AMERICAN CLASSICS

AMERICAN JOURNEYBernstein • Copland • Foss • Bennett

Arnold Steinhardt, Violin • Victor Steinhardt, PianoLincoln Mayorga & Dave Grusin, Piano • Amanda Forsyth, Cello

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tungsgemäßen, traditionellen Fortschreitungen durcheine nach-debussystische Ästhetik ersetzt. Gegen Endefindet das Werk zu traditionelleren Harmonien zurück –als würde der Tango vermittels einer Gummilinsewieder in den Brennpunkt gestellt.

Lincoln Mayorgas hat in seinem sonnigenBluefields, A West Hollywood Rumba for Arnold daskomplizierte rhythmische Wechselspiel zwischen Vio-line und Klavier – wie auch die durch Nonen und Sextenangereicherten, scheinbar einfachen Akkordfort-schreitungen – durch eine extrem unterkühlte südame-rikanische Disposition verkleidet.

Als Miniatursuite bezeichnet Dave Grusin seineThree Latin American Dances. Diese wurzeln in einemBenefiz-Konzert für Roberta Guasparis Violin-programm Opus 118, das in East Haarlem im Sommer2000 unter Mitwirkung Steinhardts stattfand. Tango deParque Central nimmt sich gewisse Freiheiten des

tango nuevo – was eine recht allgemeine Beschreibungder Werke Astor Piazzollas ist, der den ursprünglichenTango zur Entwicklung eines moderneren Standpunktsbenutzte. Danzón de Etiqueta wurzelt in der Ende des19. Jahrhunderts noch recht feinen SalontraditionKubas, aus der später äußerst populäre, energiegeladeneTanzformen wie der Cha-Cha und der Charangaentstanden. Der Rhythmus von Joropo entstammt dervenezolanischen Hochebene (llano) und wird durcheinen kräftigen 3/4- oder 6/8-Takt markiert. Grusinbemüht sich in seiner Suite nicht um absolute Reinheit,zeigt aber doch große Achtung und Zuneigung zu denOriginalformen. „Und natürlich,” bemerkt er, „geht esimmer darum, eine gute Zeit zu haben.“

Ben FinaneDeutsche Fassung: Cris Posslac

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Auf dieser amerikanischen Reise spielt der GeigerArnold Steinhardt einige seiner Lieblingsstücke aus dem20. Jahrhundert, die zu der erfreulich reichen undvielgestaltigen Landschaft der amerikanischen Klassikbeitragen.

Die Reise beginnt bei Robert Russell Bennett,einem Komponisten, der vor allem wegen seiner Arbeitals Orchestrator bekannt ist: Für den Broadway und fürLondon hat er mehr als dreihundert Musicals instru-mentiert, darunter Oklahoma und South Pacific. Für denehemaligen Studenten von Nadja Boulanger boten dieLichter des Broadway nur die Möglichkeit, seineRechnungen zu zahlen – seine Zuneigung zur seriösenKomposition vermochten sie nicht zu überstrahlen.Während seine Abraham Lincoln Symphony seinehrgeizigstes klassisches Werk sein dürfte, sind seineHexapoda: Five Studies in Jitteroptera gewiss seingrößter Publikumshit. Das Stück, das 1940 von demGeiger Louis Kaufman uraufgeführt und später auch vonJascha Heifetz gespielt wurde, entstand an einemWochenende, nachdem Kaufman Bennett gegenübergeäußert hatte, dass die „niedere Musik von heute esverdiente, durch einen ernsthaften Komponisten gerettetzu werden“. Die fröhlich-schizophrene Energie dieserbescheidenen Suite ist unwiderstehlich.

Lukas Foss wurde 1922 in Berlin geboren, floh 1933vor den Nazis nach Paris und ging von dort 1937 nachNew York City. In den Jahren 1940 und 1941 studierteer bei Paul Hindemith. 1942 entdeckte er die MusikStrawinskys für sich, und in demselben Jahr erhielt erdie amerikanische Staatsbürgerschaft. Die 1944 ent-standenen Three Pieces für Violine und Klavier warenFoss’ Geschenk an Amerika. Die Skizzen haben eineneoklassizistische Haltung und lassen – vor allem inComposer’s Holiday – die europäische Sensibilität undden turbulenten amerikanischen Stil des Geigenspielszusammentreffen. Foss arrangierte das Stück später fürFlöte und Klavier (Drei frühe Stücke) und für Violinebzw. Flöte mit Orchester (Drei amerikanische Stücke).

1939 schrieb der damals erst 21jährige Leonard

Bernstein seine Sonate für Violine und Klavier – vierJahre also vor seinem gefeierten, überraschenden Debütals Dirigent der New Yorker Philharmoniker. Das Stückentstand für Raphael Hillyer, einen der Gründer desJuilliard String Quartet, und mit ihm brachte Bernsteindas Werk 1940 auch zur Uraufführung. Die BrüderSteinhardt versuchen mit ihrer intelligenten undtransparenten Interpretation, diesem selten gespielten,nachdenklichen Stück zu einem Platz im Repertoire zuverhelfen.

