New American Masters Volume 6
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NEW AMERICan MASTERS VOLUME 6 WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1669 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. NEWLY COMMISSIONED WORKS FOR FLUTE, CLARINET & PIANO 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. ADRIEnnE ALBERT - DOG TALES, MATTHEW BAIER - SYZYGY BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 GARY WILLIAM FRIEDMAN - REFLECTIONS, LINDA MARCEL - EVOCARE II © 2017 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD TIng HO - I’M AWAY FROM MY DESK… WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. JEFF SCOTT - POEM FOR A LOST KING, GARY SCHOCKER - TRIO NO. 2 Palisades_1669_book.indd 1-2 3/15/17 12:07 PM dogsitting for neighbors who have two dogs and go away frequently on long trips. One can only The Music imagine what ensues during those long nights at my house trying to take care of three dogs. Hence, Adrienne Albert: DOG TALES the irregular time signatures and the overlapping motifs. The second movement, The Artful Dodger is Award-winning composer Adrienne Albert (ASCAP) has had her chamber, choral, vocal, orchestral a tone poem to my dear dog who “artfully” managed to “dodge” the traffic and possible horrible and wind band works performed throughout the U.S. and around the world. Having previously worked outcomes on his journey. The last movement, Mutt & Steff, is a short and, I think, humorous homage as a singer with many composers, including Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Philip Glass, and Gunther to a chihuahua (think small dog=piccolo) and a great dane (bass clarinet) who try to figure out how Schuller, Albert began composing her own music in the 1990s. Her music has been supported by to get along and live together. It is with pleasure that I composed this work for Palisades Virtuosi. noteworthy arts organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers —ADRIENNE ALBERT Forum, MTC/Rockefeller Foundation, Subito Awards, Mu Phi Epsilon Fraternity, ACME, and ASCAP. Recent commissions include works for The Cornell University Chorus, Peter Sheridan, Holyoke Civic Matthew Baier: SYZYGY Symphony, Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation, Palisades Virtuosi, Zinkali Trio, Pennsylvania Academy of Composer and guitarist Matthew Baier received his Bachelor Degree in music from Nyack College, in Music, Chamber Music Palisades, Pacific Serenades as well as private individuals. A graduate of Nyack, New York where he studied composition with Paul Lilijestrand and classical guitar with Stanley UCLA, Albert studied composition with Leonard Stein, Stephen “Lucky” Mosko, and orchestration Solow of Nassau Community College on Long Island. He received his MFA degree in Studio Composition with Albert Harris. Her music is recorded on MSR, Naxos, Navona, Centaur, Little Piper, Albany, and from the S.U.N.Y. at Purchase where he studied composition with Dary John Mizelle. From 1999 to ABC Records and is published by Kenter Canyon Music (ASCAP). Adrienne’s music can also be found present he has hosted his annual fall program “A Recital of Original Compositions” in Nyack, New York through FluteWorld, Theodore Front Musical Literature, and Trevco-Varner Music. For more information, at venues including Grace Episcopal Church, The First Reformed Church of Nyack and Saint Paul’s Festival please visit: www.adriennealbert.com. of the Arts. Featuring many of the area’s finest musicians who are dedicated to the performance of contemporary chamber music, this event enjoys a growing audience each year. Each program includes Dog Tales for flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet) & piano a number of new works in addition to selections from the composer’s growing repertoire of audience When I was commissioned to compose a new work for the November, 2014 concert of Palisades Virtuosi, and performer favorites. Matthew has been a recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from the Arts Council I was told that the theme of the concert was “Music Born of Adversity.” Another holocaust piece, I of Rockland and the New York State Council for the Arts and also the Meet the Composer Fund. Affiliations thought? Or maybe something to do with Ebola? Oh no. Too depressing. How was I to know that, at include the Rockland Conservatory of Music, Long Island Composers Alliance (L.I.C.A.) and New that exact time, my rescue dog, Dodger, would run away from a friend’s home miles from where we Music USA. In addition to composing Mr. Baier has performed classical guitar recitals at the Queens live. Frightened and trying to find his way back home, he ended up even further away. Good fortune Public Library, Suffern Free Library, Nyack Library and The N.Y.U. School of Continuing Education. smiled down upon us! A kind and generous dog lover found him and held him in his car until we