Liner Notes
Cat. No. NWCRL294
Release Date: 2010-10-15
Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano; Composers Quartet; Matthew Raimondi, violin; Anahid Ajemian, violin; Jean Dupouy, viola; Michael Rudiakov, cello; David Del Tredici, piano; Robert Helps, piano; Michele Gallien, viola; Rolf Schulte, violin; Eugene Drucker, violin; Ruth Waterman, violin; Jean Dupouy, viola; Louise Schulman, viola; Richard Bock, cello; Fortunato Arico, cello; Fred Sherry, cello; Charles Wuorinen, Conductor
I Hear An Army was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation in 1964 and is a setting for soprano and string quartet of the last and by far the most dramatic of the poems collected in James Joyce's Chamber Music.
David Del Tredici writes:
“The poem itself is a description of a nightmare, growing steadily more terrifying as it progresses. The sleeper is finally frightened into wakefulness but instead of relief feels only the despair and loneliness of a love lost.
“Scherzo for piano, four-hands, was written in 1960 at the request of Milton and Peggy Salkind, a marvelous four-hand piano team much interested in creating a contemporary literature for their very special medium.
“The piece follows the gesture and shape of the traditional scherzo, having an overall ABA form — the A sections being fast and virtuostic, and the central B section, a slow, more soulful contrast.”
David Diamond's Nonet was composed for Igor Stravinsky's eightieth birthday. It was completed on February 25, 1962, in Florence, Italy. The Nonet is extremely concentrated music in two movements. Although in certain striking passages all the instruments play together in octaves, most of the time each player contrasts his individual part to a luxuriantly contrapuntal texture. The first dozen bars of the first movement present the basic thematic material, and the music proceeds to merge traditional techniques with twentieth century serial procedures. The first section is characterized by a continual fluctuation of tempo and texture. The adagio that follows has a constant fluctuation of meter. The vigorous and varied second movement presents several figures which become more prominent in the concluding fugue. The fugue subject is announced by the first violin. The heavily syncopated leaps of the subject make it easily recognizable. The fugue builds to a savage climax, subsides suddenly, and the Nonet ends with a simple tonal cadence.
String Quartet No. 9 was composed to commemorate Roger Sessions' seventieth birthday. It was completed on June 26, 1968, in Rochester. Like his first quartet of 1940, the ninth is in one extended movement utilizing almost all of the traditional structural procedures in nontraditional ways. All principal thematic materials are heard at the very opening of the quartet, and the two major themes become the fulfillment of the double canon which closes the quartet. Into the contrapuntal devices are filigreed motival and thematic references to Sessions' Violin Concerto transformed into new expressive thematic shapes.
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.
I Hear An Army was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation in 1964 and is a setting for soprano and string quartet of the last and by far the most dramatic of the poems collected in James Joyce's Chamber Music.
David Del Tredici writes:
“The poem itself is a description of a nightmare, growing steadily more terrifying as it progresses. The sleeper is finally frightened into wakefulness but instead of relief feels only the despair and loneliness of a love lost.
“Scherzo for piano, four-hands, was written in 1960 at the request of Milton and Peggy Salkind, a marvelous four-hand piano team much interested in creating a contemporary literature for their very special medium.
“The piece follows the gesture and shape of the traditional scherzo, having an overall ABA form — the A sections being fast and virtuostic, and the central B section, a slow, more soulful contrast.”
David Diamond's Nonet was composed for Igor Stravinsky's eightieth birthday. It was completed on February 25, 1962, in Florence, Italy. The Nonet is extremely concentrated music in two movements. Although in certain striking passages all the instruments play together in octaves, most of the time each player contrasts his individual part to a luxuriantly contrapuntal texture. The first dozen bars of the first movement present the basic thematic material, and the music proceeds to merge traditional techniques with twentieth century serial procedures. The first section is characterized by a continual fluctuation of tempo and texture. The adagio that follows has a constant fluctuation of meter. The vigorous and varied second movement presents several figures which become more prominent in the concluding fugue. The fugue subject is announced by the first violin. The heavily syncopated leaps of the subject make it easily recognizable. The fugue builds to a savage climax, subsides suddenly, and the Nonet ends with a simple tonal cadence.
String Quartet No. 9 was composed to commemorate Roger Sessions' seventieth birthday. It was completed on June 26, 1968, in Rochester. Like his first quartet of 1940, the ninth is in one extended movement utilizing almost all of the traditional structural procedures in nontraditional ways. All principal thematic materials are heard at the very opening of the quartet, and the two major themes become the fulfillment of the double canon which closes the quartet. Into the contrapuntal devices are filigreed motival and thematic references to Sessions' Violin Concerto transformed into new expressive thematic shapes.
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 David Del Tredici & David Diamond
| 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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I Hear an Army
David Del Tredici
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Buy
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String Quartet No. 9
David Diamond
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Buy
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Nonet: I. First Movement
David Diamond
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Buy
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Nonet: II. Second Movement
David Diamond
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Buy
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Scherzo
David Del Tredici
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Buy
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