Dem frühen Stück von Bernstein folgt ein eben-solches von Aaron Copland: Das Nocturne aus den TwoPieces, die der Komponist 1926 im Alter von 26 Jahrenverfasste und noch im selben Jahr mit dem GeigerSamuel Dushkin bei einem Konzert in Paris uraufführte,das ausschließlich amerikanische Musik enthielt undweitgehend von Studenten Boulangers bestritten wurde.Das Nocturne ist eine ruhige, für sich allein stehendeStudie über die Ökonomie der musikalischen Mittel underinnert an eine der verregneten Städteansichten EdwardHoppers, die hier in Jazz getaucht ist.

Den Namen des farbigen Komponisten Harry T.Burleigh kennt man vor allem, weil er seinen LehrerAntonín Dvofiák vom Wert der „eingeborenen“amerikanischen Musik überzeugte. Burleigh verhalfauch den Negro Spirituals und der Folklore zu einemPlatz im Konzertsaal, und es gelang ihm, eine Brückezwischen dem Kunstlied und dem eigenen musika-lischen Erbe zu schlagen. Seine Suite SouthlandSketches ist ein perfektes Beispiel für diesen Brücken-schlag: Sie stützt sich mit ihrer offensichtlichen Pen-tatonik auf das Spiritual, verleiht ihrer Melodik ganzbewusst den Eindruck der Kunstfertigkeit undverwendet weit schwingende Konturen, um jeden Satzzielgerichtet dem Schluss entgegenstreben zu lassen.

Die drei letzten Stationen unserer American Journeybestehen aus zwei Tangos und einer Rumba, die fürArnold Steinhardt geschrieben wurden. Das erste Stückstammt von seinem Bruder Victor, dessen Tango dieTanzform auf den Kopf stellt und die erwar-

Eine amerikanische ReiseBernstein • Copland • Foss • Bennett

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Robert Russell BENNETT (1894–1981): Hexapoda: Five Studies in Jitteroptera (1940) 7:531 Gut Bucket Gus 2:002 Jane Shakes Her Hair 1:083 Betty and Harold Close Their Eyes 1:434 Jim Jives 1:035 Till Dawn Sunday 1:58

Lukas FOSS (b. 1922): Three American Pieces (1944) 12:236 Dedication 4:377 Early Song 4:458 Composer’s Holiday 3:00

Leonard BERNSTEIN (1918–1990): Sonata for Violin and Piano (1939) 15:089 Moderato 4:42

Variations on Movement One 10:260 I 1:45 ! II 2:03 @ III 1:49 # IV 1:35 $ V 1:16 % VI 1:57

Aaron COPLAND (1900–1990)^ Two Pieces for Violin and Piano (1926): I Nocturne 4:58

Henry “Harry” Thacker BURLEIGH (1866–1949): Southland Sketches (1916) 11:05& Andante 2:33* Adagio ma non troppo 2:32( Allegretto grazioso 3:11) Allegro 2:43

Victor STEINHARDT (b. 1943)¡ Tango (1996) 6:09

Arnold Steinhardt, violin • Victor Steinhardt, piano

Lincoln MAYORGA (b. 1937)™ Bluefields, A West Hollywood Rumba for Arnold (1998) 4:08

Arnold Steinhardt, violin • Lincoln Mayorga, piano

Dave GRUSIN (b. 1934): Three Latin American Dances (2000): 16:02£ Tango de Parque Central 4:52¢ Danzón de Etiqueta 4:58∞ Joropo Peligroso 6:11

Arnold Steinhardt, violin • Dave Grusin, piano • Amanda Forsyth, cello

559235bk Journey US 16/5/06 7:22 am Page 2

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Amanda Forsyth

Juno Award–winning Amanda Forsyth is considered one of North America’s most dynamic cellists. By the age of24 she had performed two seasons with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and was appointed principal cello of theCalgary Philharmonic Orchestra by conductor Mario Bernardi. In 1999 she was appointed principal cello of theNational Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. She has appeared with leading orchestras in Canada, the United States,Europe, Asia and Australia. As a soloist and chamber musician she has collaborated with such artists as LynnHarrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Pierre Boulez, Gary Hoffman, Ralph Kirshbaum, Mario Bernardi, Garrick Ohlsson, Jon KimuraParker, Yefim Bronfman, Louis Lortie, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Orion Quartet, Michael Tree, ArnoldSteinhardt and Pinchas Zukerman. She is a member of the Zukerman Chamber Players, a string ensemble whichappeared to critical acclaim during its first international tour in 2003 with performances at festivals in Canada, theUnited States, and Europe. Amanda Forsyth performs on a rare 1699 Italian cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.

Lincoln Mayorga

Equally versatile and virtuosic regardless of musical genre, pianist and composer Lincoln Mayorga has enjoyed oneof the busiest studio careers in Hollywood. He was the staff pianist for Walt Disney Studios and contributed to thesoundtracks of such motion pictures as Chinatown, Pete’s Dragon, and Ragtime. His television credits include LittleHouse on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven Dallas, and original scores for Fame. As accompanist, arranger, andconductor, he has recorded with such artists as Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Vikki Carr, Mel Torme, Phil Ochs,Andy Williams, Ernie Freeman, Frank Zappa, and Quincy Jones. He is co-founder of the renowned audiophilerecord label Sheffield Lab, for which he has produced recordings by a range of artists, from Harry James and hisband to Erich Leinsdorf and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His concert tours have taken his diverse 18th to 21stcentury repertoire to more than two hundred cities across the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia.

