mode 262_Mikhashoff_book_9 10/21/13 11:10 PM Page 2 mode PO Box 1262 New York, NY10009 USA www.moderecords.com mode @ moderecords.com mode 262/65 • 4-CDs mode 262_Mikhashoff_book_9 10/21/13 11:10 PM Page 4 Charles IVES (1874-1954) Ernest BLOCH (1880-1959) Ernst KRENEK (1900-91) Morton GOULD (1913-96) 1. Piano Sonata No. 2,“Concord, Mass., 1840-60” (1911-15) 16. Poems of the Sea – II. Chanty (1922) 3:59 1. Twelve Short Piano Pieces, Op. 83 – 12. Prelude & Toccata – Prelude (1945) 2:26 – III. The Alcotts 7:08 G. Schirmer FIRST RECORDING VI. A Boat Slowly Sailing (1938) 2:43 Mills Music G. Schirmer Leo ORNSTEIN (1893-2002) George GERSHWIN (1898-1937) John CAGE (1912-92) 2. Suicide in an Airplane (c. 1916) 4:42 17. Impromptu in Two Keys (1924) 1:15 Otto LUENING (1900-96) 13. In a Landscape (1948) 9:06 Poon Hill Press New World Music Corp. 2. Six Preludes – Prelude No. 4 (1938-51) 2:15 Henmar Press / C. F. Peters G. Schirmer Charles Tomlinson GRIFFES (1884-1920) Edward Elzear “Zez” CONFREY (1895-1971) George ANTHEIL (1900-59) Three Preludes (1919) 7:30 18. Nickel in the Slot (1923) 2:36 Roger SESSIONS (1896-1985) Valentine Waltzes (1949) 7:15 3. I. 2:21 Alfred Music 3. From My Diary, No. 3 (1938) 2:06 14. I. 2:28 4. II. 1:59 Theodore Presser 15. II. 2:03 5. III. 3:10 Dane RUDHYAR (1895-1985) 16. III. 2:44 C. F. Peters 19. Third Pentagram (Release) – IV.Stars (1926) 3:56 Virgil THOMSON (1896-1989) G. Schirmer Columbia University Music Press 4. Souvenir: Portrait of Paul Bowles (1935) 0:58 Percy GRAINGER (1882-1961) Mercury Music FIRST RECORDING Virgil THOMSON (1896-1989) 6. In a Nutshell – III. Pastorale (1916) 11:47 Wallingford RIEGGER (1885-1961) 17. For a Happy Occasion (1951) 0:19 20. Blue Voyage, Op. 6 (1927) 8:16 Aaron COPLAND (1900-90) C. F. Peters Aaron COPLAND (1900-90) G. Schirmer 5. The Resting Place on the Hill, from Our Town (1940) 5:04 Three Sonnets (1918-19) 7:54 Boosey & Hawkes Earle BROWN (1926-2002) 7. I. 1:55 FIRST RECORDING Henry BRANT (1913-2008) 18. Three Pieces – No. 2 (1951) 1:45 8. II. 2:30 21. Music for a Five and Dime (1932) 2:56 Leonard BERNSTEIN (1918-90) Schott 9. III. 3:29 FIRST RECORDING G. Schirmer Seven Anniversaries (1943, rev. 1954) 2:30 Carl Fisher 6. I. For Aaron Copland 1:44 Mel POWELL (1923-1998) Ruth CRAWFORD SEEGER (1901-53) 7. VII. For William Schuman 0:46 19. Etude (1957) 2:21 Henry COWELL (1897-1965) 22. Nine Preludes – No. 6 (1924-28) 3:17 Boosey & Hawkes Lawson-Gould Music Publishers 10. Amiable Conversation (1917) 1:02 Merion Music Carl RUGGLES (1876-1971) La Monte YOUNG (b. 1935) Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) Paul BOWLES (1910-99) Evocations (1934-43, rev. 1954) 10:55 20. Study No. 2 (1959) 0:46 FIRST RECORDING 11. Valse pour les petits lecteurs du Figaro (1917) 1:04 23. Sonatina Fragmentaria (1933) 4:52 8. I. 2:13 21. Sarabande (1959, rev. 1980) 3:14 unpublished, from manuscript FIRST RECORDING 9. II. 4:17 FIRST RECORDING FOR PIANO George ANTHEIL (1900-59) Conlon NANCARROW (1912-97) 10. I V. 4:25 self published Sonata: Death of Machines (1922) 2:03 Theodore Presser 12. I. 0:27 24. Prelude & Blues – Blues (c. 1935) 2:32 Peggy GLANVILLE-HICKS (1912-90) 13. II. 0:34 Smith Publications Roy HARRIS (1898-1979) 22. Prelude for a Pensive Pupil (1958) 3:02 14. III. 0:25 John CAGE (1912-92) 11. American Ballads – I. Streets of Laredo (1946) 2:26 Lawson-Gould Music Publishers 15. IV. 0:47 25. Quest (1935) 1:10 Carl Fischer G. Schirmer Henmar Press / C. F. Peters1 2 4 5 mode 262_Mikhashoff_book_9 10/21/13 11:10 PM Page 6 Morton FELDMAN (1926-87) John CAGE (1912-92) Philip GLASS (b. 1937) Alvin SINGLETON (b. 1940) 1. Vertical Thoughts 4 (1963) 3:36 10. 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs (1977) – 1. Opening (1981) 5:21 10. Changing Faces (1970/1987) 1:56 C. F. Peters 1st realization 0:17 Dunvagen Music Publishers Schott Helicon Music FIRST RECORDING 11. 