FREDERIC RZEWSKI / JOHN HARBISON Speculum Musicae LP NM/NM Masterdisc LUDWIG

Description: Frederic Rzewski Biography by Donato Mancini Frederic Rzewski was among the major figures of the American musical avant-garde to emerge in the 1960s, and he was highly influential as a composer and performer. Rzewski's music helped define postwar American new music. He consistently gave exuberant boyish pleasures of a composer like Copland within the rigorously experimental framework of a composer like Cage. Often unapologetically tonal and fun, Rzewski's music cuts right through the frequent churlishness of avant-garde music. He was also an important educator. Rzewski was born on April 13, 1938 in Westfield, Massachusetts. He earned his B.A. in music at Harvard and later received an M.F.A. from Princeton, where he had the privilege of studying with Roger Sessions and Milton Babbit. A Fulbright scholarship allowed him to travel to Florence in 1960 to study for a year with Luigi Dallapiccola. Except for a five-year period in the 1970s, he mainly lived in Europe. He first came to public attention as a performer of new piano music, having participated in the premieres of such monumental works as Stockhausen's Klavierstück X (1962). In 1966, with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum, he founded the famous ensemble Musica Electronica Viva (MEV). MEV combined free improvisation with written music and electronics. These experimentations led directly to the creation of Rzewski's first important compositions, pieces such as Les moutons de Panurge, a so-called "process piece," which also combined elements of spontaneous improvisation with notated material and instructions. Rzewski's improv-classical hybrids are some of the most successful of the kind ever produced, thanks to the fervent energy at the core of his music. During the 1970s, his music continued to develop along these lines, but as his socialist proclivities began to direct his artistic course, he developed new structures for instrumental music that used text elements and musical style as structuring features. Attica, which includes the recitation of a prison letter, and The People United Will Never Be Defeated, a virtuosic set of piano variations, are his most well-known works of the period. In 1977, Rzewski was made professor of composition at the Royal Conservatory of Liège, Belgium, teaching there until his death. He also spent time teaching at Yale, the California Institute of the Arts, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and elsewhere. Songs of Insurrection by Frederic Rzewski During the 1980s, Rzewski produced a number of surprising twelve-tone compositions that helped provide fresh ideas of what could be done with serial systems. The 1990s saw him revisiting, via scored music, some highly spontaneous approaches to composition that recall his inspired experiments of the late 1960s. Rzewski continued composing into the 21st century, and in 2001, he made his scores available to download for free online. From 2006 until 2010, he composed a series of 56 Nanosonatas and dedicated many of them to friends, such as Hideyuki Arata and Pete Seeger, and on commission for Milton Schlosser. In 2016, Rzewski wrote Songs of Insurrection, a sequel to his popular The People United Will Never Be Defeated, which was heard on a recording by Thomas Kotcheff in 2021. That year, the Imani Winds featured Rzewski's Sometimes, for speaker, soprano, and winds, on its album Bruits. Rzewski died on June 26, 2021, in Montiano, Italy. John Harbison Biography by John Palmer John Harris Harbison is among the most prominent and prolific of American composers; his highly varied and interesting output has earned him the moniker, "the great master of ambiguity." His principal works include three string quartets, three symphonies, the cantata The Flight Into Egypt (Pulitzer Prize, 1987), and three operas, including The Great Gatsby (commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera -- premiered there, 1999). Harbison was born in Orange, NJ, on December 20, 1938, and grew up in Princeton. While a teenager he received musical guidance from Roger Sessions, one of his formative influences, while also developing considerable skills as a jazz pianist. Other of Harbison's teachers include Walter Piston at Harvard, Boris Blacher at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and Earl Kim at Princeton. As influential as any teacher was Harbison's marriage to violinist Rose Mary Pederson -- the inspiration for many of his violin pieces. Since 1969, he has been professor of music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, necessitating his becoming a "summer composer." More than 30 of his compositions have been recorded on the Nonesuch, Northeastern, Harmonia Mundi, New World, Decca, Koch, Centaur, Archetype, and CRI labels. His music is published exclusively by Associated Music Publishers. Exceptional economy and expressive range mark Harbison's music. His works embrace elements of jazz as well as the early and late Baroque styles of Heinrich Schütz and J. S. Bach. At times, the