|
Paul Freeman Introduces. . .
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Paul Freeman, Music Director
Zdenek Tylsar, French horn
For many years it has been my pleasure to perform the music of the distinguished composer David N. Baker. I was first introduced to his creative talent during the mid 1970s when we included his music in the historic Black Composers Series released by Columbia Records. I have always been impressed by the breadth and scope of his talent and the extraordinary range of his tonal palette.
When Peter Kermani of Albany Records suggested unquestionably that Baker's music be included in our series, I was extremely delighted. Because of his vast output, it was difficult to select music for only one volume; therefore, we decided to release this CD as Volume One of two all-Baker CDs. I am truly pleased that Mr. Baker has taken the time from his busy schedule to write the following notes about his music.
Alabama Landscape is a single-movement setting of the poem of the same title by the well-known African-American poet and writer Mari Evans, a longtime friend whose works I have frequently set to music. Written for baritone and orchestra, the work was commissioned by the Columbus (IN) Pro Musica and received its premiere performance on February 9, 1991 under the direction of David Bowden with Michael Gordon as baritone soloist.
In addition to its original setting for baritone and orchestra, there is also this version of Alabama Landscape for tenor. In 1998 the great tenor William Brown, for whom I have often written, expressed an interest in performing this work. As luck would have it, at the same time I was also discussing a recording project with Maestro Paul Freeman. This version was created at their request for a performance and recording with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Through the Promethean artistry of William Brown the listener is transported into the terror-filled drama depicted in Mari Evans's poem.
Critic Dan McKinley, in his review of the premiere performance for The Republic (Columbus, IN), described the work as “…a setting of a startling poem by Indianapolis author Mari Evans, which had been written as an angry response to the legal system's failure to punish acts of alleged police brutality. Evans begins with a slave's daring escape through a hostile countryside, and she relates that flight to contemporary struggle: `History repeated, history relearned, history relived.' The past is `still swollen' and the present is `savagely contrived' with `sanctioned lynchings.' In his music, Baker allows such rage to have chilling effect, but instead of emphasizing the poem's violence, he chooses to focus on the continuing quest for freedom. He uses the phrase `black man running' as a recurring textual motive, varying its musical moods to suggest that striving for justice may take many forms.”
Alabama Landscape is structured in four distinct sections, the first of which sets the mood for the entire composition. The second section begins with the string melody leading to the declamatory “leaping sinkholes, torn confusion.” The “black man running” theme is introduced by the soloist and is echoed by the snare drum. The climax of this section comes with the words “sanctioned lynching, still orgasmic.” In the third section the music is lyrical and reflective, yet the text has a quiet strength and power. In the final section the music becomes gradually more agitated, with the “black man running” motif now full-blown. The text and music coalesce to depict terror, anger, and injustice, and the piece concludes with the chilling statement, “There will be no one left for ovens.”
Refractions: A Suite for String Orchestra
Refractions, like virtually all of my large classical works, is romantic in nature, yet influenced by my background as an African-American and a jazz musician. Both the title Refractions and the titles of its three movements — “Crescent,” “Crepuscule,” and “Convergence” — reflect my fondness for alliteration and are intended to be descriptive as well as euphonious.
Each movement embodies my programmatic musical representation of an element of its title's definition. “Crescent” reflects the portion of its definition, which reads “to increase in illumination or progress toward becoming full.” “Crepuscule” refers to twilight. “Convergence” is defined as “approaching the same point from different directions; moving toward a common conclusion.”
I wrote Refractions in 1993 for my dear friend and world-renowned cellist Janos Starker, who had asked for a piece for cello quartet. It was premiered February 1, 1994 at Indiana University by a virtuoso quartet comprised of Starker, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Emilio Colon, and Emanuel Gruber. Although its first performance was truly stunning, I quickly realized that the incredible level of difficulty of the piece would ultimately result in a very limited number of performances. In 1996, when the opportunity arose for me to re-score the work for eight-part cello choir, I did so and received wonderful performances later that year in Bloomington, Indiana and at the Fifth American Cello Congress in Tempe, Arizona.
