Morley and Gearhart RediscoveredDISC 1

Gearhart: Three Blind Mice (Traditional Round) + 2:39R. Strauss: Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier, Op.59 + 4:54Falla: Danza del terror (Dance of Terror) from El Amor Brujo + 2:18Kern: All The Things You Are, from Very Warm for May (1939) * 2:17Brahms: Eight Waltzes, from Op.39 + 9:08Poulenc: Mouvements perpétuels † 1:30Gershwin: I Got Rhythm from Girl Crazy (1930) * 2:33Dominguez: Frenesi (1940) + 2:00Arensky: Waltz, Op. 15, No.2 + 3:08Gershwin: An American in Paris † 9:49Berlin: Russian Lullaby (1927) * 1:41Fauré: Nocturne from Shylock, Op.57 † 2:47Gershwin: Concerto in F (Finale) + 4:26Duke: April in Paris, from Walk a Little Faster (1932) † 2:04Carmichael: Star Dust (1926) * 2:18J. Strauss, Jr.: Blue Danube Waltz, Op.314 + 5:04Ravel: Pièce (Vocalise-étude) en forme de Habañera (1907) † 2:23Glière: Sailor’s Dance from The Red Poppy (1927) + 3:18

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 64:03

DISC 2Keeney: Mountain Tune + 2:42Braham: Limehouse Blues, from Andre Charlot Revue of 1924 * 3:06Tailleferre: La Tirelitentaine, from Jeux de plein air (“Outdoor Games”) (1917) † 2:22Brahms: Waltz in A Major, Op.39, No.15 + 1:464

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Offenbach: Can-Can, from La Vie Parisienne † 1:24Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee, from The Tale of Tsar Saltan + 1:10Youmans: Tea for Two, from No, No Nanette (1925) + 1:12Chopin: Waltz in D-flat Major (“Minute Waltz”), Opus 64, No.1 + 2:02Debussy: Fêtes, from Nocturnes † 5:18Arndt: Nola (1915) + 2:04Gearhart: Baby Boogie * 2:17Falla: Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo + 3:08Liadov: Music Box, Op.32 + 2:12Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C-sharp minor + 5:03Lenoir: Parlez moi d’amour (“Speak to Me of Love”) † 1:48Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (“Jesu bleibet meine Freude”) 3:34from Cantata No.147 (“Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben”) +Rachmaninov: Prelude in G minor, Op.23, No.5 + 3:50Prokofiev: March from The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33 * 1:32Rodgers: With a Song in my Heart, from Spring is Here (1929) + 1:48Kodály: The Viennese Musical Clock (Bécsi Harangjáték) from Háry János + 1:55Bach: In Thee Is Joy (“In dir ist Freude”), Chorale-Prelude, BWV 615 ++ 2:10Arlen: Stormy Weather (1933) * 2:54Confrey: Kitten on the Keys (1921) + 1:36Green: Body and Soul, from Three’s a Crowd (1930) * 3:10Van Alstyne: Goodnight Ladies (1911) + 1:08

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 60:45

All Two Piano Arrangements by Livingston Gearhartexcept Arensky, Brahms and Tailleferre.

+ Recorded in the Waring Workshop Music Hall, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, 1954.++ Recorded at NBC Studio 6A, New York City, 1949.

* Recorded in New York City for Columbia Records, August 21 and 22, 1947.† Recorded in New York City for Columbia Records, January 24 and 25, 1951.

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Virginia Morley and Livingston GearhartFrom 1940 until 1954, Virginia Morley and Livingston Gearhart made headlines in Europe

and North America, concertizing as a duo-piano team, playing over 2,000 engagements. Audiencesand critics alike were ecstatic and amazed at their musicianship.

A typical review stated: “Miss Morley is beautiful. Mr. Gearhart is good-looking. Their duo-piano playing is magical...It was as if one brain were directing two pairs of hands on the samekeyboard...and the applause, to coin a phrase, was thunderous. The pianists received more than ascore of curtain calls. The audience was still calling for them when the lights went up. Miss Morley

and Mr. Gearhart could return again thisseason and it would be a good idea!” (reviewof Greenville concert, December 9, 1943).

Virginia Morley and LivingstonGearhart met in pre-war Paris in 1937, bothwere scholarship students of RobertCasadesus and Nadia Boulanger. It was onVirginia Morley’s first day at theFontainebleau summer school that theyoung pianist shyly accepted an invitation tojoin a table of fellow students in the school’sdining room. This invitation was profferedby the young handsome LivingstonGearhart. A quick friendship sprang upbetween them and a personal and musicalbond was formed.

Reminiscing many years later, Virginiastates: “Livingston was unlike any boy I hadever known – with his brilliance, intensity,musicality, wit and good looks. It was aninstant mutual attraction. We became insepa-rable. Our scholarships were extended andthat fall I shared an apartment on the LeftBank of Paris with a Mills College chum who

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Livingston and Virginia in Fontainebleau Café, 1937

was attending the Sorbonne. Livingstonlived some blocks away with an aged andimpoverished relative of the poet PaulValéry. My apartment contained an olddilapidated upright piano, so I rented aslightly better one. Livingston brought overseveral two-piano pieces he had played withhis mother, a piano teacher, and I began tolearn the parts she had played. Liv and Isoon became sufficiently proficient to per-form for various American clubs, churchesand in the beautiful homes of someAmerican expatriates.”

In true Bohemian tradition, their daysin France were poor in money but rich infriendship with fellow-musicians, paintersand other young artists. In the home ofMme Jacques Durand – wife of the notedFrench publisher – Morley and Gearhartplayed Debussy’s En Blanc et Noir on thevery pianos used by the composer when hewrote his greatest two-piano work. ThePrincess de Polignac loved two piano musicand often invited the two young pianists to her famous soirees where they, the sole Americans,sat among the elite while Charles Munch conducted a chamber orchestra.

