TRAINS OF THOUGHT

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oulenc rio 1 P T ORIGINAL DELOS DE 3543 TRAINS OF THOUGHT ◆ POULENC TRIO DIGITAL

A Spin Through Through A Spin ♦ T hough T of

Total Playing Time: 58:31 Total Liang Wang, Liang Wang, POULENC TRIO *World Premiere Recording Premiere *World Bryan Young, Bryan Young, Thought* of VIET Trains CUONG: Irina Kaplan Lande, Moscow, Cheryomushki Moscow, from Moscow rains

Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano for Oboe, Bassoon, JEAN Trio FRANÇAIX: T Piano and Bassoon, for Oboe, Trio POULENC: FRANCIS

The Gadfly The Gadfly from Romance SHOSTAKOVICH: DMITRI GIOACCHINO ROSSINI: Fantaisie Concertante Semiramide Themes from on Fantaisie ROSSINI: GIOACCHINO

ORIGINAL DELOS DE 3543 TRAINS OF THOUGHT ◆ POULENC TRIO DIGITAL TRAINS OF THOUGHT POULENC TRIO Irina Kaplan Lande, piano Liang Wang, oboe Bryan Young, bassoon

FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) JEAN FRANÇAIX (1912-1997) Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano 12:13 Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano (1994) 16:06 1. Lent – Presto (5:14) 2. Andante (3:48) 7. Adagio-Allegro molto (3:47) 3. Rondo (3:11) 8. Scherzo (3:45) 9. Andante (4:24) VIET CUONG (b. 1991) 10. Finale (4:10) (World Premiere Recording) GIOACCHINO ROSSINI (1792-1868) 4. Trains of Thought (12:18) Arr. Charles Triébert and Eugene Jancourt

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975) 11. Fantaisie Concertante on Themes Arr. for Poulenc Trio by Anatoly Trofimov from Semiramide (12:17)

5. Romance, Op. 97 a (from the film score of The Gadfly) (3:05) Total Playing Time: (58:31) 6. A Spin Through Moscow (from the operetta Moscow, Cheryomushki) (2:12)

2 “Above all, a composer should not aim to veyed, worked and exhausted.” Of his own be fashionable. If you are not fashionable work, Poulenc wrote, “I know perfectly well today, you may not be unfashionable to- that I’m not one of those composers who morrow.” —Francis Poulenc have made harmonic innovations like Igor [Stravinsky], Ravel, or Debussy, but I think rancis Poulenc was born in Paris on Jan- there’s room for ‘New’ music which doesn’t uary 7, 1899, and attained both a distinct mind using other people’s chords. Wasn’t Fmusical voice and professional success at that the case with Mozart-Schubert?” an early age. During the 1920s, he was one of the leading spirits in a group of young French The Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano composers known as Les Six, whose music —one of Poulenc’s most popular chamber was often light, witty, satirical, and urbane. Les works—is in the spirit of an eighteenth-cen- Six sympathized with and were influenced by tury divertissement: light and witty, yet Satie, Stravinsky and neoclassicism, and were spiced with dissonances. Though the com- opposed to the cerebral music of Schoenberg bination of instruments is unusual, it is em- and to what they considered the religio-musi- inently logical, combining and contrasting cal excesses of their countryman Olivier Mes- the two members of the double-reed fam- siaen. Poulenc, in particular, often juxtaposed ily with the percussive quality of the piano. passages of wit and irony with lush, sentimen- While composing the Trio in Cannes in 1926, tal outpourings. Poulenc took the advice of Ravel (with whom he had been studying) and based the open- Poulenc composed orchestral works, cham- ing Presto on a Haydn Allegro. The closing ber music, ballets, concertos, film scores, Rondo’s refrain begins as a near perfect and operas, as well as powerful choral and quote of a well-known Beethoven melo- sacred music. The most important musical dy until it makes a surprising turn into the element to Poulenc was melody, and he is an fresh vocabulary of Poulenc’s own distinctive acknowledged master of French art songs, language. Poulenc hinted that he patterned with more than 130 songs to his credit. Nor- this movement after a piano concerto by bert Dufourcq writes that Poulenc “found his Saint-Saëns.The Andante is gracefully Mo- way to a vast treasury of undiscovered tunes zartean, though any suggestion of parody within an area that had, according to the is dispelled by alluring shifts of tonality and most up-to-date musical maps, been sur- chromaticism. The Trio is dedicated to Man-

