Lydian String Quartet; Dominique Labelle, soprano; Christopher Krueger, flute; Jean Rife, horn; Daniel Stepner, violin; Yehudi Wyner, piano
The music of Yehudi Wyner (b 1929) represents a fusion and reconciliation of opposites－of coherence and surprise; of formal ingenuity and informal, spontaneous ease; of clarity and elusiveness. The repeated allusions to pop music of the Swing era never appear in quotation marks, but as part of a texture where everything is always turning into something else, and you never know what's going to lie around the corner.
Much of Wyner’s music was written for specific occasions and purposes as well as for specific people. However, the pieces transcend those original occasions and purposes. 3 Informal Pieces and Brandeis Sunday are excellent examples of this dimension of his work. Dances of Atonement reflects Wyner's Jewish heritage, his practicality, and the way his music takes on a life of its own. The String Quartet, written for his friends in the Lydian Quartet, begins in one place and ends in another that is a surprising but inevitable consequence of where it began.
On This Most Voluptuous Night, one of the composer’s major works, is perhaps most characteristic of the intersections in Wyner’s music. The text comes from a poetic master of the American vernacular, William Carlos Williams, and the music, like much of Wyner’s work, is both learned and vernacular. It also represents the fruit of decades of work on Bach — the words and the music, and the relationship between the words and the music as a way of getting into its inner life.
Above all, Yehudi Wyner’s music is immediate. What other American composer could startle you by mentioning Verdi as his model? “My music,” Wyner once said, “is anything but theoretical. It is full of palpable gestures; it packs an immediate punch, but there is more underneath that, as in Verdi. I want things to be clear, powerful — and complicated.”
Yehudi Wyner: On This Most Voluptuous Night
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A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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On This Most Voluptuous Night: I. On This Most Voluptuous Night
Yehudi Wyner
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On This Most Voluptuous Night: II. The End of the Parade
Yehudi Wyner
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On This Most Voluptuous Night: III. The Artist: I, II, III
Yehudi Wyner
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On This Most Voluptuous Night: IV. Learning with Age to Sleep My Life Away
Yehudi Wyner
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On This Most Voluptuous Night: V. Puerto Rico Song
Yehudi Wyner
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Brandeis Sunday
Yehudi Wyner
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String Quartet: I. Tense and incisive
Yehudi Wyner
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String Quartet: Interlude with scherzino
Yehudi Wyner
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String Quartet: II. Alla marcia
Yehudi Wyner
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3 Informal Pieces: I
Yehudi Wyner
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3 Informal Pieces: II
Yehudi Wyner
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3 Informal Pieces: III
Yehudi Wyner
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Dances of Atonement: Kol Nidre
Yehudi Wyner
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Dances of Atonement: V'hakohanim
Yehudi Wyner
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