Berry / Swift
Liner Notes   Cat. No. NWCRL412     Release Date: 2017-08-15

Dady Mehta, piano; Anna Carol Dudley, soprano; Marvin Tartak, piano; Paul Hersh, piano

Wallace Berry writes:

“The Sonata was begun in 1975 in Carmel, California, and completed the following year at Ann Arbor, Michigan. The listener may readily sense applications of virtually universal techniques of recapitulation and variation-development within its form, which is without distinct division into 'movements.' A short introductory section of eight bars has its counterpart at the end of the work. There are elements both of bravura and calmly (yet intensely) expressivo approaches in the work's rhetoric, and the harmony ranges from dense and severely dissonant to overtly triadic, the latter expressing relative release in a broad dynamic profile. That profile is marked too by extreme contrasts of texture and dynamic level which, with changes of tempo and thematic character, delineate the structure.”

Richard Swift writes:

“I first became acquainted with Richard Eberhart's poetry during World War II; for a long time I wanted to set some of his poems and during the fifties sketched some settings that were never realized. Finally, in 1977, an opportunity to compose a song-cycle for Anna Carol Dudley and Marvin Tartak provided the occasion to collaborate with Eberhart. Great Praises — the title of one of his collections of poems as well as that of the final song — was composed at Princeton in the autumn of 1977, and the music is dedicated to him and his wife...

Summer Notes is in three movements with short, meditative interludes between movements. The first movement, improvisatory in character, presents motives and textures that are heard in different forms in the later movements. The second movement is vigorous and rhythmically active, and the final movement contrasts extremely rapid passages with denser textures.”

This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.

Various Artists

Berry / Swift

MP3/320 $7.99
FLAC $7.99
WAV $7.99
CD-R $7.99
CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print material or jewel case included.
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
   Liner Notes



Track Listing

Sonata for Piano
Wallace Berry
Buy
Great Praises: I. Rumination
Richard Swift
Buy
Great Praises: II. The Return
Richard Swift
Buy
Great Praises: III. Memory
Richard Swift
Buy
Great Praises: IV. Great Praises
Richard Swift
Buy
Summer Notes: I. -
Richard Swift
Buy
Summer Notes: Interlude I
Richard Swift
Buy
Summer Notes: II. -
Richard Swift
Buy
Summer Notes: Interlude II
Richard Swift
Buy
Summer Notes: III. Molto rubato
Richard Swift
Buy