Dave Grusin

Dave Grusin has worked in the profession of music since 1959, variously as an arranger, pianist, composer andrecord producer. Born in Littleton, Colorado, and educated at the University of Colorado, he holds honorary doctoraldegrees from CU and from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has written over forty film scores andreceived seven Academy Award nominations, including an Oscar in 1988 for The Milagro Beanfield Wars. From1976 to 1995, he was in partnership with Larry Rosen as owners of GRP records. His life as a recording artist andproducer has resulted in ten Grammy awards, including a 2001 nomination for Two Worlds, a classical recordingwith guitarist Lee Ritenour, featuring performances by Renée Fleming and Gil Shaham, among others. In additionto his professional life, Grusin is co-founder (with Rosen) of the National Foundation for Jazz Education (NFJE), aphilanthropic group dedicated to helping young jazz musicians.

8.5592353

In this American Journey, violinist Arnold Steinhardtperforms some of his favourite twentieth-century worksthat contribute to the delightfully rich and variedlandscape of American classical music.

The journey begins with Robert Russell Bennett, acomposer remembered foremost as an orchestrator ofover three hundred Broadway and London musicals,including Oklahoma and South Pacific. For Bennett,who studied under Nadia Boulanger, the bright lights ofBroadway were only a way to pay his bills, and neveroutshone his love of composing serious music. WhileAbraham Lincoln Symphony may be his most ambitiouswork on the classical side, Hexapoda: Five Studies inJitteroptera is assuredly his greatest crowd pleaser. Firstperformed in 1940 by the violinist Louis Kaufman (andlater played by Jascha Heifetz), the work was written ina weekend in response to Kaufman’s assertion toBennett that ‘the low-down music of the day was worthsaving by a serious-minded composer’. The joyful,schizophrenic energy of this modest suite is impossibleto resist.

Lukas Foss was born in Berlin in 1922, fled to Parisin 1933 to escape the Nazis, and left for New York Cityin 1937. He studied under Paul Hindemith from 1940 to1941 and discovered the music of Stravinsky in 1942,the same year he became an American citizen. ThreePieces, written for violin and piano in 1944, was Foss’sgift to America. The sketches have a neo-classical bentand pit European sensibility against rough-and-tumbleAmericana fiddling, particularly in Composer’sHoliday. Foss would later arrange the entire work forflute and piano (Three Early Pieces) and orchestrate itfor violin/flute and orchestra (Three American Pieces).

Leonard Bernstein’s Sonata for Violin and Pianowas penned in 1939, when Bernstein was only 21, fouryears before his celebrated and unexpected débutconducting the New York Philharmonic. The work waswritten for Raphael Hillyer, co-founder of the JuilliardString Quartet, and Bernstein accompanied Hillyer inthe 1940 première. This sonata is rarely performed, but

the brothers Steinhardt, with their intelligent andtransparent interpretation here, have made a case forboosting this ruminating work’s profile within therepertoire.

The early Bernstein piece is followed by an earlywork by Aaron Copland: Nocturne from Two Pieces.Written in 1926 when the composer was 26 years of age,Two Pieces was first performed by Copland and theviolinist Samuel Dushkin that same year in Paris at anall-American concert made up largely of students ofBoulanger. A quiet, solitary study in economy of means,Nocturne calls to mind an Edward Hopper-likecityscape, drenched in rain and (here) dipped in jazz.

The African-American composer Harry T. Burleighis largely remembered for having convinced his teacher,the Czech composer Antonín Dvofiák, of the worthinessof ‘indigenous’ American music. Burleigh also helpedestablish a place in the concert hall for negro spiritualsand folk melodies, and was able to bridge art-song withmusic from his own heritage. His suite, SouthlandSketches, is a perfect example of that bridging,possessing a firm reliance on the Negro spiritual with anovertly pentatonic pitch field, instilling a conscious airof sophistication in the melodies, and employing largesweeping contours in a unified direction, eachmovement ambling toward its conclusion.

The final three stops on our American Journeyinclude two tangos and a rumba written for ArnoldSteinhardt. The first is by his brother, Victor, whoseTango turns the dance form on its head, supplantingexpected traditional progressions with a post-Debussyaesthetic. The work’s return to more traditionalharmonies near its conclusion acts as a zoom lens,bringing the tango back in focus. The complex rhythmicinterplay between violin and piano in LincolnMayorga’s sunny Bluefields, A West Hollywood Rumbafor Arnold is disguised by an ultra-cool South Americandisposition, as are the added ninths and sixths in theseemingly simple chord progression.

