Tom Kolor, percussion Acknowledgments Recorded in Slee Hall, University Charles Wuorinen at Buffalo SUNY. Engineered, Marimba Variations edited, and mastered by Christopher Jacobs. Morton Feldman The King of Denmark Ralph Shapey’s Soli for Solo Percussion is published Ralph Shapey by Theodore Presser; all other Soli for Solo Percussion works are published by CF Peters. Christian Wolff Photo of Tom Kolor: Irene Haupt Percussionist Songs Special thanks to my family, Raymond DesRoches, Gordon Gottlieb, and to my colleagues AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR at University of Buffalo. SOLO PERCUSSION VOLUME II WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1578 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. AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR Ralph Shapey TROY1578 Soli for Solo Percussion SOLO PERCUSSION 3 A [6:14] VOLUME II [6:14] 4 A + B 5 A + B + C [6:19] Tom Kolor, percussion Christian Wolf SOLO PERCUSSION Percussionist Songs Charles Wuorinen 6 Song 1 [3:12] 1 Marimba Variations [11:11] 7 Song 2 [2:58] [2:21] 8 Song 3 Tom Kolor, percussion • Morton Feldman VOLUME II 9 Song 4 [2:15] 2 The King of Denmark [6:51] 10 Song 5 [5:33] [1:38] 11 Song 6 VOLUME II • 12 Song 7 [2:01] Tom Kolor, percussion Total Time = 56:48 SOLO PERCUSSION WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1578 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. TROY1578 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. AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR AMERICAN MASTERPIECES FOR SOLO PERCUSSION VOLUME II Like the Feldman, Christian Wolff’s Percussionist Songs (dedicated to Robyn Schulkowsky) makes suggestions as to the instruments to be employed, but allows the performer the final Charles Wuorinen’s Marimba Variations was commissioned by and dedicated to a decision. For my rendition of this seven movement work, I chose the following: consortium of 22 percussionists organized by Payton MacDonald. Joe Bergen, Michael Burritt, John Ferrari, Benjamin Finley, Christopher Graham, Aiyun Huang, Ayano Kataoka, 1 - Five Arabic Darabukas Shannon McClure, Robert McCormick, Todd Meehan, William Moersch, Stephen Paysen, 2 - Three Javanese gongs and three almglocken Doug Perkins, Benjamin Ramirez, Ian Rosenbaum, Blake Tyson, Jack Van Geem, Danielle 3 - Marimba and five tin cans Weinberg, Justin Wolf, Greg Zuber, and myself are the dedicatees. 4 - Hanclaps, footstomps, and whistle 5 - African kalimba Setting up my marimba in the living room of Mr. Wuorinen’s Manhattan brownstone and 6 - Four ceramic tiles, a bag of stones, and a gourd rattle spending the afternoon working on my interpretation was an experience I shall always cherish. 7 - celeste and whistle Morton Feldman’s classic work, The King of Denmark, utilizes a simple graphic notation Charles Wuorinen is one of the world’s leading composers. His many honors include a allowing the performer considerable timbral latitude. Arabic and Roman numerals combined MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the Pulitzer Prize. His compositions encompass every with letters and three types of symbols are placed on a staff of sorts indicating high, medium, form and medium, including works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, soloists, ballet, and and low pitch. For this rendition, I chose a collection of instruments, including a vibraphone, stage. Wuorinen has written more than 260 compositions to date. His most recent works glockenspiel, celeste, three almglocken, three Javanese gongs, three Chinese cymbals, three include an opera on Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain premiered at the Teatro Real in triangles, and a kettledrum, all played with fingers, hands, fingernails, and the occasional elbow. Madrid in January 2014, a major cultural event worldwide. “Madrid has just seen the biggest audience in its history, local and global, for Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain.” Ralph Shapey’s Soli for Solo Percussion is dedicated Gordon Gottlieb. I was lucky enough (The Australian). Other recent works include Time Regained, for Peter Serkin, James Levine to work closely with Mr. Shapey when Talujon commissioned his percussion quartet and the MET Opera Orchestra, Eighth Symphony for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Interchange some 20 years ago, and have been an advocate of his work ever since. Soli is Metagong for two pianos and two percussion for the New York New Music Ensemble. a monumental work, symphonic in scale. The first movement is played and recorded and is then played back in tandem with the performance of the second movement which is Wuorinen has been described as a “maximalist,” writing music luxuriant with events, lyrical and also to be recorded. Finally, the third movement creates an ornate, three part counterpoint expressive, strikingly dramatic. His works are