CONTENTS

CONGRATULATIONS TO . . ., 3
RECENT DEATHS; CORRECTIONS; LEGATO NOTES: 4

LIVE EVENTS
(May 18 to October 24, 2003)

I Hear Museum Art (B.L.C./Greenfest) <> Mad Dreams and Brits (Hickey), 6
The Score's the Thing (David Cleary) <> Recitalists & Rappers (Greenfest), 7
Music for Aldous Huxley (Cleary), 8
In Sarah's Wake (Cleary), 9
Down to the C in Chips (B.L.C.), 10
Exploring the Keys (Cleary), 11
A Rave for "Vera" (Kraft), 12
At the Temple of Drama (B.L.C.), 13
This Macbeth Struts and Frets Not (Kroll), <> A Powerful Woman (Paulk), 14
A Warrior for Us All (Paulk) <> Is There a Dr. T in the House? (McDonagh), 15
Turning the World of Sound Upside-down (Liechty/de Clef Piñeiro), 16
A Classic Ascends (de Clef Piñeiro) <> Broken by Fate (Kroll), 18
An Ancient Instrument, A New Voice (de Clef Piñeiro), 19
Pushing Strings (Kroll) <> Of A Love For Music (Patella), 20
A Night with Wolfe, Ethel and Friends (Hickey) <> Grist for the Opera Mill (Lynn), 21

DOTTED NOTES
from … Kroll, BLC, 22

INTERVIEW
A recent interview by broadcaster Bruce Duffie with Ruth Schonthal

SPEAKING OUT!
"Not Just Another Concert" <>
More on the "Pullet's Surprise," 24
"… a decidedly poor second choice," 25

THE PRINTED WORD
It's Who You Know (Barry Drogin), 25

RECORDINGS

À outrance à la Anderson (de Clef Piñeiro) <>
"Beauty to the Limits" (Galganski) <>
He Never Sat Back (BLC), 27
Gi'me Moe Time (Cleary) <>
Monk's "mercy" (Kaye), 29
Readying the "Unready," (BLC), 30

RECENT RELEASES, 31

THE PUZZLE CORNER:
Another outstanding winner, 32

COMPOSER INDEX, 34

BULLETIN BOARD, 35

WEB SUPPLEMENT

Live Events

Equinox Chamber Players In Concert for Impact
Just In Time: Foreign Influences Brought Home
NEC Percussion Ensemble: Premieres for Percussion
Dinosaur Annex: Metaphysics and Magic
Longitude
IX International Festival for Contemporary Music

CD Reviews

Harrison Birtwistle: Refrains and Choruses
Flute Force: Eyewitness
Exchange Latin America
Outlier-New Music for Music Boxes: John Morton
Works for Flute and Piano of Louis Moyse
New American Piano Music

Obituaries

Arthur Berger (1912-2003)
Harold Schonberg (1915-2003)
Meyer Kupferman (1926-2003)

Review of Concert

Longitude

Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 8:00 PM
Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall, Longy School of Music, Cambridge, MA

by David Cleary

Four composers elderly or deceased, each represented by an infrequently encountered item from their portfolio, were featured on the most recent Longitude presentation. The results, while mixed, proved of much interest.

Anton Webern’s Quartet Op. 22 (1930) possesses performance rarity status thanks to its surrealistic scoring of violin, clarinet, piano, and tenor saxophone. Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful piece, like most all this composer’s output transcending critical boundaries to become a masterwork. The other selection by a composer no longer with us, Giacinto Scelsi’s String Trio (1958), is not so fortunate. It’s in fact one of those entities that makes a better conceptual idea than a vehicle for listening, each of its four movements based on oscillations around one or two static pitch classes. Unfortunately, there’s minimal sense of direction or long range structural thinking encountered, made even less tolerable thanks to a limited timbral palette.

Of the works by those still living, the better was the Duo Concertante (1984) for alto saxophone and piano by Leslie Bassett. Despite a sonic universe that at times suggests Messiaen via employment of such elements as bell-like piano chords and octatonic scales, Bassett infuses a unique sense of personality within the music’s tissues. Treading a fine line between character piece and larger architectural edifice, each of its five movements bursts with dramatic energy and unfolds cogently—excellent stuff indeed. Scored for wind quintet and piano, Recollections (1982) is a surprising utterance to come from Karel Husa. There’s copious utilization here of extended techniques such as pitch bends, color tremolos, string plucking, and prepared piano effects, something not ordinarily associated with this composer’s oeuvre. One can positively cite this sextet for its motivic economy, though forms seem slack and arbitrary.

While the most dynamic presentation this evening came from Philipp Staeudlin (saxophone) and Mika Tanaka (piano) in the Bassett, all performances were first-rate. Series director Paul Brust deftly conducted the Webern, Scelsi, and Husa, avoiding the many pitfalls that can cause ensemble train wrecks among the most seasoned pros, never mind eager yet green students. Kudos go to Brust and his charges for their fine execution.