Dave Grusin describes his Three Latin American

American JourneyBernstein • Copland • Foss • Bennett

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Arnold Steinhardt

Born in Los Angeles, Arnold Steinhardt received his early training from Carl Moldrem and then with two LeopoldAuer students, Peter Meremblum and Toscha Seidel. At the age of fourteen he made his solo début with the LosAngeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He continued his studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music andunder the sponsorship of Georg Szell with Joseph Szigeti in Switzerland. Winner of the Philadelphia YouthCompetition in 1957, the 1958 Leventritt Award, and Bronze Medalist in the Queen Elisabeth International ViolinCompetition in 1963, he has appeared throughout America and Europe as a recitalist and soloist with variousorchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. Since 1964 he has been the firstviolinist of the internationally acclaimed Guarneri String Quartet which will now celebrate its forty-third seasonbefore the public. In addition to the quartet's many records for RCA, Philips, and Arabesque, Steinhardt’s otherrecordings include Dvofiák and Strauss with pianist Lincoln Mayorga, a reissue of unaccompanied Bach works, bothon the Town Hall label, an all Robert Fuchs record with pianist Victor Steinhardt on Biddulph records, and a soonto be released CD set of the collected works by Schubert for violin and piano with pianist Seymour Lipkin on theNewport Classics label. Arnold Steinhardt is Professor of Violin at the University of Maryland, Rutgers University,Bard College and The Curtis Institute of Music. He has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of SouthFlorida and Harpur College. He is the author of numerous articles for Chamber Music America, Musical America,Keynote, and Strings. His first book, Indivisible By Four, a String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony, published byFarrar, Straus & Giroux, appeared in 1998. His second book, Violin Dreams, will be published by Houghton Mifflinin October, 2006.

Victor Steinhardt

Since his début as piano soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of fifteen, Victor Steinhardt hasimpressed audiences throughout the United States with his warmth, virtuosity, sensitivity and style. He hasperformed extensively as a soloist with orchestras, in solo recitals, and in chamber ensembles. He has been afeatured artist at the Oregon Bach Festival, the Oregon Coast Music Festival, the Ernest Bloch Music Festival, theGrand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, the Mohawk Trails Concerts in Massachusetts, the San Luis ObispoMozart Festival in California, Chamber Music Northwest in Oregon, and Bargemusic in New York. As a chambermusician, he has collaborated with many outstanding artists, including cellists Leonard Rose and Jules Eskin,violinists Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Josef Suk, and Pamela Frank, violist Michael Tree, clarinettist DavidShifrin, flautist Ransom Wilson, and the Penderecki, Peterson, Angeles, LaFayette, and Guarneri String Quartets.He also frequently performs four-hand and duo piano music with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Parker. He has receivedwide acclaim for several of his compositions. His recent compositions Sonata Boogie for violin and piano, RunningBlue for clarinet, violin and piano, and Ein Heldenboogie for piano solo are large-scale works that have beenenthusiastically received by audiences all over the United States.

8.559235 4

Dances as a ‘mini-suite’, rooted in a benefitperformance with Steinhardt for Roberta Guaspari’sEast Harlem violin programme, Opus 118, in thesummer of 2000. Tango de Parque Central takesliberties toward the direction of ‘New Tango’, a rathergeneric description of the work of Astor Piazzolla, whoused original tango to develop a more contemporarypoint of view. Danzón de Etiqueta has its roots in latenineteenth-century Cuba, originally a somewhat politesalon tradition, but developing later into very popular

and energetic dance forms, including the cha-cha and thecharanga. The rhythm of Joropo comes from the highplain (Llano) of Venezuela, and is marked by a strong3/4 or 6/8 metre. While not attempting to be perfectlypure, Grusin’s suite shows great respect and love for theoriginals. ‘And of course’, he notes, ‘the aim, as always,is to have a good time’.

Ben Finane

8.5592355

Publisher Information

1-5 Chapell and Co. Inc, NYC (1941)6-8 Carl Fischer (1946 / 1994)^ B. Schott and Sons (1956)&-) G. Ricordi and Co. Inc (1916)¡ published by the composer (1996) (BMI)™ Beethoven Music Co. (1999) (ASCAP)£-∞ Raw Deal Music (2002) (BMI)

559235bk Journey US 16/5/06 7:22 am Page 4

Arnold Steinhardt

Born in Los Angeles, Arnold Steinhardt received his early training from Carl Moldrem and then with two LeopoldAuer students, Peter Meremblum and Toscha Seidel. At the age of fourteen he made his solo début with the LosAngeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He continued his studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music andunder the sponsorship of Georg Szell with Joseph Szigeti in Switzerland. Winner of the Philadelphia YouthCompetition in 1957, the 1958 Leventritt Award, and Bronze Medalist in the Queen Elisabeth International ViolinCompetition in 1963, he has appeared throughout America and Europe as a recitalist and soloist with variousorchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. Since 1964 he has been the firstviolinist of the internationally acclaimed Guarneri String Quartet which will now celebrate its forty-third seasonbefore the public. In addition to the quartet's many records for RCA, Philips, and Arabesque, Steinhardt’s otherrecordings include Dvofiák and Strauss with pianist Lincoln Mayorga, a reissue of unaccompanied Bach works, bothon the Town Hall label, an all Robert Fuchs record with pianist Victor Steinhardt on Biddulph records, and a soonto be released CD set of the collected works by Schubert for violin and piano with pianist Seymour Lipkin on theNewport Classics label. Arnold Steinhardt is Professor of Violin at the University of Maryland, Rutgers University,Bard College and The Curtis Institute of Music. He has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of SouthFlorida and Harpur College. He is the author of numerous articles for Chamber Music America, Musical America,Keynote, and Strings. His first book, Indivisible By Four, a String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony, published byFarrar, Straus & Giroux, appeared in 1998. His second book, Violin Dreams, will be published by Houghton Mifflinin October, 2006.