Virginia writes: “One day during our second summer (1938) at Fontainebleau, whilestudying with the famous pianist and teacher Robert Casadesus, we played the two pianoRondo by Chopin for him. At the conclusion of the Rondo, after listening very intently he saidin French, “You know, I have always detested that particular piece – but this is the first timeI’ve ever heard it played that made me like it.” He then turned to his assistant Mme. Capetand asked, “Well, when are they going to give a concert?”

“On February 1, 1939 we gave our debut at the Salle Chopin in Paris. The critics’ rave reviewsbrought us concerts in Paris, Lyons and Switzerland plus many radio broadcasts. By the end of 1939

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Boulanger students in the dining pavilion at Fontainebleau, 1937.

Livingston and Virginia on left.

World War II had started and wewere forced to flee Europe arriving inNew York penniless but full of hope ofcontinuing our duo-piano career.”

Virginia Clotfelter was born inDinuba, California, in the San JoaquinValley on October 18, 1915. She grad-uated from high school as aSalutatorian, and from Mills College in1937 with all musical honors, havingbeen a Mills College Scholar (1933-37). While at Mills she studied withthe eminent pianists Harold Bauer andMarcel Maas. The Fleischman yeastheiress, Mrs. Christian Holmes, heardher play and sent her to Europe.Virginia, who had never been out ofthe state of California, boarded a trainthe night of her graduation brimmingwith anticipation of the unknown.

Livingston Gearhart was born inBuffalo, New York, on December 31,1916. He attended high school in EastOrange, New Jersey. He played firstoboe with the Newark, New JerseyCivic Opera before attending theCurtis Institute of Music inPhiladelphia, where he studied oboe

with Marcel Tabuteau, piano with Nadia Reisenberg, and composition with Rosario Scalero.In 1936 he won the Griffith Award in piano in Newark. In France he studied piano withRobert Casadesus and Isidor Philipp, and composition with Nadia Boulanger and IgorStravinsky. In 1939, while at Fontainebleau, he won first prize in a composition competition.He continued his composition studies with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, Oakland,California in 1942 and 1943.

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Livingston Gearhart’s arrangement of Keeney’s “Mountain Tune”

Virginia reminiscing: “When we arrived in New York we were married in Grace Church,February 28, 1940 and soon after we were hired by a lanky Frenchman named Herbert Jacoby toplay twice a night for ten or twelve minutes at one of his two chic supper clubs – either the RubanBleu or the Hotel Brevoort. This is what inspired Livingston to begin composing his elegant,sophisticated two-piano arrangements of music by Gershwin, Rodgers and Berlin.”

“We realized while in Paris that the name Clotfelter was not very compatible with Gearhart –we then decided to use the name Merritt - my mother’s maiden name. But that too was not veryeuphonious, so we kept rolling the name Merritt around on our tongues until finally the nameMorley evolved – a more harmonious duet.”

“For two summers in the early 40’s Liv and I were Artists-in-Residence at my Alma Mater, MillsCollege. In February of 1941, we were asked to give a concert. Fortunately the two top newspapercritics in San Francisco decided to cross the bay to Oakland and wrote glowing reviews of our per-formance. That set in motion a series of successful concerts in all the major west coast cities, whichin turn caught the attention of the prestigious concert management, Columbia Artists, who offeredus a long-term contract.” For 13 years (from 1941-1954), Columbia Artists Management bookedthe well-received tours of the two-piano duo of Morley and Gearhart.

“In 1943 Robert Shaw, famedorchestral/choral conductor heardus perform and invited us to audi-tion for Fred Waring. Robert hadbeen Fred’s choral assistant on thenightly Chesterfield ‘PleasureTime’ radio show since its incep-tion four years earlier. Eventhough Fred had been on the airfor ten years, we weren’t veryinterested, since we were insuffer-able snobs – as only the youngcan be. We felt our careers wereset. We didn’t need Fred Waring –or so we thought! At that timeFred’s Chesterfield shows, accord-ing to various polls, had thelargest audience that had everbeen known to tune in to a net-work broadcast from coast tocoast. For our audition we went

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Nadia Boulanger class of 1938 (Boulanger at the piano, VirginiaMorley far right front, Livingston Gearhart center back row)

to New York’s Vanderbilt Theater andwatched the show. When the theatercleared, we went on stage, were intro-duced and then sat down at the twopianos lined up side by side. I remem-ber glancing up while playing to seeFred leaning on one of the pianos, hischin in hand, listening intently andwatching us with those penetrating blueeyes. We had scarcely played our lastnote when to our great surprise, Fredsaid, “How soon can you start to work?”It was finally decided that we wouldbecome part-time Pennsylvaniansappearing as soloists whenever weweren’t touring. We were much toonaïve and unsophisticated at the time torealize the publicity bonus being onNBC’s national radio broadcasts gave toour booking manager, ColumbiaArtists.”

“By becoming the 59th and 60thPennsylvanians we became regularguests on the Fred Waring Shows forten years (1943-1953). In 1949 Fredsigned a five-year contract with CBSfor a one-hour television show everySunday evening at 9:00 p.m.Television was in its infancy andeverything was experimental. All liveshows – no taped telecasts. The first

year they squeezed Fred, all the Pennsylvanians, cameras and crew onto a very smallstage of the then Ziegfield Theater. Fred had devised a round revolving platform tohold our two pianos because in the cramped quarters of the set, the camera had noroom to move around as we played. The device always operated rather jerkily, but it was

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Livingston Gearhart and Virginia Morley’s composition “Baby Boogie”

really unnerving to have it stop unexpectedly in the middle of our various performances and thenlurch forward again – no Rolls Royce that one. One night we were playing Chopin’s Minute Waltz at abreakneck speed, and the platform stopped suddenly, nearly throwing us off our benches. This time itwas stuck, so while we were madly playing away, the TV viewer saw nothing but a portion of eachpiano. Finally, as we neared the end of the piece and holding our breath, the turntable started up againwith a momentous jolt that nearly finished us both off. I’m sure I sprouted a few gray hairs that night!”

