Liner Notes
Cat. No. NWCR765
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; Keith Lockhart, Conductor; Eiji Hashimoto, harpsichord
This recording of three orchestral works by Allen Sapp arrives in celebration of the composer’s seventy-fifth birthday on 10 December 1997. Sapp (born in 1922, Philadelphia) studied composition with Walter Piston and Irving Fine at Harvard, and upon graduation he studied privately with Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger on a John Knowles Paine Fellowship. During World War II Sapp served as a specialist in cryptanalysis, and following the war was appointed chief cryptanalyst and chief of code research of the Civil Censorship Division, European Theater. He returned to Harvard for graduate work in 1948, and served on the music faculty there from 1950 to 1958. Sapp lectured at the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies in 1954, and was Charles F. Walgreen visiting lecturer in American Studies at the University of Chicago in 1955.
After brief service on the faculty at Wellesley College (1958- 61), Sapp was appointed chairman of the music department at the University of Buffalo (later, State University of New York at Buffalo) in 1961. Together with Lukas Foss, the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sapp founded the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY- Buffalo in 1964, transforming Buffalo into one of the major centers for experimental music in the 1960s and 1970s. Among the musicians associated with the Center who proceeded to have notable professional careers were George Crumb, Richard Dufallo, Don Ellis, Vinko Globokar, Henri Posseur, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, David Tudor, and Paul Zukofsky...
In 1975 he moved to Florida State University, where he accepted the positions of provost of the Division of Communication and the Arts and director of Cultural Affairs. In 1978 Sapp was appointed dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He relinquished administrative responsibilities there in 1980 to assume a post as professor of composition, devoting his energies since then toward teaching and composition. Since 1980, after nearly two decades of relative inactivity in composing in the 1960s and 1970s (owing primarily to his intense administrative activity), Sapp has created more than sixty-five works, including two of the compositions on this recording (Imaginary Creatures, and A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra). In recognition of the quality of his recent compositions, Sapp was awarded the 1986 George Rieveschl Award for Distinguished Creative and Scholarly Works at the University of Cincinnati. Sapp’s orchestral works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la Radiodiffusion Française, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
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.
This recording of three orchestral works by Allen Sapp arrives in celebration of the composer’s seventy-fifth birthday on 10 December 1997. Sapp (born in 1922, Philadelphia) studied composition with Walter Piston and Irving Fine at Harvard, and upon graduation he studied privately with Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger on a John Knowles Paine Fellowship. During World War II Sapp served as a specialist in cryptanalysis, and following the war was appointed chief cryptanalyst and chief of code research of the Civil Censorship Division, European Theater. He returned to Harvard for graduate work in 1948, and served on the music faculty there from 1950 to 1958. Sapp lectured at the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies in 1954, and was Charles F. Walgreen visiting lecturer in American Studies at the University of Chicago in 1955.
After brief service on the faculty at Wellesley College (1958- 61), Sapp was appointed chairman of the music department at the University of Buffalo (later, State University of New York at Buffalo) in 1961. Together with Lukas Foss, the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sapp founded the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY- Buffalo in 1964, transforming Buffalo into one of the major centers for experimental music in the 1960s and 1970s. Among the musicians associated with the Center who proceeded to have notable professional careers were George Crumb, Richard Dufallo, Don Ellis, Vinko Globokar, Henri Posseur, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, David Tudor, and Paul Zukofsky...
In 1975 he moved to Florida State University, where he accepted the positions of provost of the Division of Communication and the Arts and director of Cultural Affairs. In 1978 Sapp was appointed dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He relinquished administrative responsibilities there in 1980 to assume a post as professor of composition, devoting his energies since then toward teaching and composition. Since 1980, after nearly two decades of relative inactivity in composing in the 1960s and 1970s (owing primarily to his intense administrative activity), Sapp has created more than sixty-five works, including two of the compositions on this recording (Imaginary Creatures, and A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra). In recognition of the quality of his recent compositions, Sapp was awarded the 1986 George Rieveschl Award for Distinguished Creative and Scholarly Works at the University of Cincinnati. Sapp’s orchestral works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la Radiodiffusion Française, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
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.
Music of Allen Sapp
| MP3/320 | $9.99 | |
| FLAC | $9.99 | |
| WAV | $9.99 | |
| CD-R | $9.99 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, The Four Reasons: I. A Classical Sonata-Allegro (Allegro molto)
Allen Sapp
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A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, The Four Reasons: II. A Theme and Variations (Fluently)
Allen Sapp
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A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, The Four Reasons: III. A Fugue (Larghetto)
Allen Sapp
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A Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, The Four Reasons: IV. A Rondo (Vivace)
Allen Sapp
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Imaginary Creatures, A Bestiary for The Credulous: I. Halcyons
Allen Sapp
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Imaginary Creatures, A Bestiary for The Credulous: II. Basilisk
Allen Sapp
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Imaginary Creatures, A Bestiary for The Credulous: III. Unicorn
Allen Sapp
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Imaginary Creatures, A Bestiary for The Credulous: IV. Phoenix
Allen Sapp
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Imaginary Creatures, A Bestiary for The Credulous: V. Centaurs
Allen Sapp
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Overture, "The Women of Trachis"
Allen Sapp
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