Acknowledgments This album would not have been possible without the contributions of many people. First and foremost I would like Steven Holoc h w o s t to thank the musicians featured on the album for their tremendous dedication and professionalism. I extend the same thanks to the recording engineer Andreas Meyer and to Susan Bush of Albany Records. I would also like to convey my heartfelt appreciation for the generosity of Walter and Loree Reed and the late Betty Ottinger, who supported the recording sessions. My thanks also goes to the musical mentors of my youth: Robert Steen, David Tafoni, and especially Joseph Sounding Surfaces Yaremczak and David Imhof, whose love of music was so infectious that it overrode my better judgment to avoid Five Etudes for Piano, Op. 5 so fickle a mistress as music. For their patience and inspiration, I am grateful to my composition teachers at Yale, Kathryn Alexander and John Halle. I would also like to thank the remarkable faculty of Rutgers University’s Music Trio for Violin, , and Cello, Op. 2b Department, past and present: Andrew Kirkman, Floyd Grave, Nancy Rao, and in particular both Richard Chrisman Five Preludes for Piano, Op. 1 and Scott Whitener. But among all the teachers and mentors I have had, none has made a more profound difference Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, Op. 2a in my life than Charles Wuorinen, an unquestionable genius who also possesses the patience necessary to convey the insights of his genius to others. Going back considerably further, I must express my gratitude to my parents, who always placed their children’s dreams ahead of their own, and to my late grandmother, Joyce Hennessey, who rarely missed a concert in over twenty years. At Yale, the torch of the indefatigable booster was passed to the lovely Miss Laura Moriaty, whose patience and praise never failed, and whose friendship greatly enriched some of the best years of my life. Finally, as is the case in nearly every worthwhile thing I have done in my life, three people have been indispensable: my sister, Nancy, who has been my confidant and counselor as long as we have been on this earth together; my brother, Andrew, whose talent inspired me, whose faith sustained me, and whose friendship has consistently been one of the greatest sources of joy in my life; and of course, my wife, Catherine, my muse, guardian of my most cherished dreams and font of my greatest joy. Producer and Recording Engineer: Andreas Meyer (Meyer Media Mastering LLC) Post Production Engineer: Jeanne Montalvo (Meyer Media Mastering LLC) All music available direct from the composer. www.holochwost.com