Remembering other eventful television programs, Virginia recalls: “One year special guests wereinvited each Sunday to perform with Fred. Victor Borge cavorted in a skit with his piano, Rudy Valleesang a duet, Raymond Massey, better known for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, danced a soft shoeroutine and one week Fred dedicated an entire show to Richard Rodgers. The famed songwriterappeared and played the piano while the Pennsylvanians gathered around him singing short excerptsfrom his compositions. Livingston and I played our two-piano version of With a Song in My Heart andwe felt highly complimented that he asked for our recording of it as well.”

Between 1941 and 1954, Morley and Gearhart crisscrossed the U.S. and Canada twenty-six times,performing annual concert tours alwaysaccompanied by their two nine-footSteinways in a separate custom van withRay Lee at the wheel. They played in allstates (except Montana) and were heardby enthusiastic audiences fromCarnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl,always receiving rave reviews and stand-ing ovations. In 1953, they gave a com-mand performance at the White Housefor President Eisenhower and his wife aswell as all the Supreme Court Justices.Their unique brand of programming,combining sophisticated arrangementsof popular music with two-piano classi-cal standards, along with new commis-sions (David Diamond, Norman DelloJoio and Darius Milhaud all wrote two-piano works for them), made them atruly unique two-piano team.Alexander Fried, writing in the SanFrancisco Examiner, called Morley andGearhart “The best native Americanduo-pianists before the public…”

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Livingston and Virginia with the eminent French composerDarius Milhaud, at Mills College, California (1943)

In addition to their manyconcerts Morley andGearhart recorded twoalbums for ColumbiaMasterworks (in 1947 and in1951) and two albums forOmni Sound in 1954.During the period from1943-1953, LivingstonGearhart also served as staffarranger on the Fred WaringShow.

Virginia Morley andLivingston Gearhart had onechild, Paul. Virginia writesthe following about theirmarriage and divorce:“During the early fifties, Iwas having trouble keeping abalance in my marriage withLivingston. On the surface

we looked to be the ideal couple, and in some ways we were. I was crazy about Livingston.Unfortunately he was brought up by a cruel and demanding mother. By today’s standards thisexceptionally gifted and sensitive human being would be considered an abused child. I found itmore and more difficult to cope with his sudden moods and withdrawals, so in 1953 I decid-ed for our child’s sanity and my own, that I would have to leave. I told no one of my decisionexcept my own family.

“Leaving Livingston made my heart ache. Everybody loved him, but no one could live withhim.

“When I left Pennsylvania to be with my family in California I had no idea that Fred Waringwas going to ask me to marry him. He had done nothing to plant such a thought in my head.There is no doubt he was charismatic, having many of Livingstons’s qualities – brilliant, hand-some, affectionate, sensitive, possessed a great sense of humor, and a fabulous musician. I neededtime to grieve and remain in neutral but Fred was an impetuous man and on December 2, 1954we were married in Indianapolis – a union that lasted thirty years until Fred’s death in July, 1984.”

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Virginia and Livingston, with son Paul, welcome Raymond Lee as he returns in the specially designed truck used to transport

their two nine-foot concert-grand pianos on tour.

Virginia continues: “Since I was one-half of a two-piano team, the dissolution ofmy first marriage meant the end of mypiano career, but I did not mind at all. Ireally wasn’t physically strong enough toendure those arduous tours. I think it wasJascha Heifetz who said, ‘To be a perform-ing artist, you need the constitution of anox and the digestion of a peasant,’ andunfortunately I had neither.” When heryoungest son, Malcolm was born in 1957,Virginia Waring reinvented herself. From1962-68 she was the owner of a successfulinterior design business in EastStroudsburg, PA. During the periodbetween 1969-83 she was a creative cos-tume designer for Fred Waring’sPennsylvanians. When Fred became too illto conduct, Virginia stepped in to conductthe Pennsylvanians on a 13-week tour.Later, Fred and Virginia shared the con-ducting responsibilities.

In 1984, Virginia Waring embarked on a new career. Following the death of her husband,she became Chairman of the Board of Fred Waring Enterprises and its affiliated companies,Shawnee Press, Inc., GlorySound, Inc. and Harold Flammer, Inc. From 1985 until 1991 shewas artistic director of the Fred Waring U.S. Chorus at Pennsylvania State University. In 1997,she wrote a book entitled Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, published by the University ofIllinois Press.

Many civic and professional activities have kept her busy over the years. In 1965 she becamea founding member of the Board of Directors of Childhelp, U.S.A., from 1966-75 she was afounding member of the Board of Directors of the Pocono Art Center in Stroudsburg, PA.,from 1983-86 she was President of the Board of Trustees of the Joanna Hodges PianoCompetition, she became a founding member of the Board of Directors of the La Quinta ArtsFoundation in 1981 and is currently a board member of the Foundation of College of theDesert in Palm Desert, California. Virginia Waring currently lives in Rancho Mirage, California.

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Morley and Gearhart at home listening to the test pressing of their first recording for

Columbia Masterworks in 1947.

In 1955, Livingston Gearhartjoined the University of BuffaloMusic Faculty where he taught vari-ous musical courses including Theory,Choral Arranging, Orchestration,Composition and Piano. In 1959,sales of Livingston Gearhart’s pub-lished choral, instrumental and bandarrangements reached the one millionmark.

Livingston and his second wife,Pamela (a violinist and conductor),had three children – Kim, Marthaand Fritz. Pamela and Livingston co-founded Youth Makes Music(1972-1982), a summer camp inAlabama for young string players.During this period, one participantsaid: “Writing late into the night,Livingston provided us with an end-less array of musical gems. His devo-tion and creativity made better play-ers and more imaginative teachers of

every one of us.” Retiring in 1985 with the title of Professor Emeritus, Livingston continuedhis close association with the SUNY/Buffalo Music Department until his death on July 14,1996.

