May 9th 2014

A Tale of Two Concertos

by Daniel Asia

Daniel Asia is a composer and professor at the University of Arizona. Formerly Composer-In-Residence with the Phoenix Symphony, and recipient of a Music Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he has been writing or making music for more than 40 years. For more information about him and his music go to www.danielasia.net. His music may be sampled on YouTube, and found on Summit Records and New World Records.

My friend Stephen Albert once said that he couldn't imagine writing a string quartet after those of Bartok. I countered with what still seems to me an appropriate response: How can you write a symphony after Beethoven, songs after Schubert, or really, operas after Mozart or, oops -- maybe even Wagner? So with this in mind, I am taking a short break from writing about individual composers to present comments in regards to various genres including the string quartet, opera, songs and concertos, for cello, violin and piano. I do this because particular pieces have been added to the repertoires of these genres which are exquisite and they should be better known, appreciated and performed.

I begin with the piano concerto because two have come to my attention that are quite marvelous. One is the Piano Concerto by Yehudi Wyner which I heard awhile back but is now available in a newly released recording (Bridge 9282) . The other is a newly premiered work penned by Bernard Rands. The fine soloists are Robert Levin and Jonathan Bliss respectively and the concertos were commissioned by the Boston Symphony which admirably continues the legacy of Koussevitsky's commitment to American music.

Wyner and Rands have much in common. They are both in their 80s and are notes and rhythm composers, which is to say the pitches and durations really count. Thus they are traditionalists and believe in an ongoing dialogue with that tradition. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Wyner for this work and Rands for the orchestra song cycle Canti del Sole, and were eminent teachers.

Wyner grew up the son of the gifted Yiddish art song composer, Lazar Wyner; studied with Hindemith at Yale; and spent important years at the Academy in Rome. Wyner is also a fluent and refined pianist. His compositional output runs the gamut including an abundance of chamber music and a healthy representation of song and/or song cycles (partly influenced by his gifted wife, former singer turned conductor, Susan Davenny Wyner), as well as works reflective of and on the Jewish tradition. His music is always artful and probing.

His piano concerto is an expression of the normative aspects of the tradition while also demonstrating his interest in folding in the vernacular which is done frequently in his music. (e.g. Passage 1 -- New World, NWCR701 ). This music proceeds in a ruminative and associative manner that is quirky and quixotic. There is an ambivalence or hesitation, a holding back or a withholding of clarity, an insouciance and double-edged humor. These traits give the music charm and delight, zest and sparkle and display a sonic twinkle in the eye.

Rands was born in Sheffield England, studied in Wales and then received perhaps his greatest influence from studies with Luciano Berio. Escaping the British madness of proclaiming the kingship of composers at an early age -- and either you are or you aren't -- he came to the States early in his career from York University in the north of England to the much sunnier climes at UC/San Diego.

His early music was decidedly effected by his Italian experience, with its interest in the short gesture, the theatrical, a playful usage and deconstruction of texts, spatial notation and the use of new symbols (e.g. Mésalliance and Ballad I). But like his mentor and other avant-gardists Rands soon realized that he wanted more control. His music became simpler and more direct, as he jettisoned the paraphernalia of the avant-garde to write clear and straight-forward music that is driven by color and a latent lyricism. There isn't a hint of the vernacular in his music -- rather this is music that proclaims its seriousness and high art value. It is more proscribed and hermetic. Thus, Wyner is to Mozart as Rands is to Debussy.

Both concerti are about 20' in duration. Wyner's is in one long movement with varying speeds and moods, while Rands's is in the usual three-movement structure of fast-slow-fast. In both the piano and orchestra engage in quick conversation, bravura passages, and the orchestra occasionally performs typical accompanimental duties. Cadenzas are short in both. Wyner tends to employ more traditional pianistic attributes like rapid-fire octaves and longish digital displays of very fast passage work, not surprising given his own virtuoso technique and feel for the keyboard. It isn't for nothing that the title of his work is Chiavi in Mano, an in-joke for Italians that means "keys in hand." Rands' piano writing is episodic with bursts of energy and recovery; about an alteration of quick scurrying single lines interrupted or articulated by chordal interruptions.

