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Hugh Aitken
Although he had been composing since early high school, Hugh Aitken studied
chemistry for two years at New York University, not being sure that his
career would be in music. He volunteered for the Army Air Corps in 1943,
serving as a navigator on B-17ıs flying out of Italy. After the war he
entered The Juilliard School of Music, studying composition with Bernard
Wagenaar, Vincent Persichetti and Robert Ward, graduating in 1950.
He retired two years ago from the faculty at William Paterson University in
New Jersey. Before that he had taught for twenty years at Juilliard, where
he first met Gerard Schwarz, who was a trumpet major at the time. Their
first collaboration was a quintet for trumpet and string quartet which Schwarz
played several times with the Concord String Quartet and other quartets.
Besides the works on this disc, Schwarz has conducted Aitkenıs first Violin
Concerto, also with Elmar Oliveira as soloist, and most recently, the
premiere performances of his Symphony (1998). Greenwood Press has published
Aitkenıs The Piece As A Whole, a book exploring the relationships between
musicıs technical procedures and itıs expressive character. The composer lives in
Oakland, New Jersey with his wife Laura Isabel Tapia, who wrote the libretto
for his opera Felipe. He has supplied the following comments for the works
on this recording:
Aspen Concerto
This, my second violin concerto, was requested by Joseph Anton Swensen who
gave the first performance on August 9, 1989 at the Aspen Music Festival
with the Aspen Sinfonia conducted by Peter Jaffe. I am grateful to Swenson
for having made the felicitous suggestion that I write several sections in which
he would engage in chamber-music like colloquies with solo players from the
orchestra. It is a special treat to have a violinist as fine as Oliveira
take up the piece anew. Beyond that, I will let the music speak for itself.
Rameau Remembered
This work was requested by Gerard Schwarz for the opening concert of the
White Mountains Festival on August 7, 1980 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
When Schwarz suggested that I write some sort of transcription for flutist
Julius Baker and chamber orchestra, I was delighted. I have long loved the
delicious music of Rameau, some of which I had used in my chamber opera
Fables, so I jumped at the opportunity to give myself the pleasure of making
an entire piece which would be an homage to his music. Most of the material
I use is from his opera Castor and Pollux. From Les Indes Galantes I chose a
loure and the air for the African slaves. (no political content here at
all.) The changes I have made were dictated by fancy. Some sections remain
more or less as Rameau wrote them, others take unexpected harmonic or
rhythmic turns. Metric changes are common, and I see these as an extension
of Rameauıs own use of irregular phrase-lengths. Although the old regime in
France had little to recommend it other than itıs arts, language and
cuisine, some of itıs music demonstrates the wondrous potential of the arts
to transcend their period and live a new life through new participants. Vive
Rameau! The work was
commissioned by David S. Dana, then president of the White Mountains Center
for the Arts, in memory of Charles A. Dana and in honor of Eleanor Nell
Dana.
In Praise of Ockeghem
In Praise of Ockeghem was commissioned by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation
for the renaissance band Calliope, which first performed it on October 27,
1977 at Kaufman Concert Hall in New York City. Written for
specialized players on a variety of period instruments, it was not likely to
receive as many performances as I would have liked, so I transcribed it for
strings. This version was first performed by Gerard Schwarz and the Y
Chamber Orchestra (now the New York Chamber Symphony) in Avery Fisher Hall
at Lincoln Center in New York on October 22, 1982. There is also a
transcription for organ, published by ECS Music in Boston.
Johannes Ockeghem was a Flemish composer who flourished in the French court
and chapels in the mid-fifteenth century. His music is like no other,
often written for five voices in their lowest ranges. The counterpoint is
usually intricate and sophisticated, avoiding the relatively banal imitative
entries and clear cadences so widely used later by men such as Josquin and
Palestrina. The melodic lines grow like tendrils...organic, unpredictable
and darkly beautiful. About a minute into the piece I have quoted the brief
first Kyrie from his Missa Sine Nomine, so called because it makes no use of
previously composed melodies, after which a mass was usually named.
