New American Music, Volume III
Spectrum: New American Music, Volume III
Jacob Druckman: Incenters
Joseph Schwanten: Diaphonia Intervallum
John Harbison: Confinement
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Arthur Weisberg, Conductor
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Art Direction: William S. Harvey
Cover Design: Hess and/or Antupit
This recording was made with assistance from The Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, Inc.
Nonesuch H-71221 (Stereo)
1969
Thomas Nyfenger - Flute
George Haas - Oboe & English Horn
Arthur Bloom - Clarinet & Bass
Clarinet Donald MacCourt - Bassoon
Ralph Froelich - Horn
Robert Nagel - Trumpet
John Swallow - Trombone
Paul Zukofsky - Violin
Jacob Glick - Viola
Ko Iwasaki - Cello
Jeffrey Levine - Double Bass Gilbert Kalish - Piano & Electric Organ
Raymond Desroches - Percussion
With guest artists: V
ictor Morosco - Alto Saxophone
Jeanne Benjamin - Violin
Helen Harbison - Cello
From the cover: Every culture and cultural era expresses itself not merely in terms of "style" (whatever that is) but through its media and means of expression as well. The chiaroscuro of the Baroque concertino-tutti and aria with continuo and obbligato, the homogeneous qualities of the Classical orchestra and string quartet, the mixed-blended colors of the Romantic orchestra and grand piano, are each characteristic of the age that produced them. Similarly, the "sound" of the 20th century-its most characteristic aural image is the mixed chamber ensemble.
From the first decades of the century (the early Schoenberg and Webern chamber-orchestra works, Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat, and so forth) until the most recent developments in electronics and mixed media, the new "broken consort" has dominated new music and created its own musical and cultural forms.
It is in response to these conditions and new repertoire that a number of remarkable chamber series and ensembles, generally devoted in large part to contemporary music, have sprung up across the country. These groups, often based in universities, have no single fixed form but constitute a flexible unit out of which various combinations and sub-combinations of instruments often with voice and/or tape – can be drawn. Drawing on the most brilliant and idealistic young performing and composing talent, these groups represent a coming-together of creator and interpreter unmatched in Western music since the 18th century.
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, one of the most outstanding of these organizations, was established in 1960 by conductor Arthur Weisberg. Since 1965, the group has been in residence at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, on a Rockefeller Foundation grant. The personnel consists of some of the best of the New York players; these recordings offer ample testimony to their virtuosity and musicianship, as well as their ability to deal with – and their creative involvement in the most difficult new music.
Jacob Druckman's Incenters was written in 1968 for Arthur Weisberg and the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and first performed by the group at Rutgers and in New York in the same year. Druckman, born in 1928 in Philadelphia, studied at Tanglewood, at the Juilliard School of Music, and at the Ecole normale de musique in Paris. Since 1957 he has been on the faculty of Juilliard. His awards and grants include a Fulbright and two Guggenheims, as well as SPAM, Lado, Juilliard, Naumburg, Mercury Music, Wechsler, and Tanglewood commissions. He has produced a substantial list of works, several with electronic elements.
An incenter is a triangle inscribed within a circle, or a pyramid within a sphere; the term is also related to a whole class of words derived from the Latin incenere, p.p. incentus: to sound an instrument, to sing, and also to weave charms or spells. The piece is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion, and solo strings. The brass dominate, and they set in motion each chain of musical events by upsetting the equilibrium established by the other instruments. These states of equilibrium derive from static, sym- metrical chords whose ultimate, unlikely source is Boris Godounov! The actual Coronation Scene chords are quoted shortly before the final section of overlapping blocks of sound. The notation is sometimes precise, sometimes proportional so that the players relate to each other freely or at the conductor's whim; the result is flexibility within a carefully structured form.
Joseph Schwantner was born in Chicago in 1943 and studied at the Chicago Conservatory and Northwestern University. He has received BMI, Bearns, and William T. Faricy Awards; at present he is Assistant Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash- ington.
