Nicolo Vicentino (1511-1576) was a priest, composer,
and music theorist who claimed that with proper support and encouragement he might
revive the fabled secrets of ancient Greek music. MUSICA PRISCA CAPUT was
composed in the enharmonic genus, a secular Latin motet for four voices that
sets a prose text in honor of Vicentino’s patron, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este (for
whom Palestrina worked as well). Douglas
Frank wrote, “The appearance of enharmonic harmony in the last 18 measures
builds to a climax. The name ‘Ippolito’
is always accompanied by enharmonic vertical sonorities. At the end, the notion of ‘high’ is depicted
by an enharmonic octave leap surrounded by diatonic notes and the sendings of
Ippolito’s deeds ‘above the heavens’ by two proximate octaves in succession.”
The
performance was recorded on March 23, 1993 in New York’s Greenwich Village. It is available for the first time on this release. The piece was extracted from Vicentino’s treatise, “Ancient Music
Adapted to Modern Practice, first published in Rome in 1555. The book described three genera of music:
the diatonic, the chromatic, and the enharmonic, and used the phrase “musica
communa” to mean the “ordinary diatonic” music of his day. This diatonic music was fit for public venues
and plebian ears, in Vicentino’s opinion, as compared to chromatic and
enharmonic music, which was deemed more appropriate for intimate venues and
aristocratic ears. (The first introductory
measures produced in the Treatise were omitted.)
Vicentino
wrote: “When a composer has the freedom to write in the first mode of the
diatonic or of the chromatic or of the enharmonic orders, he will have
compositional resources of such richness, so many steps and various species
adorned with so varied a set of procedures, that his compositions, on account
of their great diversity of mixed steps, will be marvelous things to hear”
(Vicentino, “Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice,” p. 205-206)
Musica
prisca caput tenebris modo sustulit altis,
Dulcibus ut
numeris priscis certain factis,
Facta rua,
Hyppolite, excelsium super aethera mittat.
(translation)
Ancient
music of late has raised her head out of darkness,
So that,
with antique and sweet numbers, to compete with ancient deeds,
Your great
deeds, Hyppolitus, she might send high above the heavens.
The Douglas Frank Chorale is
an intrepid vocal ensemble devoted to redefining choral music performance in
the 21st century. The
Chorale was founded in 2000, with its breakthrough recording “The A Cappella
Singer,” winner of the distinguished CARA award (Contemporary A Cappella
Recording Award) for Best Classical Album.
The Douglas Frank Chorale may be heard performing compositions by Johann
Michael Bach and Andreas Werckmeister on the EARLY CD (PITCH P-200202).
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) inherited a
tuning that was “well-tempered,” noted for ease of modulation and for minute
but recognizable variations between interval sizes throughout 12 major and 12
minor keys keys. Werckmeister III
tuning was the primary embossment on the Baroque, which was to evade the
claustrophobic prescriptions of either meantone or other spiraling irregular
tunings. The tuning was first published
by Andreas Werckmeister in his Orgel-Probe
(1681). A MUSICAL OFFERING offers
some tantalizing contradictions.
Frederick the Great instigated the setting following a desire by the
composer to see his newest grandchild.
The court under Frederick the Great used utilized an extended sixth
comma meantone, and therefore could not play Bach’s music because it required circular
well temperament. Bach had only intended
it for local consumption, making only100 copies of the work, and distributing
them about. These canons were famously
solved and published by Bach’s prominent student, Johann Philipp Kirnberger. This music contains rare examples of Bach writing
in three parts without a continuo.
The particular key of C minor in Werckmeister III tuning offers a
sentiment that places each note lower in pitch in comparison to its equal
temperament counterparts. In Werckmeister III tuning there are
39 different melodic intervals produced at six cents apart (1200 cents to the
octave). The
tuning is given below in cents. For more
detail see “Bach and Tuning” by Johnny Reinhard available from the AFMM on its
website, www.afmm.org
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While
the Italian virtuoso Nicolo Paganini is the violinist most often mentioned in
connection with the Devil, tales of demonic violinists first emerged as early
as the 17th century. The eighteenth-century Italian violinist Giuseppe Tartini continued this
tradition with his claims of a dreamy pact with the Devil. In this Faustian
dream, Tartini, having been given a violin from the Devil, heard himself play a
sonata so original and beautiful that it was like no other. When Tartini awoke
he immediately set out to compose what came to be known as the DEVIL’S
TRILL, the SONATA IN G MINOR for violin and piano. Scholars place
the date of composition somewhere between 1720 and 1740. The sonata opens
with a tranquil siciliano, followed by the demonic encounter. This lively
movement sets the tone for the finale, which contains the celebrated “Devil’s
Trill.” The ensuing cadenza elaborates on this fiendish portion. (Notes by Dan Auerbach.)