Fragmented phrases from the Gloria of the same mass appear later, as do
phrases from the Missa Mi-Mi and the opening of the secular work Ma Bouche
Rit. Other than that, the music is ³my own². No worthy piece of music is
wholly the composerıs ³own². Our taste, imagination and intuition have all
been shaped and colored by the music we have grown up with; this is how our
predecessors share in our compositional labors. Some composers have chosen
to avoid this by the use of aleatoric or
serial procedures but I have always rejoiced in and drawn strength from the
knowledge that I was part of an ongoing, essentially social enterprise.
My thanks go to David S. Dana for substantial support toward the production
of this recording, as well as to Dr. Fernando Tapia.
Hugh Aitken
Elmar Oliveira
Elmar Oliveira has taken his place as one of the
most commanding violinists of our time, with his
unsurpassed combination of impeccable artistry and old-world elegance. Mr.
Oliveira is one of the few major artists committed to the entire spectrum of
the violin world, constantly expanding traditional repertoire boundaries as
a champion of contemporary music and development of the young artists of
tomorrow, and enthusiastically supporting the art of modern violin and bow
makers.
Among his generationıs most honored artists, Elmar Oliveira remains the
first and only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscowıs
Tchaikovsky International Competition. He is also the first violinist to
receive the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, in addition to capturing First
Prizes at the Naumburg International Competition and the G.B. Dealey
Competition.
Mr. Oliveira has become a familiar and much-admired figure at the worldıs
foremost concert venues. His rigorous international itinerary includes
appearances in recital and with many of the worldıs greatest orchestras,
including the Zurich Tonhalle, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Leipzig Gewandhaus
Orchestras; the New York, Helsinki, Los Angeles and London Philharmonic
Orchestras; and the San Francisco, Baltimore, Saint Louis, Boston,
Indianapolis, Oregon, Vancouver, Taiwan and Chicago Symphonies, and the
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He has also extensively toured the Far East,
South America, Australia, New Zealand, and regularly performs at the Mostly
Mozart, Seattle, Grant Park, Blossom, and Chautauqua summer music festivals.
Mr. Oliveiraıs repertoire is among the most diverse of any of todayıs
preeminent artists. While he has been hailed for his performances of the
standard violin
literature, he is also a much sought-after interpreter of the music of our
time. He has premiered works by such distinguished composers as Morton
Gould, Ezra Laderman, Charles Wuorinen, Joan Tower, Krzystof Penderecki,
Andrzej Panufnik, Benjamin Lees, Nicholas Flagello, Leonard Rosenman, Hugh
Aitken, and Richard Yardumian. He has also performed seldom-heard concerti
by Alberto Ginastera, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Joseph Achron, Joseph Joachim,
and many others.
A prodigious recording artist, Elmar Oliveira is a two time Grammy nominee
for his CD of the Barber Concerto with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis
Symphony. His discography on Angel, SONY Masterworks, Artek, Vox, Delos,
IMP, Ondine, and Melodiya ranges widely from works by Bach and Vivaldi to
the present. His best selling new recording of the Rautavaara Violin
Concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic (Ondine) won a Cannes Classical
Award and has appeared on Gramophoneıs ³Editorıs Choice² and other Best
Recordings lists around the world. Other recent recordings include the
Joachim Concerto ³in the Hungarian Manner² with the London Philharmonic
(IMP) and the Tower Concerto (written for him) with the Louisville Orchestra
(dıNote). Also recently released is the rarely heard Pizzetti and Respighi
sonatas (Artek), the Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String
Quartet, and the Lekeu Sonata (Biddulph), and soon-to-be-released recordings
include the Brahms and Saint-Saëns B minor Concerti with Gerard Schwarz and
the Seattle Symphony (Artek). Of great historical significance are two
unique projects: a major book and CDs released by Bein & Fushi of Chicago,
featuring Mr. Oliveira
performing on some of the worldıs greatest violins (fifteen Stradivaris and
fifteen Guarneri del Gesus), and a recording of short pieces highlighting
the rare violins from the collection of the Library of Congress.
