Liner Notes
Cat. No. NWCR606
Release Date: 1991-01-01
Rosi Grunschlag, piano; Toni Grunschlag, piano
Paul Hindemith (b. 1895, Hanau, Germany; d. 1963, Frankfurt/Main) began his musical career as a very young man, playing pop music in German nightclubs. When he was discovered by a rich patron and put through the conservatory in Frankfurt in 1921-22, he shocked the German musical establishment by using jazz elements in his compositions. In 1940, denounced by the Nazis, he moved to the United States and became a professor of music at Yale (where he remained until 1953) and a powerful influence on American music.
Like so many other Jews in the artistic community, Darius Milhaud fled France in 1940 and landed very firmly on this feet, composing all the while, as a sought-after teacher at Mills College in Oakland. 1943, the year Les Songes (Op. 237) came to life as a two-piano work, saw a brief pause in his composing libretto-based works, though he was never far from his beloved writers. An earlier collaboration with Fauvist Andre Derain is the basis for Les Songes' pastiche of dramatic impressions...
Esther Williamson Ballou (b. 1915, Elmira, NY; d. 1973, Chichester, England) had the satisfaction of hearing much of her music performed in her own lifetime - something few woman composers had experienced. In 1963 she achieved the distinction of being the first American composer to have a work premiered at the White House. She attended Bennington College, Mills College, and did graduate work at the Juilliard School of Music. Upon completion of her work at Juilliard, she was appointed to the faculty there where she served for several years. Her teachers in composition were Otto Luening, Bernard Wagenaar, and Wallingford Riegger.
Norman Dello Joio (b. 1913, New York) began his musical training with his father, an organist who had emigrated from Italy in the early 1900's, and Joio continued lessons with his godfather, Pietro Yon. He studied composition at the Juilliard School with Bernard Wagenaar and at Yale with Paul Hindemith. He has taught at Sarah Lawrence and the Mannes College, and, from 1972 to 1979, was Dean of the School for the Arts at Boston University.
Bohuslav Martinu (b. 1890, Policka, Bohemia; d. 1959, Switzerland) was a most cosmopolitan and well-traveled gentleman, both musically and in the more traditional sense. Having trained as a violinist and being employed in the string section and the Czech Philharmonic, he immersed himself in the intellectual life of his capital. He soon uprooted himself to flit from serious musical endeavor to an unsettled pursuit of numerous facets of his chosen world. An ardent Czech, he abandoned Prague for Paris, exchanging Josef Suk's tutelage for the extraordinarily different world of Albert Roussel and the French modernists. He developed a highly distinctive compositional voice endowed with energy, angular turns of melodic phrase, and usually a presence of the Classical.
Robert Starer (b. Vienna, 1924) began his musical education in his native city but left Austria after the Anschlup (or: Anschluss) for Jerusalem, where he continued studies at the Palestine Conservatory. During the war, he served in the RAF. He moved to New York in 1947 to undertake post-graduate studies at Juilliard, whose faculty he joined two years later. He stayed there until 1974, when he left to eventually take up positions at two other nearby schools, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
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.
Paul Hindemith (b. 1895, Hanau, Germany; d. 1963, Frankfurt/Main) began his musical career as a very young man, playing pop music in German nightclubs. When he was discovered by a rich patron and put through the conservatory in Frankfurt in 1921-22, he shocked the German musical establishment by using jazz elements in his compositions. In 1940, denounced by the Nazis, he moved to the United States and became a professor of music at Yale (where he remained until 1953) and a powerful influence on American music.
Like so many other Jews in the artistic community, Darius Milhaud fled France in 1940 and landed very firmly on this feet, composing all the while, as a sought-after teacher at Mills College in Oakland. 1943, the year Les Songes (Op. 237) came to life as a two-piano work, saw a brief pause in his composing libretto-based works, though he was never far from his beloved writers. An earlier collaboration with Fauvist Andre Derain is the basis for Les Songes' pastiche of dramatic impressions...
Esther Williamson Ballou (b. 1915, Elmira, NY; d. 1973, Chichester, England) had the satisfaction of hearing much of her music performed in her own lifetime - something few woman composers had experienced. In 1963 she achieved the distinction of being the first American composer to have a work premiered at the White House. She attended Bennington College, Mills College, and did graduate work at the Juilliard School of Music. Upon completion of her work at Juilliard, she was appointed to the faculty there where she served for several years. Her teachers in composition were Otto Luening, Bernard Wagenaar, and Wallingford Riegger.
Norman Dello Joio (b. 1913, New York) began his musical training with his father, an organist who had emigrated from Italy in the early 1900's, and Joio continued lessons with his godfather, Pietro Yon. He studied composition at the Juilliard School with Bernard Wagenaar and at Yale with Paul Hindemith. He has taught at Sarah Lawrence and the Mannes College, and, from 1972 to 1979, was Dean of the School for the Arts at Boston University.
Bohuslav Martinu (b. 1890, Policka, Bohemia; d. 1959, Switzerland) was a most cosmopolitan and well-traveled gentleman, both musically and in the more traditional sense. Having trained as a violinist and being employed in the string section and the Czech Philharmonic, he immersed himself in the intellectual life of his capital. He soon uprooted himself to flit from serious musical endeavor to an unsettled pursuit of numerous facets of his chosen world. An ardent Czech, he abandoned Prague for Paris, exchanging Josef Suk's tutelage for the extraordinarily different world of Albert Roussel and the French modernists. He developed a highly distinctive compositional voice endowed with energy, angular turns of melodic phrase, and usually a presence of the Classical.
Robert Starer (b. Vienna, 1924) began his musical education in his native city but left Austria after the Anschlup (or: Anschluss) for Jerusalem, where he continued studies at the Palestine Conservatory. During the war, he served in the RAF. He moved to New York in 1947 to undertake post-graduate studies at Juilliard, whose faculty he joined two years later. He stayed there until 1974, when he left to eventually take up positions at two other nearby schools, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
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.
Rosi & Toni Grunschlag - Piano Duo
| 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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Sonata for Two Pianos: I. Glockenspiel; II. Allegro
Paul Hindemith
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Buy
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Sonata for Two Pianos: III. Canon
Paul Hindemith
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Buy
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Sonata for Two Pianos: IV. Recitative; V. Fugue
Paul Hindemith
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Buy
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Les Songes
Darius Milhaud
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Buy
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Sonata for Two Pianos: I
Esther Williamson Ballou
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Buy
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Sonata for Two Pianos: II. Andante; III. Allegro Vivace
Esther Williamson Ballou
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Buy
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Aria and Toccata for Two Pianos: I. Aria
Norman Dello Joio
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Buy
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Aria and Toccata for Two Pianos: II. Toccata
Norman Dello Joio
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Buy
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Sonata for Two Pianos
Robert Starer
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Buy
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La Fantasie
Bohuslav Martinu
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Buy
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Coal-Scuttle Blues
Ernst Bacon, Otto Luening
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Buy
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