|
Caprices on the name Schönberg (1973-75) is a dodecaphonic composition which makes ample use of “traditional” harmonic tensions. The row is derived from the letters of Schönberg’s name according to the German scale: A. SCH..BE.G where S = Es (E flat), H = B natural, etc. The row is a mirror row, the last 6 notes being the “reflection,” i.e., exact inversion, of the first 6 notes. During the cadenza there are short quotes from Schönberg’s opus 33 for piano as well as from Schumann, the latter to remind the listener that the four notes “A-S-C-H” were the kernel of most of the themes in Carnaval.
It might be noted that this piano concerto gives equal importance to the orchestra, that the composer is not really a devoted Schönbergian, and also that the titles, “caprice” and some of the others, may seem too whimsical for this music! Other remarks could comment on the critical reaction of nearly twenty years ago: “...tempered ever so nicely with what we call ‘neoclassic’—that is, a bit of humor and once in a while a beat,” “...full of Berio-like woodwind colors,” “making the outcome sound rather like a French Elliott Carter”—this composer was highly flattered at the time to be mentioned in such distinguished company!
The idea of writing Convergences (1972) originated with Andr·s Adorj·n, the flutist recorded here. In the initial toccata-like section, the instruments discourse independently. The harpsichord sprays the 12 notes, the flute queries irregularly. The harpsichord attempts to keep the tempo, the flute takes liberties. After the two knocks and a transition passage, the harpsichord ties its notes into neat bundles, places them next to neat pauses; the flute fastens a long cantabile line upon them. The silences become longer, the music seems nearly to stop. Points of sound gradually begin to build, more and more notes are added. Blocks of sullen silence appear wedged between segments of jagged sound. The segments shatter, and with the Agitato—a kind of central core—the converging becomes more turbulent, more determined. The instruments play together very precisely, urgently. Nothing is left unsaid. Everything must be discussed, scrutinized, analyzed, dissected, investigated, pursued. The breaking point is reached, the instruments split apart: showers of sparks from the flute, foam, fury, eruption from the harpsichord. Chopped, battered chords, silences, a page from the opening toccata; the lone flute plunges to its lowest note, and the harpsichord comes slowly to a standstill.
The Five Preludes Prolonged (1992), recorded here for the first time, are works composed over a period of years for various occasions: 1) Imprint—which was written for a concert at Harvard University in 1991 to honor the retiring chairwoman of the Music Department, Luise Vosgerchian—emerges from and comments on bars 33 and 34 from Debussy’s poetic piece D’un cahier d’esquisses. 2) Prelude at the second is an attempt to capture the “breezy impertinence” exemplified by the style of jazz exemplified by pianist Oscar Peterson. Here, the word “second” implies rapidity and precision (as in “split second” or in the French “y´ la seconde”) and can also justify the constant use of intervals of seconds and therefore of the complementary sevenths and ninths. 3) Interval was written for a German collection of contemporary, but not-too-difficult, piano compositions, and an earlier version of 4) Prelude as Tango for an American collection of modern tangos—a collection which was planned in the 80’s but seems to have disappeared from the scene. The title 5) Non-measured Prelude (PrÈlude non mesurÈ) is a term used in French harpsichord music of the 17th century. Here fragmented motives appear in spurts of sound at various places on the keyboard.
The Dialogues (1958) were written for and dedicated to Paul Makanowitzky, a magnificent and exceptional violinist of Russian origin and French education. (Upon returning definitively to the U.S. in 1965, Makanowitzky taught in New York, in Philadelphia and in Ann Arbor before retiring to Maine where he died in February 1998.) This piece is constructed as a series of eight connected variations based on the 4-note motive centered on B initially stated by the violin. Each succeeding variation until the last one starts with the same pitches and the motive appears throughout the work 353 times, horizontally and vertically. (This statistic was prompted by a listener who wanted to know exactly, after having lost count during a performance.)
—N.L.
Noël Lee , born in China in 1924 of American parents, received his early musical education in Lafayette, Indiana. He studied at Harvard University with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt—interrupted by thirty-eight months of military service during World War II—and at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1948, he went to Paris to continue his education under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger.
Boulanger wrote:
“Noël Lee is one of the finest musicians I have met. Composer with a real personality, he has refinement and strength, an acute perception of the resources of his instrument, a sense of the hierarchy of values and a total understanding of the works.”Among the many awards he received in early years are from the Lili Boulanger Composition Prize, the Young Composers’ Contest of the Louisville Orchestra, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In recent years the Cultural Affairs Ministry in France and the French National Radio have given him three important commissions—an unusual distinction for a composer not of French nationality. In 1986, a second prize in the Arthur Honegger Composition Contest for a set of Piano Etudes—the first prize going to György Ligeti—and in 1991, the Charles Oulmont Prize were awarded him by the Foundation of France.
Aaron Copland wrote:
“Here is a composer who writes his music with his eyes wide open, and with a kind of cool intensity that defines his personality...Music to him is a natural language, a language he uses without strain or
mannerism. ...no matter how complex the textures may be, the musical discourse is always lucid and reasoned.”
Lee’s career as a concert pianist has led him on tour on six continents. In Europe he has recorded 188 LPs and CDs since 1955, of which 14 have received the Grand Prix du Disque. This recorded repertory—from J.S. Bach to Jean Barraqué—comprises the first complete recording of all the Schubert Piano Sonatas, including several unfinished ones which Lee has completed, the entire piano literature of Debussy and Ravel, and numerous works of twentieth century giants including Charles Ives, Charles Griffes, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland and Elliott Carter.
In the United States Lee has been visiting professor at Brandeis and Cornell Universities and at Dartmouth College. In Europe he frequently gives workshops in piano, chamber music and vocal literature and collaborates extensively with publishing houses for new editions of French piano, four-hand, and two-piano music. In the spring of 1998 the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in the French government awarded Lee the grade of “Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.”
|
