Genevieve Chinn piano; Allen Brings, piano; Vivien Harvey Slater, piano
Robert Helps writes:
“Saccade was commissioned by Milton and Peggy Salkind through the Friends of Four Hand Music (San Francisco) and premiered by them in San Francisco in June, 1968.
“After finishing the piece and having the problems that often attend finding a title, a search through the S-section of Webster's unabridged dictionary turned up the word 'saccade.' Saccade is a riding term meaning a quick check of the horse by a violent pull on the reins and a musical term meaning a sudden strong pressure of the violin bow causing two or more strings to sound simultaneously. All of this would seem to apply most meaningfully, if at all, to the opening of the piece which does a rather nasty thing to any 'togetherness- minded' four hand piano team by stating the main declamatory theme in six widely-spaced chords which are not to be played quite together by the two players. This quasi grace-note characteristic plays a recurring role one way or another in several parts of the piece...
Thomas Moore writes:
“I am concerned with a kind of 'overwriting' in which an addition is made to an original in such a way, that the additional matter absorbs the original into itself. In this case, Metamorphosis is written over the first movement of Anton Webern's Symphony, Op. 21, much as a painter might fill in the spaces to transform an original abstraction. Webern's material (in augmentation and with changes in durational values) is embedded in the new work. In most of the piece the choice of new tones is governed by the same twelve-tone set that Webern used in the Symphony. In one passage (together with its repetition) Webern's original tones are not covered over but are changed in their articulation. With these words my compositional debt to Webern for Metamorphosis is acknowledged.”
Raoul Pleskow's Three Pieces was written in 1968, and premiered by Genevieve Chinn and Allen Brings at whose request it was composed.
The three short pieces of which this work is comprised are not differentiated significantly by tempo or mood. They are rather like three variations, each with its own thematic properties, undergoing a procedural technique characterized by the juxtaposition and interaction of small musical fragments and sudden and frequent changes of texture, dynamics, and syntax.
Arthur Shepherd (b. Paris, Idaho, 1880, d. Cleveland, 1958), was a member of the generation that built a bridge between the music of MacDowell, Loeffler, Chadwick, Parker, Foote and Griffes, and that of the later Piston-Harris-Copland generation. Like the music of his own contemporaries such as Converse, Carpenter, Farwell and Gilbert, the work of Arthur Shepherd is being rediscovered as an important contribution to American art. His extensive catalogue of music in many forms has been performed internationally by leading orchestras and soloists. It is distinguished by exceptionally solid workmanship, a striking individuality of sound and content, and a communication which has been called genuinely aristocratic. His long career as composer, teacher, conductor, pianist, critic, and counselor of countless younger artists was — in the words of musicologist William S. Newman — “marked by a quiet steadfastness of purpose, not by spectacular adventures.”
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. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Helps / Moore / Pleskow / Shepherd
| MP3/320 | $13.00 | |
| FLAC | $13.00 | |
| WAV | $13.00 | |
| CD-R | $13.00 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Saccade
Robert Helps
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Metamorphosis
Thomas Moore
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Three Pieces: I.-
Raoul Pleskow
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Three Pieces: II. -
Raoul Pleskow
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Three Pieces: III. -
Raoul Pleskow
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Capriccio II
Arthur Shepherd
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Lento Amabile
Arthur Shepherd
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In Modo Ostinato
Arthur Shepherd
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Exotic Dance: No. 1
Arthur Shepherd
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Exotic Dance: No. 3
Arthur Shepherd
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Eclogue: No. 4
Arthur Shepherd
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Gigue Fantasque
Arthur Shepherd
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