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 |  |  | | | | Track Listings | | | Symphony for Strings (Haimo-1990) | | | 1 Moderato | 3:01 | | 2 Largo | 4:26 | | 3 Presto | 3:29 | | 4 Shadows (Block-1993) | 8:44 | | Concerto for Piano (Brown-1993) | | | 5 Moderato | 11:49 | | 6 Ritmico | 2:59 | | Right of Way (Diehl-1994) | | | 7 Andante | 3:33 | | 8 Adagio | 4:57 | | 9 Adagio | 5:13 | | 10 Andante | 2:59 | | 11 Andante | 1:11 | | 12 Crosscurrents on the Vertical River (Nielson-1992) | 11:05 | | Total time: | 63:32 |
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| | | | | | MMC New Century : Volume IX | | | Our Price: $9.95  | | | | Item Number: MMC2064 | | Audio Format: DDD | | Genres: Concerto\Orchestral | | | | Description | | Excerpts from the Liner Notes (by Elizabeth Pizer)
Symphony for Strings
A markedly contrapuntal gridwork provides the structural basis for Ethan Haimo’s well-crafted Symphony for Strings. In three movements‹Moderato, Largo, and Presto‹this pensive study in counterpoint was written in 1988, and revised in 1990. While not stylistically derivative, its musical language is akin to that of composers such as Roger Sessions and Humphrey Searle.
Brief angular phrases figure prominently throughout the work, with consistent intervallic use of sevenths and ninths. Yet the Symphony achieves linear as well as lyrical fluidity via extended melodic passages heard alternately in the various string sections.
Shadows
Although Steven Block’s "Shadows" is a complete musical composition unto itself, this and another of the composer’s works, Phantasmagoria, together comprise the second and third movements, respectively, of a projected four-movement symphony. In addition to the standard array of orchestral instruments, "Shadows" employs a large battery of percussion, with an emphasis on tuned percussion. Regarding the underlying symbolism present in the piece, Block offers the following insightful comments: “In Jungian psychology, the ‘Shadow’ is an archetypal concept which can best be described as the ‘dark side’ of the unconscious self. One goal for self-actualization…is to recognize one’s own darker aspects (these aren’t necessarily evil) in order to exert a moral effort at integrating and controlling the negative aspects of the ‘Shadow.’ Thus, when I wrote "Shadows," I was thinking of the ‘Shadow’ in Jungian terms, of different shades of darkness and dark colors (e.g., the same passages occur re-orchestrated), and of literal shadows or imitation.”
Concerto for Piano
To some extent, the lyrical, two-movement Concerto for Piano by James Windel Brown conforms to a concertante treatment, in which the piano’s scoring is more dynamically and thematically integrated into the orchestral fabric as a whole, as opposed to a more standard concerto arrangement, in which the soloist typically overshadows the other instruments. Another of the work’s unusual attributes is its almost exclusive use of a seven-beats-per-measure time signature.
Right of Way
Since laying the ground rules for her own compositional system, known as “Separation,” all of Paula Diehl’s musical works are constructed with this system providing the essential scaffolding. In outlining the basics of “Separation,” the composer explains: “The system falls naturally into four phases, each of which is characterized by a lesser degree of interlock than the one preceding it, followed by a short phase of complete intervallic separation and one of final closure.
With its careful interaction of light, shadows, and unimposing serenity, a Japanese Zen garden could serve as the perfect visual backdrop to Right of Way...
Crosscurrents on the Vertical River
In Lewis Nielson’s "Crosscurrents on the Vertical River," completed in 1992, a succession of rapidly shifting meters catapults the listener into a whirlwind of rhythmically charged events and aggressive harmonies. Using richly vivid sonorities together with dense instrumentation, the composer creates a thicklytextured sonic environment not unlike that found in the colorful and complex scores of John McCabe, Oliver Knussen, and Harrison Birtwistle. |
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