Poulenc Trio

POULENC
"Above all, a composer should not aim to be fashionable. If you are not fashionable today, you may not be unfashionable tomorrow." —Francis Poulenc

Poulenc was born in Paris on January 7, 1899 and attained both a distinct musical voice and success at an early age. During the 1920s, he was one of the leading spirits of the group of young French composers known as "Les Six." Their music was often light, witty, satirical and urbane. They were in sympathy with and influenced by Stravinsky and "Neo-Classicism," and in opposition to the cerebral music of Schoenberg and of what they considered to be the religio-musical excesses of their countryman Olivier Messiaen. Poulenc, in particular, often juxtaposes passages of wit and irony with lush, sentimental outpourings.

Poulenc composed orchestral, chamber music, ballets, concertos, film scores, and opera, as well as powerful choral and sacred music. He is an acknowledged master in the field of French art songs, with over 130 to his credit. Indeed, melody was the most important element to him. Norbert DuFourcq writes: " . . . he found his way to a vast treasury of undiscovered tunes within an area that had, according to the most up-to-date musical maps, been surveyed, worked and exhausted." Of his own work, he wrote, "I know perfectly well that I’m not one of those composers who have made harmonic innovations like Igor (Stravinsky), Ravel, or Debussy, but I think there’s room for ‘New’ music which doesn’t mind using other people’s chords. Wasn’t that the case with Mozart-Schubert?"

The Trio is one of Poulenc’s most popular chamber works. It is in the spirit of an eighteenth century divertissement, light and witty, yet spiced with dissonances. It is eminently logical, combining and contrasting the two members of the double reed family with the percussive quality of the piano. Poulenc took the advice of Ravel (with whom he had been studying) and based the opening Presto on a Haydn Allegro, and the closing Rondo’s refrain begins as a near perfect quote of a well-known Beethoven melody until it makes a surprising turn into the fresh vocabulary of Poulenc's own distinctive language. Poulenc hinted that he patterned this movement after a piano concerto by Saint-Saëns. The Andante is gracefully Mozartean, though any suggestion of parody is dispelled by alluring shifts of tonality and chromaticism. The work is dedicated to Manuel de Falla, whom Poulenc had met at the home of his teacher, Ricardo Vines, in 1918. David Ewen writes, "One is sometimes reminded of a chase, sometimes a dialogue . . . the main musical discourse is entrusted to the piano, while the bassoon is relegated to the role of a discreet commentator and the oboe is allowed to intensify the more lyrical flights. The very heart of Poulenc is in this adroit little work."

SCHNITTKE
Perhaps the most important Russian composer since Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke began his musical education in Vienna where his father, a journalist and translator, had been posted. In 1948 the family moved to Moscow, where Schnittke studied piano and received a diploma in choral conducting. 

In 1985, Schnittke suffered the first of a series of serious strokes. Despite his physical frailty, however, Schnittke experienced no loss of creative imagination or productivity. Beginning in 1990, Schnittke resided in Hamburg, maintaining dual German-Russian citizenship. He died after suffering another stroke in 1998 in Hamburg.

Schnittke’s early music showed the strong influence of Shostakovich; later he was noted above all for his hallmark “polystylistic” idiom. Schnittke wrote in a wide range of genres and styles. He was a prolific composer of scores for the Soviet film industry, and thematic material from three of these scores forms the basis for Suite in the Old Style, a perfect example of his neo-classical style. Schnittke originally composed the suite for violin and piano, and later made a version for chamber orchestra which has been widely performed.

"Pastorale" and "Ballet" are from a comedy film about a dentist's amorous adventures. "Pantomime" and "Minuet" are from scores for animated children's films. The Fugue comes from a documentary about a sportsman's double life ("Sport, Sport, Sport"). The entire score reflects the varied sound world and fertile creative imagination of Alfred Schnittke.

SHOSTAKOVICH
In a musical career spanning half a century, Shostakovich engrossed himself with a staggeringly diverse range of genres and styles. Beyond the fifteen symphonies and fifteen string quartets, the lesser-known works of Shostakovich offer intrigue and interest likewise. With the reappraisal of Shostakovich in recent times, his light music is beginning to enjoy unprecedented popularity in concert halls and record catalogues.

“Romance” was the most famous movement of “The Gadfly Suite,” probably Shostakovich's best-known film score. The film, which was based on the novel of the same name by Ethel Lilian Voynich, was set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumultuous revolt and uprisings. The story centers on the illegitimate son of a cardinal who joins the fight to unite Italy. When caught, he faces the firing squad as a willingly martyr. It is a story of faith, disillusionment, revolution, romance, and heroism. A best seller, it exerted a huge cultural influence, and was compulsory reading in the Soviet Union; indeed by the time of Voynich's death, “The Gadfly” is estimated to have sold 2,500,000 copies in the Soviet Union alone. “Romance” was used in the BBC/PBS TV series, “Reilly, Ace of Spies.”

