Abstract
SUZUKI VIOLIN SCHOOL. SHINICHI SUZUKI, VIOLIN. VOLS. 1-3. Performed by Shinichi Suzuki. Suzuki Method International/Dist. Warner Bros. Publications, 1999. $15.95 per volume.
It is a delight to have the first three volumes of the Suzuki Violin School available as recorded by Shinichi Suzuki himself, apparently in 1978 and 1979. These recordings show the already senior violinist's musicality in phrasing and sweetness in sound. They should he an inspiration to a broad population of teachers and students, and it is easy indeed to find the particular bands for listening, given the CD format. No credit line is given the pianist. Warner Bros, is now the exclusive distributor for these Summy-Birchard publications.
A.M.H.
FULL ORCHESTRA Variations on an Appalachian Hymn. Arr. William Dyson. Neil A Kjos Music Co., 1998. $38.
This is a delightful rendering of “When Adam Was Created,” an eighteenth-century North Carolina folk hymn. Each of the four variations carries a distinctive mood with interesting and challenging parts for all five string sections and bells. The opening theme is marked 4/4 Andante, but changes to 3/4, then returns to 4/4. An Allegro Moderato section in 6/8 introduces the first variation. Remaining in 6/8, but with hemiolas and a B minor modal quality, the first variation ends with a solo for the bells.
Transcending into Variation 2, the meter is 3/4. The refreshing modal quality remains with C-sharps marked as accidentals within the context of one sharp in the key signature. Orchestra bells introduce Variation 3 with full orchestra joining in the fifth bar—forte with accents and energetic rhythms, syncopated patterns—all marked Allegro Moderato. The variation changes meters (2/4, 3/4, 4/4) and ends with a broad section that ritards to a fermata before variation four. The final variation, Andante, brings the composition to closure, but with a surprising deceptive cadence (E Minor triad) at the end.
RC.
MILLENNIUM. Richard Meyer. High school full orchestra. Highland/Etling Publishing, 1998. $65.
The 1998 NSOA Composition Contest winner, this piece is aesthetically pleasing and didactic for high school students. The opening bars, marked Grave in 4/4, begin with a timpani roll, string bass pedal point, and violin harmonics that accompany a trumpet solo in B-flat. A rhythmic ostinato for low strings, brasses, timpani, and bassoon (or bass clarinet) set up a march-style marcato section in 2/4 with snare drum, bass drum, and cymbal crash. An exciting eighth note and triplet pattern for upper woodwinds and bells is echoed by the violins to accompany a motive for horns, trumpets, and violas.
The march section ends with a meno mosso of six bars before the C major section in 3/4, Andante Tranquillo. All sections share melodic material with flute, clarinet, and viola solos. The title of the composition is a good description for the harmonic quality of the middle section with reminders of sound tracks from recent motion pictures. The march style returns before a Molto Maestoso ending that is sure to excite both audience and players.
P.C.
DOUBLE BASS Sonata for Contrabass and Piano. Lowell Liebermann. Theodore Presser, 1999. $20.
Liebermann clearly understands the advanced performance techniques of the double bass. This piece, laden with everything from harmonics to trills, is a refreshing augmentation of the standard Baroque and Classical sonata. The first movement is a study in complexity. Its tuneful opening theme exploits the lyrical capabilities of the instrument; after a drawn-out ritard and a tempo change, the melodic material shifts from lyrical to technical. It adds small chromatic motives that gradually lengthen and become rhythmically complex.
The Adagio second movement is lyrically pensive and uses the extremes of register and asymmetrical note groupings for musical effect. A Presto movement returns the chromatic motives from the first movement but in a new meter rhythmic and structure. Thematic material from the second movement reappears as a quote from the bass solo of Act IV in Verdi's, The last movement is also cyclic, restating the first theme in a lower octave, and the piece ends as it began with a slow lyrical phrase. Well constructed, the sonata presents the bassist with technical, musical, rhythmic, and harmonic challenges. It is a good piece for an advanced-level bassist who wishes to explore the perimeters of expanded technique.
K.H.
RIVER RUN FOR CONTRABASS AND HARPSICHORD. Peter Schickele. Elkan Vogel/Theodore Presser, 1999. $14.
River Run is classic Schickele. What this piece lacks in musical merit it makes up for in programmatic content —that is if you can keep a straight face when performing it. In a prefatory note Schickele states that this piece was written as part of a triptych of works for string bass and each of the three keyboard instruments, though the organ piece was withdrawn. The double bass line “is not meant to stand out in front all of the time … There is no dramatic form, in the sense of big climaxes and clearly defined sections; it's more a matter of watching the river go by.” Advanced intermediate students can play it if they have command of basic technique and know thumb position and tenor and treble clef. The harpsichord part is more difficult.
