Britten & Bliss

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) 1 , Op. 2 (1932) (13:16)

Arthur Bliss (1891–1975) Quintet for and (1927) (22:35) 2 I. Assai sostenuto (8:09) 3 II. Andante con moto (8:40) 4 III. Vivace (5:38)

Cedille Records is a trademark of The Classical Recording Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation devoted to promot- ing the finest musicians and ensembles in the Chicago area. The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation’s activities are sup- Britten: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94 (1975) (25:58) ported in part by contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies including 5 the Alphawood Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Kirkland & Ellis Foundation, NIB Foundation, Negaunee Foundation, I. Duets: With moderate movement (5:28) Sage Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (CityArts III Grant), and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. 6 II. Ostinato: Very fast (3:19) Contributions to The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation may be made at www.cedillerecords.org or by calling 773-989-2515. 7 III. Solo: Very calm (4:40) Producer James Ginsburg 8 IV. Burlesque: Fast–con fuoco (2:14) Engineer Bill Maylone 9 V. Recitative and Passacaglia (La Serenissima) (10:02) Graphic Design Melanie Germond 24 Cover Photo Venice, Italy ca. 1950 by Ferruccio Leiss, © Alinari Archives/CORBIS Vermeer Quartet Recorded October 3 (Bliss) & 4 (Britten Phantasy Quartet), 2005 and April 25–26, 2006 (Britten Quartet No. 3) at WFMT-Chicago Publishers Alex Klein oboe Britten: ©1934 for the Phantasy Quartet and ©1977 for the 3rd String Quartet. Faber Music c/o Boosey and Hawkes Bliss: ©1927 Oxford University Press (NY) TT: (62:08)

CDR 90000 093 P&C 2006 Cedille Records, trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation. All Rights Reserved. colleagues want a piece you can all perform tions. This endeavor is paralleled in his later Britten & Bliss together, you’ll gladly oblige with a Piano years by his numerous film scores (including Notes by Andrea Lamoreaux Quintet. And when a commission comes Things to Come) and his music for the ballet, from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, one of : he was stimulated by the extra- If it’s true that the basic grouping in added an instrument that plays a single the most influential figures in the history of musical factors involved in stage and film chamber music is the string quartet — two line instead of powerful chords, and they American chamber music, you’ll be happy music. Another famous piece is his Colour violins, , and cello — it’s equally true have the added resource of tone colors that to accommodate what she has in mind. That Symphony. He was also noted as a writer that composers have often sought to vary strongly contrast with, and stand apart from, happened to Arthur Bliss (not yet Sir) in 1926, of music for choirs; his choral symphony, and enrich the four-string sonority by add- the sonority of the strings. The light evanes- and it must have made him even happier to , from 1930, was character- ing other instruments. Piano-and-strings cence of a flute, the penetrating notes of learn that Coolidge intended his new work ized by Bliss biographer Hugo Cole as “one chamber pieces, which are abundant, repre- an oboe, or the mellow sound of a clarinet for oboe and string quartet for his fellow- of the most deeply personal of [his] works sent the overcoming of a special challenge: bring an extra dimension to a work’s overall countryman, the distinguished English obo- . . . after more than ten years, [he] at last each creator of a piano trio, quartet, or timbre when surrounded and contrasted ist Leon Goossens (who introduced both of exorcised his memories of the war.” quintet has had to deal with the reality that with shimmering violins and the rich tones the works for oboe and strings on this CD). the piano can produce more notes, louder, of the viola and cello. Individual melodic Bliss spent most of the World War II years at any given moment than a stringed instru- lines can intertwine freely, and five voices Sometimes singled out as the successor as an official at the BBC, received a knight- ment can. The solution is often to group the can combine in harmony or emphatic unison to Elgar, whose music strongly influenced hood in 1950, and was named Master of the strings as a choir in opposition to and rivalry as easily as four. him, Bliss was educated at traditional British Queen’s Music in 1953, a post that required with the keyboard. This sets up a kind of schools (Rugby, followed by Cambridge him to write music for ceremonial and official musical dialogue that can be very involving Circumstances, of course, play a big part University) rather than London’s music con- occasions. Earlier in his life, in the 1920s and and satisfying both to perform and to hear. in the choice of instrumentation for any servatories — although he did spend a year 30s, he spent extended periods in the United When poorly executed, however, either on chamber work. If your wife is one of the at the before serving States, where he met his wife, Trudy, and the original music paper or in concert, the most famous pianists in Europe, as Robert in the Army during World War I. After the was also introduced to Elizabeth Sprague result can be a small-scale Schumann’s was, you’ll probably write cham- war, he disdained further education in favor Coolidge. A wealthy patron of chamber- with the strings overshadowed. ber music that involves her instrument of practical experience as a composer, and music performances, at the Library of (especially if it’s an instrument close to your a strong pointer to his future came in the Congress and elsewhere, Coolidge believed Composers who have chosen to add a wind own heart, too). If you’re a pianist yourself, as 1920s when he began writing and arrang- in encouraging the composers and perform- player to their string complement have Shostakovich was, and your string-playing ing music for London theatrical produc- ers of her own time. Bliss’s autobiography