www.albanyrecords.com TROY1397 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. Weiyin Chen, piano box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2013 Albany Records made in the usa Jonathan Holden, clarinet | Caroline Holden, violin | Lois Leventhal, piano DDD warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label. Andrew Koehler, violin | Sarah Hedlund, viola | Carrie Pierce, cello The Composer The Music Steven Holochwost (b. 1978) earned his undergraduate degree from This album is my first, and includes pieces composed between 2002 and 2010. These pieces Yale University, where he studied composition with Kathryn Alexander feature modal sonorities and lyrical melodies on their ‘sounding surface,’ which are supported and John Halle. While at Yale, he was founding Executive Director of the by a structural architecture developed through the application of Charles Wuorinen’s “nesting” Opera Theatre of Yale College, now in its fourteenth season. In 2001, method of composition. This approach creates similar patterns of musical elements (e.g., intervals, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with distinction in articulations) on every dimension of the composition, a self-affinity that at once reflects the both music and psychology. He earned his doctorate in music theory and self-similar nature of musical sound itself and references the broader tradition of Western art composition at Rutgers University under the tutelage of Charles Wuorinen, music from the Renaissance through the Romantic. completing his dissertation, “The Fractal Nature of Musical Structure,” in 2005 while on fellowship at the Center for the Critical Analysis of The Five Etudes for Piano, Op. 5, composed between 2006 and 2009, are similar to the other Contemporary Culture. He has received awards and citations from the pieces on the album in their approach to structure. They differ, however, in the content of the National Association of Composers, the Fisher Foundation, and the harmonic language employed, which is considerably more varied and occasionally more dissonant American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). His than that heard in the other works. This reflects an expansion of my harmonic palette, catalyzed compositions include works for the Kalamazoo Philharmonia, the University of Chicago Chamber by an encounter with Brian Ferneyhough at the June in Buffalo Festival, who recommended an Orchestra, and the Rutgers Brass, as well as numerous pieces for piano, voice, and chamber enhancement of the rhythmic, registral, and motivic strengths of the Opus 1 Preludes through a ensembles. His music has been performed throughout the , and in England, France, more adventurous treatment of pitch. Austria, and Japan, and has been included on programs at Festival South, the Blue Lake Festival, The first Etude opens with a fast, percussive, dissonant introduction, which quickly gives and June in Buffalo. way to a flowing theme set against itself in imitative, polyrhythmic counterpoint. A faster, playful In addition to this career in music, Holochwost is also active at the intersection of develop- central episode prefaces a return to the material of the first section, ending in a contemplative mental psychology and public policy. He holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of coda. Etude No. 2 begins with a tentative, almost trepidatious pulse, against which a bolder poly- North Carolina Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of rhythmic line asserts itself. After a brief interruption by faster, heavier material heard low in the Pennsylvania. He has held positions at the State of New Jersey’s Office of the Child Advocate register, the earlier, more delicate motive returns and forms the transition to the third Etude. A and the University of Delaware’s Early Learning Center, and is presently Senior Researcher broad, expansive theme is introduced to begin this Etude, a theme that is developed throughout, with the consulting firm WolfBrown, where he evaluates programs designed to provide arts in part through superimposition against the heavy, interjecting motive of Etude No. 2. Etude No. 3 education programs for low-income children. His clients have included ’s Weill closes with a return to the opening material of second Etude, bringing a tranquil close to the Institute, Community Music Works (featured in The New Yorker), Play on Philly (featured in the narrative that unfolded across the second and third Etudes. This tranquility is quickly interrupted Philadelphia Inquirer), and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information please by the lively, angular figure that is the basis of Etude No. 4, which is subsequently juxtaposed visit www.holochwost.com. and superimposed against a second, ever more strident motive. The fifth and final Etude is an homage to Bartók that begins with a deliberate, fugal exploration of symmetries of both pitch content and the registral deployment of individual pitches, and then moves to a freer, lilting development that gradually builds to a resounding restatement of the Etude’s initial material. The Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello, op. 2b was composed in 2004 for the Jade , section features a gentle, lilting restatement of this motive, placed in counterpoint with new motivic a New-York based ensemble of musicians who have emigrated from China or are of Chinese- material, before yielding to progressively louder, faster, and more metrically-destabilized material American descent. The Trio’s founder, Ching Chen Juhl, asked for a work based on a traditional that prefaces the final section. Julie Nishimura gave this Prelude its premiere at the University of Chinese folk melody. This melody, which can be heard in the cello at the opening of the piece, Delaware. The fifth and final Prelude is an extended development of a single, autumnal motive provides the large-scale structure for the work. Thus the statement of the melody is followed by a that occurs at the opening of the piece. It was commissioned by the Renee B. Fisher Foundation variation based on its inversion, an ethereal variation in harmonics, a flowing variation comprised and received its premiere by Maria Marra at the Foundation’s annual concert in New Haven. of a stream of triplets, a climatic variation featuring double-stops, and finally a restatement of the melody itself. Each variation is centered around one of the melody’s pitches, and the occurrence The Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, Op. 2a, began its life as a trio for the unlikely combination of each new pitch center is marked by a change in tempo, often initially introduced in a previous of flute, saxophone, and harp. It subsequently underwent a number of incarnations between 2003 section as a polyrhythm. It is a straightforward treatment of a correspondingly simple theme that and 2010 until arriving in its present form. The first movement shares much of its material with nonetheless proved rich with possibilities. The Trio received its premiere at the 2005 June in Buffalo the first Etude. In fact, Etude No. 1 is essentially a reduction of this movement, missing only the Festival, performed by Trond Samundson (violin), Adrienne Elisha (viola), and Mary Artman (cello). third, central section. As a result, it shares many of the first Etude’s characteristics, most notably being centered “on” A-flat, as Stravinsky would say (though G serves as a competing center). The Five Preludes for Piano, Op. 1, were written intermittently between 2002 and 2005 over The second movement is quite different in character from the first. Thought it was com- the