K.H.
CHAMBER MUSIC Swedish String Quartet Collection. Arr. Deborah Greenblatt. Greenblatt & Seay, 1999. Set of parts, $22; individual part, $7.50; score: $10.
This collection contains eight settings of traditional Swedish folk music for standard string quartet. All but two are medleys that combine two or more folk tunes. Each medley uses at least two key signatures up to three sharps or flats. Not only do the original folk melodies have a freshness, but the scoring does as well; the melody frequently moves out of the first violin part and into the other three instrument parts.
Although first violin moves as high as the fifth position, and the second violin and viola parts could utilize an occasional shift to third position, most of the work is played in first position. The cello part remains in the lower positions. Bowings are marked infrequently, but Greenblatt includes them in key spots. Both the individual parts and the full score are clean, computer-generated copies with good page turns. This collection is playable by high school students and will provide a delightful contrast to the standard Classical repertoire.
R.M.
HAUSMUSIK FÜR 2 VIOLINEN UND KLAVIER. Carl Bohm. Simrock/Presser, $39.50.
Carl Bohm's Music in the Home or Hausmusik is a very welcome addition to chamber musicians’ libraries. The twelve short pieces, originally published in 1894, serve up a tasty, late Romantic smorgasbord of playing. However, the violin parts are printed with more care than the piano score: the violin parts have been upgraded with modern publishing magic, while the pianist reads from the fly-speck detail of an earlier edition.
G.B.
Two Quintets, Opus 4 and 29. Beethoven. Kalmus Classic Edition, Warner Bros. Publications, 1999. $14.95.
A welcome addition from the Kalmus Classics, this unedited edition includes two viola quintets. Although most players know Opus 29 in C Major, fewer are likely to have played Opus 4 in E-flat Major. According to Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, this was composed around 1792 and first published as a wind octet, Opus 103, then later published in 1796 as a quintet, (Cobbett, incidentally, lists additional fragments arranged from other works as well as a fugue for this two-viola combination.) And is it Opus 4 that is described with fervor in Vikram Seth's 1999 novel An Equal Music? What violist wouldn't want to have both quintets so handily available?
A.M.H.
SIX QUATUORS CONCERTANTES, OP. 2. FRANZ ASPLMAYR, ED. DENNIS MONK. RECENT RESEARCHES IN THE MUSIC OF THE CLASSICAL ERA, VOL. 56. A-R Editions, Inc., c/o James L. Zychowics, 801 Deming Way, Madison, WI 53717;
Franz Asplmayr (1728-86), an Austrian composer contemporary with Haydn, was trained as a violinist and perhaps a dancing master (he wrote many ballet scores). We learn in the scholarly introduction to the score that the six quartets of Opus 2, composed in the mid to late 1760s, are among some seventy extant quartets by this prolific composer.
The Opus 2 quartets are all in four movements. Janet Levy says that the pieces were intended for amateurs. Indeed the level of difficulty would make these pieces readily accessible to the amateur quartet seeking classical-style pieces that present fewer technical challenges than most Haydn quartets. Typical of the era, viola and cello parts are quite elementary. The first violin part (which stays almost exclusively within a three-position range) is most challenging in the first quartet, in G Major, a piece that presents greater rhythmic virtuosity and more use of double stops than other quartets in the set. Although the textures throughout the six pieces are not very complex, the second violin is often entrusted with thematic presentations, and there is a fair amount of contrapuntal interest as well as a rich harmonic vocabulary. A welcome addition to any chamber music library seeking a broader representation of the classical style or for less experienced players looking for less technically challenging original repertoire.
L.F.
violin: EIGHT DUET ETUDES FOR TWO VIOLINS. Kreutzer-Tretick. Ludwig Music, 1997. $16.95.
Stephanie Tretick, a violist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, has written duet parts for eight of the most frequently studied Kreutzer Etudes (Nos. 1-4, 8, 9, 13, 24), including two parts and a score in this edition of them. As she explains in the preface, the “added counterpoint focuses on a single technical aspect of violin playing, although the added material often contrasts markedly from the Kreutzer original. Because of this difference in parts, players are encouraged to learn both lines.” For example, a lovely cantilena melody is written to go along with the athleticism of No. 2; a rhythmically active counterpoint is written for No. 1. Providing a rhythmic and harmonic frame for students playing these etudes helps put them in a musical context; I have seen immediate improvement in rhythm and intonation gained in a most enjoyable way when I tried these out with my students. I hope that Tretick will complete the project and provide imaginative duets for the remaining thirty-four caprices.
