|
| Catalogue of the Music of Larry Bell
All music is published by Casa Rustica Publications, 73 Hemenway Street,
#501, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Title: Novelette for String Quartet Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello; also in a version arranged in 1994 for string orchestra Date written: 1970, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Length: four minutes Premiere performance: Cavatina String Quartet, April 17, 1980, Martha Simonds, Mineko Yajima, violins, Judith Lack, viola, Robie Brown Dan, cello, Paul Hall, The Juilliard School Important subsequent performances: Bennington Chamber Music Conference and Composers Forum of the East, August 1, 1992, Joseph Schor, Joel Berman, violins, Jacob Glick, viola, Michael Finckel, cello Program notes: “Novelette” for String Quartet was written in 1970 when the composer was an eighteen-year-old freshman student of Gregory Kosteck at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. It remained unperformed for ten years. The work is essentially in three parts with an introduction and is designed for string players with limited technical ability. This four-minute piece is straightforwardly triadic and is meant to entertain. Excerpt: Novelette for String Quartet Title: Domination of Black (text by Wallace Stevens) Instrumentation: five solo voices SSATB Date written: 1971, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Length: 3 minutes Premiere performance: May 17, 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard School, Daureen Podenski, soprano I, Lynn Yakes, soprano II, Anna Sofus, alto, Jeffrey Thomas, tenor, Greer Grimsley, bass, and George Tsontakis, conductor. Important subsequent performances: Modus Novus, San Francisco, February 18, 1996, St. Gregory’s Church; and December 18, 1995, San Francisco; April 11, 1984 (?), The Boston Conservatory, Rebecca Gorlin, Margarete Faddick, sopranos 1 + 2, Eriko Terada (3), Rosemary Dowd + Amy Hertel, altos, James Bonarrigo and Joseph Scott, tenors, William DeVane + Bert Yocum, basses, Larry Bell, conducting. Recording: tape of Boston Conservatory performance in library Program notes: “Domination of Black” was written in 1971 and like my “Novelette” remained unperformed until 1980. In this concise canonic madrigal I tried to maintain Wallace Stevens’s scansion as well as to project the representational content of the poem, which is, I think, the ominous approach of death. The first performance was given at Juilliard’s Paul Hall in April 1980. See “A Cry Against the Twilight,” op. 42. Title: Continuum for orchestra Instrumentation: picc-1-1-English hn-1-bass clarinet-bassoon-contrabassoon; 1-2-1-1; 2 perc, hp, pf; strings Date written: 1971, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Length: 8 minutes Premiere performance: Johnson, Vermont, Composers’ Conference, Efrain Guigui, conductor, August 1973 Important subsequent performances: RAI Orchestra of Rome, Massimo Pradella, conducting, November 1984; orchestral reading, The Juilliard Orchestra, 1980, Richard Fletcher, conductor Program notes: The piece was written in 1971 when the composer was a sophomore at East Carolina University and a student of Gregory Kosteck. The title of the single-movement work refers to the gradual change of color from the lowest, darkest instruments that gradually moves to the higher and clearer sonorities in the highest-pitched percussion at the conclusion of the work. Even though the color passes from the dark to the light, the structure of the piece is distinguished principally by the discontinuity of the development. Excerpt: Continuum for orchestra Title: Mirage Instrumentation: flute and piano Date written: 1972, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Length: ca. eight minutes Premiere performance: Salem College, Winston-Salem. Nancy Neidlinger, flute, and Gregory Kosteck, piano, 1972 Important subsequent performances: East Carolina University; Composers Conference in Johnson, Vermont, Karl Kraber, flute, and Robert Miller, piano, summer 1972; David Erlanger, flute, Larry Bell, piano, April 17, 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard Program notes: “Mirage” for flute and piano was written in 1972 when the composer was a sophomore at East Carolina University. It was first performed by Nancy Neidlinger, flute, and the composer’s teacher, Gregory Kosteck, pianist. It received first prize in the North Carolina Music Teachers Association competition in 1971 and was first performed at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the spring of 1972. It was subsequently performed at the Composers Conference in Johnson, Vermont, by Karl Krager, flute, and Robert Miller, piano. Title: Eclogue Instrumentation: saxophone AATB Date written: 1973, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Length: