhouse and the Respighi Sonata for violin and piano with . Beginning in the late 1970’s Shumsky began to record many works for a variety of labels such as Nimbus Records, ASV and Music Masters which included: the complete sonatas & parti- tas for solo violin by Bach; the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart; the complete sonatas for solo violin by Eugène Ysaÿe, the complete works of Fritz Kreisler, the 21 Hungarian Dances of Brahms transcribed by Joachim, the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis, the Dohnanyi, Weiner and Grieg sonatas, the Bach Concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Viotti A minor Concerto, the Mozart Duos for Violin and Viola plus duos by Rolla, Spohr, Handel and Martin with his son violist Eric Shumsky and the Concertos No. 4 and No. 5 by Mozart. Oscar Shumsky was also an expert carpenter and cabinetmaker. He did much of the work on his house of many years in Rye, New York. The word around the local lumberyard was “that car- penter up on Rockledge Road is one hell of a fiddler!” Mr. Shumsky owned and performed on the 1715 Stradivari known as both the ‘Ex-Pierre Rode’ and the ‘Duke of Cambridge’ violin.

i EARL WILD j

Earl Wild is a pianist in the grand Romantic tradition. Considered by many to be “the last of the great Romantic pianists,” he is often heralded as a “super virtuoso.” This eminent musician is internationally recognized as one of the great virtuoso pianist/composers of all time. His leg- endary career, so distinguished and long, has continued for over 75 years. One of only a handful of living pianists to merit an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, he is there- in described as a pianist whose technique “is able to encompass even the most difficult virtuoso works with apparent ease.” He was included in the Philips Records series entitled, The Great Pianists of the 20th Century, with a double CD which included all piano transcriptions. He has been

– 16 – featured on two separate occasions in TIME magazine, the more recent one was in December 2000 honoring his eighty-fifth birthday. Born on November 26, 1915, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Earl Wild’s technical accomplishments are often likened to what those of Liszt himself must have had. Born with absolute pitch he started playing the piano at three. Having studied with great pianists such as Egon Petri, 1881-1962, his lin- eage can be traced back to Scharwenka, 1850- 1924; Busoni, 1866-1924; Ravel, 1875-1937; d’Albert, 1864-1932; and Liszt himself, 1811- 1886. Earl Wild’s career is dotted with musical legends. In 1942, he was soloist with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. Since then he has performed with virtually every major conductor and symphony orchestra in the world. Rachmaninov was a friend and an important idol in his life. It’s been said of Earl Earl Wild Wild, “He is the incarnation of Rachmaninov, Lehvinne and Rosenthal rolled into one!” In 1986 after hearing him play three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts, devoted to Liszt, honoring the centenary of that composer’s death, the New York Times critic said, “I find it impossible to believe that he played those millions of notes with 70- year-old fingers, so fresh-sounding and precise were they. Perhaps he has a worn-out set up in his attic, a la Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray.” In 1986 the People’s Republic of Hungary award- ed him the Liszt Medal in recognition of his long and devoted association with the music of Franz Liszt. He’s one of the few American pianists to have achieved international as well as domestic celebrity. He also has the singular honor of having performed at the invitation of six Presidents of