A substantial collection of writing and manuscripts are currently housed in the SUNY atBuffalo Music Library Archives. Many of Livingston Gearhart’s orchestral, choral andtwo-piano manuscripts are held in the Fred Waring’s America Archives at Penn State University.Shawnee Press plans to draw on these sources (over 350 folders of various two-piano transcrip-tions, arrangements and original compositions) for additional posthumous publications.Buffalo Music Library Archives. Many of Livingston Gearhart’s orchestral, choral andtwo-piano manuscripts are held in the Fred Waring’s America Archives at Penn State University.Shawnee Press plans to draw on these sources (over 350 folders of various two-piano tran-scriptions, arrangements and original compositions) for additional posthumous publications.

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The celebrated Pennsylvanian, Fred Waring, standingbetween his favorite two-piano duo, Virginia Morley and

Livingston Gearhart, before one of their broadcasts.

During their 14 years together,Virginia Morley and LivingstonGearhart performed virtually all of themasterpieces of the two-piano reper-toire. Works by Chopin, Rachmaninov,Busoni, Mozart, Brahms, Debussy,Stravinsky, Poulenc and others alwaysoccupied a prominent place on theirrecitals. Stravinsky personally coachedthe duo in his Concerto for Two PianosAlone.

When they performed the Stra-vinsky in San Francisco, AlfredFrankenstein wrote: “... the most taxing,difficult, and involved piece ever writtenfor two pianos and it received a colos-sally brilliant virtuoso performance.”

The truly exceptional aspect of theart of Morley and Gearhart was the waythey supplemented the basic two-pianorepertoire with countless extraordinarilyelegant and virtuosic new transcriptions.They greatly expanded the two-piano repertoire by performing by cleverly written, luxurious styl-izations of popular songs and melodies. In essence, because of their complete comfort, freedom andsynchronicity at two keyboards, they created musical performances of such intensity and vibrancythat they virtually had no equals.

It is only sad that their recorded legacy was so limited. Ivory Classics’ is proud to present thisrediscovery of their recordings in the hope that it will provide performers and music lovers a last-ing document into the lives of two exceptionally gifted pianists.

Virginia states: “At the time we were performing the critics felt that we played the major two-piano repertoire better than anyone – pieces like En Blanc et Noir by Debussy and Stravinsky’sConcerto for Two Pianos. It didn’t occur to us to hire a studio and record these works for futurereference. It’s my only regret.”

Livingston Gearhart composing at the piano, 1945

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Press Reviews“A top-flight team of duo-pianists. It was equally a pleasure to hear serious music written for twopianos and to hear two pianists playing any music as if it that were a serious occupation and not aform of badminton.” – Virgil Thomson, New York Herald Tribune

“One of the most gifted teams to enter the field. The ensemble worked in indissoluble unity at alltimes, yet both asserted claims as artists in their own right. Temperament and technique went handin hand toward deftly interlocked art.” – Louis Biancolli, New York World-Telegram

“The work (David Diamond’s Concerto for Two SoloPianos) is dedicated to them... a well deserved honor,for they reeled off its three movements with enoughgusto to have written it themselves.”

– Robert Bagar, New York World-Telegram

“Piano playing and program making of the mostinformed, intelligent and imaginative kind.”

– Alfred Frankenstein, San Francisco Chronicle

“Astonishing exhibition of virtuosity and charm. Aholiday concert for 4,014 fans.”

– Cleveland Plain Dealer

“They have not only precision but a simultaneousmusical thinking. They sound as if their perfectensemble and subtle manner were the most naturalthing in the world.”

– Isabel Morse Jones, Los Angeles Times

“Perhaps never have two pianists played with suchauthority, precision, elegance and flexibility ofnuances, or with such a refined and eloquent musicalsensitivity.”

– Gustave Bret, L’Intransigeant, Paris

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Livingston and Virginia in California, 1943

“The extremely musical playing of this couplewas highly enjoyable. They made Brahms’Variations on a Theme by Haydn gleam with a spe-cial luster. Not only was the performance pol-ished and refined to a high degree, but it hadinner vitality and soundly paced. Equally delight-ful was the collaboration of these artists with theSingers Club in a chorale from Bach’s ChristmasOratorio, and in five of the Liebeslieder Waltzes ofBrahms.” – Herbert Elwell, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The two-piano wizardry of Morley and Gearhartspellbound a capacity audience last night...pro-gram blending classics with moderns...humorousand scintillating.” – Toronto Daily Star

Review of first Columbia Masterworks record-ing Nightlife on Two Pianos“Virginia Morley and Livingston Gearhart (hus-band and wife), are a particularly talented pianoteam. These young players have imagination,musical intelligence and the necessary technicalaccomplishments. What delights me with theirplaying is its freedom from exhibitionism, its del-icacy and expressive charm. Stardust is as gentle as a soft spring rain and as soothing. Prokofieff ’spopular march has weight and substance, a nice bounce and the right suggestion of insolence. Thisis duo-piano playing that has a happy spirit free from a machine-like technical ostentation.”

– James Norwood, American Record Guide, July 1948

The MusicThe performances heard on this historic two-disc set were recorded during an eight-year peri-

od, between 1947 and 1954. With the exception of the works by Brahms, Arensky and Tailleferre,

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Virginia and Livingston at home with son Paul (1946)

all of the other compositions were expertly tran-scribed into virtuosic two-piano gems by LivingstonGearhart. The performances illustrate Morley andGearhart’s astonishing ability to transform their artand musical vision to fit a variety of musical styles.From track to track, this piano duo effortlessly man-ages to create elegant, passionate interpretations ofmusic that made them such audience favorites.

Opening the first disc is Gearhart’s arrangementof the traditional American round, Three Blind Mice(DISC 1, ). Fred Waring suggested this arrange-ment idea for one of his radio shows – a thoughtwhich turned into a gem of pearly notes and pianis-tic wizardry as played by Morley and Gearhart.

