Donald Martino: A Jazz Set
Liner Notes   Cat. No. 80518     Release Date: 1996-01-01

The Core Ensemble: Mark Hinton, piano; Andrew Mark, cello; Michael Parola, percussion

Donald Martino is one of the leading American composers who use twelve-tone technique as their compositional basis. The five works presented here reveal a side of Martino not generally known or acknowledged. (Three of the works are CD premieres: A Set for Marimba, A Jazz Set, and Canzone e Tarantella sul nome Petrassi for cello and clarinet. Parisonatina for solo cello and Twelve Preludes for solo piano round out the program.)

Jazz and popular music (he was a jazz clarinetist and songwriter manqué) have had a definite and lasting influence on his compositional persona. The variety of refined accents, nuances, timbral inflections, and rhapsodic invention of jazz infuses his artistic sensibility as much, perhaps, as Varèse’'s avant-garde experiments with sonority and electroacoustic sounds. Improvisation is sometimes built into the compositional process, as in A Set for Marimba and Twelve Preludes, or explicitly encouraged, as in Parisonatina.

The Canzone e Tarantella is a charming work that manages to incorporate bits of Verdi, specifically La traviata and Don Carlos. A Jazz Set-with its three movements, ( 1) Canon Ball 2) Cathy 3) Three Way)-brings the disc to a swinging conclusion, a cool amalgam of neo-Bachian counterpoint and lush jazz harmonies.

The CORE Ensemble

Donald Martino: A Jazz Set

MP3/320 $16.00
FLAC $16.00
WAV $16.00
CD $25.00

Track Listing

Set for Marimba: I. Allegro
Donald Martino
Buy
Set for Marimba: II. Adagio
Donald Martino
Buy
Set for Marimba: III. Allegro
Donald Martino
Buy
Parisonatina Al'Dodecafonia: I. Agitato (Motto Sul Nome Aldo Parisot: con larghezza)
Donald Martino
Buy
Parisonatina Al'Dodecafonia: II. Scherzevole
Donald Martino
Buy
Parisonatina Al'Dodecafonia: III. (Motto: Agitato) Teneramente, Agitato, Teneramente
Donald Martino
Buy
Parisonatina Al'Dodecafonia: IV. (Cadenza Sul Nome Aldo Parisot: Barbaro, Dolce, Feroce, Regale
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: I. Adagio con moto
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: II. Drammatico (introduction): Doppio movimento
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: III. Andantino
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: IV. Adagio sentimentale - Adagietto (coda)
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: V. Il pir presto possible - Meno (coda)
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: VI. Presto - Andantino - Prestissimo
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: VII. Poco adagio
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: VIII. Allegretto
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: IX. Adagietto
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: X. Allegretto (introduction): Allegretto
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: XI. Largo
Donald Martino
Buy
Twelve Preludes: XII. Allegretto gioioso - Cantabile - Andantino - Allegretto grazioso (codetta)
Donald Martino
Buy
Canzone e Tarantella sul nome Petrassi: Canzone
Donald Martino
Buy
Canzone e Tarantella sul nome Petrassi: Tarantella
Donald Martino
Buy
A Jazz Set: I. Canon Ball (Duo for Vibraphone & Piano)
Donald Martino
Buy
A Jazz Set: II. Cathy
Donald Martino
Buy
A Jazz Set: III. Three Way
Donald Martino
Buy