4 5 notes that she was unique “in actually know- er and better-known English contemporary, This CD contains one of Britten’s first major ment of “war, and the pity of war,” to quote ing a great deal about music, in being able (1913–1976). Britten’s successes, the Phantasy Quartet of 1932, and Wilfred Owen, the poet whose World War I to play it, and in recognizing what an artist impact on the musical life of his country his last major composition of any type, the verses are the basis of half of the Requiem’s stands for, and so treating him as a friendly and his century was profound. Like most String Quartet No. 3 of 1975. Between these libretto (the rest coming from the traditional colleague.” The Quintet for Oboe and Strings great composers, he started young — there’s landmarks, the composer made his mark in Latin Requiem Mass). was premiered at a Coolidge-sponsored fes- an astounding list of Britten juvenilia. He virtually every area of concert and theater tival in Venice in 1927, by Goossens and the was 14 when he began studies with noted music. The sensationally successful 1945 pre- In addition to pacifism, another theme Venetian Quartet. It’s a lively and tuneful composer Frank Bridge, who befriended him miere of signaled the resurrec- strongly addressed by Britten’s music is that work that exploits the various tone-colors of in addition to teaching, and let him experi- tion of English opera in the years immediate- of the outsider, the misfit individual pitted the oboe to the fullest: lyrical singing to stac- ment while insisting that he learn the basics. ly following World War II. It would be the first against a conventional society, as in Peter cato jumping. There are numerous tempo From Bridge and from his own inclination, in a string of successful stage works, includ- Grimes, or the sensitive child misunderstood shifts in the first two movements. The first, Britten acquired a reverence for predeces- ing a number designed for small ensembles, by his adult keepers in The Turn of the Screw, marked “Assai sostenuto” (Rather Sustained) sors including Haydn, Mahler, and especially amateur groups, and children. His success the evocative and haunting opera based on to begin, is a kind of pastorale punctuated by Purcell, whose voice is apparent in one of with opera, and with the song-cycles created the Henry James novella. Though successful an “Allegro assai agitato” (Lively and Rather his most famous pieces, The Young Person’s for his partner, tenor Peter Pears, would lead as a composer, conductor, and founder and Agitated) section that gives the strings a Guide to the Orchestra: Variations and Fugue to a perception that he was basically a vocal impresario of the , Britten clamorous voice in the proceedings. The on a Theme by Purcell, and in his Second composer, a judgment that unjustly omits perceived himself as an outsider, not mainly relaxed Andante pace that opens the second String Quartet of 1945. Early on, with Bridge’s his orchestral scores and the solo-instru- because of his unpopular stance (especially movement is once again contrasted with a encouragement, Britten developed a confi- mental works he wrote for cellist Mstislav during World War II) as a pacifist and consci- livelier midsection. The jolly finale has one dence in his own compositional voice, and Rostropovich, guitarist Julian Bream, harpist entious objector, but because of his homo- pace throughout: Vivace, one of the fastest resisted trends in 20th-century composition Osian Ellis, and others. sexuality, which could be partially accepted standard musical tempos. Dancing motives that he found uncongenial, most notably in the case of his relationship to Pears, but and propulsive rhythms reach a fun-filled . Although 12-tone elements appear The singing element of his output, how- verged on the unacceptable in his attraction climax as the five players quote a traditional in some of his music, it wasn’t his path, and ever, cannot be denied or ignored. It includes to young boys. There were many levels in Irish tune called “Connelly’s Jig.” his style stays mostly within tonal realms what is possibly his greatest work, the War Britten’s personality, and a number of them — albeit with the tonality often obscured, Requiem, a score for soloists, chorus, and he tried to keep hidden, letting them emerge Born in 1891, Bliss lived into his 84th year, and with high doses of dissonance. orchestra that declares his lifelong pacifism only in the undertones of his music. dying in 1975 just one year before his young- in no uncertain terms: It is a powerful indict-