Victor Steinhardt

Since his début as piano soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of fifteen, Victor Steinhardt hasimpressed audiences throughout the United States with his warmth, virtuosity, sensitivity and style. He hasperformed extensively as a soloist with orchestras, in solo recitals, and in chamber ensembles. He has been afeatured artist at the Oregon Bach Festival, the Oregon Coast Music Festival, the Ernest Bloch Music Festival, theGrand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, the Mohawk Trails Concerts in Massachusetts, the San Luis ObispoMozart Festival in California, Chamber Music Northwest in Oregon, and Bargemusic in New York. As a chambermusician, he has collaborated with many outstanding artists, including cellists Leonard Rose and Jules Eskin,violinists Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Josef Suk, and Pamela Frank, violist Michael Tree, clarinettist DavidShifrin, flautist Ransom Wilson, and the Penderecki, Peterson, Angeles, LaFayette, and Guarneri String Quartets.He also frequently performs four-hand and duo piano music with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Parker. He has receivedwide acclaim for several of his compositions. His recent compositions Sonata Boogie for violin and piano, RunningBlue for clarinet, violin and piano, and Ein Heldenboogie for piano solo are large-scale works that have beenenthusiastically received by audiences all over the United States.

8.559235 4

Dances as a ‘mini-suite’, rooted in a benefitperformance with Steinhardt for Roberta Guaspari’sEast Harlem violin programme, Opus 118, in thesummer of 2000. Tango de Parque Central takesliberties toward the direction of ‘New Tango’, a rathergeneric description of the work of Astor Piazzolla, whoused original tango to develop a more contemporarypoint of view. Danzón de Etiqueta has its roots in latenineteenth-century Cuba, originally a somewhat politesalon tradition, but developing later into very popular

and energetic dance forms, including the cha-cha and thecharanga. The rhythm of Joropo comes from the highplain (Llano) of Venezuela, and is marked by a strong3/4 or 6/8 metre. While not attempting to be perfectlypure, Grusin’s suite shows great respect and love for theoriginals. ‘And of course’, he notes, ‘the aim, as always,is to have a good time’.

Ben Finane

8.5592355

Publisher Information

1-5 Chapell and Co. Inc, NYC (1941)6-8 Carl Fischer (1946 / 1994)^ B. Schott and Sons (1956)&-) G. Ricordi and Co. Inc (1916)¡ published by the composer (1996) (BMI)™ Beethoven Music Co. (1999) (ASCAP)£-∞ Raw Deal Music (2002) (BMI)

559235bk Journey US 16/5/06 7:22 am Page 4

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Amanda Forsyth

Juno Award–winning Amanda Forsyth is considered one of North America’s most dynamic cellists. By the age of24 she had performed two seasons with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and was appointed principal cello of theCalgary Philharmonic Orchestra by conductor Mario Bernardi. In 1999 she was appointed principal cello of theNational Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. She has appeared with leading orchestras in Canada, the United States,Europe, Asia and Australia. As a soloist and chamber musician she has collaborated with such artists as LynnHarrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Pierre Boulez, Gary Hoffman, Ralph Kirshbaum, Mario Bernardi, Garrick Ohlsson, Jon KimuraParker, Yefim Bronfman, Louis Lortie, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Orion Quartet, Michael Tree, ArnoldSteinhardt and Pinchas Zukerman. She is a member of the Zukerman Chamber Players, a string ensemble whichappeared to critical acclaim during its first international tour in 2003 with performances at festivals in Canada, theUnited States, and Europe. Amanda Forsyth performs on a rare 1699 Italian cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.

Lincoln Mayorga

Equally versatile and virtuosic regardless of musical genre, pianist and composer Lincoln Mayorga has enjoyed oneof the busiest studio careers in Hollywood. He was the staff pianist for Walt Disney Studios and contributed to thesoundtracks of such motion pictures as Chinatown, Pete’s Dragon, and Ragtime. His television credits include LittleHouse on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven Dallas, and original scores for Fame. As accompanist, arranger, andconductor, he has recorded with such artists as Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Vikki Carr, Mel Torme, Phil Ochs,Andy Williams, Ernie Freeman, Frank Zappa, and Quincy Jones. He is co-founder of the renowned audiophilerecord label Sheffield Lab, for which he has produced recordings by a range of artists, from Harry James and hisband to Erich Leinsdorf and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His concert tours have taken his diverse 18th to 21stcentury repertoire to more than two hundred cities across the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia.