The delicious romantic melodies that abound inRichard Strauss’ masterpiece opera, Der Rosenkavalier,Opus 59 were composed between 1909 and 1911. Setin Eighteenth Century Austria, the opera tells the taleof the middle-aged Marschallin and her handsomeyoung lover. The Waltzes (DISC 1, ) in this operamake up its most melodic and buoyant musical pages.Morley and Gearhart capture the true essence ofRichard Strauss’ music.

The ballet El Amor Brujo was composed by Manuelde Falla in 1915. It was written for Pastora Imperio, the redoubtable singing dancer who had expressedher desire for a work in which she might employ both of her talents. The two most popular selectionsfrom Falla’s masterpiece, Dance of Terror (DISC 1, ) and Ritual Fire Dance (DISC 2, ) are ablazewith color in Morley and Gearhart’s performances.

Few composers for the musical comedy theater have been so gifted with gracious flowingmelodies and stylistic elegance as Jerome Kern (1885-1945). He wrote one of his most enduringsongs, All the Things You Are (DISC 1, ), to lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, for the 1939Broadway musical Very Warm for May. The charm of the original is very evident in Morley andGearhart’s wonderful pianistic stylization.

The sixteen Brahms Waltzes, Opus 39, were composed in January, 1865 for four hands at onepiano. Morley and Gearhart have created their own two-piano “suite” comprised of eight of thesewaltzes (they begin with No.6,, followed by Waltz No.3, Waltz No.5, Waltz No.4, Waltz No.10,

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Virginia and Livingston at home inShawnee-on-Delaware, PA, 1946

Waltz No.16, Waltz No.8, Waltz No.7, and con-clude with a recapitulation of No.6) (DISC 1, ).Separately, they also perform Brahms’ two-pianoWaltz No.15 (DISC 2, ).

The Trois Mouvements Perpétuels, were written byFrancis Poulenc (1899-1963) in Paris in December1918. These three spare, graceful, fluently charmingpieces became an instant hit with both the publicand performers. We hear one of these delightfulworks in Gearhart’s two-piano transcription (DISC1, ).

George Gershwin (1898-1937) was happiest atthe piano. His unique style and exceptional gifts asan interpreter were always inextricably linked to hislove of the piano. Virginia Morley and LivingstonGearhart were very much a product of Gershwin’sera, and included Gershwin’s music as an integralpart of their concert programs. This release containsthree Gershwin works in Gearhart’s scintillatingarrangements, played by the duo with aplomb, ele-gance and a jazzy smile that few pianists could evermatch. I Got Rhythm (DISC 1 ), was written forthe Broadway musical Girl Crazy (1930). Gershwin’ssassy and brilliant orchestral work, An American inParis (1928) (DISC 1, ), is performed in Gearhart’s compact two-piano transcription withvivacity and bubbling exuberance. In the Finale of Gershwin’s Concerto in F (DISC 1, ),Gearhart combines the orchestra and piano into a Fantasy that glitters when executed on twopianos with the virtuosity of Morley and Gearhart.

One of the most popular hit songs of 1940 was Frenesi (DISC 1, ) by AlbertoDominguez, and lyrics by S.K. Russell and Ray Charles. The work was an instant hit.

Fred Waring and America’s greatest songwriter, Irving Berlin (1888-1989) remained closefriends throughout the years – always sending wires to each other on their birthdays. Fred said,“In the early fifties during our television years, Berlin called and said he would like me to hear anew score he’d written for a show called Miss Liberty. He came on a Saturday and brought his ownupright piano to my office at 1697 Broadway. Irving played only in one key but was able to changethe key by shifting a gear and pulling a lever on his specially built piano. Berlin sang and played‘Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor.’ He said it was based on words on the Statue of Liberty and he

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Fred Waring, Virginia and Livingstonfollowing one of their radio broadcasts at

Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania (1947)

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had written the melody in fifteen minutes. I toldhim it was magnificent and he replied, ‘It’s yours –you publish it and record it.’ ”

Virginia remembers: “Sometimes Fred builtentire half-hour radio shows around Irving Berlin’smusic. To honor Berlin’s Russian heritage, Livingstoncomposed a two-piano arrangement of his lovely andgently flowing Russian Lullaby (DISC 1, ) whichwas originally composed in 1927.”

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906) wasone of the most lyrically gifted Russian composers ofthe nineteenth century. Today he is best rememberedfor his Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor, Opus 32 and thedelightful Waltz from the two-piano suite Opus 15(DISC 1, ). He also left his mark as professor ofharmony and counterpoint at the MoscowConservatory. Among his students were AlexanderScriabin, Sergei Rachmaninov and Reinhold Glière.

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was one of the greatFrench melodists. As a teacher his influence has beenfelt to the present day, not only in the music ofFrance but among all the composers who have everstudied in that country. Among his pupils whose

gifts he developed and encouraged were such colossal figures as Nadia Boulanger, Roger-Ducasse,Aubert, Ravel, Laparra, Florent Schmitt and many others. Fauré’s Nocturne (DISC 1, ) wascomposed in 1889 as part of the incidental music to the play Shylock by E. de Haraucourt, afterShakespeare.

In an interview published a few years before his death in 1937, Maurice Ravel spoke abouthimself: “I am not a ‘modern composer’ with a flair for writing radical harmonies and disjointedcounterpoint because I have never been a slave to any one style of composition. Nor have I everallied myself with any particular school of music. Great music, I have always felt, must alwayscome from the heart. Any music created by technique and brains alone is not worth the paper itis written on.” He composed his ethereal Vocalise-étude en forme de Habañera (DISC 1, ) in1907 as a response to a commission by the Paris Conservatoire. Originally cast for voice andpiano, it was later orchestrated. The published edition of the work, transcribed for violin andpiano is entitled Pièce, rather than Vocalise, and it is this version of the work that is the basis forGearhart’s beautiful two-piano transcription.