Both composers write in an extended tonal realm. In Wyner's world this allows for an allusion to honky-tonk in the middle which is then realized in a brazen way at the conclusion; it is a bit cheesy but damn if it doesn't work! The tonal materials are occasionally clouded by vast tertial extensions and quasi-octotonic fragments rich in minor seconds and tritones, but there is always a return to the bright tertial landscape- in fact, this is one of Wyner's sunniest works, perhaps a result of its Italian provenance. The 6ths and 3rds are presented with rhythmic cells that make them indelible. This is music that imprints itself on the memory, a trait that Rochberg suggested maybe isn't such a bad thing after all.

Rands's concerto starts with a lovely lyrical ascent of a minor 6th followed by a descent of a tritone creating a whole tone scale fragment (think Debussy at his most dreamy and hazy). This is followed soon by a perfect fourth which in conjunction with the previous material creates a wide range of intervallic possibilities, all of which Rands exploits handsomely. Repetition allows this initial idea to stick in the mind and it even comes back in the final movement to provide a sense of return and closure. The middle movement is Rand's at his most restrained, elegant and ethereal. This slow adagio features unadorned two-part counterpoint that starts in the lowest register in the bass and cello and traces a slow ascent into the highest realms in the violins, and after a very slight variant in the piano, the music continues in this tranquil manner throughout. The last movement is like a riff on Berio's Points on the Curve to Find in its single-minded pursuit of the heterophonic possibilities of trills and a single scurrying line that connects them.

Wyner's music is always searching and probing, moving towards a climax or a point of revelation, and then pulling back, not quite succeeding, then moving on in its quest. It is discursive, finding and giving pleasure in its search. It often employs repeated rhythmic units, almost Hindemithian ones, and transparent doublings that are sharp and precise. When he wants, Wyner can also create the most luminous of mist, as materials within veiled clouds evanesce and proceed refreshed. Having said this, the finely etched pitch and rhythmic materials hold primary interest and their coloring, while always just right, is of secondary importance.

Rands' orchestration is more detailed and perfumed. The music is chock full of bell-like sonorities that help articulate the working out of phrases as well as larger scale structure. Orchestration is here more than half of the game. In some past works this has sometimes resulted in a less than clear articulation of the harmonic rate, but in this piece the harmonic flow is unerringly direct and transparent.

We live in a world that rewards the new, the youthful and frequently the trendy, inarticulate, vapid and superficial. How nice it is to recognize in these works the obvious truism that if a real artist remains true to himself and follows the quest of deepening his artistic expression, his voice gets better, deeper and richer with age. As Wilfrid Sheed said about the older artist: "If he whores after the new thing, he will only get it wrong and wind up praising the latest charlatans, the floozies of the New. His business is keeping his own tradition alive and extending it into its own future." And it is just so in these two concertos by Wyner and Rands, as we find these seasoned masters writing at full and magnificent strength.



First posted on the Huffington Post, posted here with the kind permission of the author.



  