L.F.
TEN SONATAS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO. VOL. 1 (NOS. 1-5), VOL. 2 (NOS. 6-10). Beethoven. Kalmus Classic Edition, Warner Bros. Publications, 1999. $14.95 per volume.
A reprint of the Urtext of the complete Beethoven sonatas, this edition, unlike the Henle Urtext, offers no fingering or bowing suggestions. Still, it is a good choice for someone looking for clean text at a most affordable price.
L.F.
COMPLETE SONATAS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO. Haydn. Kalmus Classic Edition, Warner Bros. Publications, 1999. $14.95 per volume.
Haydn's eight sonatas, a reprint of an edition edited by Ferdinand David, are worthy of renewed acquaintance. Simpler than Mozart's and Beethoven's Sonatas, they nonetheless hold interest in both parts. This edition makes a somewhat less familiar repertoire readily available, and it always a refreshing pleasure to sample Haydn's music.
A.M.H.
TWO VIOLIN CONCERTOS, NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 19, AND NO. 2 IN G MINOR, OP. 63. Sergei Prokofieff. Kalmus Classic Edition, Warner Bros. Publications, 1999. $14.95.
In this Kalmus edition the piano reductions are identical to the reductions in the International Edition of these pieces. In the Complete Works of Prokofieff, the score to the D Major Concerto presents many fingerings in the solo violin part, which have been left out or changed in this Kalmus Edition. The G Minor Concerto has many fewer fingerings in the score as well as in this edition. Bowings and articulations appear to correspond with the original score, and this makes an affordable alternative.
L.F.
HISTOIRE LOINTAINE POUR VIOLON ET PIANO. Jean Martinon. Gérard Billaudot/Theodore Presser, 1999. $5.95.
A short piece (142”) for young players, the publisher has rated it three out of five (“quite easy”) in difficulty. Tonal and melodic in style, conveying a gentle lullaby-like mood, this simple piece could be played entirely in first position, though the editor suggests first and third position fingerings. Composer and conductor Jean Martinon originally composed the piece in 1953.
L.F.
75 PROGRESSIVE AND MELODIOUS STUDIES, OP. 36. Jacques Mazas. Kalmus Classic Edition, Warner Bros. Publications, 1999. $14.95.
Warner Bros. has reissued the complete Opus 36, comprising not only the familiar first volume set of studies but also many lesser-known etudes, making it a good buy for the money. The complete set offers more choice for serious students. And the range in this opus extends to include more advanced double-stop works and bow strokes (especially arpeggiations and springing bowings), all in the unusually musical style that Mazas contributed to the etude repertoire. This reprint from Kalmus is clear enough to read but has a bit of the inky, murky printing of the earlier edition.
A.M.H.
for fiddlers: Fiddler Magazine's Favorites: Tunes from and Interviews with Thirty-Six of the World's Greatest Fiddlers. Mel Bay, 1999. $29.95 for music and CD.
When I first subscribed to Fiddler magazine, they sent me a bumper sticker that said, “So many tunes, so little time.” I still have it stuck on the briefcase I use for carrying my chamber music. After listening to the two CDs included with this book, I was reminded of this time dilemma and the diversity of today's fiddle music. A reasonable transcription is included with each interview, but you should still develop your own version to make a personal artistic statement. The list of forty fiddlers starts with a good example of fiddle and banjo played by Charlie Acuff and John Hartford, and it ends with Jennifer Wrigley and her sister (from Orkney, Scotland). Among the many notables are Jay Ungar and Johnny Gimble, but other greats such as Stephane Grapelli, John Blake, and Pete Compo are not included. Perhaps this collection will turn into a regular production that continues to stay abreast of the current fiddle scene. As an adult learner, I found this admonition from Jennifer Wrigley's interview quite apt: “And don't hope to be a Johnny Cunningham in five minutes, because it will destroy your ambitions really quickly!”
G.B.
THE CONTEMPORARY VIOLINIST. Julie Lyonn Lieberman. Huiksi Music/Hal Leonard, 1999. $23.95.