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Morley and Gearhart performing on theFred Waring Show (GE Show) in 1952

Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1951) wrote what is perhaps the greatest popular-music standard, theimmortal Star Dust in 1926 (DISC 1, ). According to his own autobiographical notes,Carmichael was a law student at the University of Indiana, and he was standing near the campus’“spooning wall,” thinking of girls he’d known. He thought of one in particular, Dorothy. He’d beenvery fond of her, yet they had drifted apart. “Never be 21 again, so in love again, never feel thethings I felt – the memory of love’s refrain,” Carmichael thought, and suddenly started hummingthe tune that was to become Star Dust. He rushed to a piano at a local college candy shop to putthe song down on paper. The rest is history.

Although Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky in Russia) studied composition withReinhold Glière and was one of Sergei Prokofiev’s closest friends, he is today best known for hissongs for many Broadway musicals. In 1932 Duke wrote his first full score for a Broadway pro-duction, Walk a Little Faster, a revue starring Beatrice Lillie and Clark and McCullough. Duke’sscore, written to Harburg’s lyrics, included a song that has remained a favorite, April in Paris (DISC1, ). “April in Paris,” wrote Isaac Goldberg in a letter to Duke, “is one of the finest musical com-positions that ever graced an American production. If I had my way, I’d make the study of it com-pulsory in all harmony courses.”

Of the many light-hearted pleasures in which the 19th century Viennese indulged with so lustya spirit, none was dearer to them than dancing. It has been recorded that one out of every four inVienna danced regularly. Theydanced the polka, and the quadrille;but most of all they danced thewaltz. The waltzes of JohannStrauss, Jr. (1825-1899) hold aunique position in the history ofmusic. Not only are they popularwith the masses of music lovers, buttheir particular individuality isenvied by most serious composers.The story is told that once at a partyin Vienna the wife of Johann Straussasked Johannes Brahms to auto-graph her fan. Brahms sketched onthe fan a fragment from theBeautiful Blue Danube Waltz, andbeneath it wrote “Unfortunately –not by Johannes Brahms.” On theBeautiful Blue Danube, Opus 314

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Morley and Gearhart performing in 1952

(DISC 1, ) is singularly one of the mostrecognized and beloved of all waltzes. It hasprompted countless transcriptions, of whichthe one for solo piano by Schulz-Evler is themost effective and virtuosic. Using the origi-nal work and Schulz-Evler’s version as pointsof departure, Livingston Gearhart transformsthe work into a brilliant two-piano showcase.

Reinhold Glière (1875-1956) occupied apatriarchal position in the history of music inmodern Russia. From 1914 on, after studiesin Berlin, he was director of the music con-servatories at Kiev and Moscow. His pupilshave included Prokofiev, Miaskovsky,Khachaturian and others. Glière is today bestknown for his ballet music, The Red Poppy,and his Third Symphony (“Ilya Mourometz”).The Sailor’s Dance (DISC 1, ), from TheRed Poppy, became an instant hit when it washeard first in 1927. Livingston Gearhart’stwo-piano transcription is a veritable tour-de-force!

Wendell Keeney (1903-1989) was aJuilliard graduate and student of Nadia

Boulanger, where he met Virginia Morley and Livingston Gearhart. They became close friends.From 1935-1948, Keeney was head of the music department at Furman University. He publishedhis evocative Mountain Tune (DISC 2, ) in 1936. Based on a Kentucky mountain song, Keeney’srousing miniature was transcribed and published by Livingston Gearhart in 1943. Pure Americana,this gem echoes with joyous melodic invention and stylistic embellishments.

Philip Braham’s hit song, Limehouse Blues (DISC 2, ) to lyrics by Douglas Furber, was thehighlight of a, mostly forgettable, Broadway musical which opened on January 9, 1924, calledAndre Charlot Revue of 1924 and starred Gertrude Lawrence, Bea Lillie and Jack Buchanan.

Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) was a contemporary of Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger andDarius Milhaud at the Paris Conservatoire. She was acquainted with Erik Satie, a founding mem-ber of the “Groupe des Six.” To the group, Haydn, Rameau and Scarlatti were the orientation fig-ures of a music in accordance with new standards, a music that one should no longer listen to“with one’s eyes closed” – music of classical clarity, vigorous and sophisticated, dynamic and intel-

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Morley and Gearhart performingin 1952

ligible. La Tirelitentaine (DISC 2, ) is the first of two short pieces for two pianos in the set Jeuxde plein air (“Outdoor Games”) which she composed in 1917.

For sheer fun, wit and exuberance, it would be hard to find anything in the musical literatureto rival the tongue-in-cheek Parisian compositions of Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). Well knownfor his many delightful operettas, Offenbach inserted can-cans into his scores when possible. Theword “can-can” originally meant gossip, tittle-tattle, particularly of a scandalous nature, so it is nowonder that the Can-Can (DISC 2, ) developed into a fast and furious dance performed bygroups of women in frilly dresses, with high kicks, splits, and other acrobatic movements designedto offer interesting revelations to the audience.

Before his death in 1908, Rimsky-Korsakov produced an incredible number of masterpieces. Oneof his most recognized compositions is The Flight of the Bumblebee (DISC 2, ) from his opera, TheTale of Tsar Sultan. The opera is a magical adventure full of intrigue and sorcery. A young Prince ban-ished from the kingdom as a child returns to his father’s court in the guise of a bee. The Flight of theBumblebee is an interlude from the opera’s third act when the prince revenges himself on his wickedaunts who were responsible for his exile.

Tea for Two (DISC 2, ) is one of the half dozen greatest songs Vincent Youmans (1898-1946)ever wrote. Composed in 1924 forthe Broadway musical No, NoNanette (1925), the melodic line tothe songs came to Youmans whilehe was sitting in a lunchroom. Infact, in his most productive yearsYoumans almost always composedaway from the piano. When amelody struck him, he whistled itthrough first – he would then writeit down.

