ROBERT BAKSA
Octet for Woodwind Instruments
Quintet for Flute and Strings
Nonet for Winds and Strings
Robert Baksa is one of America's most prolific composers with over 500 works to his credit. He was born in New York City in 1938 but grew up in Tucson, Arizona where he attended the University of Arizona graduating with a BA in Composition. After a summer in Tanglewood he returned to live in New York City where he remained until the end of the century when he relocated to Kinderhook, New York. Currently he serves as Resident Composer and Coordinator of New Music for the Pleshakov Music Center in Hudson, New York.
He has composed music in almost every genre with an emphasis on vocal and chamber music. His first one act opera to Edna St. Vincent Millay's play “Aria da Capo” was premiered to glowing reviews at the Lake George Opera Festival. The second, “Red Carnations,” commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, has been widely performed as an introduction to opera for audiences of all ages. His choral pieces and art songs have been praised for their close attention to word setting, particularly his songs to poems of Emily Dickinson and A.E. Houseman.
Aside from a few isolated examples from his student years, he produced his first mature chamber music in the early 1970s when he wrote several pieces which have become among his most widely performed works, The Oboe Quintet, the Octet for Woodwinds and the Quartet for Piano and Winds. There followed nearly 80 works for various combinations including sonatas for nearly all of the standard instruments including the accordion. This last was commissioned by the American Accordion Association. The first of the sonatas to be published, the Flute Sonata #1 was honored by the National Flute Association.
In the decade of the 1970s Baksa's main inspiration and model was Mozart's transparency and elegance. The various wind serenades of the early classical period are reflected in the Octet for Woodwinds completed in 1972. However, the composer elected to utilize only the winds instead of beefing the ensemble up with the French horns which was a necessity for outdoor performance in times past. This gives the work a slightly lighter texture. The first movement follows the basic outline of Sonata Allegro form but there is no real second subject. The second features a long sinuous melody that flanks a more agitated section. The finale juxtaposes several jaunty themes with freer sections. One notable moment features an arpeggiated figure divided between the two clarinets creating a continuous bubbling accompaniment to the flute and oboe melody in the middle of the movement.
The second of eight quintets for solo instruments with string quartet, the Quintet for Flute and Strings of 1973 was premiered at the National Flute Association Convention. The opening features the flute accompanied by cello pizzicato, only gradually adding the remaining strings. The first movement is a fully developed sonata allegro with plenty of rapid passage work for the flute. The song-like music that forms the second movement is typical of the composer's work of the period that features frequent intertwining of the first violin and the solo instrument. The virtuoso finale gives the soloist ample opportunity to articulate rapid notes, which is one of the flute's most characteristic technical resources. The movement breaks down into a basic ABA form with a contrasting middle section.
The 1974 Nonet for Winds and Strings was commissioned by the Chamber Music Conference of the East at Bennington, Vermont. It was written to be presented during the period of the composer's tenure as Composer-in-Residence that summer and was later taken up by other chamber ensembles across the country including the Bronx Arts Ensemble, which has premiered and recorded more than a dozen of Baksa's chamber works. The opening movement follows the sonata-allegro format often pitting the wind group against the string group. The second movement once again presents a long lyrical section based on several thematic ideas, which is interrupted midway by a more agitated section. The finale, full of wit and sparkle, features many alterations between two-quarter time and three-quarter time. At times the two meters are simultaneous and are joined by an off-beat figure in the pizzicato strings. These devices provide forward impetus to the music without affecting the overall rhythmic clarity.
The works on this recording, are available from Theodore Presser Co., which distributes the composer's music through its affiliate Composers Library Editions.
The Bronx Arts Ensemble, formed in 1972, is comprised of some of New York's finest musicians and presents over 100 concerts a year in New York and throughout the metropolitan region. It performs at such cultural institutions as The New York Botanical Garden, Russian Mission to the UN Residency, Van Cortland House, Bartow-Pell Mansion, Hostas Center for the Arts and Culture, and at various area historic homes as well as maintaining an active residency at Fordham University, Bronx Rose Hill Campus.
Octet for Woodwind Instruments and Nonet for Winds and Strings were recorded at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, New York City on April 29 and May 2, 1988. Previously released on MHS 512446X
Produced by William Scribner; David Hancock, Engineer
Quintet for Flute and Strings was recorded at Town Hall, New York City on April 21, 2000
Produced by John Ostendorf; David Smith, Engineer
The compositions are published by Composers Library Editions (an affiliate of Theodore Presser Co.).
This recording is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, and the Nate B. and Frances Spingold Foundation, Inc.
Octet for Woodwind Instruments (1972)
John Wion, Brad Garner, flutes
Louise Scribner, Marsha Heller, oboes
Paul Gallo, Mitchell Weiss, clarinets
William Scribner, Jeffrey Marchand, bassoons
Quintet for Flute and Strings (1973)
Gerald Tarack, Browning Cramer, violins
Kenneth Burward-Hoy, viola
Nonet for Winds and Strings (1975)
Masako Yanagita, Florence Schwartz, violins
William Scribner, bassoon
Artistic Director: William Scribner
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