SKU: PR.414411630

ISBN 9781491114551. UPC: 680160089956. 9.5 x 13 inches.

EXCURSIONS is a one-movement work exploring two “characters.” A rhapsodic, descending passage is introduced by the cello, followed by a  static, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello. Their individual developments are separated by a slow, contrasting middle section. The composer has written: “This is analogous to situations in life: we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option and forfeiting the other. But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination… or can we? It is symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place.”.
Excursions for violin, cello and piano, is a one-movement work of tripartite structure in which materials explored in the first of three large sections are brought back in the last section.  The traditional statement-contrast-restatement form, which is readily suggested by such a description, is, however, not at all in the mold in which the work is cast.  Rather, my aim was to subject the essential materials of the piece (two “characters” –the rhapsodic, descending passage played by the cello in the very opening and, later, a static, slow moving, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello) to two entirely different developments separated by a slow, contrasting middle section.  This is analogous to an exploration of the ramifications that two divergent choices made by the same person might lead to.  In life, as we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option usually means having to forfeit the other.  But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination…or can we?  It is, I believe, symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place: in composing Excursions, it seemed absolutely inescapable that at the end the slow, contrasting middle sections – both more resigned and peaceful than the battling spirits of the outer parts – should return briefly to end the work. The piano trio combination (once highly favored, but to this composer still as challenging today) is approached here as a collaborative effort of three equal soloists – partners.  Of the available pairings, the two strings find themselves occasionally approached as a team pitted against the piano.  The cello-piano combination is also not uncommon here, and there is an extended violin cadenza toward the end of the piece.  The writing for the three instruments is closely and at times interlinked, but the players are all instructed to play from scores. Excursions was first performed at Brandeis University in 1982.

SKU: BO.B.3414

English comments:
Concertino for violin and string orchestra was composed in 1993. It is a pleasant score with a slightly virtuosic touch written with the idea of creating a relaxed atmosphere in which the soloist and the orchestra can display their technique and expressive capabilities. It is a work, similar in lenght to baroque concertos, and is divided into three movements, folowing the conventional form.: two fast movements around a slow one. Te first two movements -Allegro burlesco and Adagio cantabile- follow the ABA pattern. The third starts with a -cadenza- by the soloist which includes thematic material from the previous slow movement linking straight up to the -Presto- which uses as its main idea a more forceful version of the opening melodic sketch of the -Allegro burlesco- converted into three time. The work was specially creatied for the violinist Gerard Claret and the Orquestra de Cambra Nacional d'Andorra. Recordings: Hermitage Orchestra-Camerata St. Petersburg, violin: Sergey Malov, conductor: Alexis Soriano. Ensayo (ENY-2003). Jordi Cervello

Comentarios del Espanol:
Concertino para violin y orquesta de cuerda es una obra compuesta en 1993. Se trata de una partitura amable y de cierto toque virtuosistico cuya principal preocupacion ha sido crear una atmosfera distendida en la que el solista y la orquesta puedan desplegar con espontaneidad sus capacidades tecnicas y expresivas. Es una obra de duracion similar a la de los conciertos del barroco y dividida en sus tres tipicos movimientos. Dos rapidos enmarcando uno lento. Los dos primeros -Allegro burlesco y Adagio cantabile- se desarrollan bajo el esquema ABA. El tercero inicia con una -cadenza- del solista que recoge material tematico del movimiento lento precedente para enlazar sin interrupcion con el -Presto- que utiliza como idea principal el dibujo melodico que abre el -Allegro burlesco-, pero mas decidido y a compas ternario. La obra fue compuesta expresamente para el violinista Gerard Claret y la Orquestra Nacional de Cambra d'Andorra. Grabaciones: Hermitage Orchestra-Camerata St. Petersburg, violin solista: Sergey Malov, direccion: Alexis Soriano. Ensayo (ENY-2003) Jordi Cervello.

SKU: HL.978474

ISBN 9781638871361. UPC: 196288090922. 9.0x12.0x0.102 inches.

