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TR363
Irwin Bazelon
Harold Farberman, conductor
Rousse Philharmonic
Irwin Bazelon died on August 2, 1995 at the age of 73. He composed nine symphonies and more than 60 orchestral, chamber and instrumental pieces. Born in Evanston, Illinois on June 4, 1922, he graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor's and master's degree in music. After briefly studying composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale, he went to Mills College in Oakland, California to work with Darius Milhaud. From 1948 until his death he lived in New York City and Sagaponack. His Long Island retreat was at the perfect counterpoint for the tensions and hustle-bustle of urban life with which his rhythmically complex and often jazz-tinged music bristles.
In his early years in New York, Bazelon supported himself by scoring documentaries, art films and theatrical productions. During the 1950's and 1960's he composed more than 50 scores of this kind, which proved to be an invaluable preparation for his orchestral music. In a valedictory of sorts he wrote Knowing the Score: Notes on Film Music. Published in 1975, this book is widely used as a college text. As guest composer Bazelon frequently lectured at leading universities and music schools throughout the United States and England. Young people were especially drawn to his feisty spirit and no-nonsense approach to earning a living by applying compositional talents to the commercial world without sacrificing integrity.
Bazelon's works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo instruments and voice have been performed throughout the United States and Europe. He conducted his music with such orchestras as the National Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Kansas City Philharmonic and the Orchestre Nationale de Lille. He received grants and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Kansas City Philharmonic, the New Orleans Philharmonic, the American Brass Quintet, the Boehm Quintette and the Royal Northern College of Music.
A long-time horse racing enthusiast, one of his best know works, Churchill Downs (Chamber Concerto No. 2) is named for the home of the Kentucky Derby, and his ninth symphony (subtitled Sunday Silence for the winner of the 1989 Derby) is dedicated to the horse. In a small way the racetrack helped launch Bazelon's symphonic career. With money from a big win at Aqueduct, he recorded a concert ballet with 16 members of the New York Philharmonic, the tape of which led directly to his conducting his Short Symphony (Testament to a Big City) with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. in 1962. this was his major orchestral debut.
In a tribute to Bazelon, David Harold Cox, Chair of Music at University College, Cork, Ireland, who is finishing a biography of the composer said, “the quality I shall always remember bout Bud was his integrity, the integrity between his individuality as a person and his unique musical personality. There seemed to be a perfect unity between the man hand his music. It was a unity based on a breadth of vision; both his personality and his musical language.
In Bazaleton's own words, “Prominence of musical line depends on dynamics, impact-accents, phrasing, rhythmic propulsion, color and contrast. There are certain 12-tone and jazz elements present, neither strict nor formal. And the triplet is my musical heartbeat.”
Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 4 was composed during 1964 and 1965. Although everything Bazelon wrote before Symphony No. 4 has unquestioned musical merit, the vast concept, sheer power and drama of this symphony arrives like a thunderbolt and creates a special niche for itself in his overall output. While the entire symphony has not yet received a public performance, it is clearly one of the great symphonies of the twentieth century. And if echoes of past debates about “American symphonies” reappear, Bazelon's Fourth will be a clincher. It is distilled from the roots of jazz as viewed through the composer's unique musical prism.
The wind, brass and percussion sections are often used in biting rhythmic unisons and growling glissandi, a hallmark of the Big Band style, but heavily seasoned with Bazelonian spirit, with and long line.
The percussion section writing has no symphonic ancestors, rather a strong attachment to the virtuosity of the Big Band drum sound. The first movement has a unique cadenza for seven percussion instruments - without timpani - playing together but in different tempi, culminating in a ferocious climax. A virtuoso section for solo winds and strings lead to a “free section” which proves to be a quasi-cadenza for timpani, E-flat clarinet, trombones, horns, solo trumpet and an anvil. The concluding coda is driven by piercing rim-shots, pulsating bongo and snare drum solos.
A fantasy-filled slow second movement reveals Bazelon's gift as a superb orchestrator, especially for strings and woodwinds. A humorous third movement opening gradually leads to a quiet ostinato which roars into a full blown drive to the finish.
Bazelon's Fourth Symphony is a monumental achievement - a pure “classical” construct whose inspiration comes from Big Band and African-American jazz roots.
The first movement was performed as Dramatic Movement for Orchestra by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Milton Katims in the Opera House, Seattle in February 1966.
For Tuba…with Strings Attached
For Tuba…with Strings Attached was composed in 1982. The work features an expressive element that frequently attracted Bazelon, combining unequal opposing forces, in this case the tuba, for which the writing is remarkably resourceful, even playful, and the string quartet, characterized by the imaginative and sensitive exploration of string sonorities.
It was commissioned by Harvey Phillips who gave the first performance with the Laurentian String Quartet in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York in January 1985.
A Quiet Piece for a Violent Time
A Quiet Piece for a Violent Time was composed in 1975. The composer indicates in his instructions to the conductor that the dynamic level in the entire work is never to exceed a mezzo-forte. Yet the quiet surface contradicts the anxiety in the colors and rhythmic unrest of the interior. Bazelon clearly catches the pulse of his time in this unusual musical construct.
The first performance of this work was given by the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Werner Torkanowsky in the New Orleans Theater of Performing Arts in October 1975.
Program Notes by Harold Farberman
Harold Farberman
On more than one occasion when they were together, Irwin Bazelon called Harold Farberman “my conductor.” It is a compliment Maestro Farberman cherishes. The internationally known conductor has led many of the world's major orchestras. Formerly the Music Director and Conductor of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Farberman has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Denver Symphony and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He teaches conducting at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. He is the founder and artistic director of the Conductors' Institute at Bard College at Annandale-on-the-Hudson.
Maestro Farberman's many recordings reflect his wide-ranging musical interests; he was an early exponent of the music of Charles Ives and has recorded more of this composer's works than any other conductor. Many of his interpretations have been called “definitive.” For his work on behalf of Charles Ives, he has been honored with the Ives Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters. He is currently engaged on a project to record the complete Mahler symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as recording the complete symphonies of Michael Haydn with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta.
Warner Brothers-Belwin Mills published Mr. Farberman's book and video, the Art of Conducting Technique, in 1998.
Rousse Philharmonic
The city of Rousse, not far from Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, has some 200,000 residents and a rich musical tradition. It has both a symphony orchestra which performs regularly in its 800 seat Concert Hall, and an opera company which has a full season in its own charming turn-of-the-century Opera House.
The present Rousse Philharmonic was founded in 1948. It is an excellent orchestra with a distinct performing style whose members are mostly graduates from the highly regarded Sofia Music Academy (many are now professors at the Academy). The orchestra has a distinguished history. It tours regularly to Spain, Italy and Germany and broadcasts often, especially the music of Bulgarian composers. It has had many outstanding guest artists, including the top names of the old Soviet Union: Sviatoslav Richter, Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Emil Gilels, Mistislv Rostropovitch and Igor Oistrakh.
Presently there are 80 full-time members (many extra musicians were needed for these recordings), down from its longstanding size of 92 performers, a sign of the present economy in Bulgaria. The reduction in size, however, has not diminished the quality of the Rousse Philharmonic.
Symphony No. 4 and For Tuba…with Strings Attached are available from Theodore Presser Company. A Quiet Piece for a Violent Time is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
© 1999 Albany Records
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