In 1998, at the suggestion of my distinguished friend and conductor Maestro Paul Freeman, I did yet another re-scoring of Refractions, this time for string orchestra. This version appears on this recording by Maestro Freeman and his extremely versatile Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
Life Cycles is a suite for tenor, French horn, and strings and is the third in a series of works I have written for the brilliant and powerful tenor William Brown. This piece, not coincidentally, has the same instrumentation as Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and was, in fact, written as a companion piece for that work for programs on which Mr. Brown was performing the Britten work. It is the second such companion work that I have written for him, the first being Through This Vale of Tears for tenor, piano and string quartet. Mr. Brown is joined by the extraordinarily talented hornist Zdenek Tylsar, principal hornist of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
The text is by Terence Diggory, an American poet who is one of my favorites. Life Cycles represents our second collaboration and consists of settings of five poems that view life very poignantly through nature. In each of the five settings I consciously tried to illuminate or highlight some facet of what I perceived the poet's intention to be. In “Night Song” the text is supported and highlighted by the vigorous interplay between the voice and horn. In “Surface” I tried to suggest the power, majesty, and mysterious qualities of the sea through the use of ostinato, horn calls, and bravura vocal lines. In “Autumn Moral” the use of chromaticism, harp-like arpeggios, and repetitive dissonance serve to heighten the illusions created by the text.
“What It Means When Spring Comes” begins with string clusters which provide a moody background for lyrical interplay between the voice and horn, gradually yielding to a real three-way conversation between voice, horn, and strings. In “Saints and Hermits” the music strives, through the use of imitative passages between voice and horn and also contrasting chordal passages and cascading runs in the strings, to capture the marvelous word play and irony inherent in the text of the poem.
Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra
This work was commissioned by and written for my good friend and Indiana University colleague Daniel Perantoni, who premiered it at the 1998 National Conference of the Society of Composers, Inc. The titles of the three movements reflect my fondness for alliteration, and each is intended to be descriptive as well as euphonious.
In Movement I, “B's,” I pay homage to three of my favorite composers: Brahms, Bartok, and Berg. This is done through the use of quotes, gestures, and harmonies, all the while creating a showcase for Mr. Perantoni, one of the most versatile and highly respected tuba virtuosi of our time. Some of the quotes are subtle references, while others, such as those from Bartok's fourth string quartet and the Berg violin concerto, are more overt in their use. The passacaglia motif from Brahms' Symphony No. 4 is used structurally, serving as the harmonic basis for one of the movement's principal themes, and is stated almost literally in the recapitulation.
Movement II, “Berceuse,” is very much a contemporary cradle song or lullaby and allows Mr. Perantoni to express the gentle and introspective qualities of the tuba. The principal melodies consist of sweeping romantic lines, with the strings and winds providing lush cushions of sound and melodic reinforcement. Mr. Perantoni's velvety sound and the consummate ease with which he moves through the full range of his instrument are never more apparent than in this movement.
The final movement, “Blues,” utilizes the blues form, gestures, and scales, but altered in various ways to display the multi-faceted artistry of the soloist: his virtuosic technique, his personal and immediately recognizable sound, and his ability to move seamlessly between classical and jazz idioms. The jazz-like allusions in this movement to the signature gestures of such artists as Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Cannonball Adderley are most convincingly rendered, and the concerto ends with the return of the principal blues theme in the tuba.
David Nathaniel Baker, Jr. (born 1931) is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana and currently holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music and Chairman of the Jazz Department at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. A virtuosic performer on multiple instruments and top in his field in several disciplines, Mr. Baker has taught and performed throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Japan. He is also the conductor and artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.
Mr. Baker received both bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Indiana University and has studied with a wide range of master teachers, performers and composers including J.J. Johnson, Bobby Brookmeyer, Janos Starker, George Russell, William Russo, Bernard Heiden, and Gunther Schuller, among others. He has received numerous honors and awards including the 1973 Pulitzer Prize nomination, 1979 Grammy Award nomination, lifetime achievement award as a trombonist by Down Beat magazine, and in 1994 was the third inductee into their Jazz Hall of Fame. He has also received the National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award (1981), President's Award for Distinguished Teaching from Indiana University (1986), the Arts Midwest Jazz Masters Award (1990), and the Governor's Arts Award of the State of Indiana (1991).
Having been commissioned by more than 500 individuals and ensembles, including Josef Gingold, Ruggiero Ricci, Janos Starker, Harvey Phillips, the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Beaux Arts Trio, Fisk Jubilee Singers, and the Louisville Symphony, his compositions tally over 2,000 in number and range from jazz and sonatas to film scores.
A dedicated music educator as well as composer and performer, Mr. Baker's involvement in music organizations has encompassed membership on the National Council on the Arts, board positions for the American Symphony Orchestra League, Arts Midwest, the Afro-American Bicentennial Hall of Fame/Museum, the Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center, and the NEA. He is currently president of the National Jazz Service Organization and senior consultant for music programs for the Smithsonian Institution. Baker has more than 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles to his credit.