ten minutes Premiere performance: Juilliard Saxophone Quartet, Glen Stuplin, Matthew Balensuela, altos; Kenneth Hitchcock, tenor; Joseph Roldan, Jr., baritone, April 6, 1976, Paul Hall, The Juilliard School Composer’s Concert. Important subsequent performances: May 24, 1978, Allice Tully Hall, Wednesday One O’clock Concert Series: John Ingram, Goerge Lowery, alto saxophones; Kenneth Hitchcock, tenor, Matthew Balensuela, baritone. April 17, 1980, Bell doctoral recital, Paul Hall, Juilliard: Vincent Gnojek, Allen Won, altos, Robert Roman, tenor, Don Haviland, baritone Program notes: “Eclogue” for saxophone quartet was written in 1973 and is an abstract instrumental piece for two altos, tenor, and baritone saxophones (string quartet seating) based on Bell’s earlier vocal work “Domination of Black.” “Eclogue” refers to a genre of pastoral poetry. The stereotypical sound of the saxophone, however, seems to bring the work closer to the realm of urban jazz. The piece is a five-part rondo, slow-fast-slow-fast-slow. The last slow section acts as an expansive combination of the previous slow music. Title: String Quartet No. 1 Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello Date written: 1973, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina Length: ten minutes Premiere performance: Juilliard String Quartet, May 4, 1976, Juilliard Theater, New York. Robert Mann, Earl Carlyss, violins, Samuel Rhodes, viola, Joel Krosnick, cello Important subsequent performances: Juilliard String Quartet, June 1976, Ravinia Festival, Chicago, Illinois; Cavatina String Quartet, April 17, 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard; Gruppo Musica 900, July 1983, Pontino Festival, San Felice Circeo, Italy Program notes: String Quartet No. 1 won first prize at the North Carolina Music Teachers Association, 1973. Written during the last three weeks of July 1973, it was premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet on May 4, 1976, at the Juilliard Theater. This is a one-movement work, approximately ten minutes in length, and is made up on an introduction, three main sections, and a coda. The unison statement and the short cello solo at the beginning contain the principal thematic ideas that are restated and developed throughout the piece. The first section is an exposition of the work’s basic character types, while the last two sections are ongoing developmental variations. Just before the coda there is a varied restatement of the introduction. The coda is one large upbeat to a unison that concludes the work. Reviews: “Bell’s single-movement quartet takes only a little more than 11 minutes to hear, but he covers a remarkably large section of the musical landscape. Like many of his father’s generation, he has taken Mahler and the Schoenberg of ‘Verklärte Nacht’ as starting points, using the sharp contrasts and unison preferences of the one and the delicately organized musical moods of the other. Unlike many students, he speaks concisely as well as authoritatively. Each of his thematic units possesses the emotional force and precision control of a major talent.” Thomas Willis–The Chicago Tribune (July 1, 1976) “A Quartet by Larry Bell, a 21-year-old student at New York’s Juilliard School, showed the younger generation heading back toward romanticism. With intensity and pathos, this music sweeps along rather predictably, but nevertheless absorbingly. Bell, a North Carolinian, deserves attention. We’ll be haring more from him.” –Karen Monson, The Chicago Daily News (July 1, 1976) Title: Variations Instrumentation: piano Date written: 1974, Appalacian State University, Boone, North Carolina Length: twelve minutes Premiere performance: Larry Bell, pianist, Appalachian State University Contemporary Music Festival, May 1974 Important subsequent performances: Larry Bell, May 1974, Boone, NC; May 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard; March 31, 1983, American Academy in Rome; April 18, 1982, and February 29, 1984, at The Boston Conservatory Recording: tapes at The Boston Conservatory library of Bell’s performances of 1982 and 1984 Program notes: “Variations” for piano was written for the composer to play and completed at Appalachian State University in the spring of 1974. Much of this work shows the influence of Dallapiccola’s “Quaderno Musicale di Anna Libera” in its preoccupation with contrapuntal techniques. Larry Bell first performed it at Appalachian’s Contemporary Music Festival in May 1974 and it won a BMI Student Composers Award that same season. Title: Reality Is An Activity of the Most August Imagination (text by Wallace Stevens) Instrumentation: mezzo soprano and piano Date written: 1977, Juilliard School, New York Length: five minutes Premiere performance: Judith Malafronte, soprano, Larry