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It might be said that the composers on this recording represent three aspects of what Gilbert Chase called “Boston Classicism.” Each composer had close ties to the musical life of Boston, and in his own way, each composer reflected European classical traditions. Typical of turn- of-the-century ideals, the two American-born composers, Parker and Heilman, studied in Germany, then brought back to New England the romantic European style that was then considered more acceptable than less cultured American styles. Paradoxically, Samuel Adler was born in Germany, but he studied in Boston. Even so, his style is solidly based on European classic techniques, especially on his love of Bach and Handel.
Although born to cultured New England parents and a student of American composer George Chadwick in Boston, Horatio Parker (1863-1919) received his most important training at the Hochschule für Musik in Germany where he studied with Josef Rheinberger. Like other “Boston Classicist” composers, his style - and his success - was based on the German romantic tradition that he learned in Europe. Although best known today for his cantata Hora Novissima, Parker was influential as a teacher at the national Conservatory in New York during Dvorâk's directorship, and as an organist and teacher in Boston. He was appointed Battell Professor of Music at Yale in 1894 and he served as Dean of the Yale School of Music from 1904 until his death in 1919. He is also recognized as the founder of the New Haven Symphony.
Little known Pennsylvania-born William Clifford Heilman (1877-1946) also studied in Germany with Rheinberger, and, like Parker, he was active in Boston. He graduated from Harvard University in 1900 and taught music there from 1905 to 1930. His compositions include a symphonic poem, also studied in Germany with Fheinberger, and, llike Parker, he was active in Boston. He graduated from Harvard University in 1900 and taught music there from 1905 to 1930. His compositions include a symphonic poem, By the Porta Catania, some choral works, a suite for flute and piano, a suite for cello and piano, and the romantic Brahmsian-styled trio on the recording.
Although born in Mannheim, Germany in 1928, Samuel Adler grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and studied at Boston University and Harvard University. Currently chairman on the composition department and the Eastman School of Music, Adler is a prolific composer with more than 200 published works including two piano trios. Happily eclectic, he has written in a variety of contemporary styles, but the neoclassicism represented in his first piano trio stems from his lifelong appreciation of Bah and Handel and his studies with Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston, and Aaron Copland. Adler is the founder of the famous Seventh Army Symphony.
Baroque forms rule Horatio Parker's Suite for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 35 which was composed in 1904 and dedicated to a professional family trio in Boston, the Adamowski Trio. Although the suite follows a format similar to a Bach dance suite, its style is unabashedly romantic. The opening movement entitled “Prelude,” with its arpeggiated piano part under string melodies, looks like a Bach prelude; but its long, yearning melodies in the strings sound more like romantic love songs than anything found in Bach. The second movement, marked Tempo di Minuetto, has the traditional form of a muiuet and trio, but the melody and rhythm form a romantic waltz rather than a baroque minuet. However, baroque from is clear because the trio is clearly set off from the minuet with a change from minor to major modes and a faster tempo. After the return to the minuet, the movement ends with an extended coda, a compositional device that Parker learned from Rheinberger.
The third movement, marked Romance, is cast in A B A form. The opening section, as would be expected in a romance, is lush and yearning, but the middle section is coquettish and playful. An extended coda based on the middle section closed the movement. The fourth movement, marked Finale, is a grand march cast in march - trio - march format. It begins with soft scale figures, then erupts in majestic dotted rhythms. The more lyrical trio is faster and features imitation between the voices. The recapitulation of the march is brought to a close with a short coda.
Eighteenth-century classic forms also dominate Heilman's Trio in C composed in 1923 and dedicated to his Harvard colleague Walter Raymond Spalding, but its style is clearly influenced by Brahms. The first movement is cast in traditional sonata-allegro format with two themes in the exposition; the first presented by the violin, the much slower second theme played by the piano. The development section, introduced by fanfares of descending scales in the strings and accompanied by hemiolas in the piano, is mostly concerned with variants of the first theme. The order of instrumentation is reversed in the recapitulation which gives the recapitulation of the first theme to the piano, the restatement of the second theme to the cello. The same fanfare that introduced the development section is used to introduce a coda based on the first subject.