6 7 After the tutelage with Frank Bridge, as a revival of 20th-century chamber music. He and fanciful. First performed over the BBC in ing Venice with his parents and lodging in teenager perhaps not yet excessively trou- offered a prize for one-movement works 1933 by Leon Goossens and members of the the same hotel. In both film and opera, the bled by the conflicts that would enter his life that lasted about 12 minutes and offered International String Quartet, the Phantasy role of Tadzio is a silent one. In the opera, he later, Britten enrolled at the Royal College of instrumental parts of equal musical interest Quartet was then presented at the 1934 fes- is portrayed by a dancer. The impulse toward Music and found academic life a bit stifling, for each player. tival of the prestigious International Society pedophilia is quite open in both adaptations, the professors’ conservative attitudes boring. for Contemporary Music, “an unusual honor although it is more veiled in the film. In the Perhaps as a diversion, in the fall of 1932, Given Britten’s fascination with the music for a 19-year-old composer,” critic Steven opera, Aschenbach’s final statement in Act 1 coming up on age 19, he decided to enter a of Purcell, this concept was guaranteed to Ledbetter has noted. is an impassioned “I love you.” work for the Cobbett Chamber Music Prize: appeal to him. Purcell wrote a number of a Phantasy Quartet for oboe, violin, viola, fantasies for viol consort, but Britten’s idea Written in 1911, Thomas Mann’s novella Repulsion toward pedophilia makes Death and cello. Anyone exploring English cham- was to combine three modern stringed came back to international, in Venice controversial in any of its settings. ber music of the early 20th century couldn’t instruments with the distinctive timbre of and controversial, prominence in the early Nevertheless, the opera is one of Britten’s fail to notice the recurrence of composi- the oboe. The work is laid out in seven 1970s via a film and an opera. The film was finest works: a powerful drama encased in tions with the word Phantasy in their titles, linked sections of contrasting tempos that praised in some quarters for its evocative remarkable music. It is less about forbidden by Vaughan Williams, Holst, John Ireland, reproduce the feeling of a Baroque fanta- visual effects and its soundtrack drawn from love than about obsession and isolation, the and Bridge, among others. No secret dream sia. The Andante Alla Marcia sections that the music of . It was reviled dreams of a man yearning for human contact cult, these composers were all responding begin and end the piece give the march elsewhere as a distortion of the original story. and threatened by both physical death and to the particular challenge offered by the rhythm to the string players, with special The opera, composed by Britten in 1974, cast moral collapse. musical scholar Walter Wilson Cobbett, who prominence for the cello, supporting a lyri- Peter Pears as Gustav von Aschenbach, the believed that chamber music had evolved to cal oboe melody. These sections surround German academic who takes a vacation in Recovering from heart surgery in 1975, a great extent from the 17th-century genre a modified sonata-form structure with an Venice just as the city is being overcome by Britten struggled to complete a third string of the fantasia. The characteristic style of the expository section, marked Allegro giusto a cholera epidemic. Traveling alone, isolated quartet, a long-delayed successor to works fantasia was variety within unity: Baroque — Lively with strict rhythm — followed by from his surroundings, misunderstanding he’d written in 1941 (on commission from fantasies are relatively brief, single-move- an Andante interlude, a “Con Fuoco” (fiery) the warnings he receives from mysterious Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, while he and ment, improvisatory pieces broken up into passage, a central slow section, and a brief figures encountered briefly — all portrayed Pears were visiting the United States) and several sections that are both related and “Piu agitato” (more agitated). The heart of by the same singer in different guises — 1945 (a work written as a tribute to Purcell). contrasted. Cobbett wanted to make the the piece, the central slow passage is a kind Aschenbach can focus only on his obsession The third work in the genre was intended for fantasy an important factor in his hoped-for of pastorale, but every measure is engaging with Tadzio, an ethereally beautiful boy visit- the Amadeus String Quartet, which gave the

