Chamber Cantata On Chinese Poems

Chamber Cantata On Chinese Poems

Alan Hovhaness Koke No Niwa, Op. 181 "Moss Garden" 1960
Composed By, Conductor – Alan Hovhaness
English Horn – Melvin Kaplan
Harp – Ruth Negri
Percussion – Elden Bailey*, Walter Rosenberger

Ezra Sims Chamber Cantata On Chinese Poems 1954
Cello – Judith Davidoff
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Felix Viscuglia
Composed By – Ezra Sims
Conductor – Daniel PinkhamFlute – Elinor Preble
Harpsichord – Helen Keany
Tenor Vocals – Richard Conrad
Viola – William Hibbard

Lawrence Moss Four Scenes For Piano 1961
Composed By – Lawrence MossPiano – Seymour Fink

Lawrence Moss Sonata For Violin And PianoComposed By – Lawrence MossPiano – Yehudi WynerViolin – Matthew Raimondi

CRI SD 186

To my ears, here is the most entertaning piece from an obscure 1964 CRI contemporary music set.

From the back cover: The Chamber Cantata on Chinese Poems is a cycle of the year, beginning with New Year's Day (early Spring, in China) and continuing through to the end of Winter, with the first buds showing on the still snowy tree branches – which explains the somewhat anti-dramatic character of the music, this in line with the Chinese preoccupation with the youth-middle life-old age – and rebirth progression. The Cantata was to have been much larger, with a more rigorously patterned apportionment for the four tone-rows. Good sense won out of pretty planning, however.