Andreas Werckmeister (1645-1706) is credited for fully describing
and promoting the “circle” of 12 major and minor keys through “well
temperament” for the first time in history. Born in Benneckenstein, Thuringia, Werckmeister
lived his entire life in the Harz Mountain region, although he frequently
traveled throughout different German lands. In Quedlinburg, Werckmeister
published nine books, often in revised editions, treating with music theory,
theology, composition, and organ building. Bach apparently owned a copy of Werckmeister’s Orgel-Probe (1681), a dedicated
diagnostic for organ building, in his personal library (according to Bach
scholar Christoph Wolff). Andreas Werckmeister’s PRELUDIDUM IN G AND FUGA for keyboard solo is one of only a few
surviving compositions. Werckmeister
was primarily an organist improviser and musical pedagogue, in addition to being
a theorist. The Werckmeister
family was not unlike the Bach family in many ways; both families worked as
devout musicians and committed educators in neighboring cities. Bach’s cousin Walther studied with
Werckmeister in Halberstadt and praised this master in his 1732 Musicalisches Lexikon, the first German
language encyclopedia of music.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed the TRIO IN Bb
MAJOR, Opus 11 “Gassenhauer” for clarinet (or violin), cello and piano in
1797. The piano has been tuned by Marc Weinert
in Kirnberger II tuning. It was
performed on an AFMM concert on March 26, 2005 at Faust Harrison Pianos in New
York City. The All Music Guide © provides some good commentary:
The finale, a set of variations, is
based on the theme of the trio Pria ch'io l'impegno, from Joseph Weigl's opera
L'amor marinaro of 1797. Weigl (1766-1846) was a composer and conductor at the
Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna. The most sensible tale of the origins of the
Trio, Op. 11, is found in Thayer, who suggests that a local clarinetist asked
Beethoven to employ the Weigl theme in the finale of the work, as the tune was
very popular at the time. The publication, in 1798 by Mollo in Vienna, is
dedicated to Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun, the mother-in-law of Prince
Karl Lichnowsky, one of Beethoven's chief patrons. A contemporary review of the
trio notes Beethoven's "unusual harmonic knowledge."
Differences between the clarinet and
optional violin part are few: descending lines in the clarinet are altered in
the violin part when they would pass below its range, and some of the single
notes in the clarinet part are written in double- or triple-stops for the
violin. The most striking feature of the Allegro con brio first movement is the
transition between the first and second themes. After a convincing modulation
to the dominant, F major, what sounds like a second theme begins, but on D major.
This quickly dissolves into fragments of the first theme and leads to the
actual second theme, appearing first in the piano in F major. Beethoven forgoes
the D major episode in the recapitulation. Beethoven sets the central Adagio in
E flat major.
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Johannes Brahms composed the HORN TRIO in the spring of 1865. An elegiac mood pervades much of the
work. The opening movement is marked
Andante. Furthermore, the third
movement uses the term mesto, and
includes a quotation from “Wer nur den lieben gott lasst walten,” an old German
funeral chorale (also used by Bach in his funerary cantata of the same title,
BWV 93). It may be that Brahms intended
this Trio to serve as a requiem for
his mother, as he composed it shortly after her death. There are other aspects to the work as well;
the hunt scenes in the finale, and the vigor of the scherzo. The elegiac mood reasserts itself in the
trio section of the scherzo. Brahms
wrote the horn part for the natural valve-less horn (by then already
obsolete). This horn is very difficult
to play, since those notes that do not fall into the basic overtone series have
to be stopped by hand. That Brahms
wrote a virtuosic horn part, on par with the violin, does not make it any
easier. The horn used for this trio is
usually the modern valve horn, but here it is played on the intended natural
horn. The Horn Trio is unique among Brahms’s works, apart from the unusual
instrumentation, as it is the only one of his instrumental works which does not
employ sonata-allegro form. The form
chosen by Brahms instead is comprised of motivic interrelation among the
movements, as well as simpler forms.