course of my doctoral training with Charles Wuorinen. They represent my first mature works, posed using the nesting method, the basic materials to which the method was applied reference the first in which I was able to synthesize the nesting approach to form with my predilections for modalism much more strongly than the base materials in the first or third movements. Throughout smooth melodic contours and a modal harmonic language. The second Prelude was actually the an introductory section featuring modest use of the clarinet’s extended techniques, a series of first of the set to be composed, and marked a turning point after a frustrating first year of doctoral piano arpeggios gradually become more regular, eventually establishing a steady pulse that study that yielded few completed works. segues to the main section of the movement. This section culminates in a full-ensemble state- The first two preludes of the set were composed as a complementary pair. Thus the first ment of the movement’s main motif before returning to the material of the introductory section. Prelude is a rounded binary in which a pair of fast, ostinato arpeggiations are developed, with the This time, however, that material leads to a brief coda, which is alternately “on” E and E-flat. central section arrived at and transitioned from via metric modulation. In contrast, Prelude No. 2 is The sedate ending to the second movement gives way to the energetic, jagged opening of a continuous development of a gentle, occasionally languid motive. Prelude No. 3 is a waltz based the third movement. The movement eventually transitions into a languid central section, recalling on a theme from William Billings’ “Cobham,” and is the first piece in which I took extant musical some of the second movement’s material. The climax of the third movement sees each member material and applied the nesting method to expand that material into a large-scale structure. After of the ensemble pursuing their own line, two of which articulate polyrhythms that imply a different adapting Billings’ hymn as a waltz I use irregular meters and interjecting gestures to subvert the tempo. After this dense material there is a brief moment of stillness in which the clarinet is alone waltz’s three-beat pulse. All three of these Preludes were premiered by Yi-Fang Huang at Rutgers and in its highest register. This prefaces a return to the fast material of the opening, which is University. Like the first Prelude, Prelude No. 4 is a rounded binary form, but features a more con- punctuated by juxtapositions of material from the first and second movements. servative harmonic idiom. The opening and closing sections of the piece are based on a slow, The piece, in its current orchestration, was composed for the Argot Trio and premiered in somber, almost mournful motive, and feature an exploration of the piano’s lower register. The central 2011 at Festival South. The Performers Louisiana Philharmonic. Dr. Lois Leventhal received her doctorate of music at Indiana University Weiyin Chen is a virtuosic young pianist to whom “the music” matters and is a Professor of Music at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her performing career more than anything else. Her upcoming and recent engagements includes concerto appearances throughout Mississippi as well as solo and chamber recitals in include concerts with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Chicago, New York, London, and, under the auspices of the United States Information Agency, performing Brahms No.1 under the direction of maestro Argentina and Uruguay. Leon Fleisher, gala concert with National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, recitals in Taiwan, , Pennsylvania and Violinist Andrew Koehler, violist Sarah Hedlund, and cellist Carrie Pierce met as members Maryland, appearances at the Lake George Music of the Viero Quartet, where their mutual interest in contemporary American music led to them to Festival and Salt Lake City. Ms. Chen has performed internationally record the Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello. Mr. Koehler is a graduate of Yale University, where his as a soloist, marked by her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic violin teacher was Erick Friedman. He studied conducting at the Universität für Musik und Orchestra under the direction of maestro Edo de Waart in May of Darstellende Kunst in Vienna as a Fulbright scholar, and then at Northwestern University, where 2008. She is expected to have her first solo CD released for Azica his principal teacher was Victor Yampolsky. He is currently Associate Professor of Music at Records during the 2012-2013 season. Ms. Chen resides in New Kalamazoo College and Music Director of the Kalamazoo Philharmonia. Ms. Sarah Hedlund studied York and is represented by Meiling Lee in Asia and Chesapeake International Artists for the US violin and viola with Renata Artman Knific at Western Michigan University, and has been active and Europe. For additional information, please visit her website at www.weiyinchen.com or at as an orchestral and chamber musician in Michigan for nearly two decades. She is currently www.chesapeakeartists.com. concertmaster Kalamazoo Philharmonia and principal second violin for the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, as well as a section member of the Kalamazoo and Western Michigan The Argot Trio, featuring Jonathan Holden, clarinet, Caroline Holden, violin, and Lois Leventhal, Symphony Orchestras. Dr. Carrie Pierce is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she piano, showcases the unique voice of the violin-clarinet-piano trio, and takes its name from that studied with Anthony Elliot. She served as the Principal Cellist of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, aesthetic: Argot, a vocabulary that is unique to one group. Dr. Jonathan Holden is Assistant and, with the group Trio La Vita, won second prize at the Rutenburg Chamber Music competition Professor of Clarinet at the University of Southern Mississippi and Principal Clarinetist of the in 2009. Dr. Pierce is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A & M University, Corpus Christi. West Michigan Symphony. He has received degrees from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Dame Thea King, and Michigan State University in the studio of Dr. Elsa Verdehr. Caroline Holden, violin, also trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has studied with Mihai Craiozeanu, Yfrah Neaman, and Walter Verdehr. Currently, Ms. Holden performs in with the Grand Rapids, West Michigan, and Mississippi Symphonies, as well as the c o l o H n e v e t S

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Sounding Surfaces Sounding Five Etudes 6 Trio for Violin, Viola, Five Preludes Trio for Clarinet, Violin, for Piano, Op. 5 and Cello, Op. 2b [6:20] for Piano, Op. 1 and Piano, Op. 2a 1 Etude No. 1 [2:44] Andrew Koehler, violin 7 No. 1 [2:13] 12 I. [4:19] 2 Etude No. 2 [1:42] Sarah Hedlund, viola 8 No. 2 [2:39] 13 II. [4:23] 3 Etude No. 3 [2:59] Carrie Pierce, cello 9 No. 3 [2:43] 14 III. [3:57] 4 Etude No. 4 [1:00] 10 No. 4 [2:59] Argot Trio [3:28] [2:41]

5 Etude No. 5 11 No. 5 Jonathan Holden, clarinet Weiyin Chen, piano Weiyin Chen, piano Caroline Holden, violin Lois Leventhal, piano

Total Time = 44:12

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w o www.albanyrecords.com h TROY1397 albany records u.s.

915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 TROY1397 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2013 Albany Records made in the usa DDD warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label. Steven Holoc