APPALACHIAN SPRING
St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble
Dennis Russell Davies, conductor
NONET FOR STRINGS
Members of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble
TWO PIECES FOR STRING QUARTET
Lento Molto
Rondino
St. Luke’s String Quartet
This recording features not only Aaron Copland’s most famous work, the ballet Appalachian Spring, but also comparatively unknown compositions from both the beginning and the end of his career In chronological order: The Rondino and Lento Molto date from the 1920s, years at once following Copland's studies in Paris with the nonpareil French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.
In the first of the two memoirs he assembled with Vivian Perlis, “Copland 1900 through 1942, ” the composer recalls the creation of these two little pieces for string quartet: “The Rondino was written in the spring of 1923 in Paris as the second part of an Hommage à Fauré: (Gabriel Fauré was Boulanger’s favorite composer and I soon shared her admiration for him.) Preceding the Rondino had been an arrangement for string quar tet of the Prelude IX from Fauré’s Preludes pour Piano, Cop 103 The Rondino was based on the letters of Fauré’s name. Mixed with his influence can be heard a hint of American jazz and a bit of mild polytonality Mademoiselle (Boulanger] got together a professional quartet to read through it one Wednesday afternoon. Nadia often did this for students, and the hearing of one’s imagined instrumentation did more toward the learning of instrumentation and orchestration than many hours of spoken instruction My arrangement of Faure's Prelude was appropriate to the occasion in 1924 [Fauré’s death]. In 1928, it was replaced by Lento Molto, which, when paired with Rondino, became Two Pieces for String Quartet.”
In Appalachian Spring, Copland, a Brooklyn boy who had never even visited the Appalachians, created an unforgettable evocation. Within two years of its first performance (on October 30, 1944, at the Library of Congress) Appalachian Spring went determinedly and, one presumes, permanently, into the standard repertory Copland and the modern dance genius Martha Graham had long considered collaborating on a stage work. The late Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge finally brought them together with a commission to create a ballet for the annual fall festival of the Coolidge Foundation in Washington. Graham chose the title, borrowing it from the heading of one of Hart Crane’s poems. The scenario is a simple presentation of a pioneer housewarming party in the Appalachian mountains for a young married couple-to-be
It is divided into eight scenes.
I. Very Slowly-The Introduction of the Characters.
II. Sudden Burst of Unison Strings, marking the beginning of the action
II. Moderate (Duo for the Bride and her Intended).
IV. Quite Fast (The Revivalist and his Flock).
V Still Faster (Solo Dance of the Bride)
VI. Very Slowly (as at first).
VII Calm and Flowing (Scenes of Daily Activity for Bride and her Farmer-Husband), containing variations on a Shaker hymn, “Tis A Gift to Be Simple”
VIII. Moderate (Coda)
In the spring of of 1945, Copland arranged some of the most effective passages of Appalachian Spring into an orchestral suite; York Philharmonic, under the direction of Artur Rodzinski, played the world premiere on October 4, 1945 For this reduction, Copland was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Composition. It Is the version of the suite that is recorded here
In the 1950s, Copland grew increasingly interested in the organizational possibilities of serialism Ultimately adopting his own distinctive manner of composing 12tone music such works as the Piano Fantasy (1955), “Connotations” (1962), and “Inscape” (1967), were greeted with a withering press but the pieces deserve a fresh appraisal, divorced from the musical politics of the times
The Nonet for three violins, three violas, and three cellos is another work that merits a wider public It was commissioned by the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library to celebrate the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Mr and Mrs Robert W Bliss and first performed at Dumbarton Oaks, a majestic estate in Washington, D.C., on March 2, 1961. Copland has specified that the Nonet can be played by a large string ensemble, simply by doubling the number of violas and cellos and sextupling the violins. As many as 48 players can be used
“Nonet is dedicated to Nadia Boulanger, after 40 years of friendship, ” Copland told Perlis “When composing it, I had looked through my notebook of musical ideas and found two pages that seemed
usable: one that gave me my main tune (undated) ; the other, a half page dated 5/22/50 Perhaps tune does not accurately describe the thematic material: a series of rather darkly colored three-voiced chords. The nature of these chords gives off a crowded, rather sober and perhaps somewhat lugubrious feeling that is characteristic of this work and no other I have written The idea of the particular instrumentation for Nonet came from these chords, which I ‘heard’ for three solo cellos. Starting with that, I decided to balance the cellos with a combination of strings, which, in its very makeup would produce a darkly colored sound. Those first three chords generate most of the ha and melodic material for the entire composition. ”
Because Nonet falls into neither Copland’s “austere” nor his “accessible” styles, it was greeted with confusion by most critics. But Alan Rich, writing in the now-defunct New The York Herald-Tribune, understood, “It is grave, intense music” he wrote, “beautifully constructed and eloquent.”
--Tim Page
Tim Page was the chief classical music critic for Newsday and the host of a radio program on WNYCFM New York. His books include “The Glenn Gould Reader” (1985) and “Selected Letters of Virgil Thomson (1988). He is a faculty member of the Juilliard School.
ST. LUKE’S CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
The St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble was founded in 1974 by Artistic Director Michael Feldman and to this date remains the heart of all of St. Luke’s many musical configurations. Originally, the group performed in New York’s Greenwich Village at the historic church of St. Luke-in-the-Fields; hence the name, St. Luke’s.
In 1981, a fire destroyed the church, and the Ensemble began presenting its series in a variety of New York locales including Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1983, the Ensemble was invited to make its European debut at the Aldeburgh Festival. Recent guest appearances have been held at the Mostly Mozart Festival and at the Winter Garden in New York’s World Financial Center.
The Ensemble received a Residency Grant from Chamber Music America in 1986 to present master classes, performances, and lectures at Rutgers University. In 1987, St. Luke in-the-Fields was rebuilt, and the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble was invited to perform for the rededication of its founding home.
The 18-member Ensemble performs not only as a chamber group but holds the principal chairs and core membership of the larger Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Each of the ensemble members has an active soloist career and performs in various smaller ensembles under the St. Luke’s auspices in quartet, trio, quintet, and other formations.
St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble is part of the larger St.
Luke’s Ensemble that also includes the awardwinning Childrens Free Opera & Dance and the celebrated Orchestra of St. Luke’s, under the leadership of Music Director and Principal Conductor
Roger Norrington.
PERSONNEL:
APPALACHIAN SPRING (St. Luke’s Chamber
Ensemble, Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor)
Violins: Mayuki Fukuhara, Eriko Sato, Amy Hiraga,
Kay Stern
Violas: Louise Schulman, Maria Lambros
Cellos: Myron Lutzke, Julia Lichten
Bass: Lewis Paer
Flute: Elizabeth Mann
Clarinet: William Blount
Bassoon: Marc Goldberg
Piano: Wu Han
TWO PIECES FOR STRING QUARTET (St. Luke’s
String Quartet)
Violins: Eriko Sato, Mayuki Fukuhara
Viola: Louise Schulman
Cello: Myron Lutzke
NONET: (Members of St. Luke’s Ensemble)
Violins: Krista Bennion Feeney, Mayuki Fukuhara,
Lisa Rautenberg
Violas: Louise Schulman, Karl Bergen, Maria Lambros
Cellos: Myron Lutzke, Lutz Rath, Julia Lichten