PERFORMERS
Dan Auerbach - violinist, has been described by the
New York Times as a player “with quiet virtuosity.” Mr. Auerbach earned his
Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers
University as a student of Arnold Steinhardt. He also holds B.M. and M.M.
degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay, Felix
Galimir, Harvey Shapiro and Lewis Kaplan. Mr. Auerbach is the recipient of
numerous awards and prizes, including a graduate fellowship from Rutgers
University, and the Irene Alm Memorial Prize for excellence in performance and
scholarly research. He has performed solo in such venues as Alice Tully Hall,
the Kennedy Center, and the Juilliard Theatre. As a chamber musician he has
enjoyed collaborating with the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber
Orchestra, the West-End Players of the Dallas Symphony, Columbia University's
Collegium Musicum, and the Jose Limon Dance Company. CD releases include the
American Festival of Microtonal Music recordings on the PITCH label and the
David Glukh Klezmer Ensemble. Upcoming performances include a Mozart Requiem
performance in Carnegie Hall. Beginning
this Fall, Mr. Auerbach will join the violin faculty at Morningside College in Iowa.
Julianne Klopotic, violinist, is a native of Milwaukee
Wisconsin where she began her musical studies at the age of five. She has
attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, Peabody Conservatory, and the Mannes
College of Music in New York City. Her teachers include Elaine Richey, Sylvia
Rosenberg, Shirley Givens and Felix Galimir.
Julianne appears as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, teacher,
improviser and arranger. In collaboration she has worked with many composers,
songwriters, bands, and recording artists. Winner of the Artists International
Solo Competition she was awarded her New York debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill
recital hall. She is known for her diversity as a player, and can be found on
recordings ranging from her work with Philip Glass to popular songwriter
Natalie Merchant. She appears as soloist and leader of various experimental and
contemporary groups including: The Microtonal Festival, The SEM Ensemble,
Downtown Chamber Players, Music Under Construction, 1687 Inc., The Evolution
Ensemble, Mantra Music, Present Music, Forecast, and her work with the now
internationally known New York based band, Antony and the Johnsons.
Orchestrally, she has been a member of the Jupiter Symphony, Riverside
Symphony, The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St.
Lukes. Ms. Klopotic is a grant
recipient of the Mikhasoff Trust for New Music, The New York Women Composers
Society, as well as a member of the American Music Society, Women in Music, and
Chamber Music America. She has appeared on national television and radio shows;
VH1, MTV, "The Tonight Show," and Rosie O'Donnell, as well as
performing live at Merkin Hall for National Public Radios, "New
Sounds". As a recording artist and chamber musician, she has recorded
often with Karl Berger and the Material Strings and members of the Syrius
String Quartet. She can be found on the following record labels: Universal
Music, 4-Tay, Naxos, Arista, Polygram, Colombia, Sony Classical, Socialist
Records, Stockholm, Durto, Rebis Music, Restless Records, Polydor, Touch and
Go, and the American Festival of Microtonal Music. Others Julianne has
performed or recorded with include; Alicia Keyes, Alana Davis, A Camp,
Angelique Kudjo, Aphex Twin, Enya, Lori Carson, Sheryl Crow, Elodie Lauten,
Philip Glass, Bill Laswell, Jon Catler, Jonnie Reinhardt, Karl Berger, Lili
Haydn, Dr.John, KRS1, Micha Green, Jewel, Natalie Merchant, Manbreak, Antony
and The Johnsons, Nina Nastasia, Duncan Sheik, Donna Summer, Tom Burris, Thin
Lizard Dawn, Pony, Elysian Fields, Voltaire, Coheed and Cambria, and Rufus
Wainwright.
Joshua Pierce grew up in New York City, studying at the Juilliard School of Music,
where for seven years he was the recipient of the Heckscher Foundation Award,
as well as awards from the Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University, and
the Cleveland Institute where he received the Victor Babin Award. Many more
awards would follow during his career. His principal teacher and mentor was
Dorothy Taubman, with extensive chamber music work with Bernard Greenhouse,
Joseph Seiger and Artur Balsam. Mr.
Pierce has performed internationally as solo recitalist, in chamber music
performances, with Russia's famed Leontovich String Quartet, as well as with
many of the major orchestras of Western and Eastern Europe, the U.S. and Latin
America. He reached much acclaim as part of the piano team, Pierce and Jonas,
with Dorothy Jonas. He has given
historic performances of works by Charles Ives and John Cage in Russia where he
received outstanding reviews and audience acclaim. A highly prolific recording artist, Mr. Pierce has recorded over
200 works including numerous World Premieres as a soloist and with orchestra
for MSR Classics, EMI Classics, Carlton Classics, Helicon, Koch International
Classics, MMC, Pro Arte, Sony Classics, PITCH, Vox and other labels. He has
recorded more than 40 solo concertos including works by Tchaikovsky,
Khachaturian, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev as well as the complete piano concertos of
Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt and Gershwin. Other recordings include works by
Schubert, Hummel, Czerny, Reinecke, Weber, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Franck,
Strauss, Casella, Respighi and Ellington.