Browse articles by author

More Music Reviews

Nov 13th 2024
EXTRACT: "It was British composer Michael Nyman who in the late 1960s coined the term musical minimalism, the application of limited materials borrowed from ideas of modern architecture, literature and improvisational performance. Today, thanks to John Cage, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, La Monte Young and others, musical minimalism has found a secure place among composers and performers. Defining it is a slippery exercise, however, as it means different styles to different musicians. I nominate Cage as the ultimate simplifier."
Oct 7th 2024
EXTRACT: "Oppens stands apart from today’s keyboard virtuosos by her four decades of discovering and commissioning new works. These contributions to the repertory ensure her a permanent place in pantheon of modern music. But she is also recognized as a powerful performer who tackles the thorniest of new pieces. As she said in our interview, she remembers hearing the difficult works of Julian Hemphill for the first time and thinking 'This is for me!'  Composers who have been commissioned by her or who have written works for her include such leading lights as Frederic Rzewski, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, Peter Lieberson, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Christian Wolff  and Charles Wuorinen.”
Jul 5th 2024
EXTRACTS: "The Conservative Party, which was finally pronounced dead from multiple unnatural causes on July 5 2024, was born in 1832." ---- " Strange as it might now appear, the party was once very popular and respected, even by its opponents. Educated at Eton and Oxford, it established a reputation for governing competence which allowed it to bounce back from serious setbacks, notably the landslide Labour victory of 1945." ---- "The end of the cold war debunked the notion that the Conservatives had restored Britain’s former global status. Unwilling to acknowledge their country’s subservience to the United States, the party’s dominant nationalist faction could now only rage against reality by identifying the European Union, and post-war immigration, as the twin culprits for the depletion of British political influence and cultural uniformity." ---- "The Conservative party has presented a sorry spectacle to sympathetic observers in its undignified post-Brexit dying days. It became prone to hallucinations, first believing that Boris Johnson could be a successful prime minister then replacing him with Liz Truss."
Jun 17th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Isn’t piano study a big problem in the USA, with all the electronic games and distractions from music lessons? ---- Answer: The problem is also in Europe. We have lost a lot of quality, in terms of knowledge behind the music. The schools do not make the transmission from the composers to us. We owe that to the composers. And it’s very sad because now we focus on goals and competition, and competition does not go well with art.
Jun 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Isn’t it true, as the musicologist Kyle Gann says, that one cannot judge immediately what’s good or bad in contemporary music? We must wait 20 years. Answer: Yes, look at Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”. It caused a scandal. It was booed and rejected by everyone. Now it’s standard in the concert hall. In jazz, I think it’s not 20 years, but more like 50 years before we know what has worked or not. One has to step back and reflect on whether we have brought something new."
Mar 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "In a way, every experience you have, every book you read, every movie you watch, every place you visit, every encounter you have, every moment you spend with friends or family, they leave a mark on you and direct you indirectly and therefore leave their mark on your playing.", says Boris Giltburg in Michael Johnson's and Frances Wilson's new book 'Lifting the Lid: Interviews with Concert Pianists', now available on Amazon.
Feb 27th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Some pianophiles say the CD could be useful for meditation, therapy or even healing. ---- Answer: Indeed, that is the kind of feedback I am getting. But this music doesn’t belong to me any more, therefore I cannot label it with any purpose. It has taken on a life of its own. I can’t say how it affects the life of other people. Will it be therapeutic or will it have another effect? Time will tell."
Dec 4th 2023
EXTRACT: "Seated in a quiet corner of a Bordeaux hotel last week, we had an interview – more a casual chat – about her life, her Soviet Russian origins, her career, her future."
Nov 27th 2023
EXTRACT: "Schiff creates an atmosphere that we 'seniors' remember from the old days. No clowning, no bouncing on the bench, no outlandish clothing. He dresses in a black smock, black trousers, black shoes, topped off with a mane of pure white hair. His manners, his grateful bowing, are très Old Europe. ---- Schiff keeps control of his two hours onstage. He believes that dignity goes with the great music on the program and he scarcely moves as he plays."