The son of Portuguese immigrants, Mr. Oliveira was nine when he began
studying the violin with his brother John. He later continued his studies
with Ariana Bronne and Raphael Bronstein at the Hartt College of Music and
the Manhattan School of Music, where Mr. Oliveira also received an honorary
doctorate. He has served on the juries of some of the most prestigious
violin
competitions, including the Montreal, Indianapolis, Naumburg, and Vianna da
Motta. He has appeared on international TV including Good Morning America,
CBS Sunday Morning, the Today Show, and A&Eıs Breakfast with the Arts among
others. The Prime Minister of Portugal recently awarded Mr. Oliveira the
countryıs highest civilian honor - The Order of Santiago. Elmar Oliveira
performs exclusively on an instrument known as the ³Stretton,² made in
1729-30 by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, and on an exact copy of that violin
made by Curtin and Alf in 1993.
Gerard Schwarz
Gerard Schwarz has been Music Director of the Seattle Symphony since 1985,
of the New York Chamber Symphony since 1976 and of New Yorkıs Mostly Mozart
Festival from 1982. Under his
leadership, he has amassed a vast recording profile of award winning albums
for the Seattle Symphony and has brought them to their new home in Benaroya
Hall in a gala concert on September 12, 1998; his
appearances with Mostly Mozart have continued their prestige as New Yorkıs
favorite summer festival and bought them a large television viewing audience
on the PBS network as well as an international profile with their tours; and
he has brought the New York Chamber Symphony from a fledgling organization
to a full concert season at Lincoln Centerıs Alice Tully Hall. He has
appeared as a guest conductor with the Washington Opera, the San Francisco
Opera, the Kirov Opera and the Seattle Opera as well as, most recently, in
Japan where he was Artistic Advisor to Tokyu Bunkamuraıs Orchard Hall from
1994 to 1997, in conjunction with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the current season Maestro Schwarz will conduct eleven subscription
series concerts in the Seattle Symphonyıs new home, Benaroya Hall, as well
as special concerts with soloists Mstislav Rostropovich and Itzhak Perlman
and five
concerts in the ³Musically Speaking² series. He will present the world
premiere of David Diamondıs A Gala Celebration in the hallıs opening
concert, Bright Shengıs Spring Dreams with soloist Yo-Yo Ma, also in the
first weekıs celebrations, and new works by Francis Thorne, Henri Lazarof,
Hugh Aitken, David Stock and Samuel Jones, as well as music by Prokofiev,
Rachmaninov, Beethoven, R. Strauss and concert performances of Deems
Taylorıs opera Peter Ibbetson and the Verdi Requiem. His many recordings
with the orchestra have been devoted to music of American composers such as
Howard Hanson, Aaron Copland, Charles Griffes, Walter Piston, William
Schuman, Donald Hovhaness, David Diamond, Paul Creston, as well as music of
Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Bartok, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich and
Wagner, among others, and they have earned accolades and Best Classical
Album awards from Stereo Review Magazine, as well as more than ten Grammy
nominations. Their most recent releases have been an album of music by Sir
Andrzej Panufnik and one by Henri Lazarof on the JVC label, and the
Shostakovich Symphony No. 11 on Koch. He has recorded extensively with other
orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic,
London Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish and English Chamber Orchestras,
Mostly Mozart, New York Chamber Symphony and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
In the 1998-99 season Mr. Schwarz lead the New York Chamber Symphonyıs
opening concert at Alice Tully Hall on October 24 in a concert featuring the
world premiere of the Three Preludes for Orchestra by Michael Hersch, and he
lead a
second world premiere on March 13 of A Little Miracle by David Stock.
He first conducted the Mostly Mozart Festival in 1978, and since serving as
its Music Director from 1984, he has conducted a wide and varied repertoire
with the worldıs most distinguished soloists as guest artists, including
concert performances of many of Mozartıs rarely heard early operas. He has
brought Mostly Mozart as guests to the Tanglewood and Ravinia Festivals and
annual tours of Japan, this
season being their eighth visit there. Live concerts with the Mostly Mozart
Festival have been frequently featured on the PBS Live from Lincoln Center
programs.