His 20-year association and work with the late innovator-composer John
Cage, is legendary. Mr. Pierce's landmark series of recordings of Cage's
keyboard music for the German label Wergo: John Cage, Works for Piano and
Prepared Piano Volumes I, II, III, IV and Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared
Piano have received many prizes, much critical acclaim, and in 1991 won the Prieses Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
In May 2000, Mr. Pierce made music history by becoming the first pianist ever
to perform John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, Daughters of
the Lonesome Isle and the Three Page Sonata by Charles Ives at the Alternitivo
Festival of Contemporary Music 2000 in Moscow, Russia and at the 4th ISCM
Festival Europe/Asia 2000 in Kazan, Russia to great critical acclaim. Mr.
Pierce continues his association with the American Festival of Microtonal
Music, Inc. (AFMM), as he is the organization's official pianist, and an active
member of the AFMM Board. In 1996,
Johnny Reinhard brought his realization of Charles Ives' Universe Symphony to
Alice Tully Hall with Mr. Pierce as pianist. They have performed together
throughout Russia, Europe and the United States since 1983, presenting a wide
variety of composers including many important works by John Cage, Harry Partch,
Charles Ives, and Ivan Wyschnegradsky. His
website is at http://www.jamesarts.com/pierce/bio.html.
Johnny Reinhard, composer, conductor, bassoonist, director and founder of
the American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM), is a native New Yorker
specializing in all manner of microtonal performance. Additionally, Reinhard performs on the recorder, and is a
vocalist specializing in the works of American microtonal pioneer Harry Partch. He has given numerous full recitals including
in New York, Seattle, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Montreal, Amsterdam, Sapporo,
Moscow, and Kazan. Of particular
interest is his finishing important works of composers in exemplary
performance. These include his
realization and subsequent premiere performance of Charles Ives’s “Universe
Symphony” in 1996 in New York’s Lincoln Center, and the premiere in of Edgard
Varèse’s “Graphs and Time” in 1987 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Reinhard’s transcription of Ivan
Wyschnegradsky’s “Meditation sur deux themes” (1917) for bassoon and piano was
recorded on “Between the Keys” for Newport Classic (now Sony), and has been
re-recorded for Solyd Records (Russia), and again for the AFMM’s PITCH
label. Among the world premieres he
produced are Lou Harrison’s “Simfony in Free Style,” Terry Riley’s “In C in
Just Intonation,” Percy Grainger’s “Free Music” for 4 Theremin, the original
version of Harry Partch’s “Ulysses Departs From the Edge of the World” for
trumpet, double bass and boobams, and Mordecai Sandberg’s orchestral “Psalm
51.” Johnny Reinhard’s original
compositions feature polymicrotonality – either the active mixing of microtonal
tunings in a single composition, or the invention of brand new pitch
relationships (e.g., harmonic 17 tuning, quadratic prime just intonation,
collapsed just intonation). Among his
works are a symphony (“Middle-earth”), cello concerto (“Odysseus”), string
quartet (“Cosmic Rays”), a large number of virtuoso solo pieces for different
instruments in distinctive tunings, and numerous chamber works featuring
unusual timbres and requiring different degrees of improvisation. Johnny Reinhard’s compositions can be heard
on the “Raven” album, available from www.stereosociety.com. He recently completed a triptych for bass
trombonist Dave Taylor. Reinhard has
performed as a soloist throughout Europe and the United States, Japan, Canada,
and Russia. He has played with such
international virtuosi as kavalist Theodossii Spassov (Bulgaria), oboist Bram
Kreeftmeijer (The Netherlands), saxophonist John Butcher (London),
percussionist Rashied Ali (NYC), and Thereminist Lydia Kavina (Russia). In 2002 he was featured on bassoon to
critical acclaim by Ornette Coleman for the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. Reinhard is professor of bassoon at New York
University. Previously, he taught music
composition and theory at C.W. Post, Long Island University, taught The
Arithmetic of Listening at Bard College, and taught Western Art Music at
Columbia University. He has guest
lectured on tuning related subjects at Columbia University, New York
University, Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College/CUNY, CalArts, San Jose
State University, Indiana University, South Dakota State University, the
Hamburg Hochschule in Germany, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, and York
University in England. Reinhard
introduced first performances of Harry Partch’s 43-tone just intonation works
in Norway (International Bergen Festival), France (M.A.N.C.A.), Switzerland
(RoteFabrik), Italy (Teatro la Fenice), Canada (Toronto, Winnipeg, and St.