Tenor William Brown is one of the most versatile, exciting and musically gifted singers of our day. He has sung with major orchestras including the Boston, Cleveland, Cincinnati, London and Detroit Orchestras, and the Royal Philharmonic as well as the New York Philharmonic. He has worked with such distinguished conductors as Eric Leinsdorf, Lorin Maazel, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Sergiu Commissiona, James Levine and Paul Freeman. Mr. Brown's repertoire encompasses the major oratorios and symphonic works, the operatic literature, art songs of all periods and spirituals. William Brown has recorded for Telarc, Columbia Records, London Records, CRI, Sony, Nonesuch and Musical Heritage labels, and presently serves as Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of South Florida.
Zdenek Tylsar is one of the leading hornists of the Czech Republic. Since 1964 he has served as principal horn of the Czech Philharmonic and recently has become the principal horn of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. He has received a number of awards including first prize in four international competitions. Having performed as soloist with many orchestras in Europe and in other parts of the world, Zdenek Tylsar serves regularly on international juries. He is a distinguished professor at the Academy of Music in Prague.
Daniel Perantoni is Professor of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Dan or “Mr. P” as he is called by his students, is an internationally renowned tuba soloist, clinician, chamber musician, instrument designer, and master teacher. He has been a featured artist at Carnegie Hall, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Spoleto Festival U.S.A., the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, the Montreux Brass Congress in Switzerland, and recently as a soloist throughout Japan. He is a founding member of Summit Brass, a member of Symphonia, the St. Louis Brass Quintet, and the Matteson-Phillips Tuba Jazz Consort. He has released numerous solo and chamber CDs. Along with Robert Tucci, he has designed “Perantucci” low brass instruments and mouthpieces that have become the equipment choice for thousands of low brass players worldwide. He also serves as the vice-president of educational matters and consultant/clinician for Custom Music Company.
Paul Freeman has distinguished himself as one of the world's pre-eminent conductors. Much in demand, he has conducted over 100 orchestras in 28 different countries including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and major orchestras in London, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Berlin. Maestro Freeman has served as the Music Director of Canada's Victoria Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic and Associate Conductor of the Detroit and Dallas Symphony Orchestras. He is currently Music Director of the renowned Chicago Sinfonietta and simultaneously serves as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague. With over 200 recordings to his credit, he has won numerous awards for his unique interpretations of the classical, romantic, and modern repertoire. Dr. Freeman, who studied on a U.S. Fulbright Grant at the Hochschule in Berlin, holds a Ph.D. degree from the Eastman School of Music and LH.D. degrees from Dominican University and Loyola University.
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Since the Czech Republic's bloodless “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, the country has been riding a rapid wave of democratization, which has affected the music industry as well. Orchestras in order to survive must concern themselves with the procurement of foreign funds through recording contracts and overseas performances. These developments have necessitated the need for higher performance standards.
Out of this chaotic scene Jan Hasenöhrl, an outstanding solo trumpet player, sensed the acute need to reshape the Czech orchestral scene and, in 1993, invited the top musicians from Prague's major orchestras to form a new orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestra gave its first concert, conducted by Vladimir Valek, in November 1993 in Prague's Rudolfinum Dvorak Hall. In 1994 the Czech music world's national treasure, Zdenek Kosler, was named chief conductor. The first recording was made at the beginning of April 1994. Maestro Kosler died in August 1995.
In January 1996 the brilliant American Conductor and Music Director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Paul Freeman was appointed Music Director and Chief Conductor. Under Maestro Freeman's leadership, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra has shown stunning development. Already he has made over 30 compact discs with the orchestra and has toured Italy and Great Britain. So successful was the November 1997 United Kingdom tour of 19 concerts under Paul Freeman and Libor Pesek that IMG Concert Management has recently signed a 5-year contract to tour the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Europe, Asia, and America. Through its many recordings, concerts and television productions it is fast becoming one of the most important ensembles in the Czech Republic.
Artistic Director: Paul Freeman
Executive Producer: Joan Yarbrough
ICN Recording Studios, Prague
Cover Art: Charla Freeman Puryear
Paul Freeman Introduces. . .
1 Alabama Landscape [14:21]
8 What It Means When Spring Comes [3:50]
9 Saints and Hermits [4:48]
Zdenek Tylsar, French horn
Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Paul Freeman, Music Director
|
