Episode 12 - Apr 5, 2021

This concert is also available in a video version on our Concerts Page.

Enjoy a full-length concert of chamber music performances by NOVA musicians. This concert features an early work by Iannis Xenakis, three works by living American composers, and one of Beethoven’s final piano sonatas. Jeff Counts is your host.

CONCERT PROGRAM

Welcome and Xenakis Introduction (00:16)
Jeff Counts | host

IANNIS XENAKIS: Διπλή Ζυγία (Dhipli zyia: Double Symmetry) (01:04)
Claude Halter | violin
Anne Lee | cello

Puts Introduction (05:16)

KEVIN PUTS: Arches (05:46)
Madeline Adkins | violin

Tower and Brouwer Introduction (18:14)

JOAN TOWER: Wings (18:50)
MARGARET BROUWER: No Rotary Phone (29:26)
Erin Svoboda | clarinet

Beethoven Introduction (34:03)

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E Major, op. 109
I. Vivace ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo (34:33)
II. Prestissimo (39:22)
III. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo (42:10)
Frank Weinstock | piano

recorded by Michael Palmer and Wesley Morrison at Utah State University’s Caine Wanlass Performance Hall in Logan, Utah
recording mastered by Michael Carnes
produced by Chris Myers (argylearts.com)

NOVA Chamber Music Series would like to thank the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University for their generosity in providing recording facilities and staff on the Logan campus.

Transcript

Narrator

Welcome to the NOVA Podcast

Jeff Counts

Welcome to the NOVA Chamber Music Series. My name is Jeff Counts, and I am thrilled to be your host for this concert. If you’ve been to live NOVA concerts in the past, you know that you are in for a kaleidoscopic treat featuring diverse voices from across the compositional spectrum.

We start today with Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis, though not necessarily sounds of his you’ve heard before. This work, which translates roughly as “Two Folk Musicians”, dates from 1952 when he was a student in Paris. I’ve often said that you can tell a young composer by his or her mentors, and that’s certainly true here. You do hear Greek folk music here, but the steady influence of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály is also very apparent.

[MUSIC]

We move next to the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. This American composer created the work Arches in the year 2000. Arches relates to the form of the work. It’s a succession of caprices and arias, structured like caprice, aria, caprice, aria, caprice— an arch. And for Kevin, this was supposed to explore the polarity between virtuosity and lyricism. I think you’ll hear, in Madeline Adkins performance, both of those things very clearly.

[MUSIC]

Next we have a contrasting pair of works for solo clarinet by iconic composers Joan Tower and Margaret Brouwer. The first piece, by Joan Tower, is entitled Wings, and it is supposed to depict the flight and life of a large bird, in Joan’s words, “perhaps a falcon”. Written for a dear friend of hers, Laura Flax.

Next, Brouwer’s piece, No Rotary Phone, is a satirical monologue about the frustrations of dealing with automated phone calls.

Both pieces are a delight and are beautifully presented by Erin Svoboda.

[MUSIC]

We close out our virtual performance today with Beethoven’s 30th piano sonata, opus 109. This dates from 1820. This was the time of the 9th Symphony, Missa solemnis… Beethoven at the absolute height of his powers. The final three sonatas, of which this is the first, were all experimentations in form. Take special notice of the theme and variations, a form which Beethoven stretches and tests to great effect.

[MUSIC]

Narrator

This has been the NOVA Podcast. Today’s episode was hosted by Jeff Counts and featured performances by Claude Halter, Anne Lee, Madeline Adkins, Erin Svoboda, and Frank Weinstock.

Musical performances were recorded by Michael Palmer and Wesley Morrison at Utah State University’s Caine Wanlass Performance Hall in Logan, Utah.

The recording was mastered by Michael Carnes and produced by Chris Myers.

NOVA Chamber Music Series would like to thank the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University for their generosity in providing recording facilities and staff on the Logan campus.