made our way to pick up this tired animal who was totally dehydrated and exhausted from running miles to Syzygy for flute, clarinet and piano who-knows-where. Those who know Los Angeles, the enormous distances between places and the The term syzygy is used in relation to the alignment of celestial bodies, specifically the configuration number of cars in the city know that this little creature had to cross many four-to-six lane boulevards of the sun, moon and earth lying in a straight line. While this work contains no factual scientific or and streets before his little legs could carry him no further. As Tennessee Williams said “the kindness mathematic number sequences in relation to the phenomenon, it does contain simple references: a of strangers” was, in this case, what saved my precious dog. To the homeless lady who held him, to my trio ensemble, three main sections to its form and the exchange of musical phrases in threes. friend who drove me to him, and to the man who kept him safe in his car, I forever thank them, wherever Syzygy makes use of the 12-tone method of composition as developed by Arnold Schoenberg they are. Each movement of Dog Tale has a story. The first movement, Three Dog Night refers to my (1874 – 1951) however it is framed in the standard Classical era sonata-allegro form. A brief introduction Palisades_1669_book.indd 3-4 3/15/17 12:07 PM precedes the piece where the original tone row is displayed between the piano and clarinet with the Reflections flute playing it in its retrograde form. The multi-sectional sonata-allegro form [exposition, development Reflections was commissioned and premiered in 2015. The piece is at its heart, a melodic and deeply and recapitulation] is reflected in the work’s main sections marked Allegro non troppo, Intermezzo emotional work. Its expressive lyricism shines through in spite of its highly chromatic harmonic struc- misterioso & cantabile and Fuga 1 & 2 - giocoso. As the work undergoes its periodic variations and ture. This rhythmic and harmonic lineage can be traced back to the free form Jazz experiments of the corresponding transitions it maintains a dance-like feel with Baroque performance sensibilities that 1960’s in which I participated, as a Jazz saxophonist. create buoyant and recognizable phrases. Syzygy’s last section contains two fugues with the last —GARY WILLIAM FRIEDMAN being a double fugue that gives homage to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750). —MATTHEW BAIER Ting Ho: I’M AWAY FROM MY DESK… Ting Ho has received awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Gary William Friedman: REFLECTIONS Endowment for the Humanities, the American Music Center and the New Jersey State Council on Gary William Friedman is a versatile composer best known for his groundbreaking score for the the Arts, and is the recipient of the Louis Lane Prize. His original compositions have received perfor- Tony-nominated, OBIE award winning musical “The Me Nobody Knows.” Born in Brooklyn, New York, mances at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington, he graduated from Brooklyn College where he completed his post-graduate studies in education. He DC, and elsewhere in the United States and abroad. One of his works was featured in a Voice of studied electronic music composition at Columbia University with Vladimir Ussachevsky, and advanced America broadcast to the Orient. Dr. Ho received his MA at Kent State University and his PhD at classical composition privately with Hall Overton and Jan Meyerowitz. His Outer Circle Critic’s Award the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. He is currently on the music faculty of winning off-Broadway musical “Taking My Turn” was chosen for presentation on PBS Television’s Montclair State University. Great Performance Series. His orchestral, operatic and dance works have been commissioned and performed at venues including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Lancaster Music I’m Away From My Desk… Festival and the Columbus Symphony. He has co-produced, and composed original material for several It’s summer, when we’re often thinking about adding the message “I’m away from my desk...” as our internationally acclaimed jazz recordings by his wife, Stevie Holland. Gary served as Music Director voice or e-mail response. Although we can only dream of the getaways we’d like to take, music of for TV’s “The Electric Company,” for which he wrote many songs including the popular “Spider Man our thoughts will often reflect foreign locales. I’m Away From My Desk... is a three-movement excur- Theme Song.” Recent premieres include “Butterfly: A Musical Journey of Hope,” Friedman’s orchestral sion, beginning with the anticipation—by boat, plane or something more exotic? Then a quiet respite, settings of poems written by children incarcerated in Theresienstadt, which was performed at Trinity perhaps in a tropical locale.