Russell Harlow, in his own words

Russell Harlow was there from the start — he served as NOVA’s founding artistic director from 1977–86.

It’s not really possible to speak of the beginning of the NOVA Series without going back to the influences that came before. Life as a young music student in Los Angeles was rich with impressions of the musical artists who were still performing there and whose training reached back to the musical world of the late 19th century — to the world of Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and Debussy, among others. That was the training of both Peter Meremblum and Manuel Compinsky, who studied violin with Leopold Auer and Eugene Ysaÿe in St. Petersburg, Russia and New York City, and whose careers spanned the 1920s to the 1970s.

Auer and Ysaÿe knew Brahms and Tchaikovsky and the other great musicians of that time. Meremblum conducted a youth orchestra in Santa Monica where Jascha Heifetz would come and play concertos with the student orchestra. It was Compinsky who introduced me to chamber music at Mount Saint Mary’s College in Santa Monica, where he was head of the music department. A dear friend of mine, Howard Green, who was my accompanist during my early training, had been a student of Alexander Siloti, a student of Franz Liszt and older cousin of composer pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. Later, I was fortunate to attend a class of the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky at USC and to perform for him the clarinet, cello and piano trio of Brahms in his living room. It was a wonderful time in Los Angeles with Heifetz, Piatigorsky, and Primrose concertizing regularly. Even the great composer Igor Stravinsky lived there at that time.

In 1971, I came to Utah to join the Utah Symphony, bringing with me the rich musical heritage and love of chamber music that I had been steeped in from my student experiences. In the 1970s, Salt Lake City offered the Symphony, but the only chamber music was at the University of Utah, and that was reserved for students and faculty. There was no professional chamber music for resident musicians in the city other than that, unless some players occasionally put on a public concert. After doing a few concerts in this way, the idea was born in 1977 to create an ongoing series of concerts. After several months of planning and preparation, the series was started. In the beginning, there was no board of directors — just trying to find sponsors and a venue. It was a very modest venture, but it had a lot of heart. Finding a name for the new (nova) series was an easy task. My earliest clarinet teacher in Los Angeles, Gary Foster, who became one of the premier woodwind players in the Hollywood studios, as well as a great and respected jazz musician of his generation, founded a music school he named the Nova Studio, with a wink toward “Bossa Nova”. I figured Utah was far enough away for me to steal the name. Thus, the Nova Series.

The first concert, in February 1978, was with Jane and Mitch Morrison (flute and bassoon), Ed Allen on horn, me on the clarinet, and pianist Gladys Gladstone. Gladys, the senior member of the group, had been a student of the great pianist Arthur Schnabel. After an auspicious beginning, presenting five concerts a year the first few seasons, I felt there needed to be help with programming. In 1980, board member Nancee Cortes suggested that her husband, composer Ramiro Cortes, join our circle. Nancee was a former dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and had been a personal assistant to Igor Stravinsky in Los Angeles. Needless to say, she knew what she was talking about.

The period with Ramiro Cortes, 1981-1984, was a productive time for Nova. Ramiro studied extensively the works of Igor Stravinsky and became an international authority on Stravinsky’s works. In 1982, he presented 55 lectures on Stravinsky’s music that were broadcast over the Utah radio station KUER. Ramiro was the chair of the composition department at the University of Utah and had come to Utah in 1971. Ramiro wrote the first Nova commission in 1981, a trio for clarinet, cello, and piano. This is a truly great composition. It was recorded in 1996 with Russell Harlow, cellist Gayle Smith, and pianist Gail Niwa. Ramiro also made an arrangement for Nova of Stravinsky’s Concertino. Stravinsky originally composed the Concertino for string quartet and later arranged it for twelve instruments. Ramiro’s arrangement, for clarinet, oboe, flute, violin, cello, and harpsichord, is a superb rendition, with the harpsichord adding a lively sparkle to the ensemble. The Cortes arrangement of the Concertino was made as a companion piece to the de Falla Harpsichord Concerto, using the same orchestration. Both pieces were performed on a Nova concert in 1982.

By this time, music from all periods was being presented in Utah. The Nova Series invited the Salt Lake Chamber Ensemble, which performed ancient and baroque music, and other resident players and groups, presenting classical and romantic chamber works, as well as works of contemporary composers such as Lloyd Rogers, Igor Stravinsky, James Drew, Béla Bartók, John Cage, and others, always with a ear toward balance and interest in the programing as well as drive, excitement, and feeling in performance.

In 1981, I asked David Dalton, viola professor at BYU, if his Deseret Quartet would like to perform on Nova. He was happy that I asked and added a suggestion: “Would you be interested if William Primrose were to play with us?”

I was amazed! William Primrose, the greatest violist of the 20th century, performing for Nova Series! Of course, I agreed.

Primrose had bone cancer, but it was in remission. He was living in Springville, Utah, at the time of David Dalton’s invitation. Primrose spent his last few years teaching and performing at BYU. Bill Goodfellow, critic for the Deseret News, told me after the concert that he had expected that he would have to go down “memory lane”, not expecting that Primrose would play up to his younger standards. But Goodfellow said he played beautifully enough to merit writing a real review, which he did — and a glowing one at that.

Primrose agreed to perform again on Nova the following year with the Mirecourt Trio: violinist Kenneth Goldsmith, cellist Terry King, and pianist John Jensen. However, the cancer had returned and made it impossible for Primrose to play. For that evening, Nova dedicated the concert in honor of Primrose, with Maurice Abravanel speaking, telegram messages from the other members of the Primrose Quartet (Oscar Shumsky, Joseph Gingold, and Harvey Shapiro), and a special message from the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin. The concert included the Ravel Piano Trio and the Brahms Clarinet Trio, op. 114. Primrose passed later that year.

Other artists and groups that appeared with Nova in the early years included Andres Cardenes and William Preucil, concertmasters of the Utah Symphony who went on to become concertmasters of the Pittsburgh and Cleveland Symphonies, respectively, and became celebrated concert violinists. The Mirecourt Trio, cellist Terry King, and the Deseret String  Quartet also appeared with Nova.

Nova began its life at the Weixler Furniture Gallery, across from Trolley Square. When the Gallery moved to the Avenues, Nova followed. Werner Weixler was an excellent patron of the arts, and Nova owes him a great deal for his help in the early days of the series. From the Weixler gallery, Nova moved in 1981 to the University of Utah with the sponsorship of Ramiro and Nancee Cortes, and, in 1984, to the Art Museum adjacent to Abravanel Hall. Thanks must be given to M. Walker Wallace, violist and first Nova Series board member, for his help in organizing the board and for his financial help in the early years. 1986 was the year I met violist Leslie Blackburn, who founded the Park City Chamber Music Society, which was presenting a summer series as the Deer Valley Chamber Music Festival. I was leaving on a year’s sabbatical in New York in July 1986. Leslie and I decided to work together to manage her festival in Park City. Before I left for New York, I asked Barbara Scowcroft to take on the duties of music director for Nova. Barbara is a talented musician whom I had worked with many times, and I knew, with her musicianship and great energy, she would be able to carry the Nova Series successfully into the future.

- Russell Harlow