Dave Grusin

Dave Grusin has worked in the profession of music since 1959, variously as an arranger, pianist, composer andrecord producer. Born in Littleton, Colorado, and educated at the University of Colorado, he holds honorary doctoraldegrees from CU and from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has written over forty film scores andreceived seven Academy Award nominations, including an Oscar in 1988 for The Milagro Beanfield Wars. From1976 to 1995, he was in partnership with Larry Rosen as owners of GRP records. His life as a recording artist andproducer has resulted in ten Grammy awards, including a 2001 nomination for Two Worlds, a classical recordingwith guitarist Lee Ritenour, featuring performances by Renée Fleming and Gil Shaham, among others. In additionto his professional life, Grusin is co-founder (with Rosen) of the National Foundation for Jazz Education (NFJE), aphilanthropic group dedicated to helping young jazz musicians.

8.5592353

In this American Journey, violinist Arnold Steinhardtperforms some of his favourite twentieth-century worksthat contribute to the delightfully rich and variedlandscape of American classical music.

The journey begins with Robert Russell Bennett, acomposer remembered foremost as an orchestrator ofover three hundred Broadway and London musicals,including Oklahoma and South Pacific. For Bennett,who studied under Nadia Boulanger, the bright lights ofBroadway were only a way to pay his bills, and neveroutshone his love of composing serious music. WhileAbraham Lincoln Symphony may be his most ambitiouswork on the classical side, Hexapoda: Five Studies inJitteroptera is assuredly his greatest crowd pleaser. Firstperformed in 1940 by the violinist Louis Kaufman (andlater played by Jascha Heifetz), the work was written ina weekend in response to Kaufman’s assertion toBennett that ‘the low-down music of the day was worthsaving by a serious-minded composer’. The joyful,schizophrenic energy of this modest suite is impossibleto resist.

Lukas Foss was born in Berlin in 1922, fled to Parisin 1933 to escape the Nazis, and left for New York Cityin 1937. He studied under Paul Hindemith from 1940 to1941 and discovered the music of Stravinsky in 1942,the same year he became an American citizen. ThreePieces, written for violin and piano in 1944, was Foss’sgift to America. The sketches have a neo-classical bentand pit European sensibility against rough-and-tumbleAmericana fiddling, particularly in Composer’sHoliday. Foss would later arrange the entire work forflute and piano (Three Early Pieces) and orchestrate itfor violin/flute and orchestra (Three American Pieces).

Leonard Bernstein’s Sonata for Violin and Pianowas penned in 1939, when Bernstein was only 21, fouryears before his celebrated and unexpected débutconducting the New York Philharmonic. The work waswritten for Raphael Hillyer, co-founder of the JuilliardString Quartet, and Bernstein accompanied Hillyer inthe 1940 première. This sonata is rarely performed, but

the brothers Steinhardt, with their intelligent andtransparent interpretation here, have made a case forboosting this ruminating work’s profile within therepertoire.

The early Bernstein piece is followed by an earlywork by Aaron Copland: Nocturne from Two Pieces.Written in 1926 when the composer was 26 years of age,Two Pieces was first performed by Copland and theviolinist Samuel Dushkin that same year in Paris at anall-American concert made up largely of students ofBoulanger. A quiet, solitary study in economy of means,Nocturne calls to mind an Edward Hopper-likecityscape, drenched in rain and (here) dipped in jazz.

The African-American composer Harry T. Burleighis largely remembered for having convinced his teacher,the Czech composer Antonín Dvofiák, of the worthinessof ‘indigenous’ American music. Burleigh also helpedestablish a place in the concert hall for negro spiritualsand folk melodies, and was able to bridge art-song withmusic from his own heritage. His suite, SouthlandSketches, is a perfect example of that bridging,possessing a firm reliance on the Negro spiritual with anovertly pentatonic pitch field, instilling a conscious airof sophistication in the melodies, and employing largesweeping contours in a unified direction, eachmovement ambling toward its conclusion.

The final three stops on our American Journeyinclude two tangos and a rumba written for ArnoldSteinhardt. The first is by his brother, Victor, whoseTango turns the dance form on its head, supplantingexpected traditional progressions with a post-Debussyaesthetic. The work’s return to more traditionalharmonies near its conclusion acts as a zoom lens,bringing the tango back in focus. The complex rhythmicinterplay between violin and piano in LincolnMayorga’s sunny Bluefields, A West Hollywood Rumbafor Arnold is disguised by an ultra-cool South Americandisposition, as are the added ninths and sixths in theseemingly simple chord progression.

Dave Grusin describes his Three Latin American

American JourneyBernstein • Copland • Foss • Bennett

559235bk Journey US 16/5/06 7:22 am Page 6

8.5592357

Auf dieser amerikanischen Reise spielt der GeigerArnold Steinhardt einige seiner Lieblingsstücke aus dem20. Jahrhundert, die zu der erfreulich reichen undvielgestaltigen Landschaft der amerikanischen Klassikbeitragen.