“A Spin Through Moscow” is the first of the four dance-like movements of the orchestral suite from the comic operetta, “Moscow, Cheryomushki,” written in a bewildering variation of styles, from the Romantic idiom to vulgar popular song. The satirical plot deals with one of the most pressing concerns of urban Russians of the day, the chronic housing shortage and the difficulties of securing livable conditions. “Cheryomushki” translates to “bird-cherry trees,” the name of a real housing estate in southwest Moscow. 

James Lee III, born 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan cites as his major composition teachers Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, and Bright Sheng. He was also a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where he studied with Michael Gandolfi. Since Dr. Lee’s graduation with a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Michigan in 2005, his orchestral works have been commissioned and premiered by orchestras such as the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pasadena, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Akron. His works have been conducted by such artists as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, David Lockington, Thomas Wilkins, and others. Dr. Lee is also a winner of a Charles Ives Scholarship and the Wladimir Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  Chamber organizations such as the Montrose Trio, Ritz Chamber Players, and the Harlem Chamber Players have performed and premiered music by James Lee III. Pianist Dr. Rochelle Sennet recorded his piano music on the Albany Label in 2014. Dr. Lee’s works have been premiered and performed internationally in Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Cuba, and England.

The composer's website is www.jameslee3music.com

"The year 2020 was definitely a very challenging year with many upheavals. During this time of the COVID-19 health crisis, wearing masks, and high racial tensions, I decided to compose four short solo woodwind works for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, which represent the core woodwind section in an orchestra. I was inspired to compose these short pieces after I first heard Igor Stravinsky's three short pieces for clarinet, which totals a little more than four minutes in duration. I thought that it would be nice to highlight and honor my African-American male colleagues in the orchestral music world. I wanted to celebrate the fact that they are the principal player in the section of their respective orchestras. 

Principal Brother No. 4 for bassoon solo for Bryan Young, Principal Bassoon of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. These works all begin with notes that are representative of their name; D for Demarre, B for Titus (ti in solfège starting on C), A for Anthony, and Bb for Bryan. There is also a rhythmic figure in the opening measures of each piece, which represent the utterance of their names. All four of these works are rhapsodic in nature with elements of improvisation. I composed Principal Brothers No. 4 for Bryan Young so that he would be able to not only display his wonderful technical ability, but he would also shine in the various ranges of the instrument as he makes the bassoon sing very beautifully and full of expression."

The other pieces in the set are: Principal Brother No. 1 for flute solo for Demarre McGill, Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Principal Brother No. 2 for oboe solo for Titus Underwood, Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra; and Principal Brother No. 3 for clarinet solo for Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic 

—James Lee III

CUONG
Described as “show-stealing” (Baltimore City Paper) and a “dazzler” (Broad Street Review), Viet Cuong's music has been performed in venues across the USA, Canada, South Africa, Singapore, and Japan. He has been a Naumburg and Roger Sessions Fellow in Princeton University’s doctoral program, and holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where he received the Presser Undergraduate Scholarship, the Peabody Alumni Award, and the Gustav Klemm Award for excellence in composition. He is among the youngest composers to receive residencies from the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Ucross Foundation, and Yaddo.

Cuong’s works have been performed at the Aspen Music Festival, International Double Reed Society Conference, Bowdoin Music Festival, the US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, Midwest Clinic, CBDNA conferences, and the GAMMA-UT Conference. Viet was a winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Composers Award, Walter Beeler Memorial Prize from Ithaca College, Dolce Suono Ensemble Young Composers Competition, Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association Grant, National Band Association Young Composer Mentor Project, and the Prix d’Été Composition Competition. 

The composer writes about Trains of Thought: “As I was writing the piece, it began to take on quite a similar atmosphere to my older piece named ‘Pulse Train’ . . . so much, that I chose to continue this theme of trains that aren't actually locomotives, yet still evoke the feeling of a moving train. I hope that this will be an intriguing yet engaging piece for audiences. The piece basically has a consistent tempo for the entire duration, but the colors, registers, and even harmonies vary widely. My goal was to unify these different elements through a consistent, intense rhythmic drive. In addition, I thought (even more than I usually do) about a listener's expectations and how to successfully set up these expectations and manipulate them. Both of these ideas touch on the ‘train of thought’ concept. Ideas often meander aimlessly in one's mind, and one's stream of consciousness can end up somewhere very unexpected. However, different thoughts are usually connected through some sort of common thread. I hope this makes some sense!

The only ‘extended techniques’ I used were some pretty heavy use of bisbigliando (timbral trills), which I notated as quarter-tones, and very spare dampening of the strings in the piano with the fingers.”

The composer's website is https://vietcuongmusic.com

ROSSINI
This “Concert-Fantasy,” based on tunes from Rossini’s final Italian opera, Semiramide, is from a collection of delightful opera-inspired arrangements dating from 19th century Paris and the salon music of that time. It contains works by the opera composers Rossini and Donizetti, favorites of the Parisian audiences, in arrangements by the oboe and bassoon virtuosi (and Conservatoire professors) of the day Charles Triébert, Henri Brod and Eugène Jancourt. These works were not only “tuneful” but enabled the performers to show off their ample virtuosity very well. 

Semiramide is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Queen Semiramis of Babylon. It has been called "the last opera of the great Baroque tradition: the most beautiful, the most imaginative, possibly the most complete; but also, irremediably, the last."