Catherine Rowe, soprano; Gerardo Levy, flute; Alexander Kougell, cello; Andrew Thomas, piano; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Hodkinson, conductor; F. Gerard Errante, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone; William Albright, piano
Leo Kraft writes
"I am always searching for words to set to music, and when I read the poems of Steve Stepanchev I knew I had found what I wanted. For one thing, anyone who could find something of aesthetic value in Flushing, N. Y., must be a true poet. For another, the poems are lean enough to allow room, a good deal of room, for music. I also found the frequent use of imagery drawn from the world of music stimulating, suggesting re-translation back into the language of music itself. I wrote the songs with Catherine Rowe's voice in my mind, and she gave the first performance at the Composers Theatre in New York City, April 25, 1970. The piece is dedicated to her and to the poet.
"Dialogues was written during my sabbatical, in the fall and winter 1967- 68. Shortly before, I had gone back to school (Columbia University) to learn about electronic music, and when my colleague Gerardo Levy asked me for a piece for flute and tape I was delighted at the opportunity. The work is in four sections and a coda. In each section the dialogue is somewhat different. In the first, clear statements and responses; in the second, rapid exchanges; in the third, a short ternary piece in itself, the flute is answered with white noise sounds; in the fourth, constant interplay. The soda telescopes material from the four sections into a non-stop finale."
About Valence, Sydney Hodkinson writes:
"The American Heritage Dictionary defines valence as the capacity of something to unite, react or interact with something else.' The term is most commonly applied in chemistry to the bonding of atoms or groups of atoms.
"Sounds themselves can unite, react or interact with other sounds, depending on the nature of their presentation and their inherent properties (i.e. frequency, intensity, duration, timbre), hopefully providing the aesthetic necessities. For me, the aesthetic necessities come down to coherence, direction, contrast, unity, etc. – all the Western truisms.
The Dissolution of the Serial, or, who stole my porridge? was completed in the fall of 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was written for a series of new music concerts given at a local coffee house. Mr. Hodkinson has provided the following program note:
"The composer is here dealing with the implications and identity of systematized combinatorial adjacencies, with their inverse complements, on the communication between two musical performers, and the resultant ramifications of a cyclical, yet invariable, associative derivation, as set forth in group theories of the set structure. However, the equivalent analogous sequences of formulable pre-determined elements and varying magnitudes based on differing quanta characterizes all of the permutational relationships; ergo, enabling the parametrical properties, coupled with interlocking rotational juxtaposition, to provide the maximal significant referential functionality of the interconstructival hierarchization. But then ..."
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Full liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Music of Leo Kraft & Sydney Hodkinson
| MP3/320 | $7.99 | |
| FLAC | $7.99 | |
| WAV | $7.99 | |
| CD-R | $7.99 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Spring in The Harbor: On Paumanok
Leo Kraft
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Spring in The Harbor: A Plectrum
Leo Kraft
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Spring in The Harbor: A Girl Skipping Rope in Flushing
Leo Kraft
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Spring in The Harbor: The Boy From San Juan
Leo Kraft
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Spring in The Harbor: Beside a Lake
Leo Kraft
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Spring in The Harbor: Spring in The Harbor
Leo Kraft
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Dialogues
Leo Kraft
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Valence
Sydney Hodkinson
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The Dissolution of the Serial
Sydney Hodkinson
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