Die Reise beginnt bei Robert Russell Bennett,einem Komponisten, der vor allem wegen seiner Arbeitals Orchestrator bekannt ist: Für den Broadway und fürLondon hat er mehr als dreihundert Musicals instru-mentiert, darunter Oklahoma und South Pacific. Für denehemaligen Studenten von Nadja Boulanger boten dieLichter des Broadway nur die Möglichkeit, seineRechnungen zu zahlen – seine Zuneigung zur seriösenKomposition vermochten sie nicht zu überstrahlen.Während seine Abraham Lincoln Symphony seinehrgeizigstes klassisches Werk sein dürfte, sind seineHexapoda: Five Studies in Jitteroptera gewiss seingrößter Publikumshit. Das Stück, das 1940 von demGeiger Louis Kaufman uraufgeführt und später auch vonJascha Heifetz gespielt wurde, entstand an einemWochenende, nachdem Kaufman Bennett gegenübergeäußert hatte, dass die „niedere Musik von heute esverdiente, durch einen ernsthaften Komponisten gerettetzu werden“. Die fröhlich-schizophrene Energie dieserbescheidenen Suite ist unwiderstehlich.

Lukas Foss wurde 1922 in Berlin geboren, floh 1933vor den Nazis nach Paris und ging von dort 1937 nachNew York City. In den Jahren 1940 und 1941 studierteer bei Paul Hindemith. 1942 entdeckte er die MusikStrawinskys für sich, und in demselben Jahr erhielt erdie amerikanische Staatsbürgerschaft. Die 1944 ent-standenen Three Pieces für Violine und Klavier warenFoss’ Geschenk an Amerika. Die Skizzen haben eineneoklassizistische Haltung und lassen – vor allem inComposer’s Holiday – die europäische Sensibilität undden turbulenten amerikanischen Stil des Geigenspielszusammentreffen. Foss arrangierte das Stück später fürFlöte und Klavier (Drei frühe Stücke) und für Violinebzw. Flöte mit Orchester (Drei amerikanische Stücke).

1939 schrieb der damals erst 21jährige Leonard

Bernstein seine Sonate für Violine und Klavier – vierJahre also vor seinem gefeierten, überraschenden Debütals Dirigent der New Yorker Philharmoniker. Das Stückentstand für Raphael Hillyer, einen der Gründer desJuilliard String Quartet, und mit ihm brachte Bernsteindas Werk 1940 auch zur Uraufführung. Die BrüderSteinhardt versuchen mit ihrer intelligenten undtransparenten Interpretation, diesem selten gespielten,nachdenklichen Stück zu einem Platz im Repertoire zuverhelfen.

Dem frühen Stück von Bernstein folgt ein eben-solches von Aaron Copland: Das Nocturne aus den TwoPieces, die der Komponist 1926 im Alter von 26 Jahrenverfasste und noch im selben Jahr mit dem GeigerSamuel Dushkin bei einem Konzert in Paris uraufführte,das ausschließlich amerikanische Musik enthielt undweitgehend von Studenten Boulangers bestritten wurde.Das Nocturne ist eine ruhige, für sich allein stehendeStudie über die Ökonomie der musikalischen Mittel underinnert an eine der verregneten Städteansichten EdwardHoppers, die hier in Jazz getaucht ist.

Den Namen des farbigen Komponisten Harry T.Burleigh kennt man vor allem, weil er seinen LehrerAntonín Dvofiák vom Wert der „eingeborenen“amerikanischen Musik überzeugte. Burleigh verhalfauch den Negro Spirituals und der Folklore zu einemPlatz im Konzertsaal, und es gelang ihm, eine Brückezwischen dem Kunstlied und dem eigenen musika-lischen Erbe zu schlagen. Seine Suite SouthlandSketches ist ein perfektes Beispiel für diesen Brücken-schlag: Sie stützt sich mit ihrer offensichtlichen Pen-tatonik auf das Spiritual, verleiht ihrer Melodik ganzbewusst den Eindruck der Kunstfertigkeit undverwendet weit schwingende Konturen, um jeden Satzzielgerichtet dem Schluss entgegenstreben zu lassen.

Die drei letzten Stationen unserer American Journeybestehen aus zwei Tangos und einer Rumba, die fürArnold Steinhardt geschrieben wurden. Das erste Stückstammt von seinem Bruder Victor, dessen Tango dieTanzform auf den Kopf stellt und die erwar-

Eine amerikanische ReiseBernstein • Copland • Foss • Bennett

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Robert Russell BENNETT (1894–1981): Hexapoda: Five Studies in Jitteroptera (1940) 7:531 Gut Bucket Gus 2:002 Jane Shakes Her Hair 1:083 Betty and Harold Close Their Eyes 1:434 Jim Jives 1:035 Till Dawn Sunday 1:58

Lukas FOSS (b. 1922): Three American Pieces (1944) 12:236 Dedication 4:377 Early Song 4:458 Composer’s Holiday 3:00

Leonard BERNSTEIN (1918–1990): Sonata for Violin and Piano (1939) 15:089 Moderato 4:42

Variations on Movement One 10:260 I 1:45 ! II 2:03 @ III 1:49 # IV 1:35 $ V 1:16 % VI 1:57

Aaron COPLAND (1900–1990)^ Two Pieces for Violin and Piano (1926): I Nocturne 4:58