John’s), and England (London’s Barbican).
In the early ‘90s he published PITCH for the International Microtonalist
as a 4-issue set for musicians working independently. Since 2004, the AFMM launched 15 different PITCH CD titles,
available at www.afmm.org. Johnny Reinhard hosts New York-based WKCR-FM
radio’s popular four-hour Christmas Day “Microtonal Bach” segment in their
annual 10-day Bach Festival. He is often
a guest on John Schaefer’s New Sounds
show on WNYC-FM, and has been featured in radio programs by radio interviewers
Anatol Vieru (Bucharest), Laurie Schwartz (Berlin/RIAS & Sender Frei),
PILOTA radio (Bergen), and John Schneider (KPFK Los Angeles).
James Ferree
of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was a senior horn student at The Juilliard School in
the studio of the late Jerome Ashby. Previous teachers have included
Philip Myers, Hermann Baumann, and Richard Deane. He is a recipient of
Juilliard's Presidential Distinction award and was recently featured as solo
horn on Juilliard/AXIOM’s performance of Messiaen’s “Des canyons aux
etoiles…”. Winner of the 2006 Northeast
Horn Workshop Solo Competition, the 2004 Atlanta Federation of Musicians
Competition, and the 2003 Jon Hawkins Memorial Scholarship of the International
Horn Society. He has performed with the
Charleston Symphony, the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, the Long
Island Philharmonic, and the New York Sinfonietta. As soloist and chamber
musician he has performed in venues across the nation as well as Europe and
Asia. His piano quintet was recently
featured on a special by the Financial News in Korea. Mr. Ferree has
studied music composition with Dr. Philip Lasser at The Juilliard School He has written several works for horn,
piano, voice, and various chamber ensembles.
Dan Barrett, cello, is an active NYC performer,
composer and conductor. Cello
performances include the Radio France Festival, The Guilbenkian Festival of
Portugal, The XGT Ensemble, and The Alvin Ailey Dance Company. As principle cellist, Dan performs with the
STX Ensemble, The SEM Ensemble, The Crosstown Ensemble, the AFMM, North/South
Ensemble, and the Sirius Quartet. He
directs The New York Bach Ensemble, The Absolute Chamber Players at the Kostabi
Series, the ensemble of the American Composer’s forum, The Ethos Ensemble, and
James Joyce’s “The Dead” on Broadway.
His compositions and arrangements have been performed by The Absolute
Ensemble, The Sound Liberation ensemble, The North/South Consonance, The
Williamsburg Chamber Orchestra, and the satirical Ensemble Zombie
Staatsoper. Dan has been featured on
The Rosie O’Donnell Show and on Saturday Night Live.
Gilad
Harrel, clarinet, a native of Israel, is a prominent clarinetist in the NY
scene. He has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and
the newly formed Columbia Sinfonietta. He is collaborating with musicians from
the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and participated in the Mircotonal Festival in
NY. An artistic director of Fountain Chamber Music Society, New York, Mr. Harel
is also the clarinetist of the Fountain and the Proteus Ensembles, New York, a
member of the PollyRhythm Players, New York, and is the principal clarinetist
of the Crested Butte Music Festival Orchestra. He is a substitute teacher at
The Juilliard Pre-College Division, has given master classes at the
Southeastern Oklahoma State University, the Temple University of Texas and the
Community College of West Palm Beach, Florida and was faculty at the Young
Artist Program, Amherst College, Massachusetts. Mr. Harel is a graduate of The
Juilliard School and the Conservatoire National de Paris.
All recordings on the
CLASSIC CD are from “live” AFMM concerts:
Piano Tuner: Marc
Weinert (Tartini, Werckmeister,
Beethoven, Brahms)
Recording Engineers: Norman
Greenspan (Vicentino, Beethoven)
Corey
Caub (Bach, Werckmeister, Tartini, Brahms)
Mastered by Paul Geluso
CD Cover Artist: Orlanda
Brugnola
www.afmm.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
AMERICAN FESTIVAL OF
MICROTONAL MUSIC © 2009
Johnny Reinhard, Director,
AFMM
318 East 70th
Street, Suite #5-FW
New York, New York 10021 USA