– 17 – the United States, beginning with Herbert Hoover. While serving in the U.S. Navy from 1942- 1944 he was frequently requested to accompany First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on her many speak- ing engagements, where he performed the national anthem as a prelude to her speeches. In 1939, he was the first classical pianist to give a recital on the new medium of Television. At fourteen he was performing in the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of Otto Klemperer as well as work- ing at radio station KDKA, where he played many of his own compositions. As a virtuoso pianist, composer, transcriber, conductor, editor and teacher, Mr. Wild continues in the style of the leg- endary great artists of the past. In addition to his distinguished concert career, which encompasses performances with eminent conductors such as Stokowski, Reiner, Maazel, Solti and Mitropoulos, and great artists like Callas, Tourel, Pons, Melchior, Peerce and Bumbry, Earl Wild successfully shines as both a conductor and composer. The ABC television network broadcast his Easter oratorio, Revelations, in 1962 and again in 1964 with Mr. Wild conducting. His composition, Variations on a Theme of Stephen Foster for piano and orchestra (Doo-Dah Variations), was premiered with Mr. Wild as soloist with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra in 1992 - and recorded that same year. Mr. Wild has been called “the finest transcriber of our time,” and his many piano transcrip- tions are widely known, respected and performed. Earl Wild has built an extensive repertoire over the years, which includes both the standard and modern literature. He is one of the world’s most recorded pianists, having made his first disc for RCA in 1937. Since then he has recorded hundred’s of discs on 20 different record labels and become world renown in particular for his brilliant performances of the virtuoso Romantic works. Today at 88, Mr. Wild continues to record new CDs and perform concerts throughout the world. In 1997, he won a GRAMMY® award for his CD, The Romantic Master - Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions, which included thirteen piano transcriptions (nine of his own). Praised by critics and music lovers around the world (and featured in Time Magazine), it is now available in its orig- inal HDCD state-of-the-art audiophile sound on the IVORY CLASSICS label (CD-70907). At age 79, he recorded an extremely well received disc of Beethoven piano sonatas which included the monumental Hammerklavier Sonata, as well as another CD dedicated to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov; Eighteen of his Preludes and the Second Piano Sonata. In 1998, for the initial release of the newly formed IVORY CLASSICS label, Earl Wild record- ed the complete 21 Chopin Nocturnes (CD-70701) - which the eminent critic, Harold C. Schonberg

– 18 – wrote in the American Record Guide, “These are the best version of the Nocturnes ever recorded.” Since 1998, IVORY CLASSICS has released 17 newly recorded and or re-released Earl Wild CD’s. These include: a disc for piano and orchestra entitled, Earl Wild Goes to the Movies (CD-70801), a disc entitled, Spanish and French Gems (CD-70805), an all Beethoven disc (CD-70905), a double disc entitled, The Virtuosity of Earl Wild (CD-70901), a solo piano disc devoted to Russian masters (CD-70903), an all Schumann solo piano disc (CD-71001) and a double disc devoted to the music of Franz Liszt (CD-72001). Material from the various discs came from recordings made in the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Another IVORY CLASSICS reissue is a historic Gershwin disc which features Mr. Wild’s 1945 recording of the Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman conducting - the disc also includes Mr. Wild’s legendary solo piano transcriptions (CD-70702). In March of 2000, Mr. Wild recorded a piano quintet CD devoted to the music of Schumann and Dohnanyi for IVORY CLASSICS. This world premiere recording uses a full compliment of strings using the American String Orchestra, Isaiah Jackson conductor (CD-71003). Later that year Mr. Wild recorded three 20th century piano sonatas: works by Barber, Hindemith and Stravinsky; as well as one 21st century piano sonata his own Piano Sonata 2000. It was released as an 85th Birthday Tribute (CD-71005). In July of 2001 Mr. Wild recorded a world premiere 2-CD set of 53 solo piano pieces entitled, Le Rossignol Eperdu, written in the early 20th century by the renowned French composer Reynaldo Hahn. This disc was released by IVORY CLASSICS in November 2001 (CD-72006) and was nominated for a GRAMMY® in 2002. In October of 2002 IVORY CLASSICS released a CD of Mr. Wild performing Brahms piano works (CD-72008), which included a new recording of the monumental Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5, a Ballade and some Intermezzi along with a live 1982 performance from Paris of the Paganini Variations (Books I & II). In February 2003 Ivory released an all Schumann recital of pieces recorded in concert in Montreal in 1982 (CD-73001) and in April 2003 Ivory released an all Liszt disc of pieces record- ed in concert in London in 1973, Chicago 1979 and Tokyo 1983 (CD-73002).