8 9 premiere in 1976, two weeks after the com- ostinato means “reiterated” in Italian musical The finale opens with quotations from Death poser’s death, at Aldeburgh’s Snape Maltings terminology. An emotional high point of in Venice: a gentle water-motif Barcarolle is Concert Hall. The quartet is dedicated to the the work is the soulful “Solo,” spotlighting stated by the cello, then the second violin musician, writer, and broadcaster Hans Keller, the first violin with singing lines. It has been recalls the theme the opera associates with who encouraged Britten to write it during his suggested that this movement memorializes Aschenbach’s longing for Tadzio. A pizzicato difficult recovery from surgery. , who died in 1975, and passage for the first violin recalls another who had been a close friend and artistic operatic scene, called “Games of Apollo,” after The quartet is linked to Death in Venice via the colleague. The key of the Solo is C Major, which the viola quotes a theme associated introduction to the final movement, headed implying a kind of serenity: perhaps also a with Aschenbach’s line, “When the sirocco “La Serenissima: Recitative and Passacaglia.” sense of resignation, toward Shostakovich’s blows, nothing delights me.” The sirocco, a Britten wrote this finale during his last visit recent death and toward what Britten must wind current prevalent in the Mediterranean to Venice (“La Serenissima”), a city he loved. have regarded as his own imminent demise. and North Africa, is used to imply the spread The quartet is laid out in five movements, Britten and Shostakovich admired each other of cholera throughout Venice. These lines the kind of arch form favored by Bartók a great deal, and perhaps had feelings of having been established, the instruments that sets up a central movement surrounded “outsider” kinship: each composer sought to join together to quote Aschenbach’s tor- by opening and closing movements whose express forbidden yearnings, whether politi- tured statement of “I love you.” This is the moods or themes are related, and second cal or personal, through music. end of the “Recitative” portion of the finale. and fourth movements similarly linked to From here, the passacaglia begins in C Major each other. Each of Britten’s movements has Shostakovich is even more powerfully in the cello. The key evolves into E Major, a a subtitle. The first is Duets: here motives recalled in the “Burlesque” fourth move- prominent key in the opera used to charac- are presented by two instruments at a time, ment, whose biting tones recall the sar- terize Aschenbach. Britten biographer Philip and we hear all six possible pairings among castic Scherzos of so many of the Russian Breet has called the Third String Quartet “as the four instruments. The melodic elements composer’s symphonies and string quartets. profound a work as Britten ever wrote,” and anticipate the Passacaglia theme of the The atmosphere of the Third String Quartet there is indeed an air of mystery about the finale. We reach next an Ostinato: a short, as a whole may be regarded as a response to finale, as it seems to pose the great question: energetic and abrupt movement based on Shostakovich’s Quartets Nos. 12–15, which What is death? a four-note pattern that leaps across three are intense emotional outpourings veiled in octaves. The pattern is continually repeated: complex musical structures. Andrea Lamoreaux is music director of 98.7 WFMT-FM, Chicago’s classical-music station.