Reading Julie Lieberman's The Contemporary Violinist, you are struck by what a kaleidoscope of string styles the twentieth century has conjured up. Working through the twenty-one tracks of the CD won't turn you into Joe Kennedy, Johnny Gimble, or Kevin Burke, but at least you won't freak out if a gig requires your showing some semblance of skill as a bebop, western swing, or Irish fiddle player. It's all part of survival these days as a full-time violinist.
Lieberman presents a veritable who's who of fiddle players that philosophize on the essence of their music. The resource section includes a good introduction into what's on the WWW, a list of music books about different styles, and even a section of fiddle horror stories (I won't tell you about the time I closed the screen door on my fiddle). As usual, Lieberman seldom misses an opportunity to help us avoid our own self-destruction as she again offers some of her “You Are the Instrument” suggestions.
G.B.
MILLENNIUM FIDDLER'S TUNE BOOK. Deborah Greenblatt. Greenblatt and Seay, The Old Schoolhouse. RO. Box 671, Avoca, Nebraska 68307; www.mastercall.com/g-s or 402-275-3221, 1999-2000. $12 per volume; $100 per set.
What an idea! ASTA member Deborah Greenblatt has assembled a friendly and up-to-date variation on a tune-a-day. She includes a different fiddle or violin tune for each day of the month, devoting a page to each and adding chord changes (find a friend who plays guitar) plus tidbits about what happened on that day in history. A separate volume is devoted to each month. If you want a newsy collection of trivia for the day along with your coffee and fiddler warm-up, here's a novel way to ring in the millennium, instrument in hand.
A.M.H.
BOSTON FIDDLE: THE DUDLEY STREET TRADITION. Frank Ferrel. Mel Bay, 1999.
Fiddle players are sure to enjoy this special album of forty-three reels, jigs, clogs, and hornpipes from the Boston area pubs and house parties. Cape Breton fiddler Johnny MacDonald recorded such down-east house party music in the 1940s, music influenced by the Celtic tradition from Ireland, Scotland, and French Canada. From the 1930s to 1950s this music was frequently heard around the Dudley Square area in Roxbury. Ferrel has provided charming photos, recollections, and descriptions in a fairly substantial introduction to the volume. It includes such favorites as “Grape Juice Reel,” “Money in Advance Clog,” “The Muckin’ O Gordy's Byre,” “Connemanra's Stockings,” “Katy Is Waiting,” and “Doucet's G-Minor Jig,” just to hint at the flavor of this album.
A.M.H.
Herman Johnson, Master Fiddler: 39 Solos by America's Legendary Fiddler. Transcribed by Jeanine Orme. Mel Bay, 1999. $22.95 for book and CD.
A wonderful collection of music, this book gives you a detailed history of Herman Johnson who was an Oklahoman who was seventy-two in 1993 (when the CD was made?). Songs include “Soppin’ the Gravy,” “Yellow Rose Waltz,” and “Ace of Spades.” Johnson's music is upbeat and great fun to play. There are some tricky passages in most of the pieces, but fingerings are added in those awkward spots. The pace is quick, and the music should suit intermediate players who want some uplifting fiddle tunes.
L.M.
cello: SEVENTEEN DUETS FOR TWO CELLOS. From the Anna Magdalena Bach Song-book. Arr. Ben Clinesmith. SB. Exercises for Cello. $10. Available at 910 West End Ave. #4E, New York, NY 10025.
guitar: GREAT THEMES & VARIATIONS FOR CLASSICAL GUITAR. Robert Phillips. Mel Bay, 1996. $24.95.
This is an excellent collection, many of whose variations would be difficult to find elsewhere in publication. An added bonus is Robert Phillips's fingerings. A few of the better-known pieces are the Bach Chaconne, Sor's Variations on a Theme by Mozart, and La Folia. By far this is the best arrangement of these works available today.
D.B.
PIECES CLASSIQUES. Louis Lautrec, ed. Gerard Billaudot/Theodore Presser, 1997. $15.
This series of Classical pieces comes in five volumes, arranged from very easy to quite difficult. The music, which is well edited, includes lesser-known works by some of the better-known composers: Giuliani, Carcassi, Sor, Paganini, Tarrega to name just a few. A beginning guitarist looking for music to perform needs look no further.
D.B.
BOUQUET DE FLEURS POUR GUITARRE. Milan Tesar. Henry Lemoine/Theodore Presser, 1997. $7.
Guitarists are fortunate to have high-quality new music, which Tesar adds to with this new work. Reminiscent of the style of Giuliani, anyone who enjoys his work will likewise enjoy the “Bunch of Flowers.”
D.B.