– 19 – i CHARLES CURTIS j

Charles Curtis studied cello at the Juilliard School under Leonard Rose and Harvey Shapiro. Before receiving his Bachelors and Masters degrees in 1985, he spent two terms reading history at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Upon graduating from Juilliard, Curtis was appointed to the faculty of Princeton University, where for four years he taught cello and chamber music and advised grad- uate composition students on matters of string per- formance and technique. In 1989 Charles Curtis was named First Solo Cellist of the Symphony Orchestra of the North German Radio (NDR) in Hamburg. In this capac- ity and as a concert soloist he has performed solo Charles Curtis, 2000 works under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, André Previn, John Eliot Gardiner, Günter Wand and Max Rudolf. He has been guest soloist with such orchestras as the San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, Orquestra de la Maggio Musicale Florence, and the orchestras of Sao Paolo, Brazil and Santiago de Chile, among many others. A recording of the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Hager was released on the German Klassik Club label. Since 2000, he has been a Professor at the University of Southern California San Diego music department. Mr. Curtis is regarded internationally as a leading voice in the performance of new music, particularly the rarely performed works of radical early minimalist composers such as La Monte Young, Richard Maxfield and Terry Jennings. The dedicatee of a major new solo work for cello and electronics by La Monte Young (the composer’s first new work in ten years), Mr. Curtis will give its première at four European new music festivals during the 2003- 04 season (Berlin, Paris, Lyon and Dijon). Mr. Curtis has already led ensemble performances of

– 20 – Young’s works at the Barbican Centre in London, the Darmstadt Festival, the Inventionen Festival in Berlin, the Cathedral of Dreams Festival in Krems, Austria, the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, the Beyond the Pink Festival in Los Angeles, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Dream House concerts in New York, with Belgium’s Ictus Ensemble at the Brugge 2002 Festival, and leading the strings of Ensemble Modern for the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt. Curtis is one of the few instrumentalists to have perfected Young’s highly complex just intonation tun- ings, and is one of only a handful of musicians to have ever appeared in duo formations with Young, performing works by early minimalists Richard Maxfield and Terry Jennings. Charles Curtis has enjoyed an extensive and distinguished chamber music career. At the age of seventeen he won first prize in the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition as cellist of the Gagliano Quartet. He also won the first Gregor Piatigorsky Prize and the Joseph Schuster Scholarship of the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles. At eighteen the Birmingham, Alabama News reported, “Charles Curtis played with the maturity of a 52-year- old. To be specific, like Rostropovich.” In 1979, at the age of nineteen he made his Carnegie Hall debut performing the Tchaikovsky Trio with two legendary musicians, violinist Oscar Shumsky and pianist Earl Wild (the performance heard on this disc). In 1980 the Washington Post said of a performance by Mr. Curtis and Mr. Wild and Wolf Trap; “It takes no great seer to predict that Charles Curtis will soon be a household name in this business. This very young cellist already plays with a commitment and maturity beyond his years, and with a distinctive, warm tone that truly lets his instrument sing.” As cellist of the Ridge Quartet from 1986 to1988 he toured Europe, Japan and North America, including an extensive tour with Rudolf Firkusny as guest pianist. Curtis’ collabora- tion with the Ridge concluded with a concert on the string quartet series at Carnegie Hall. He was twice a participant in the Marlboro Festival and toured nationally several times with Musicians from Marlboro; he has been a guest performer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Concert Soloists of Wolf Trap, the Ravinia and Victoria Festivals, and at the invitation of Shlomo Mintz, in the concert series “Shlomo Mintz et ses amis” at the Louvre in Paris. He was featured as continuo soloist on Kathleen Battle’s album “Grace” released by Sony Classical, and toured with Miss Battle and Anthony Newman performing Purcell, Dowland, Handel and Bach. The list of his chamber music collaborators includes musicians such as Bruno Canino, Christoph Eschenbach, Joseph Kalichstein, Paul Gulda, Ursula Oppens, Lillian Kallir, Jeffrey Kahane, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Spivakov, Leila Josefowicz, Jaime Laredo, Nadia Salerno- Sonnenberg, Janos Negyesi, Rolf Schulte, Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Lynn Harrell, Fred Sherry, Aurèle Nicolet and many others. – 21 – For the last fifteen years Curtis has maintained an interest and a presence in the down- town New York free music scene, performing in clubs like the Knitting Factory, the Cooler, ABC No Rio, CBGB and Acme Underground. He is an active collaborator with poetry-rock pioneers King Missile, John S. Hall and Kramer, and has been a guest of artists and groups such as Elliott Sharp, Malcolm Goldstein, Ned Rothenberg, David First, Ben Neill, Donald Miller, Dogbowl, Michael J. Schumacher, Alan Licht, Dean Roberts, Bongwater, Borbetomagus, Circle X, and with individual members of the bands Television, Pere Ubu and Public Image Limited. Curtis appeared as a guest on Herbie Hancock’s “Gershwin’s World” album for Verve Records, and has recorded and performed with saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker. A particular area of Curtis’ research is reflected in his ongoing performance seminar, Ensemble Realizations of Unconventionally Notated Scores. The performing musicians (many of them composers and technologists) in this group have realized challenging graphic, text- based, rule-based and actionist scores by composers such as Alvin Lucier (under his supervi- sion), Cornelius Cardew, Christian Wolff, La Monte Young, Walter de Maria, George Brecht, James Tenney, Michael Pisaro and Steve Reich. As an outgrowth of his intensive work with La Monte Young and his presence in the New York avant-garde rock scene, Mr. Curtis has evolved into a creative artist straddling the bound- aries between art rock, sound art and minimalist composition. For a number of years he has led the Charles Curtis Trio, presenting his sound-installation-style rock music in clubs throughout Europe and releasing four critically acclaimed albums. His large ensemble and electronics work for children, “Richard’s Trip”, was released in 2000 by Deutsche Grammophon. He has toured as soloist with his abstract sound and text pieces, performing in Paris, Den Haag, Amsterdam, Berlin and numerous American cities; and he has led larger ensembles in concerts mixing his own works and the works of avant-garde composers whom he champions (La Monte Young, Terry Jennings, Richard Maxfield, Morton Feldman). During the academic year 2001-2002 Curtis co-curated (with composer Roger Reynolds) a series of concert and film presentations entitled Time Forms, exploring the varying relation- ships, which composers and filmmakers exhibit, to the experience of time. In this context Curtis performed the Webern String Trio (with János Négyesy and Päivikki Nykter) and the 1958 Trio for Strings of La Monte Young; and Morton Feldman’s 1981 long work for cello and piano, Patterns in a Chromatic Field (with Aleck Karis). In 2004 Mr. Curtis will begin a survey of the Beethoven Sonatas and Variations for cello and piano, with UCSD’s Professor of Piano Aleck Karis. Mr. Curtis continues to oversee the programming for SONOR, UCSD’s resident faculty new music ensemble. – 22 – i CREDITS j

