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Paul Freeman Introduces. . .
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Paul Freeman, Music Director
Peter Sacco and I made our first acquaintance at the Eastman School of Music. Peter was a post-graduate student working on his DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) degree and I was a mere sophomore in the undergraduate division. During that time I was also Head of the Recording Studio, deeply involved in recording student activities. I was so happy to converse with a doctoral student, and Peter was also delighted to tell me about his latest creative endeavors. This led to my performing two of his works with the Hillel Little Symphony, a student-community symphony of which I was the conductor. Years passed and I lost track of Peter. Finally in 1995 I received the most interesting letter enclosed with scores and cassettes of several compositions. As a result of this new contact I immediately became a SACCO fan, and set out to record and perform some of the works from the vast repertoire of his creative gems. I am grateful that Peter sent me this package of materials which led to my rediscovery of the music of this extremely talented composer whose boundless energy explodes through his expertly crafted music. On August 13, 2000 Peter passed away after a battle with cancer. It is to his memory that we dedicate this CD of his music.
Program Notes by the Composer
Piano Concerto No. 1 was written in 1964 while I was composer-in-residence at San Francisco State University (1959-1981) and first performed in 1965 in San Francisco with Jack Pereira, conductor and Renee Chevalier, soloist. Jack Pereira, principal percussionist of the San Francisco Symphony, conducted the Lowell High School Orchestra, an unusually fine orchestra composed of the most outstanding young musicians in San Francisco. He invited me to compose a series of works for the orchestra, which resulted in the Piano Concerto No. 1, Violin Concerto No. 1, Pilgrims' Journey, and Four Sketches on Emerson Essays. The work is designed in a large architectural framework in three compact movements.
Symphony No. 1 in one movement was written in 1954 in partial fulfillment of my Master's Degree at the Eastman School of Music. The work was performed at the Koussevitzky Award Competition at Eastman that same year. Guy Fraser Harrison, conductor of the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, heard the work and performed it the following year in an NBC Mutual Broadcast from New York City. Shortly after that Edwin F. Kalmus, New York City, published the piece. It has had many performances in the United States and Europe. Dramatic in nature, the work is very colorful and melodic.
Violin Concerto No. 1, written in 1969, was commissioned by the late Frank Hauser, concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony, for a concert at the Tokyo World's Fair. It was premiered in San Francisco with Jack Pereira, conductor and Frank Hauser, soloist. In 1974 the National Endowment for the Arts awarded me a commission to create a two-piano reduction of the concerto. The first movement Andante expresses sorrow for those who suffered the ravages of war. It is a statement of war's futility and waste. The second movement Prayer for World Peace begins with a long, expressive song for violin. A different mood Quasi recit. ma poco dramatico builds to a climax where the orchestra enters. The prayer motif is developed between violin and orchestra. The third movement Vivace con Umore, a jovial romp, is interrupted by a slower section Poco meno mosso con tenerezza. The two contrasting sections are intended to project a sense of hope.
The Violin Concerto No. 1 was recorded by the Prague Radio Orchestra, Vladimir Valek, conductor on July 8, 1995. Appreciation is hereby expressed to Master Musicians Collective for the use of the Violin Concerto on this recording.
Contemplation for Orchestra
Contemplation for Orchestra was commissioned by Dr. Olando Tognozzi, conductor of the Shasta Symphony Orchestra, Redding, California. Originally entitled Convocation Symphony, the one-movement work was first performed at the formal opening of the new Shasta College campus in 1968 and again in a commemoration concert on April 25, 1999.
Hypocrites for tenor and orchestra is the centerpiece of a larger work Jesu, a full oratorio based on the words of Christ for mixed chorus, tenor, and orchestra. Jesu was written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree, Eastman School of Music, 1956. The work was read in Rochester under the direction of the composer, with Milford Fargo as tenor soloist. The full oratorio has not yet had a world premiere, but the Hypocrites section has had many performances, the latest in Chicago in December 1999 with Paul Freeman conducting the Chicago Sinfonietta, William Brown, tenor.
P. Peter Sacco was born in 1928 into an intensely musical family in Albion, New York. A long line of professional and amateur singers and instrumentalists provided a diverse and supportive context in which, Sacco states, "I never thought of doing anything but music. I started at age four on the piano and haven't stopped since." He had his public debut as a pianist at age seven, sang as a boy soprano in countless theaters and radio stations, and from 1941 to 1944 attended Eastman's Preparatory School of Music in Rochester where he studied theory, piano, and voice. He received his B.M. in 1950 from Fredonia State University.
Sacco was drafted during the Korean conflict and stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. He characterizes that period as one of the low points in his life, during which he sought and found solace in the writings of Emerson — later to motivate his Four Sketches on Emerson Essays. He also enrolled in the Frankfurt School of Music where he studied with Wolfgang Niederste-Schee. This period saw the creation and performance of his first published music — Introduction and Allegro for Full Orchestra and Four Songs. In 1953 he enrolled in the Eastman School of Music where he studied under Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers, earning his M.M. in 1954 and D.Mus. in 1958.
He served on the faculty of San Francisco State University from 1959-1981, during which time the third section of Four Sketches on Emerson Essays was written. Gossip depicts the nattering and bickering of a typical university faculty meeting (Vol. 7 of MMC New Century recording, released by MMC Recording, Ltd. in 1997).
Peter Sacco continues to teach, perform, and compose in Ashland, Oregon. His published music includes three symphonies, piano and violin concertos, numerous orchestra, instrumental, and chamber works, an opera Mr. Vinegar, two oratorios, choral music, songs, and three volumes of pedagogical pieces for piano students. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including those from ASCAP, National Council of the Arts, American Music Center, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Alexander Tutunov is one of the most outstanding young virtuosos of the former Soviet Union. A native of Belarus, he entered the Moscow Conservatory at age seven, one of three chosen out of 200 applicants, and graduated magna cum laude. He also holds diplomas, with honors, from the Minsk Musical College, University of North Texas, and the Belarussian National Academy of Music.
Tutunov won the First Prize of the Belarussian National Piano Competition, and was a winner of the Russian National Piano Competition. He has performed widely in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and the United States. He is presently under contract with Altarus Records to record the complete solo piano works of Lev Abeliovich.
Currently director of keyboard studies at Southern Oregon University, Tutunov has also taught at the University of North Texas and Illinois Wesleyan University. He is in great demand as a recitalist and soloist with orchestra.
Lydia Forbes, originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts, has recently moved to Amsterdam. Only in her 20s, she has been praised by William Thomas McKinley, director of Master Musicians Collective as "one of the most gifted violinists of our time.”
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. Mr. Brown's repertoire encompasses the major oratorios and symphonic works, the operatic literature, art songs of various periods and spirituals. William Brown has recorded for Telarc, Columbia Records, London Records, CRI, Sony, Nonesuch, Musical Heritage and Albany Records, and presently serves as Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of South Florida.
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
Recorded July 1999 and May-November 1998
ICN Recording Studios, Prague
Cover Art: Charla Freeman Puryear
Paul Freeman Introduces. . .
1 Andante (con Irresalutezza) [7:35]
2 Con Molto Espressione [6:57]
Symphony No. 1 (in one movement)
4 Andante Serioso. Adagio ma con moto.
Scherzo. Passionato. Scherzo [9:15]
5 Andante ma sempre poco Rubato [10:19]
6 Quasi Recit. Prayer for World Peace [4:43]
7 Vivace con Umore [4:53]
8 Contemplation for Orchestra [7:00]
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Paul Freeman, Music Director
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