This one of a kind album pairs two of the most performed Ave Maria's for violin and piano, meticulously edited by Jascha Heifetz' protege, Endre Granat. The first of these is Schubert's melody, which was originally composed as a setting of a song from Walter Scott's popular narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, titled, “Ellen's Third Song” (Ellens dritter Gesang). The opening words and refrain of Ellen's song, namely “Ave Maria” (Latin for “Hail Mary”), may have led to the idea of adapting Schubert's melody as a setting for the full text of the traditional Roman Catholic prayer. The Latin version of the song is now so frequently used with Schubert's melody that it has led to the misconception that he originally wrote the melody as a setting for the “Ave Maria.” The second Ave Maria in this collection was created when Gounod famously improvised the melody over the background of J.S. Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from The Well-Tempered Clavier. Gounod's beatiful improvisation was transcribed by his future father-in-law Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, which was published with the Bach keyboard accompaniment in 1835 under the title “Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de S. Bach.” Alongside Schubert's version, the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria has become a fixture at funerals, wedding masses, and quinceañeras. Both works have been recorded hundreds of times during the twentieth century.

SKU: PR.164002390

UPC: 680160038091.

I became interested in the work of Plato through my friend and collaborator, the writer and philosopher Paul Woodruff. Paul's new translation, with Alexander Nehamas, of the Symposium gave me insights into ancient Greek ways of thinking about Love, Beauty, and Wisdom -- and managed to keep the earthy, and often bawdy side of it all in full view. But their new translation of Plato's later dialogue Phaedrus went even further: the beauty of the speeches is breathtaking, and the discourse itself is enough to keep one awake at night. Basically the Great Speech of Socrates in the Phaedrus dialogue has to do with the place of Eros in the world, and with the conflict in the soul between fleshly pleasure and philosophic discovery. I will not attempt to encapsulate this brilliant discourse in a program note: suffice it to say that reading it gave rise to my two-sided work for clarinet, violin, and piano, Phaedrus. The first movement represents the Philosophic life, and is thus subtitled Apollo's Lyre (Invocation and Hymn). It begins with an unaccompanied melody for the clarinet, which (after a pair of harp-like flourishes for the piano, expands into an accompanied canon. The voices in the dialogue (clarinet and violin) follow each other by a prescribed number of beats, but the music is totally devoid of any meter at all. The piano, representing the lyre, accompanies this lyric love-feast with repeated strummed chords. The canon has three large sections, and ends with violin echoing the unaccompanied clarinet invocation as the sound of the lyre fades. The second movement, called Dionysus' Dream-Orgy (Ritual Dance) presents, after a brief introduction, another kind of unmetered music. Rather than long lyric flights of philosophic song, however, this time we hear a unison dance of unbridled energy and sensual transport. The piece soon forms itself into a loose arch form, with contrasting metered dance sections divided by the unison unmetered orgy tune. Midway through the movement, Apollo's melody returns from the first movement, but it is a temporary reminiscence. The orgiastic dance returns, reaches a climax, and ends with a stomping of feet. While Plato asserts that a proper balance between lust and reason is necessary in all men, he (naturally) gives the nod to Philosophy as the better choice in which to live. Not so in my music: the two sides are meant to coexist and to complement each other. No sides are taken. Phaedrus was commissioned of the Verdehr Trio by Michigan State University. It is dedicated to the Vedehr Trio with great affection and admiration.

SKU: PR.144407050

UPC: 680160655519. 9 x 12 inches.

Celebrating 30 years, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society commissioned a work of 20-25 minutes for violin and piano from James Primosch, University of Pennsylvania professor of music. Primosch had originally thought to create a new sonata, but what developed is more appropriately a set of five character pieces, two of which were directly inspired by poems. Five Poems was premiered in May, 2016, and Primosch's thoughts are recorded at his website: https://jamesprimosch.com/2016/05/10/five-poems-premiere/.
Upon receiving a commission from the Philadelphia Chamber MusicSociety for a violin and piano piece in honor of its 30th anniversary, myplan was to write a sonata, a term suggesting a relatively abstractdiscourse. But as the piece developed, the movements struck me ascharacter pieces rather than music employing a more “symphonic”approach. When specific poems started to attach themselves in my mindwith two of the movements, the overall title Five Poems became clear.The title of the second movement is a line from Susan Stewart’s“Descent”, which deals with Aeneas’s visit to the underworld. The musicis alternately fiercely driving and quite still, though tense. RobertFrost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay summons fleet scale passages framinglyrical counterpoint. The remaining movements do not refer to specificpoems, but have titles reflecting their expressive tone. Dreamscape ismusing with an improvisatory violin line over shifting pairs of pianochords. Nightsong is a bluesy lullaby that turns highly dramatic.Vision begins with a closely argued struggle but breaks through tosomething spacious and clear.