Tracks 1 - 3 from Disc I were recorded in concert at Carnegie Hall in , November 19, 1979 Tracks 4 - 6 from Disc I were recorded at a live radio broadcast, September 12, 1979 Tracks 1 - 3 from Disc II were also recorded in concert at Carnegie Hall, November 19, 1979 Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson Generous assistance came from the J.S. Charitable Trust and the Ivory Classics Foundation 24-Bit Remastering Liner Notes: Christopher Weiss Christopher Weiss and Ivory Classics would like to extend a special thank you to Orlando Cole for granting us an interview for this release. Photos courtesy of Michael Rolland Davis Productions Design: Samskara, Inc.

To place an order or to be included on our mailing list: Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799 [email protected] • Website: http://www.IvoryClassics.com

– 23 – Beethoven •Barber •Tchaikovsky OSCAR SHUMSKY, Violin • CHARLES CURTIS, Cello • EARL WILD, Piano IN CONCERT 1979

Disc I Disc II

BEETHOVEN - ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata (36:25) TCHAIKOVSKY - Piano Trio (43:23) 1 Adagio sostenuto - Presto - Adagio 13:30 1 Pezzo elegiaco (Moderato assai - Allegro giusto) 18:20 2 Andante con Variazione 14:27 2 A. Tema con Variazioni (Andante con moto) 17:53 3 Finale (Presto) 8:15 3 B. Variazione finale e Coda 7:03 Oscar Shumsky, Violinist (Allegro risoluto e con fuoco - Andante con moto) Earl Wild, Pianist Oscar Shumsky, Violinist Charles Curtis, Cellist BARBER - Cello Sonata (18:28) Earl Wild, Pianist 4 Allegro ma non troppo 8:16 5 Adagio - Presto - Adagio 4:14 Total Time 43:23 6 Allegro appassionato 5:55 Charles Curtis, Cellist Earl Wild, Pianist

Total Time 54:53

Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis • Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson 24-Bit Remastering

2003 Ivory Classics® • All Rights Reserved. 64405-73003 Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 341068 STEREO Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A. ® Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799 [email protected] • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com