Diaphonia intervallum was written in Evans- ton, Illinois, in 1966. The title means "dissonant interval" and refers to the major seventh, the building-block interval of the piece. The instrumentation sets a solo saxophone against concertante flute and piano and tutti strings. The work has three main sections, of which the middle one is a kind of trio for the solo instru- ments. The work was given its premiere by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at Rutgers and in New York in 1967.
John Harbison was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1938. He studied at Princeton University with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim, and was a Junior Fellow at Harvard. He is a violist and conductor as well as composer, and has been active in contemporary musical performance.
From the first decades of the century (the early Schoenberg and Webern chamber-orchestra works, Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat, and so forth) until the most recent developments in electronics and mixed media, the new "broken consort" has dominated new music and created its own musical and cultural forms.
It is in response to these conditions and new repertoire that a number of remarkable chamber series and ensembles, generally devoted in large part to contemporary music, have sprung up across the country. These groups, often based in universities, have no single fixed form but constitute a flexible unit out of which various combinations and sub-combinations of instruments often with voice and/or tape – can be drawn. Drawing on the most brilliant and idealistic young performing and composing talent, these groups represent a coming-together of creator and interpreter unmatched in Western music since the 18th century.
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, one of the most outstanding of these organizations, was established in 1960 by conductor Arthur Weisberg. Since 1965, the group has been in residence at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, on a Rockefeller Foundation grant. The personnel consists of some of the best of the New York players; these recordings offer ample testimony to their virtuosity and musicianship, as well as their ability to deal with – and their creative involvement in the most difficult new music.
Jacob Druckman's Incenters was written in 1968 for Arthur Weisberg and the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and first performed by the group at Rutgers and in New York in the same year. Druckman, born in 1928 in Philadelphia, studied at Tanglewood, at the Juilliard School of Music, and at the Ecole normale de musique in Paris. Since 1957 he has been on the faculty of Juilliard. His awards and grants include a Fulbright and two Guggenheims, as well as SPAM, Lado, Juilliard, Naumburg, Mercury Music, Wechsler, and Tanglewood commissions. He has produced a substantial list of works, several with electronic elements.
An incenter is a triangle inscribed within a circle, or a pyramid within a sphere; the term is also related to a whole class of words derived from the Latin incenere, p.p. incentus: to sound an instrument, to sing, and also to weave charms or spells. The piece is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion, and solo strings. The brass dominate, and they set in motion each chain of musical events by upsetting the equilibrium established by the other instruments. These states of equilibrium derive from static, sym- metrical chords whose ultimate, unlikely source is Boris Godounov! The actual Coronation Scene chords are quoted shortly before the final section of overlapping blocks of sound. The notation is sometimes precise, sometimes proportional so that the players relate to each other freely or at the conductor's whim; the result is flexibility within a carefully structured form.
Joseph Schwantner was born in Chicago in 1943 and studied at the Chicago Conservatory and Northwestern University. He has received BMI, Bearns, and William T. Faricy Awards; at present he is Assistant Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash- ington.
Diaphonia intervallum was written in Evans- ton, Illinois, in 1966. The title means "dissonant interval" and refers to the major seventh, the building-block interval of the piece. The instrumentation sets a solo saxophone against concertante flute and piano and tutti strings. The work has three main sections, of which the middle one is a kind of trio for the solo instru- ments. The work was given its premiere by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at Rutgers and in New York in 1967.
John Harbison was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1938. He studied at Princeton University with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim, and was a Junior Fellow at Harvard. He is a violist and conductor as well as composer, and has been active in contemporary musical performance.
Side One (24:51) Jacob Druckman (b. 1928) Incenters (1968) (12:40) - for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano & electric organ, percussion (publ. MCA Music, a division of MCA Inc.)
Joseph Schwantner (b. 1943) Diaphonia intervallum (1966) (12:03) for alto saxophone, flute, piano, 2 violins, viola, 2 cellos, double bass. Victor Morosco, alto saxophone
Side Two (15:15)
John Harbison (b. 1938) Confinement (1965) for flute, oboe & English horn, clarinet & bass clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, percussion
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