harmonic palette brings to mind the sound of Prokofiev or the rigorous serialism of 1950s Stravinsky. He is also a practiced writer on the art and craft of composition, and was recognized in his student years as an outstanding poet, later writing the libretto for his The Great Gatsby. Harbison's music first garnered national attention with the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 1976 premiere of Diotima, a commission by the Koussevitzky Foundation. This, his first major work for orchestra, showed him an adept symphonic composer -- a talent that he then applied to a string of concerted works, such as his Piano Concerto (1978) (recipient of the 1980 Kennedy Center Friedheim Award), and the Violin Concerto (1978-1980, rev. 1987), written for and premiered by Rose Mary Harbison. Other concertos came later, including one for viola (1989), oboe (1991), cello (1993), and flute (1993). Occasionally, as in The Most Often Used Chords (Gli accordi più usati) of 1993, Harbison enjoys putting compositional restrictions on himself to ignite his imagination. A great percentage of Harbison's works are for voice -- either solo, small ensemble, or large chorus; most notable among these are his Mirabai Songs (for soprano and percussion ensemble) and his operas, which (besides the aforementioned Gatsby) are: Full Moon In March (1977) and Winter's Tale (1974, rev. 1991). Harbison has worked extensively as a conductor, particularly with the Cantata Singers (1969-1973) and the new-music group Collage (established in 1984). He is a champion of twentieth century music, especially composers he feels have been neglected, such as Luigi Dallapiccola. Frederic Rzewski / John Harbison - Speculum Musicae With David Evitts, The Emmanuel Choir Of Boston – Song And Dance / The Flower-Fed Buffaloes Frederic Rzewski - Song And Dance / The Flower-Fed Buffaloes album cover Label:Nonesuch – H-71366 Format: Vinyl, LP Country:US Released:1979 Genre:Classical Style:Contemporary AFrederic Rzewski–Song And Dance Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Virgil Blackwell Composed By – Frederic Rzewski Contrabass – Donald Palma Engineer, Recording Supervisor [Musical Supervision] – Joanna Nickrenz, Marc J. Aubort Ensemble – Speculum Musicae Flute – Susan Palma Vibraphone – Richard Fitz 22:44 John HarbisonThe Flower-Fed Buffaloes (For Baritone, Six-part Chorus & Seven Players) Baritone Vocals – David Evitts Cello – Jerry Grossman Choir – The Emmanuel Choir Of Boston Clarinet – Virgil Blackwell Composed By – John Harbison Conductor – John Harbison Contrabass – Donald Palma Engineer – Paul Goodman Ensemble – Speculum Musicae Percussion – Richard Fitz Piano – Ursula Oppens Recording Supervisor [Musical Supervision] – Joanna Nickrenz Tenor Saxophone – Les Scott* Violin – Rolf Schulte Words By – Vachel Lindsay (20:04) B1–I. The Flower-Fed Buffaloes B2–II. Enrich My Resignation B3–III. Depths B4–IV. Above Pate Valley B5–V. The Amaranth Published By – Sound Pool Music Published By – Associated Music Publishers Recorded At – RCA Recording Studios Mastered At – Masterdisk Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Nonesuch Records Copyright © – Nonesuch Records Manufactured By – Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch Records Artwork [Cover Art] – R. Miller Vogel Coordinator – Teresa Sterne Design, Art Direction – H. Lee Mastered By – Robert C. Ludwig* Song And Dance was composed in 1977. The Flower-Fed Buffaloes was composed in 1976. GOLDMINE GRADING MINT ---- It should appear to be perfect. No scuffs or scratches, blotches or stains, labels or writing, tears or splits. Mint means perfect. NEAR MINT ---- Otherwise mint but has one or two tiny inconsequential flaws that do not affect play. Covers should be close to perfect with minor signs of wear or age just becoming evident: slight ring-wear, minor denting to a corner, or writing on the cover should all be noted properly. VERY GOOD PLUS ---- The record has been handled and played infrequently or very carefully. Not too far from perfect. On a disc, there may be light paper scuffs from sliding in and out of a sleeve or the vinyl or some of the original luster may be lost. A slight scratch that did not affect play would be acceptably VG+ for most collectors. VERY GOOD ---- Record displays visible signs of handling and playing, such as loss of vinyl luster, light surface scratches, groove wear and spindle trails. Some audible surface noise, but should not overwhelm the musical experience. Usually a cover is VG when one or two of these problems are evident: ring wear, seam splits, bent corners, loss of gloss, stains, etc. GOOD ---- Well played with little luster and significant surface noise. Despite defects, record should still play all the way through without skipping. Several cover flaws will be apparent, but should not obliterate the artwork.POOR ---- Any record or cover that does not qualify for the above "Good" grading should be seen as Poor. Several cover flaws.

Price: 9.99 USD

Location: Saginaw, Michigan

End Time: 2024-05-27T19:19:10.000Z

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