10 11 Originally from Bremen, Germany, violinist Mathias Tacke won first prize at the Jugend Musiziert National About the Vermeer Quartet Competition and graduated with honors from the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie. From 1983-92 Mr. Tacke was a member of Ensemble Modern, a group specializing in 20th century music. With performances in practically every major city in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet has achieved international stature as one of the world’s finest ensembles. Formed in 1969 at the Violist Richard Young studied with Josef Gingold, Aaron Rosand, and William Primrose. He has given recitals and Marlboro Festival, its members are originally from Israel, Germany, New York, and Nebraska, thus providing a performed with important orchestras throughout the U.S., and has also appeared at many festivals, including the unique blend of musical and cultural backgrounds. Switzerland’s Suisse notes, “Out of this alchemy is born a Library of Congress, Wolf Trap, and the Casals Festival. thing of beauty which one can define, without hesitation, as perfection.” Nebraska native, cellist Mark Johnson studied at the Eastman School of Music and with Janos Starker and Josef The Vermeer has performed at virtually all the most prestigious festivals in the world, including Tanglewood, Gingold at the University of Indiana. First prize winner at the prestigious Washington International Competition, Aldeburgh, Norfolk, Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Bath, South Bank, , Stresa, Flanders, Kneisel Hall, Caramoor, Mr. Johnson has given recitals and made solo appearances throughout the U.S. and Europe. Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Orlando, , Great Woods, Spoleto, Ravinia, and the Casals Festival. For more than three decades it has spent part of each summer on the coast of Maine as the featured ensemble for Bay Chamber Concerts. The Vermeer has performed well over two hundred works, Also with the Vermeer Quartet on Cedille Records including nearly all the “standard” string quartets, many lesser-known compositions, several contemporary scores, and various works with guests. Writes the Chicago Tribune, “This venerable chamber group is one of TCHAIKOVSKY: String Quartet No. 2 in F, Op. 22 Chicago’s prime musical exports. No major Chicago musical String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70, “Souvenir de Florence” organization, not even the Chicago Symphony, represents Vermeer Quartet with Rami Solomonow, viola; John Sharp, cello Chicago on more concert stages outside the city than this world-traveling foursome.” “Passionate, extroverted performances of the Second Quartet and D Minor Sextet. A perfect coupling — and beautifully recorded, too. Recommended, The Vermeer’s discography includes the complete quar- especially if you're looking for a CD version of ‘Souvenir de Florence’.” tets by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Bartok, plus works by — New York Daily News Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Verdi, Shostakovich, Haydn, CDR 90000 017 Tchaikovsky, Schnittke, and Brahms. The Vermeer’s Grammy- nominated CD of Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ has TCHAIKOVSKY: Quartets Nos. 1 & 3 been broadcast to over 60 million listeners worldwide. Vermeer Quartet Born in Israel, violinist studied with Ilona “The splendid Vermeer Quartet has been wowing audiences for some 30 Feher, and later with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute in years. For the outstanding, small, Chicago-based label Cedille, they have Philadelphia. A prize winner at the Tchaikovsky Competition already recorded an unforgettable Tchaikovsky disc featuring the composer’s and finalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, ‘Souvenir de Florence’. . . . Now their new Tchaikovsky disc, including the com- Mr. Ashkenasi has given concerts and performed with leading poser’s other two numbered String Quartets, continues the superb precedent. orchestras throughout the U.S., Europe, former Soviet Union, . . . This is an irresistible release . . . among the best in this repertory.” and Japan. CDR 90000 056 — CDNow 12 13 About Alex Klein Also with Alex Klein on Cedille Records

Alex Klein began his musical studies in his native Brazil at the age of nine, and made his solo orchestral OBOE CONCERTOS OF THE CLASSICAL ERA debut the following year. At the age of eleven, he was invited to join the Camerata Antiqua, one of Brazil’s Franz Krommer: Oboe Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Introduction, Theme & Variations foremost chamber ensembles. During his teenage years, he toured and performed as a soloist, recitalist, Alex Klein, oboe and as a member of several professional orchestras in Brazil. He then studied at the Oberlin Conservatory Czech National Symphony Orchestra / Paul Freeman, conductor with James Caldwell, earning two degrees in music performance. “Klein could probably wring music from a phone directory. Full of After a year at Oberlin, Mr. Klein won first prize in the first Lucarelli International Competition for Solo jawdropping technical feats, these performances also showcase the sheer Oboe Players, held at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has received many awards worldwide, including at beauty of tone that is Klein’s unique voice.” — Seattle Times the 1988 International Competition for Musical Performers in Geneva, Switzerland, in which he was the CDR 90000 045 first oboist to be awarded first prize since Heinz Holliger, three decades earlier. TWENTIETH CENTURY OBOE CONCERTOS Mr. Klein joined the Chicago Symphony as principal oboe in 1995. He has performed as soloist with the by Marco A. Yano, Pawel Sydor, and Bohuslav Martinů Chicago Symphony, , Orchestre Alex Klein, oboe de la Suisse Romande, and Chicago . He has Czech National Symphony Orchestra / Paul Freeman, conductor recorded for Teldec, Boston Records, Newport Classics, “Oboist Alex Klein, formerly of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has an Musical Heritage Society, and Cedille Records. absolutely staggering technique, a sweet, pure tone, and seemingly end- less breath control. His performances of these three challenging concertos, Alex Klein won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best two of which were composed for him, are simply the last word in virtu- Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra for his record- CDR 90000 079 osity as well as a true labor of love.” — ClassicsToday.com ing of the Oboe Concerto with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony. Klein left the Chicago Symphony in July 2004 due to the onset of WIND CONCERTOS Musician’s Focal Dystonia. He currently performs as a by Cimarosa, Molique, and Moscheles soloist and conductor, and also teaches. Alex Klein, oboe / Mathieu Dufour, flute Czech National Symphony Orchestra / Paul Freeman, conductor

“Alex Klein and Mathieu Dufour, relatively young musicians recent- ly elevated to superstar status as principal members of the Chicago Symphony, play with great technical skill, remarkably pure and beautiful tone, and musical panache.” CDR 90000 080 — American Record Guide

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