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs (1977) – Lukas FOSS Alan HOVHANESS (1911-2000) 2nd realization 1:13 (1922-2009) Lou HARRISON (1917-2003) 2. Five Visionary Landscapes Op. 214 (1965) 10:39 Henmar Press / C. F. Peters Solo (1981) 13:04 11 . A Summerfield Set – I. Sonata (1988) 5:18 2. I. 4:34 Pembroke Music Co. Frog Peak Music 3. II. 2:31 Tom CONSTANTEN (b. 1944) Alvin CURRAN 4. III. Evening Bell 3:34 12. Dejavalse (1977) 2:57 (b. 1938) Conlon NANCARROW (1912-97) 3. C. F. Peters Henmar Press / C. F. Peters For Cornelius (1982) 13:47 Three Two-Part Studies (c. 1935, premiered by Frog Peak Music Yvar Mikhashoff in 1991) 3:29 Frank ZAPPA (1940-93) Robert MORAN (b. 1937) 12. I. 1:04 John CAGE 5. Piano Introduction to “Little House I Used to Live In” 13. Valse “In Memoriam Maurice Ravel” (1976) 1:56 (1912-92) 13. II. 1:29 4. (1970) 3:15 C. F. Peters Souvenir (1983) 7:03 14. III. 0:51 Frank Zappa Music Inc. Henmar Press / C. F. Peters C. F. Peters Philip GLASS (b. 1937) FIRST RECORDING FOR PIANO Mario DAVIDOVSKY (b. 1934) 14. Modern Love Waltz (1977) 2:51 Nils VIGELAND 6. Synchronisms No. 6 for piano & tape (1970) 7:19 C. F. Peters (b. 1950) Edward B. Marks Music 5. Nocturne:The Sensualist, Dying, Recalls His Protestant Frederic RZEWSKI (b. 1938) Youth (1987) 3:13 George CRUMB (b. 1929) 15. Four Piano Pieces – No. 4 (1977) 9:29 self published 7. Makrokosmos,Vol. 2 – VII.Tora! Tora! Tora! Zen-On Music (Cadenza Apocalittica) (Scorpio) (1973) 2:23 Stephen PAULUS (b. 1949) C. F. Peters Christian WOLFF (b. 1934) 6. Dance (1987) 2:03 16. Prelude No. 5 (1981) 4:15 Schott Helicon Music Lou HARRISON (1917-2003) C. F. Peters 8. A Waltz for Evelyn Hinrichsen (1977) 2:28 Kamran INCE (b. 1960) C. F. Peters James SELLARS (b. 1943) 7. My Friend Mozart (1987) 4:11 Nocturnes (1981) 10:18 Schott Helicon Music Joan TOWER (b. 1938) 17. I. Spanish Dreams 4:17 Joseph SCHWANTNER 9. Red Garnet Waltz (1977) 3:27 18. II. French Dreams 2:14 (b. 1943) 8. C. F. Peters 19. III.American Dreams 3:47 Veiled Autumn (Kindertodeslied) (1987) 4:20 Hog River Music Schott Helicon Music Otto LUENING Ross Lee FINNEY (1906-97) (1900-96) 9. 20. Youth’s Companion – V.Riddle Song (1981) 2:55 Song Without Words (1987) 2:58 C. F.Peters FIRST RECORDING American Composers Alliance 43 6 7 mode 262_Mikhashoff_book_9 10/21/13 11:10 PM Page 8 Yvar Mikhashoff, Panorama of American Piano Music, 1911 – 1990 he unique sensibility of the pianist and musi- the 1980s as well as editing and arranging the music T cal polymath Yvar Mikhashoff (1941-1993) of Henry Cowell, Conlon Nancarrow, and others. permeates this collection. These discs feature By the time he earned his master’s degree in music ranging from Antheil to Zappa, and capture 1968, Mackay was performing under his grandfather’s many of the most important trends in the rich history name, Mikhashoff. Although it might seem unexpect- of American piano music in the twentieth century. ed for a performer who adopted an “exotic” name to This musical panorama runs the gamut from shorter specialize in American music, it was an apt choice works meant for the pleasure of the amateur pianist in retrospect given Mikhashoff’s cosmopolitanism. to virtuosic works of the highest order. It gives the lis- After studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris on a tener a sense of the remarkable diversity of writing for Fulbright, Mikhashoff completed his doctoral work the piano in this country over the last hundred years at University of Texas at Austin and built a career of as well as amply demonstrating the depth and versa- international visibility from his home base in Buffalo, tility of Mikhashoff’s own musical thinking. NY, where he was a professor and artist-in-residence Mikhashoff cultivated a multifaceted musical at the University at Buffalo from 1973 until his death persona from an early age. Born as Ronald Mackay in 1993. He arrived the same year that Morton in Troy, NY, his unusual talent was recognized while Feldman was appointed Edgar Varèse Professor of he was a teenager. One article from the Schenectady Music, and Buffalo’s vibrant musical culture is indi- Gazette in 1956 made a special note of Mackay’s cated by Mikhashoff’s inclusion of Feldman’s contem- compositions as a feature of a recital he played with plative Vertical Thoughts 4 in this collection. fellow students of Betty Roberge Weir. In his early The extent of Mikhashoff’s globe-trotting musical twenties he studied cello and composition as well life is hinted at by considering the 184 recordings as piano at the Eastman School of Music and later which are held at his archive in the University at continued his piano studies at the Juilliard School of Buffalo library. These tapes capture his concerts Music and the University of Houston. His life away throughout Europe and the United States and illus- from the keyboard often informed his activities at the trate how his approach to programming became With Conlon Nancarrow in Nancarrow’s home piano bench.