During the current season, he will also appear as a guest conductor with
numerous orchestras including, among others, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and
the Royal Liverpool Orchestra, and he will lead performances with the
Seattle Opera of Weberıs Der Freischütz.
Aside from his televised appearances with Mostly Mozart, Gerard Schwarz has
been seen in A Romantic Evening, a Northwest Regional Emmy Award winning
program from KCTS/Seattle, and two broadcasts of his acclaimed educational
concerts entitled Musically Speaking. Under this name, he has also initiated
an extensive series of over twenty educational CDs.
Gerard Schwarz made his debut as a conductor in 1966, and within ten years
he had been appointed musical director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company,
the Eliot Feld Dance Company, the Waterloo Festival and the New York Chamber
Symphony, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 1981, he
established the Music Today contemporary music series, serving as its Music
Director until 1989. He first conducted opera with the Washington Opera at
the Kennedy Center in 1982 with Mozartıs Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and
he has led performances since with the Seattle and San Francisco Opera,
Juilliard Opera Theater and the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburgıs historic
Mariinsky Theatre in works including all of the major Mozart operas,
Straussıs Elektra, Salome and Rosenkavalier, Beethovenıs Fidelio, Wagnerıs
Der Fliegende Holländer, Verdiıs La traviata, Janacekıs The Cunning Little
Vixen, Stravinskyıs Le Rossignol and Debussyıs Pelléas et Mélisande which he
conducted in Japan in May of 1998 with
immense success.
Mr. Schwarz was named Conductor of the Year by Musical America in 1994, and
he has received the Ditson Conductorıs Award from Columbia University, an
honorary Doctorate of Music from the Juilliard School, as well as honorary
degrees from Farleigh Dickinson University, the University of Puget Sound
and Seattle University.
Scott Goff
The 1998-99 season marks Scott Goffıs 29th season as principal flutist of
the Seattle Symphony. Since 1983 he has also served as solo flutist with the
Mostly Mozart Festival at New York Cityıs Lincoln Center and with Tokyu
Bunkamura in Japan.
A frequent soloist for the Seattle Symphonyıs Masterpiece, Basically Baroque
and Chamber Music series, Mr. Goff has also appeared at the Mostly Mozart
Festival including performances
as featured soloist on PBSı Live from Lincoln Center telecasts.
A native of Tacoma, his early studies were with long-time Seattle Symphony
principal flutist Frank Horsfall, also the teacher of Chicago Symphony
principal flutist Donald Peck and University of Washington flutist Felix
Skowronek. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University
of Washington, Mr. Goff moved to New York City commencing graduate studies
at The Juilliard School of Music with renowned flutist Julius Baker. Upon
completion of his studies, Mr. Goff freelanced in New York for several years
before joining the Pittsburgh Symphony. He returned to Seattle at the
invitation of then Music Director Milton Katims. Mr. Goff is proud to have
both witnessed and
participated in the building of the Seattle Symphony to its current position
of international eminence.
Hugh Aitken
Aspen Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
[1] I. Vigoroso 6:27
[2] II. Tranquillo 8:32
[3] III. Adagio; Amabile 8:10
Rameau Remembered for Flute and Orchestra
[4] I. Overture 4:30
[5] II. Loure, Gavotte, Air 4:05
[6] III. Prelude, Minuet, Two Airs 7:17
[7] IV. Sad Preparations 3:08
[8] V. Two Passepieds, Tambourin 3:04
In Praise of Ockeghem for String Orchestra
[9] In Praise of Ockeghem 12:39
total time: 57:55
Producer: Adam Stern
Engineer: Albert G. Swanson, SMI Recording
Editing Engineer: Dmitriy Lipay, SMI Recording
Mastering: Laura Harth Rodriguez, Francisco X. Rodriguez
Graphic Design: Jim Manly, Judd Robbins
Cover Painting: ³Disintegration² by Leonardo Nierman
Special Thanks: David S. Dana, Dr. Fernando Tapia
Elmar Oliveira, Violin
Scott Goff, Flute
Gerard Schwarz, Conductor
Seattle Symphony