characterized by powerful harmonies and elegant combining all of the material. craftsmanship, offering at once a link to the music of the past and a vision of a rich musical future. Both as composer and performer (conductor and pianist) Wuorinen has worked with some of and a half hours. The scale of these works in particular has often been the cause of some the finest performers of the current time and his works reflect the great virtuosity of his controversy surrounding his work. Feldman died on September 3rd, 1987 at his home in collaborators. His works have been recorded on nearly a dozen labels including several releases Buffalo, aged 61. on Naxos, Albany Records (Charles Wuorinen Series), and two releases on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Born in Philadelphia in 1921, Ralph Shapey showed early talent as a violinist. He developed Wuorinen is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American as a conductor during his teens, and was appointed the Youth Conductor of the Philadelphia Academy of Arts and Sciences. National Youth Administration Symphony Orchestra when he was 17. However, at the age of nine, he was trying his hand at composition, and by his twenties, he was composing seriously. Morton Feldman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 12th, 1926. At the age of 12, he studied piano with Vera Maurina-Press, who had been a pupil of Busoni, and it was As a composer, Ralph Shapey always pursued excellence in his own style, regardless of trends; she who helped instill in Feldman a vibrant musicality. At the time, he was composing and in a world that frequently places at least as much emphasis on the personality and short, Scriabin-esque pieces, until in 1941 he began to study composition with Wallingford image of the artist as on his work, he uncompromisingly held the idea that the music, once Riegger. Three years later, Stefan Wolpe became his teacher, though they spent much of created, should stand on its own. His commitment to this attitude, refusal to compromise their time together simply discussing music and art. Then in 1949 the most significant his integrity, and disillusionment with the musical climate of the time, led him to withdraw meeting up to that time took place — Feldman met John Cage, commencing an artistic his compositions from 1969 to 1976, since he felt that people were unable to appreciate and association of crucial importance to music in America in the 1950s. Cage was instrumental perform his work for its own sake. While some may have had difficulty accepting his in encouraging Feldman to have confidence in his instincts, which resulted in totally approach to music, the importance of Shapey’s status in contemporary American music intuitive compositions. He never worked with any systems that anyone has been able to cannot be ignored. Although he acknowledged a deep respect for the classical masters of identify, working from moment to moment, from one sound to the next. the past, and recognized their influence, his interpretation was wholly original. This led both Leonard Meyer and Bernard Jacobson to describe him as a “radical traditionalist.” His music at this time uses graph notation, which allows the players some freedom of choice. Then, finding this unsatisfactory, he returned to precise notation, though in some In his conducting career, Ralph Shapey led many ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony pieces of the sixties he again allowed the performers some choice. In the seventies, and for Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony, the London Symphony the rest of his life, he maintained control over pitch, dynamics, and duration. Orchestra, and the London Sinfonietta, with whom he recorded his Rituals for Orchestra. Well-known as a conductor, he was the founder and music director of the Contemporary In 1973, the University of New York at Buffalo asked Feldman to become the Edgard Varèse Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, a group that celebrated its 25th anniversary Professor, a post he held for the rest of his life. From the late 1970s his compositions in 1989. Under Shapey’s leadership, the Contemporary Chamber Players became a highly expanded in length to such a degree that the Second String Quartet can last for up to five respected group, establishing a reputation for excellence in their commitment to the presentation of new music. Shapey firmly believed in giving all styles of music a chance to be heard, regardless of personal taste. While having once served on the music faculty of the and Conversation. He has received awards and grants from the American Academy and University of Pennsylvania, it was his many celebrated years as Professor of Music at the National Institute of Arts and Letters, DAAD Berlin, the Asian Cultural Council, the Fromm University of Chicago where Shapey’s work as a teacher had its greatest impact.