Henry “Harry” Thacker BURLEIGH (1866–1949): Southland Sketches (1916) 11:05& Andante 2:33* Adagio ma non troppo 2:32( Allegretto grazioso 3:11) Allegro 2:43

Victor STEINHARDT (b. 1943)¡ Tango (1996) 6:09

Arnold Steinhardt, violin • Victor Steinhardt, piano

Lincoln MAYORGA (b. 1937)™ Bluefields, A West Hollywood Rumba for Arnold (1998) 4:08

Arnold Steinhardt, violin • Lincoln Mayorga, piano

Dave GRUSIN (b. 1934): Three Latin American Dances (2000): 16:02£ Tango de Parque Central 4:52¢ Danzón de Etiqueta 4:58∞ Joropo Peligroso 6:11

Arnold Steinhardt, violin • Dave Grusin, piano • Amanda Forsyth, cello

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AMERICAN CLASSICS

AMERICAN JOURNEYBernstein • Copland • Foss • Bennett

Arnold Steinhardt, Violin • Victor Steinhardt, PianoLincoln Mayorga & Dave Grusin, Piano • Amanda Forsyth, Cello

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tungsgemäßen, traditionellen Fortschreitungen durcheine nach-debussystische Ästhetik ersetzt. Gegen Endefindet das Werk zu traditionelleren Harmonien zurück –als würde der Tango vermittels einer Gummilinsewieder in den Brennpunkt gestellt.

Lincoln Mayorgas hat in seinem sonnigenBluefields, A West Hollywood Rumba for Arnold daskomplizierte rhythmische Wechselspiel zwischen Vio-line und Klavier – wie auch die durch Nonen und Sextenangereicherten, scheinbar einfachen Akkordfort-schreitungen – durch eine extrem unterkühlte südame-rikanische Disposition verkleidet.

Als Miniatursuite bezeichnet Dave Grusin seineThree Latin American Dances. Diese wurzeln in einemBenefiz-Konzert für Roberta Guasparis Violin-programm Opus 118, das in East Haarlem im Sommer2000 unter Mitwirkung Steinhardts stattfand. Tango deParque Central nimmt sich gewisse Freiheiten des

tango nuevo – was eine recht allgemeine Beschreibungder Werke Astor Piazzollas ist, der den ursprünglichenTango zur Entwicklung eines moderneren Standpunktsbenutzte. Danzón de Etiqueta wurzelt in der Ende des19. Jahrhunderts noch recht feinen SalontraditionKubas, aus der später äußerst populäre, energiegeladeneTanzformen wie der Cha-Cha und der Charangaentstanden. Der Rhythmus von Joropo entstammt dervenezolanischen Hochebene (llano) und wird durcheinen kräftigen 3/4- oder 6/8-Takt markiert. Grusinbemüht sich in seiner Suite nicht um absolute Reinheit,zeigt aber doch große Achtung und Zuneigung zu denOriginalformen. „Und natürlich,” bemerkt er, „geht esimmer darum, eine gute Zeit zu haben.“

Ben FinaneDeutsche Fassung: Cris Posslac

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CMYK

Recorded in the Curtis Institute of Music from 20th to22nd August, 2003 (1-™) and on 30th November, 2003 (£-∞) Producer: Eric Wen • Engineer: Philip McClellandPlease see the booklet for a detailed track list and publisher informationBooklet Notes: Ben Finane • Cover Painting: Dancersperforming the Tango by Patagonic Works (Getty Images)American flag, folk artist, 1880s.

In this American Journey, violinistArnold Steinhardt performs some ofhis favorite twentieth-century worksfor violin. From the ‘indigenous’,Negro spiritual nature of theAfrican-American Henry ThackerBurleigh’s Southland Sketches, to theLatin-American dances forming thesecond half of the programme, weare treated to examples of thedelightfully rich and variedlandscape of American classicalmusic. This recital also includesLeonard Bernstein’s Sonata forViolin and Piano, composed at theage of 21.

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Robert Russell BENNETT (1894–1981):1-5 Hexapoda: Five studies in 7:53

Jitteroptera (1940)Lukas FOSS (b. 1922):

6-8 Three American Pieces (1944) 12:23Leonard BERNSTEIN (1918–1990):

9-% Sonata for Violin and Piano (1939) 15:08Aaron COPLAND (1900–1990)

^ Nocturne (1926) 4:58Henry Thacker BURLEIGH (1866–1949):

&-) Southland Sketches (1916) 11:05Victor STEINHARDT (b. 1943):

¡ Tango (1996) 6:09Lincoln MAYORGA (b. 1937):

™ Bluefields, A West Hollywood 4:08Rumba for Arnold (1998)

£-∞ Dave GRUSIN (b. 1934): Three 16:02Latin American Dances (2000)

Playing Time:77:56

AMERICAN JOURNEY

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AMERICAN CLASSICS

Booklet notes in EnglishKommentar auf Deutsch

Arnold Steinhardt, Violin (1-∞)Victor Steinhardt, Piano (1-¡)

Lincoln Mayorga, Piano (™)Dave Grusin, Piano (£-∞)

Amanda Forsyth, Cello (£-∞)

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