eleven songs for mezzo-soprano and pianoby george rochberg

Eleven Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano by George RochbergReview by: Andrew FrankNotes, Second Series, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Mar., 1976), pp. 643-644Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/898034 .

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Slatfort. An enterprising London-based bassist, Slatford has his own publishing house and is busy assembling a varied catalogue that includes works ranging from the eighteenth century to ones recently commissioned. The Yorke edition produces very clear autographed scores which are a pleasure for the eye, while the variety of the catalogue provides pleasure for the ears of students, professionals and various and sundry audiences. Mr. Slatford, contrabassists all over the world salute you!

Sir Lennox Berkeley (b. 1903) writes in a neo-classical, or "post-Boulanger" style, and his Introduction and Allegro (1971) is typical of his occasional chamber music oeuvre. Berkeley's elegant craftmanship is in evidence and he solves the age-old prob? lem of balance deftly. Although he uses the entire range of the instrument, much of the piece is low and sounds "inelegant," which, of course, presents an interesting dichotomy with the unpretentious good humor and fine craft. A few self-conscious "modernisms" such as a touch of sul ponti- cello, some glissandos, and harmonics give the impression that the composer tried to "dress the old girl up in mod clothes." It doesn't work, however. The result is an English translation of the "Concours du Conservatoire" genre which is light-hearted and fine for first student excursions into twentieth-century music.

Music for double bass and piano (1970) by Elizabeth Maconchy is one year older than the Berkeley piece, but years younger in concept. This work was organically con- ceived with the double bass sonic palette in mind and ear, whereas the Introduction and Allegro seems to have been written first as a piece?the instrumentation being more or less incidental. This compositional approach has brought about a different kind of double bass and piano piece. The structure is classic and flows beautifully. There are some stunning timbral mixes and a gorgeous quasi-recitative section. (p. 5) Elizabeth Maconchy has written a f irst-class

double bass-piano composition?one of the few that really works?and is a composer that I hope to hear more music from in the very near future. Bravo!

Fantasy for double bass solo (1973) by Robert Paul Block (b. 1942) is from another Lon? don publisher, Musica Rara, which makes one of its rare forays into the twentieth century with this excellent work. Block has a very well-conceived idea of idiomatic writ- ing for the double bass. Professor Eldon Obrecht, for whom the piece was written, was the guiding light, and that was serendipititous for all of us. Motivic devel? opment is clearly the central idea of the Fantasy, which has a lovely flowing rhythm and a waltz motive which has been haunting me for weeks. Block's Fantasy is a colorful and well-written work that constitutes a fine addition to the ever-growing unaccom- panied repertory for this "noble but misun- derstood" instrument.

Ostinato pour contrabasse et piano by Lucie Robert is yet another "Concours du Con- servatoire" piece. As one might expect, this is the most bravura, the most complicated, and the least interesting work of this group. The composer displays a penchant for low piano writing?often with/against "sub"- contrabass parts. The result? The variables are such that no one could tell exactly. I suggest we have two possibilities: (1) mud; (2) a rich blurred rumble. Each possibility has its individual charm, so take your pick. I've always wondered what would happen if a mischievous copyist changed the names of some of the "Concours" composers one dark night. Would anyone know the dif- ference?

For those readers who have followed the controversy of solo versus orchestral tuning, please note that these four compositions are written for the C, or orchestral tuning. [t appears that alternative soloism has made some points this time. Right on!

Bertram Turetzky University of California, San Diego

VOCAL MUSIC

George Rochberg: Eleven songs for mezzo-sopranoand piano. Bryn Mawr: Theodore Presser, 1973. [36 p., $5.00]

George Rochberg's Eleven Songs were composed in 1969 and published in 1973. The texts for all the songs are poems by

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Rochberg's late son, Paul, to whose memory the work is dedicated. In the preface to the score the composer discusses at some length the style of the poertry and goes on to say that the Eleven Songsare traditional "songs" in the sense that the roles of back- ground and foreground, melody and ac- companiment, are, for the most part, em- ployed in the conventional manner.

Each song is different and lives in its own sound-world. The variety of color and gesture is astonishing, as well as the enor- mous emotional range from song to song. Songs such as "Nightbird berates" and "Le Sacre du Printemps" are whimsical, volatile, full of caprice; while others, "Black Tulips" in particular, are dark and explore the more shadowy, mysterious side of human experi- ence. "Black Tulips," with its pizzicato and finger-muted piano strings and sparse, spooky vocal lines, is an excellent example of Rochberg's ability to suggest, to infer by innuendo, to hold back and be mysteri? ous. So often his music has such a strong profile that the tender, more elusive mo- ments in his pieces (and there are many such moments) tend to get lost amidst all the turmoil. The last two songs, both ballads in the "nightclub" sense of the word (espe? cially the last, entitled "How to explain") are lovely bits of dream-music with long expressive soprano lines accompanied by flowing, quietly dissonant piano chords.

These are songs for the professional singer and pianist. Many of them are very difficult and require the dexterity that only experienced musicians can bring to the music. I do not think there is a commercial recording of these songs as of this writing, but so much of Rochberg's music is record? ed that I cannot imagine these will be neglected for very long. It is perhaps con- venient to think of the Eleven Songs as transitional Rochberg, existing somewhere between the rigorous 12-tone music of the String Quartet No. 2 and the Piano Trio (to name only two of many well-known works), and the diatonic, romantic, perhaps even neo-Expressionist world of the String Quar? tet No. 3 and the very recent Violin Concerto; however, that sort of categorizing is essen- tially detrimental to an understanding of Rochberg's compositional development which has taken myriad directions since he began his career as a composer in the 1940s. These songs are lyrical, expressive, roman? tic, and honest. They are a touching memo-

rial to his son, Paul, and Paul's hauntingly beautiful poetry.

Andrew Frank University of California, Davis

Miriam Gideon: The hound of heav- en, for voice, oboe and string trio; words by Francis Thompson. New York: Columbia University Press (Gal? axy), 1975. [Score, 9 p., and parts, $3.75]

Roberto Gerhard: The Akond of Swat, for voice and percussion; words by Edward Lear. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. [Score, 13 p., $7.25]

Dominick Argento: From the diary of Virginia Woolf, for medium voice and piano. Oceanside, N.Y., London: Boo- sey and Hawkes, 1975. [42 p., $7.00]

As the contemporary music series of the University of California Press blurs into other memoires of the sixties, Columbia University Press has come forward with a new music publishing venture, distributed by Galaxy Music Corporation. The first group of publications consists of music by ten American composers of strikingly dif? ferent modes of musical thinking, from Dane Rudhyar to Paul Lansky. Such cathol- icism promises success for and continuation of this important series of new music.

It is a pleasure to welcome Miriam Gi- deon's setting of fragments from Francis Thompson's Hound of Heaven for voice, oboe and string trio. Many listeners will have discovered this composition in its re? cording, issued several years ago (CRI SD 286). It should be noted that the composer has put together lines from the text that represent only a sub-plot of the whole poem. But no matter, for her text serves well as one strand of the total material for the composition, contributing to its overall two-part structure. The music is notable not only for the sensitive text setting, but for its luminous textures and for the per- suasive logic of its pitch /interval relations. The E priority of the song is obtained from various partitionings of linked pitch arrays whose inherent manifold meanings are thus

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