Jacob Glick, viola; Catherine Satterlee, mezzo-soprano; Henry Brant, organ; Phyllis Martin Pearson, vibraphone & piano; Marianne Finckel, harpsichord; Louis Calabro, timpani & chimes

Bennington String Ensemble; Lionel Nowak, conductor; Louis Calabro, timpani;
Gunnar Schonbeck, clarinet;Eastman Brass Ensemble; Louis Calabro, Conductor

Frank S. Baker, voice; Bennington Choral Ensemble; Vivian Fine, Conductor

Henry Brant's Hieroglyphics 3, in its original version, required the viola soloist to play from 3 widely separated positions in a dark hall, accompanied by unrelated and distant timpani, chimes, celesta, piano and harp; it was first performed by Walter Trampler at the Library of Congress in Washington in 1958: The present 1970 reworking substitutes harpsichord for harp, and vibraphone for celesta, and adds an improvising voice and an improvising pipe organ. The improvised parts are not "aleatoric" but planned and controlled. All the other parts are fully notated and played exactly as written but without rhythmic coordination.

Vivian Fine's Paean (1969), a dramatic cantata, presents quotations from Keats' Ode To Apollo, in a vocal treatment which offers many variations of singing, talking and declaiming, and which makes use at times of free multilineal textures and "free chords" Vocal participants are a male narrator (tenor) and a women's chorus. The instruments are trumpets and trombones, frequently scored in 12 parts.

About the Concert Piece, Lionel Nowak writes:

"It was written in 1961. During the previous year I had begun a string quartet but lost interest in it. When the suggestion was made that I write something for my colleague, Louis Calabro, I dug up an unfinished movement of the quartet and developed from it the Allegro of the Concert Piece. Since I wished also to explore the kettledrums in a lyrical manner the opening Adagio was added. Though more dramatic when played by a large string orchestra, the piece has been performed with a string quintet."

Louis Calabro writes:

"Environments is scored for six trumpets, six trombones, and an amplified clarinet. The title of the work suggests a backdrop of various and contrasting milieu played by the brass, which the clarinet journeys through as a sort of Ulysses.

"The Brass opening is a 12-tone cluster, with each brass then playing through its own 12-tone row in different rhythms. The parts coincide in the original cluster at the end of each set. From then on the work proceeds in a very free fashion, using the opening material in various ways. The clarinet serves throughout as a one-man dialogue, commenting to himself on the different moods that the brass textures create."

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.