Chopin’s so-called “MinuteWaltz,” the Waltz in D flat Major,(DISC 2, ), in earlier editionsalso bore the anecdotal title “Valsedu petit chien.” The story goes thatGeorge Sand had a little dog thatused to run after its own tail, andone evening she said to Chopin, “IfI had your talent I would improvisea valse for that dog,” and the com-

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Fred Waring, Mamie Eisenhower, President Eisenhower,unknown man and Virginia Waring at the “Little White

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poser promptly sat down to the piano andplayed the piece that was to become his Opus64, No.1. Virginia states: “Few people realizethat while I am playing the piece as writtenthroughout, Livingston is playing a thirdbelow and improvising in the middle sec-tion.”

Like the paintings of the Impressionists,Debussy’s music is inspired by the out-of-doors. It is not descriptive, but suggestive ofthe moods which various glimpses of naturearoused in the artist. It is “a sympathetictransposition,” says Debussy, “of that which isinvisible in nature.” For him music alwaysbegan where words and sight left off. Fêtes(DISC 2, ), the second of the Nocturnes isiridescent and vibrant with ever-changinglights that quiver in their momentary intensi-ty. Debussy’s imagination dwelt upon “therestless dancing rhythms of the atmosphere,interspersed with abrupt scintillations.”Midway is an incidental procession, whichthe composer described as “a wholly visionary

pageant – passing through and blended with the revelry; but the background of the uninterruptedfestival persists; luminous dust participating in the universal rhythm.” This luminosity of vibrationand glitter is superbly captured by the two-piano artistry of Morley and Gearhart.

Felix Arndt (1889-1918) was a pioneer in writing syncopated pieces for the piano. He com-posed special material for vaudeville entertainers, including Nora Bayes, Jack Norworth, and GusEdwards. One of the most prolific recording artists of his day, Arndt made over three thousandpiano rolls for Duo-Art, Q.R.S., and others, as well as 78rpm records for the Victor TalkingMachine Company. Arndt wrote Nola (DISC 2, ) in 1915 as a musical portrait of his sweetheart,Nola Locke, a gifted singer and pianist. The piece became a best seller when it was published in1916 and eventually became the signature music of noted bandleader Vincent Lopez. Only in 1958did Sunny Skylar write a set of lyrics for Arndt’s melody.

Collaborative efforts are rarely recognized when sheet music is published, but the duo-composi-tion by Morley and Gearhart, Baby Boogie (1948) (DISC 2, ) was written for their son Paul andbased on a popular children’s tune.

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Livingston in Summer 1975

Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914) studied composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, andeventually joined the faculty of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, teaching harmony, theo-ry and composition. Liadov’s orchestral works show incredible imagination and resplen-dent musical coloring. As a piano composer, Liadov was primarily a miniaturist, produc-ing countless beautiful preludes, mazurkas, bagatelles, and études. His most popular andmost-recorded piano piece is his Music Box in A Major, Opus 32 (DISC 2, ) which hecomposed in 1893, and subtitled “valse-shutka” (waltz-jest). Livingston Gearhart decidedto carry the “joke” a little further in his arrangement for two-pianos. He made the musicbox slightly schizophrenic after it was rewound. This delightful tone-picture preserves thetinkling ethereal sounds we are accustomed to associating with a toy music-box.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) conceived the Hungarian Rhapsodies, as a kind of collectivenational epic. He composed the first in 1846 at the age of 35, and his last in 1885 at theage of 74. In order to collect Gypsy tunes and absorb the strong flavor of their rhythms –the slow pride of the Lassan and the dervish rampage of the Friska – Liszt lived in Gypsyencampments. His first fifteen Hungarian Rhapsodies were published by 1854 (the remain-ing five were to come in his last years). The most famous of these is the Hungarian RhapsodyNo.2 in C sharp minor (DISC 2, ). Dedicated to the politician and patriot, Count LászlóTeleki, the rhapsody beginsgrandly and heroically.Liszt converts the piano atone point into the likenessof a pulsating, manystringed cimbalom (dul-cimer), at others into a sug-gestion of a brilliant,impetuous Gypsy violin. InLivingston Gearhart’s two-piano transcription, Liszt’spassionate music is evenmore exciting.

Jean Lenoir’s Frenchcabaret hit Parlez moid’amour (“Speak to Me ofLove”) (DISC 2, ) wascomposed in the late 1920sand first recorded in 1930 by

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Livingston with his second wife Pamela Gearhart at the University of Buffalo, 1979.

the inimitable Lucienne Boyer, who popularizedthe song not only in Europe but also in theUnited States. This “torch song” became a stapleof the cabarets and supper clubs.

There are literally hundreds of piano tran-scriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music inprint. Virtually all of his major organ works, hisviolin, cello and chamber music, and much ofhis choral music has been transformed by ardentpianists over the last two centuries into virtuosicpiano arrangements. Among these are the ariaJesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (DISC 2, ) from theCantata No.147, and the organ chorale-preludeIn Thee Is Joy (“In dir ist Freude”) (DISC 2, ).Although both of these works are better known,respectively, in their transcriptions by DameMyra Hess and Ferruccio Busoni, the arrange-ments for two pianos by Livingston Gearhartprovide a depth and dimension that only twokeyboards could provide.

The ten Preludes, Opus 23 were written bySergei Rachmaninov in 1903, except for No.5,which was written in 1901. The set was dedicat-ed to his teacher and friend, Alexander Siloti.The Prelude in G minor, Opus 23, No.5 (DISC2, ) is only second in popularity toRachmaninov’s more famous Prelude in C sharp

minor, Opus 3, No.2. The G minor work possesses much of the same rugged and impetuous beautyas its earlier cousin. The rhythmical and martial feel of the work is largely derived from its alla mar-cia opening, which is contrasted with an exquisite lyric figure in the middle portion sumptuouslyaccompanied by sweeping left-hand arpeggios.

Love for Three Oranges, Opus 33, commissioned by the Chicago Opera Company, was writtenin 1919 by Sergei Prokofiev. Although he actually composed the opera in New York, the inspira-tion for the work had been conceived before he left Russia in 1918. Prominent Russian dramatist,Vsevolod Meyerhold suggested Carlo Gozzi’s 1761 play, Fiable dell’amore delle tre melarance, becast by Prokofiev as a perfect vehicle to mock the stereotype forms of romantic theater. Fascinatedby the games, processions and festivities of the play, Prokofiev created an opera with music at once

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Virginia and Fred Waring in 1963

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amusing and capricious, yet ironic. The celebrated March (DISC 2, ) appears in the opera in the sec-ond act, as a connecting interlude to the second scene.

