|
Samuel Barber is at the center of 20th century American tonal music. Trained as a singer and composer at the Curtis Institute of Music in his native Philadelphia, he is a purist in his use of musical ideas. His aesthetic is steeped in the lyricism that comes with a deep understanding of the human voice and a strong connection to the European romantic tradition. His instrumental works germinate from a motive (musical fragment) that becomes the core of an unfolding drama through its development and transformation. Yet, he viewed composing as the most personal of endeavors, and continually sought to broaden his means of expression. He feared that the “intense vogue for specialization,” popular among some of his peers, could cause such a stranglehold that music could become “ossified within the very limits of (the composer's) techniques.”
The Sonata for Piano, op. 26 (1949) was not a piece that came easily to Barber. Its premiere by Vladimir Horowitz had to be postponed as Barber forced himself to “sit here, not to move... and plug away.” It was originally conceived as a three movement work, with a sonata-allegro, a scherzo, and a concluding adagio. Prodded by Horowitz that the piece needed a "flashy last movement, but with content", Barber wrote an additional fugue in one day after weeks of "lying fallow."
The Sonata is based on a falling half-step motive which allows Barber to straddle between lush romantic melodies and thick unsettling harmonies that betray the influences of post-war serialism and jazz. In the first movement, the strident opening phrase establishes a counterpoint between the melody and bassline in which all 12 tones of the western chromatic scale are systematically added in. This creates a provocative ambiguity as to whether the piece will come to rest in a tonal or non-tonal sphere. The anguish that accumulates in this opening movement partly stems from the struggle between these two realms.
In the scherzo, Barber places the motive in the context of a music box melody that spins around itself, much like a dog chasing its tail. Among its occasional interruptions is a distorted waltz, outlandish in its use of register and lopsided meter.
With the adagio, Barber revives the vagaries of the first movement by establishing an ostinato bassline, a 12 tone row with tonal implications. The arioso melody that meanders chromatically above this foundation transforms the motive into dolorous appoggiaturas.
This spell is broken by an exuberant fugue that is clearly rooted in the key of E-flat. Barber merges the classiest of contrapuntal writing with the jazziest of fugue subjects. Every fugal device is dazzlingly incorporated as this finale passes swiftly from one section to the next. Following a wild cadenza is a coda that concludes with one last motivic statement.
Samuel Barber's identity as a baritone is evident in the Nocturne and Ballade. The Nocturne (1959), dedicated to the Irish romantic John Field, is lovely in its fanciful lyricism and undulating accompaniment. The Ballade (1977), a late work, is moody and restless, as it searches for a place of repose.
Two generations later Daron Hagen follows a path similar to Samuel Barber. Like Barber, Hagen is a product of the Curtis Institute and revels in the world of vocal writing. Equally economical in his use of motive, he gleans compositional technique from a myriad of sources to suit the needs of specific pieces. Hagen's ease in manipulating a variety of styles supports rather than supercedes his primary concern: to write music that is distinctly his own and that will be involving for the listener.
As its title suggests, Hagen's Qualities of Light (1998) has a strong sense of tonality. In this case, however, the tonality has more overtly painterly connotations. The hues and casts of everchanging shadows and darkness through the course of the night provided Hagen with the impetus for this piece, as they occur during hours with which the insomniac composer is well acquainted. The central movement, Built Up Dark, was written first. When Hagen and I then spoke of his producing a large-scale work for piano, he was inspired to frame his night (or nightmare) piece with shadings of Dusk and Gloaming - times of day that just miss contact with direct sunlight.
As Hagen is himself a pianist, Qualities of Light is a uniquely personal and demanding work. In writing for the instrument that has always been his musical voice, Hagen employs a generous array of pianistic gestures and styles for this nocturnal journey. Melodically, the work is spun from a wedge, a series of pitches that expand out of or contract toward a central tone. Wedges tend to be hazy in direction. The primary harmonic foundation consists of two sets of interlocking major chords spaced a tritone apart. The context of the four chords determines whether they are heard as consonant or dissonant.
Dusk is portrayed with disarming simplicity. A fragile melodic line is buoyed by a string of sonorites that reach toward tranquility. The transparency of the voicing and liquid timing leaves space for contemplation.
In Built Up Dark, serenity gives way to forebodings. The recurring wedges extended from Dusk gradually work their way up from the bowels of the piano register to crashing discord. This movement travels through a series of episodes, much like a Lizst tone poem. On the surface the episodes seem improvisatory, but on a deeper level they inevitably evolve toward a claustrophobia of sound.
Gloaming revives the glimmer of light that Built Up Dark had shut out. The movement begins with undulating chords reminiscent of the previous movement's minimalist episode. In their consonance and subtle maneuverings of voice-leading, these chords conjure up reflections of Ravel. Hagen gradually weaves melodic lines into this texture until the point where melody and harmony criss-cross in focus. Up to this point, Qualities of Light has been a journey through night that has toyed with melodic moments but eluded actual melody. The arrival of an unadulterated melody is the antithesis of, and pivotal point away from the engulfing dissonance of Built Up Dark. Upon completion of this shift, the undulating chords return to sweep into a glistening coda that cadences with one last statement of the four essential chords.
-Jeanne Golan
Qualities of Light is published by Carl Fisher, Inc.
Jeanne Golan, pianist
Jeanne Golan continues to offer fresh perspectives on combining standard and contemporary works in innovative ways. Her insightful programming was exhibited in her New York Recital Debut, The Lyrical Piano: Vocal Composers at the Keyboard, described by The Music Connoisseur as "bespeaking a commitment to the art that's as rare as it is welcome".
Miss Golan has worked with the Philip Glass Ensemble on Einstein on the Beach, and with the contemporary music groups MATA and the Friends & Enemies of New Music. In her extensive work with singers, she was prominently featured in the premiere of Jorge Martin's Beast and Superbeast with the American Chamber Opera Company. Portions of her CD, Songs of Henry Cowell (Troy 240), have been broadcast by the BBC Radio. As a chamber musician, she has performed with the Lark, the Cavani and the Harrington Quartets and with members of the Boston Symphony and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras. As a soloist, she has appeared with the American Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra and the Hunter Symphony.
Miss Golan earned her Masters and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she worked extensively in the studios of the Cleveland Quartet and the late Jan DeGaetani. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University graduating with Distinction in Music. Her guiding forces at the piano have been Patricia Zander and Claude Frank.
ALBANY RECORDS U.S.
P.O. Box 5011, Albany, NY 12205
Tel: 518.453.2203 FAX: 518.453.2205
ALBANY RECORDS U.K.
Box 12, Warton, Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 9PD
Tel: 0524 735873 FAX: 0524 736448
WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL.
© 1998 JEANNE GOLAN
|