3 uel de Falla, whom Poulenc had met at the events, but their journeys and destinations home of his teacher Ricardo Vines in 1918. can be unpredictable. In this way, the piece David Ewen writes, “Pictorially one is some- deals with the listener’s expectations and times reminded of a chase, sometimes a di- attempts to convincingly manipulate them. alogue. Normally, however, the main musical As the mind deviates from and returns to discourse is entrusted to the piano, while the an original idea, the idea’s return is often bassoon is relegated to the role of a discreet informed by its travels. References to the ex- commentator and the oboe is allowed to in- citing kinetic energy of an actual locomotive tensify the more lyrical flights. The very heart can be heard.” of Poulenc is in this adroit little work.” In the composer’s performance notes for the —Joseph Way oboe and bassoon, he explains that arrows attached to various accidentals throughout the piece indicate “timbral” notes that are Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The slightly higher in pitch than the normally New York Times, Viet Cuong’s music seeks fingered notes. These are not meant to be to “leave you breathless” (The Philadelphia exact microtones; they are merely more Inquirer) by finding ways to introduce new life brightly colored tones. However, these tim- into time-honored musical ideas. He is a win- bral notes should still be quite distinguish- ner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Composers able from the normal notes. Award, Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award, and Theodore Presser Foundation For the pianist, the composer writes that cer- Music Award, among many other honors. tain note-heads in the music indicate notes The Poulenc Trio met Viet at the Peabody where the pianist momentarily dampens the Conservatory in , and asked him to string inside the piano with the idle hand. The write Trains of Thought in 2012. The com- resulting attack and tone should be softened poser describes his work thusly: and dull. The string should not be dampened so much as to obscure the pitch. “My goal in writing Trains of Thought was to aurally bring life to the mind’s stream of con- Trains of Thought was premiered by the sciousness. Ideas are usually interconnected Poulenc Trio at the National Gallery of Art in the mind through a cohesive sequence of in Washington, D.C., in May 2017, accompa-

4 nied by an original animated multimedia film by the time of Voynich’s death, and is esti- by visual artists Elizabeth and Alden Phelps. mated to have sold 2,500,000 copies in the Soviet Union alone. “Romance” is the most famous movement from Shostakovich’s film In a musical career spanning half a centu- score and was used in the BBC/PBS TV series r y, Dmitri Shostakovich composed in a Reilly, Ace of Spies. staggeringly diverse range of genres and styles. Beyond his fifteen symphonies and Moscow, Cheryomushki (1958) is a three- fifteen string quartets, Shostakovich also act comic operetta in a bewildering varia- wrote lesser-known works that offer much tion of styles, from the Romantic idiom to of the intrigue and interest found in his bet- the most vulgar popular songs. The satiri- ter-known pieces. With the reappraisal of cal plot deals with one of the most pressing Shostakovich in recent times, his light music concerns for urban Russians of the day: the is beginning to enjoy unprecedented popu- chronic housing shortage and the difficul- larity in concert halls and record catalogues. ties of securing livable conditions. “Cheryo- mushki” translates to “bird-cherry trees,” the The Gadfly (1955) is probably Shostakov- name of a real housing estate in southwest ich’s best-known film score. The film is based Moscow. “A Spin Through Moscow” is the on a novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich and tells a first of the four dancelike movements found story of faith, disillusionment, revolution, ro- in the orchestral suite from the operetta. mance, and heroism. Set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumul- tuous revolt and uprisings, the story centers Jean Françaix was a French composer very on the illegitimate son of a cardinal who much in the neoclassical tradition of Pou- joins the fight to unite Italy. When caught, lenc: He eschewed the trends of atonality he faces the firing squad as a willing martyr. and the rejection of traditional form, choos- ing wit, color, and a supple lightness in the The Gadfly was an exceptionally popular service of producing musical “pleasure.” Pro- novel when it was published in the Soviet lific throughout his life, Françaix was a piano Union, exerting a considerable cultural in- virtuoso, an active performer, a skilled or- fluence. The book was compulsory reading chestrator, and a composer in myriad forms in the Soviet Union, was the top best-seller and for myriad ensembles. Like many great