The slow second movement in the remote key of B major is a simple binary form. In the first half of the movement the romantic melody is presented first by the piano, then by the strings. In the second half of the movement the strings play the melody over figurations in the piano.
The lively third movement employs two melodies, an new one, as expected, and the first theme from the first movement. The new theme is playful, the borrowed theme is romantic. The themes alternate, appearing in different formats and tempos with each restatement, but always alternating between playfulness and romanticism. A final version of the theme from the third movement brings the composition to a close.
Boston-trained Samuel Adler wrote his Trio at the MacDowell Colony in 1964 and dedicated it to the Alma Trio. It too borrows classic forms, but it avoids the expressive sensuousness of the Parker and Heilman works. It is a fine example of American neoclassicism. The first movement is cast in sonata-allegro form and features lively changing-meter figures. The first subject is vigorous, dissonant and loud. The second subject, introduced by the piano in octaves, also features changing rhythms, but it is more lyrical. There is a great deal of counterpoint throughout the composition, especially in the development section where the first and second subjects are combined. A sweeping crescendo leads to the highly varied recapitulation.
The slow second movement is a simple three-part song form. The opening section presents two ideas, a dramatic recitative introduced by the violin, and a chorale played in block chords by both strings. In the middle section of the movement the piano plays a simple waltz-like melody accompanied by pizzicato strings. The movement concludes with a short restatement of the original recitative.
The third movement recalls the rhythmic complexities of the first movement. It employs a free Sonata-allegro format in a lively tempo, but resorts to a frequent hemiolas for rhythmic interest instead of the changing-meters heard earlier. Separate themes are not distinct, but one can detect a hemiola figure that rises in skips as a first motif, a second motif that rises stepwise, and a third motif that features repeating notes. The development section presents variants of each of the motifs in short passages of imitation, and the movement closes with a freely varied recapitulation.
Paul Cherry
The Rawlins Piano Trio
The Rawlins Piano Trio was founded in the summer of 1987 at the University of South Dakota and named by the musicians in honor of Marjorie and Robert Rawlins, principal benefactors of the trio. The trio has dedicated itself to performing works by American composers, as well as the more traditional piano trio literature. Performing throughout the United States, the Rawlins Piano Trio has been invited to perform twice for the International Sonneck Society for American music, and Continues a very active concert schedule.
David C. Neely holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts. A founding member of the trio, he is currently Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and maintains a professional association with the University of South Dakota through the Rawlins Piano Trio. Mr. Neely is the first violinist of the Omega String Quartet and has performed as a guest artist with several chamber music ensembles and orchestras. Teachers he has studied with include Peter Marsh, Joseph Gingold, and Mahlon Darlington.
Richard Rognstad holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Cello Performance fro the University of Colorado. His teachers include Jurgen de Lemos, Peter Rejto, and Fritz Magg. He is presently and Associate Professor at the University of South Dakota where he conducts the orchestra. An American music specialist, Rognstad has published articles and review, concretized, and received grants to present lecture recitals of this repertoire.
Dennis Ondrozcek holds a Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano from the University of Minnesota where he was a student of Bernhard Weiser. Other principal teachers include J. Earl Lee, Beth Miller Harrod, and Adolph Baller. Dr. Ondrozcek is presently the senior member of the keyboard faculty at the University of South Dakota, and has also taught at Rocky Ridge Music Center, Estes Park, Colorado. He has performed solo recitals, and chamber music throughout the United States and in Europe.
Cover Art: Meditation, by Oscar Howe (1915-1983) ©Mrs. Adelheid Howe, 1983
This recording was made in St. Agnes Catholic Church, Vermillion, South Dakota, August 5-6, 1992.
Producer: John Gladney Proffitt
This project was funded in part by a University of South Dakota Office of Research Minigrant.
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA
SOUTH DAKOTA ARTS COUNCIL support is provided with funs from the State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts
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© 1993 THE RAWLINS TRIO
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