Studies In Improvisation - Lukas Foss

 

Studies In Improvisation

Studies In Improvisation

Lukas Foss

Improvisation Chamber Ensemble

Produced by Peter Dellheim

Recording Engineer: Edwin Begley

RCA Victor Red Seal LM-2558

1961

Lukas Foss - Piano

Richard Duvall - Clarinet

Charles Delancey - Percussion

Howard Colf - Cello

(assisting) David Duke - French Horn

From the back cover: Ideally speaking, an improvisation should not be recorded. It is music which, when heard live, varies with each playing. It is chance transformed into a moment of significance. The pinning down of the moment, the perpetuation through recording is in conflict with the very idea of improvisation. However, if one thinks of a record not as a perpetuator but as a means of making the new known and available, then the recording of these improvisations becomes imperative and all opposing arguments fade into the background.

Ensemble improvisation as attempted here is new. It is based on new premises. It is an informal, spontaneous type of chamber music, proposed not in lieu of traditional chamber music practice, but in addition to it.

The Improvisation Chamber Ensemble is a pioneering group of four, who believe in improvised chamber music: (1) as an essential new outlet for the many excellent performing musicians in the world; (2) as a new hunting ground for the composer; and (3) as a challenge to the musical curiosity of the listener. Says Lukas Foss, composer, originator of the technique and pianist of the group:

"The music on this record is the result of extensive research and practice, of constant critical listening to one another, of developing from childish beginnings to the rather complex structures attempted on this record. I should welcome other musicians to follow suit, to form improvisation ensembles, to build on what we have accomplished, and to learn from our limitations and errors. It will take more than one approach to establish the art of ensemble improvisation as a way of making music. May this record make new friends for the art."

Lukas Foss has been a professor of composition and conductor of the university orchestra at the University of California at Los Angeles since 1953. He studied in Berlin and Paris before coming to the United States in 1937. He continued his studies at Curtis Institute, the Berkshire Music Center and Yale University. He has appeared as piano soloist and conductor with American symphony orchestras and in Europe. His diverse interests and talents are reflected in his compositions, which include three operatic works, two piano concertos, a symphony and other works for orchestra, chamber music in various combinations and several works for voices.

Mr. Foss' interest in the possibility of ensemble improvisation dates back to the spring of 1957 when, together with Richard Dufallo and Charles Delancey, he formed the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. Howard Colf joined the group in 1959. A year later the ensemble went on its first national tour which included appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The music of the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble is documented for the first time on this recording.

Fantasy and Fugue for Piano, Clarinet, Percussion, Cello

Music For Clarinet, Percussion And Piano

Variations In A Theme In Unison for Clarinet, Horn, Cello, Percussion, Piano

Quintet (Moirai) for Clarinet, Horn, Cello, Percussion, Piano

Encore I (Bagatelle) for Piano, Clarinet, Cello, Percussion

Encore II (Air Antique) for Cello and Percussion

Encore III (Circus Piece) for Clarinet, Cello, Percussion, Horn, Piano