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "  Boston-based guitarist, band leader and composer Phil Sargent is not about churning out endless CDs. In fact his ten-year recording gap, just ended, had his fans wondering where he was. But in New York and Boston, he tells me, he has never stopped working with other groups while composing and actively teaching young and mature talent. Although not always visible, he seems to be a confirmed workaholic, even practicing five hours a day. Yes, virtuosos also need to practice. ---- And now he is back. His new CD, 'Sons'....."
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "There is a renewed fascination with the memory-stimulating and healing powers of music. This resurgence can primarily be attributed to recent breakthroughs in neuroscientific research, which have substantiated music’s therapeutic properties such as emotional regulation and brain re-engagement. This has led to a growing integration of music therapy with conventional mental health treatments."
Sep 28th 2023
EXTRACT: "British psychotherapist, Michael Lawson, who has worked with several prodigies and former prodigies, calculates there may be as many as 200,000 piano prodigies active in the world today. “In a sense, they are not that rare,” he says in our interview below. Lawson is author of International Acclaim: The Steinfeld Legacy a new novel of the great pianists of the 19th and early 20th centuries in which the prodigy phenomenon is described in some detail."
Sep 17th 2023
EXTRACT: "Like so many stories about relationships told over an extended time, Past Lives uncovers the twists and turns, the “what ifs” and the manifold choices that lead to two people wondering whether they were meant to be together."
Sep 12th 2023
EXTRACT: " OrpheusPDX, a new company founded by Christopher Mattaliano in Portland, Oregon, concluded its second season with a brilliant and thought-provoking production of Nico Muhly’s “Dark Sisters,” at Lincoln Hall (August 24), exploring and exposing relationships in a polygamous sect and the courage of one sister-wife to leave it. With Stephen Karam’s libretto inspired by memoirs of women who have left the FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) and the 2008 raid of the YFZ Ranch by the FBI, “Dark Sisters” was delivered with spot-on directing by Kristine McIntyre and riveting performances by an exceptional cast."
Aug 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "Wagner’s operas are well known to be budget busters, and lack of funds is probably one of the main reasons that Seattle Opera has not mounted the Ring Cycle in since 2013. After Speight Jenkins retired from his post as General Director in 2014, the company delivered The Flying Dutchman (2016) and Tristan und Isolde (2022), the latter under its current General Director, Christina Scheppelmann. Now starting its 60th season, Seattle Opera celebrated with Das Rheingold, but that can be seen as a bittersweet moment since Scheppelmann is moving on to take over La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels at the end of the 2023-2024 season."
Jul 6th 2023
EXTRACT: " More than a hundred recordings have been made of his suite of 14 light pieces he called “The Carnival of the Animals”, and a range of his other works remain in the standard repertoire."
Jun 18th 2023
EXTRACT: "Conservatories and university music departments are filling up with fee-paying Asians as their parents pressure them to succeed in the West. Piano competitions around the world, now numbering about 800, are open to this new wave of Asian players. They are winning top prizes and they are building careers in Europe and the U.S.  Too often, according to some teachers, young Americans prefer computer games, the latest movies, rock bands, sports, or other less-demanding activities. The Asians are happy to fill the vacuum."
May 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "Three of Europe’s longtime leaders in contemporary jazz, now in their senior years, have just launched a CD of twelve  pieces that shows what a lifetime of sharing ideas in music can really produce." “New Stories” (Frémeaux et Associés) by the French trio of pianist and composer Hervé Sellin, bassist Jean-Paul Celea and drummer Daniel Humair is remarkable for improvisations so synchronized that the listener can feel the music come together from three angles in real time. The tracks were mostly composed or improvised by Sellin."
Mar 28th 2023
EXTRACT: "The young ex-dancer from Italy first burst upon the piano scene three years ago with 20 of her hand-picked Scarlatti sonatas. Now comes her second CD (Academy Classical Music) even more original and powerful, performing six of Baldassare Galuppi’s 18th century sonatas. Margherita Torretta‘s early training as a dancer gives her playing a swaying, graceful air while she maintains Alberti bass for control of the rhythm, momentum and especially continuity. Her ornamentation is boosted with some of her own improvisations, producing a fresher feel. It’s a magic combination."
Mar 24th 2023
EXTRACT: "Driven by a sense of mission and determination over several years, French pianist Lydia Jardon has completed a rare cycle of nine piano sonatas by Nikolai Miaskovsky. Her new CD  of numbers 6, 7 and 8 completes the task and offers a particularly rich sample of Russian experience in the worst of times. Miaskovsky may be only vaguely remembered today but he was a leader in the Soviet music world until the end of World War II. He left a wide range of engaging sonatas that have been brought back to life by Mme. Jardon on her own label AR Ré-Sé (AR 2022-1)."