Search - William Bolcom, Lee Hoiby, Richard M. Willis :: Dark Rosaleen: New American Piano Quartets

Dark Rosaleen: New American Piano Quartets
William Bolcom, Lee Hoiby, Richard M. Willis
Dark Rosaleen: New American Piano Quartets
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (3) - Disc #1

Lee Hoiby writes about this recording: "The Ames Quartet worked closely with me on the development of Dark Rosaleen, collaborators from the word go, and continually bless it with loving insights and efforts. Together we ha...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: William Bolcom, Lee Hoiby, Richard M. Willis, Ames Piano Quartet
Title: Dark Rosaleen: New American Piano Quartets
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Albany Records
Release Date: 2/22/2005
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 034061073024

Synopsis

Album Description
Lee Hoiby writes about this recording: "The Ames Quartet worked closely with me on the development of Dark Rosaleen, collaborators from the word go, and continually bless it with loving insights and efforts. Together we have explored some evocative remnants of James Joyce c. 1900; Mangon, the deranged Dublin litterateur of the 1830s; and the dolefully passionate Hibernian ethos. As I myself am a Midwesterner who has chosen to express himself musically in a classic European vocabulary, it is gratifying to hear the Ames players of Iowa display their great reservoirs of nuance and schwung and historical imagination. They are simply superb musicians and I warmly thank them." William Bolcom writes about the performance of his work: "Your performance is the most emotionally intense I have heard?you sustain the emotional curve extremely well?the slow tempo (of the last movement) pays off at the end - really frightening! I don't compose quite as I did 30 years ago, but the feeling of the piece seems so present right now. Where we are today had its roots in that time. The Intermezzo seems particularly sad to hear at this moment, and you have played it with much personality." Richard Willis' Variants, commissioned in 1990 by Quadriga (a piano quartet then in residence at Texas Tech University), follows similar principles to Hoiby's Dark Rosaleen. It, too, is a set of variations built upon a melody presented first by the viola, in which an internal interval (this time a minor second heard in the first two pitches), serves as the principal unifying element of the composition. Both begin with a haunting quality and then present the motive in a variety of guises ranging from virtuoso to angular to jazzy to lyric, highlighting the late 20th century composer's dual interests in maintaining a tightly controlled form based upon restricted motivic material, while still exploring a wide range of moods.
 

CD Reviews

Contemporary Music With a Romantic Touch
D. Kessler Sonnenmoser | Zurich, SWITZERLAND | 10/06/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I discovered the american composer Lee Hoiby whilst planning an evening with English and American songs for mezzo-soprano in Zurich.

Hoiby's adoration for Schubert shimmers through his works and gives a fine touch to his sophisticated compositions. The influence by European music builds the fundament of the "Dark Rosaleen-Rhapsody" - an Air by James Joyce.

"Intermezzo" by William Bolcom stands out in the "Piano Quartet" with its melodious waltz rhythm whilst the other pieces are strongly atonal.

What in my opinion unites the three composers of "Dark Rosaleen - New American Piano Quartets" is the fine feeling for dissonant and harmonical compositions, which makes the CD a great pleasure to listen to.

Furthermore "The Ames Piano Quartet" is a formidable and highly qualified chamber orchestra with a great feeling for this kind of music."