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) is largely remembered today for his fabulous musicals (in collaborationwith Oscar Hammerstein II and Lorenz Hart): Babes in Arms (1937), Pal Joey (1940), Oklahoma! (1943),Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959). Spring isHere (1929) was an early vehicle for the collaboration of Rodgers and Hart. Although the musical had adisappointingly short run of 104 performances, the lovely number, With a Song in My Heart (DISC 2, ) became a hit.

Zoltan Kodály believed passionately in nationalism in music. He wrote: “The works of art thatexert the most powerful influences throughout the world as a whole, are those that express most fullythe national characteristics of the artist.” To his success as a national composer Bártok is witness: “IfI were asked in whose music is the spirit of Hungary most perfectly embodied, I would reply, inKodály’s. His music is indeed a profession of faith in the spirit of Hungary.” To examine his largerscores, the folk operas Háry János (1926) and The Spinning Room, his Marosszek Dances and Dancesfrom Galanta , and the Psalmus Hungaricus, is to find a synthesis of Hungarian folk and art music.The delightful Viennese Musical Clock (DISC 2, )is an orchestral segment (where the clock strikestwelve noon) in the second adventure of HáryJános, peasant, dreamer, veteran and poet. Kodály’shumor and wondrous music is magically preservedin Gearhart’s two-piano arrangement.

Composer Harold Arlen is today best rememberedfor his Academy Award winning score to the 1939movie classic, The Wizard of Oz. His 1933 song, StormyWeather (DISC 2, ) became a classic in Americanpopular music. Originally composed for Cab Calloway,it was recorded by Arlen himself before it was present-ed in the Cotton Club revue sung by Ethel Waters.When 20th Century-Fox released the film StormyWeather in 1943, the title song by Harold Arlen andTed Kohler, was thrillingly sung by Lena Horne, plac-ing the song on the best-selling charts.

Edward Elzear “Zez” Confrey (1895-1971) was amusical phenomenon. Precocious, immensely talent-ed, with an absolutely natural ability at the keyboard,he became a major celebrity after publishing in 1921his evocative and rhythmically intricate masterpiece,

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Kitten on the Keys (DISC 2, ). In the introduction toZez Confrey’s Modernistic Piano Solos, the story behindthe music is explained: “Concerning Kitten on the Keys,the composer tells an amusing story of its origin. Zez wasstaying at his grandmother’s house over the weekend andafter a quiet evening had retired to his room. Suddenlyhe was awakened by a strange series of sounds, whichseemed to be emanating from the old fashioned uprightpiano in the parlor. He went down to investigate and dis-covered – the house cat promenading back and forthacross the keyboard! That incident was later developedinto one of the most famous of all piano fantasies.”Kitten on the Keys became an instant success for the com-poser, eventually selling over a million copies.

Although Johnny Green won Academy Awards forBest Scoring of a Musical Picture in 1948 (“EasterParade”), 1951 (“An American in Paris”), and 1961(“West Side Story”), and for Best Scoring of a ShortSubject in 1953 (“The Merry Wives of Windsor”), he ismost often remembered today for his most famous song,Body and Soul (DISC 2, ). The song became an inter-national hit before it was introduced in the Broadwayrevue, Three’s a Crowd (1930). Green wrote it as specialmaterial for Gertrude Lawrence, whose accompanistGreen was at the time. She took the unpublished manuscript to England, sang it over the BBC, andmade it so popular that in a short time it was published in England and played there by many leadingpopular orchestras. It was then that Max Gordon, producer of Three’s a Crowd, bought it for his revue.

Egbert Van Alstyne (1882-1951) was a piano prodigy with a gift for creating memorable lyrical songs.He collaborated with many fine lyricists, including Harry Williams and Gus Kahn, producing many bestsellers, including: In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree, Pretty Baby, Memories and the lovely ballad, GoodnightLadies (1911) (DISC 2, ).

Morley and Gearhart quote: “From personal experiences attending many concerts, we were bothconvinced that most concert programs were too long; and that, for many listeners, encores represent-ed the most enjoyable part of a musical evening. So we usually played at least four encores at all of ourperformances. It was fun for us to sometimes give a sophisticated audience a jolt of humor and see andhear their reactions by ‘signing off ’ with Goodnight Ladies, especially after we had performed a weightyprogram of serious original two-piano works by Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and Debussy.”

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Virginia Waring and Earl Wild at Virginia’s home in Rancho Mirage,California, 2001 – both celebrating

their 85th birthdays.

CreditsExecutive and Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

Transfer and Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson

Noise Restoration by: Glenn Meadows and Ed Thompson

Original Engineer of Delaware Water Gap recordings in 1954: Peter Kiefer

Remastered using High Definition 24-Bit State-of-the-Art Technology — HDCD Encoded.

Liner Notes: Virginia Waring, Marina Ledin and Victor Ledin

Design: Communication Graphics

Cover, Inside Tray, and Photographs on Pages 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, and 25: Courtesy of Virginia Waring

Photographs on Pages 13, 22, and 23: Courtesy of Pamela Gearhart

Photographs on Pages 5, 6, 7, and 14:Courtesy of University of Buffalo Livingston Gearhart Archive

Music on Page 8: Courtesy of Fred Waring’s America Archive

Source Materials and Masters Provided By:Virginia Waring and Fred Waring’s America, Penn State University, Peter Kiefer, Curator.

Morley and Gearhart Columbia Masterworks recording dates courtesy of Anthony Fountain.

Special Thanks to Virginia Waring for all her helpful assistance and support.

Various quotes taken from Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians by Virginia Waring, published by University of Illinois Press, 1997.

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