La Vie Parisienne: Excerpts (1866)

La Vie Parisienne: Excerpts (1866) By Ian Strasfogel, Theater Director and Specialist on the Music of Offenbach Written for the concert Paris in the 1860s performed on Sep 25, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Far and away the most popular composer of Second Empire France, Jacques Offenbach dominated the Parisian theatre between…

Read More

The American 1980’s

The American 1980’s 05/22/1994 at 08:00 PM – Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Concert Notes The American 1980’s – Leon Botstein Happy Voices (1984) – David Del Tredici Voyants (1989) – Peter M. Wolrich “Keys to the City” for Piano and Orchestra (1983) – Tobias Picker Articulations (1989) – Richard Wilson

Read More

Happy Voices (1984)

Happy Voices (1984) By David Del Tredici Written for the concert The American 1980’s performed on May 22, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Happy Voices is a fugue, the subject of which is in two halves. The first–for strings–is motionless, poised; the second–for woodwinds–a slither of chromatic movement. The interval of the…

Read More

Voyants (1989)

Voyants (1989) By Peter M. Wolrich Written for the concert The American 1980’s performed on May 22, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Commissioned by Radio France, this work evolved from an image of the piano as a voyant (‘seer’) predicting, imagining or calling forth dire events. The piece comprises four sections which…

Read More

“Keys to the City” for Piano and Orchestra (1983)

“Keys to the City” for Piano and Orchestra (1983) Written for the concert The American 1980’s performed on May 22, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. In September, 1982, I received a phone call from The Brooklyn Bridge Centennial Commission, an organization established by the city of New York, Edward I. Koch, mayor.…

Read More

Articulations (1989)

Articulations (1989) By Richard Wilson Written for the concert The American 1980’s performed on May 22, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The dictionary instructs us that an articulated locomotive is one that has two or three connected sections. It is in this sense that I first mean the title of my work,…

Read More

Common Ground

Common Ground 04/15/1994 at 08:00 PM – Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Concert Notes Common Ground: African-American & Jewish-American Composers, 1930-1955 – Leon Botstein “Night Creature” for Jazz Band and Orchestra (1956) – Duke Ellington “I Got Rhythm” Variations for Piano and Orchestra (1934) – Richard E. Rodda Spirituals for String Choir and Orchestra (1941)…

Read More

Common Ground: African-American & Jewish-American Composers, 1930-1955

Common Ground: African-American & Jewish-American Composers, 1930-1955 By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Common Ground performed on April 15, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. In our day and age it is rare that any single “classical music” concert event can find itself caught in the web of a contemporary cultural and…

Read More

“Night Creature” for Jazz Band and Orchestra (1956)

“Night Creature” for Jazz Band and Orchestra (1956) By Duke Ellington Written for the concert Common Ground performed on April 15, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Night for most of us means a time to rest, reflect, and recharge batteries for the next day’s adventures. For Duke Ellington it was the opposite:…

Read More

“I Got Rhythm” Variations for Piano and Orchestra (1934)

“I Got Rhythm” Variations for Piano and Orchestra (1934) By Richard E. Rodda Written for the concert Common Ground performed on April 15, 1994 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The famous stage Director Rouben Mamoulian once said of George Gershwin: I’ve heard many pianists and composers play for informal gatherings, but I know…

Read More