5 French composers, Françaix had a skillful sidered guilty of false modesty. If he dissects penchant for the wind instruments. them into theme A and theme B, musicolo- gists will applaud, but musicians will find him The Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano was boring. If the work is of any value, it will need commissioned by the International Double no explanation; if it is of no value, no esoteric Reed Society for their twenty-fourth Festival commentary will render it any better . . . All in 1994. The Trio is astonishing for its mo- I ask my listeners is to open their ears and dernity and its accessibility. In the tradition be brave enough to decide whether they like of neoclassicism, the music recalls familiar my music or not. I don’t want any interme- works from the past, yet also sounds new diary between me and my listeners trying to and different, undeniably of the present. But sway their judgment one way or the other. where the original neoclassicists looked to They should remember they are free human the eighteenth century and earlier for their beings, not obedient automata. I want them inspiration, Françaix, in this work, seems to to crush snobbery, fashion and envy with look back within his own lifetime. In a new the power of common sense and to enjoy loop of neoclassical spirit, the music evokes my music if it gives them pleasure; which of the popular sounds of a young modernism course I hope it does.” in the early twentieth century: syncopated urban rhythms, musical theater, and the ex- —Adapted from a text by Kai Christensen, uberance and occasional plaintive nostalgia Earsense.org of contemporary society. The composition’s strengths are its exquisite detail and com- plexity, the virtuosic demands placed on the This Fantaisie Concertante (Concert-Fan- performers, and the expert use of the idiom- tasy) is based on tunes from Gioacchino atic qualities of the instruments. Rossini’s last Italian opera, Semiramide, and is taken from a collection of delightful Françaix’s thoughts are as refreshing as his opera-inspired arrangements dating from music: nineteenth-century Paris and the salon music of that time. These works were not “It’s difficult for a composer to talk about his only “tuneful” but enabled the performers own works. If he praises them, he is accused to show off their ample virtuosity as well. of boasting; if he disparages them, he is con- Charles Triébert was a virtuoso oboist and

6 professor of oboe at the Paris Conservatoire. triguing and beautifully played program” His colleague Eugene Jancourt was a bas- with “convincing elegance, near effortless soonist and composer. lightness and grace.” A recent performance in Florida—for which the Palm Beach Post Semiramide is based on Voltaire’s tragedy praised the group’s “polished loveliness” and Semiramis, which in turn was based on the the Palm Beach Daily News said the “potent legend of Queen Semiramis of Babylon. The combination” of oboe, bassoon, and piano noted Italian musicologist Rodolfo Celletti had “captured the magic of chamber mu- called it “the last opera of the great Baroque sic”—is regularly rebroadcast on American tradition: the most beautiful, the most imag- Public Media’s Performance Today, a na- inative, possibly the most complete; but also, tionally syndicated radio program. The Trio irremediably, the last.” has also garnered positive attention in full- length profiles by magazine (Ed. Note: Unless otherwise credited above, and the Double Reed Journal. In one profile program notes are by Bryan Young.) for Russian television, the group has been called “virtuosos of classical and contempo- rary chamber music.” In 2003, pianist Irina Kaplan Lande founded the Poulenc Trio, now one of the world’s The ensemble has a strong commitment to most prominent piano-wind trios. Since commissioning, performing, and recording then, the ensemble has performed in 45 new works from living composers. Since its states and at music festivals around the founding, the Trio has greatly expanded the world, including the Ravello Festival in Italy, repertoire available for the oboe, bassoon, the San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexi- and piano, with 24 new works written for co, and the White Nights Festival in Russia, and premiered by the group, including three where the group toured with and premiered triple concertos for trio and full orchestra. two new works with violinist . The Trio has also made a commitment to In a recent review, The New York Times praised explore and promote music that reflects its the Trio for its “elegant rendition” of music members’ African, Asian, Eastern Europe- by Piazzolla. The Washington Post said the an, and Jewish roots. Recent concerts have Trio “does its namesake proud” in “an in- featured works by Afro-Cuban jazz great

7 8 Paquito D’Rivera, Mexican-American com- mixed-media project featuring a beautifully poser Carlos Medina, Vietnamese-American hand-animated film by artists Elizabeth and composer Viet Cuong, and pieces from Yid- Alden Phelps, paired with the commissioned dish Lexicon, an exploration of Jewish culture work by Viet Cuong, which premiered in by composer Jakov Jakoulov. Washington, D.C., at the National Gallery in 2017 (go to delosmusic.com/recording/ The Trio launched a pioneering concert se- trains-of-thought to view the film). ries called Music at the Museum, in which musical performances are paired with mu- In 2016, Creation (DE 3516), the ensemble’s seum exhibitions, with special appearances first project for Delos, debuted at #4on from guest artists and curators. As part of Apple Music’s iTunes playlist the series, the Trio has collaborated with the and garnered high praise from American National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Record Guide for the group’s technique and Walters Art Museum and Baltimore Museum expressive range. The CD also features poet of Art and the Hermitage State Museum in and Guggenheim Fellow Lia Purpura, with Russia. Guest artist collaborators have in- a reading of her poems set against Schnit- cluded violinist Hilary Hahn, the Thibaud Trio tke’s Suite in the Old Style. of Berlin, soprano Hyunah Yu, and clarinet- ists Alexander Fiterstein and Anthony McGill. A graduate of St. Petersburg Conservatory, The group is deeply engaged in musical and founding member Irina Kaplan Lande was educational outreach programs, including trained in that school’s famous tradition of pi- Pizza and Poulenc, an informal performance ano playing. and residency series for younger audiences around the United States. The Trio regularly She is a longtime faculty member at the Pea- conducts masterclasses, with recent engage- body Institute, teaching piano and chamber ments at the University of Ohio, San Francis- music, and has served on the faculties of the co State University, Florida State University, College of Notre Dame and Towson University. and the University of Colima in Mexico. Irina is Artistic Director of the Candlelight As of this release, the Poulenc Trio’s latest col- Concert Society, where she conceives and laboration is Trains of Thought: Animated, a implements the artistic vision for the series

9 by attracting outstanding musicians, main- In 2015, Liang Wang became a permanent taining artistic excellence, fostering creative member of the Poulenc Trio. diversity, and building the organizationʼs reputation as an internationally recognized Bassoonist Bryan Young has been a winner music presenter. and finalist in many international competi- tions, including the Gillet International Bas- In her free time she loves to ski in the winter soon Competition and the ARD Internation- and forage for mushrooms in the summer. al Competition in Munich. The Washington Post writes that his playing “dances with a lightness and grace uncommon for his in- Liang Wang is the principal oboist of the strument,” and the Baltimore Sun has praised . Mr. Wang was re- his “particularly beautiful playing, agility and cently named “The artist of the year” by the understated elegance.” Bryan serves as the International Music Festival. He was principal bassoonist of the Baltimore Cham- born in Qing Dao, , and studied at the ber Orchestra and is a former member of Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis. at Californiaʼs Idyllwild Arts Academy. He received his bachelor’s degree from Phila- In addition to his musical activities, Bryan delphiaʼs Curtis Institute of Music, where he is the former leader of Intertwine Systems, studied with Richard Woodhams. a software company that he founded. As a technologist, Bryan worked with Johns Hop- He has won awards at the Spotlight Com- kins University and the government of Trin- petition of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as idad and Tobago to develop new research well as at the Pasadena Instrumental, Fer- tools for endocrinologists. Bryan is a partner nard Gillet International Oboe, and Tilden and principal technology advisor to SailTime, Prize competitions. He has twice received the worldʼs largest fractional sailing company, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Fellowship. and JobJybe, an Austin, Texas-based startup focused on business communications. He is currently on the faculty at New York University and Manhattan School of Music, Bryan writes about music, medicine, culture, and has been named honorary professor at and technology at his blog, Amalgamated the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Humanity.

10 Recorded December 2016 at Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

Producer: Sun Shao-Ting Engineer: Alan Wonneberger Booklet editors/proofers: Lindsay Koob, Anne Maley, David Brin Booklet design/layout: Lonnie Kunkel Original cover art: from Trains of Thought: Animated film by Elizabeth Phelps & Alden Phelps Poulenc Trio photo: Chris Hartlove

© 2018 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, CA 95476-9998 (707) 996-3844 • (800) 364-0645 [email protected] • www.delosmusic.com Made in USA

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