Bell, pianist, April 17, 1980, Paul Hall, The Juilliard School Program notes: “Reality is an Activity of the Most August Imagination” for soprano and piano was written in 1977 and originally was intended to be half of a song cycle based on two poems of Wallace Stevens. The music to the other song, “The Poems of Our Climate” has been written and revised many times, but, to my mind, it is incomplete. The form of the music is an athematic arch suggested by the form as well as the content of the poem. I think the poem is about natural light and its relationship to human feeling. In simple terms, I wanted the music to act as fireworks going up, reaching a brilliant apogee, and then dissolving into darkness. This, like many of Stevens’s poems, seems to begin in the real and end in the imagination and I tried to make the music correspond on every level to the demands of the poetry. The work concludes with an almost unrecognizable restatement of the first vocal phrase. Text: Last Friday, in the big light of last Friday night, It was not a night blown at a glassworks in Vienna There was a crush of strength in a grinding going round, The vigor of glory, a glittering in the veins, Either in distance, change or nothingness, An argentine abstraction approaching form There was an insolid billowing of the solid. Title: The Poems of our Climate (text by Wallace Stevens) Instrumentation: mezzo-soprano, piano Date written: 1977, Juilliard School Length: three minutes Premiere performance: unperformed Program notes: Written as a companion piece for “Reality is an Activity of the Most August Imagination.” Title: Grand Sonata for Piano Four Hands Instrumentation: piano four hands Date written: 1977, New York City Length: fifteen minutes Premiere performance: orchestrated fragment read by Juilliard Orchestra, Spring 1977 Program notes: The piece was written as a Master’s thesis at The Juilliard School. It began as an orchestral piece, then was arranged for piano four hands. A fragment of it was then arranged for orchestra. The piano four-hands version was completed and submitted as a Master’s thesis. The composer’s teacher, Vincent Persichetti, thought it a “good learning experience.” Title: “Three Movements” for Solo Cello Instrumentation: cello solo Date written: 1974, later revised as “Caprice” 1978, New York City Length: seven minutes Premiere performance: Scot Williams performed in 1975 at Juilliard Student Composers Concert, Room 309, New York Program notes: Work withdrawn after performance. Title: Caprice Instrumentation: solo cello Date written: 1978, New York City Length: 8 minutes Commissioner and dedicatee: Scot Williams Premiere performance: Scot Williams, cello, April 17, 1980, Michael Paul Hall, The Juilliard School Important subsequent performances: Eric Bartlett, New York New Music Ensemble, Carnegie Recital Hall, February 15, 1983; Bartlett, March 31, 1983, American Academy in Rome; Bartlett, February 21, 1984, The Boston Conservatory Recording: Eric Bartlett, cello, North/South Recordings #1018; tape at the Boston Coonservatory library of Bartlett performance Program notes: Caprice for solo cello was written in 1978 and is dedicated to Scot Williams. The piece consists of several basic character types that are at first presented separately and then later in combination. The juxtaposition of these cross-cut strands of music produces a kind of ironic counterpoint of characters; hence the title Caprice. Reviews: [recording] The present release samples Larry Bell’s music for cello, and a very contrasted body of works it is too, of which the earliest is Caprice Op.12 (1978). This is actually the first of a series of similarly titled pieces for solo instruments. This is a freely constructed fantasy based on several basic elements continually transformed, separated or combined in many ways. A brilliant piece of musical display, it exploits the many characteristics of the instruments, though never extravagantly so. A really fine work that cellists should happily add to their repertoire. Larry Bell’s music is contemporary, though very tuneful and warmly lyrical, and – above all – very accessible. Eric Bartlett who enjoys a long association with Bell’s music is a dedicated performer in these fine works . . . A very fine, enjoyable release on all counts. –Hubert Culot Musicweb.uk January 2003 “Bell is the most lyrical and consonant of serialists. Somewhat like Dominic Argento, he constructs his rows out of consonant intervals, which produces the effect of a rather fluid tonality under his decidedly tonal melodic lines. The Caprice for Solo Cello is in some ways the most adventuresome music here roughly divided into a three-part slow-fast-slow sequence. The lyrical, opening slow section reappears at crucial points for rhetorical emphasis.” Fanfare May/June 1999, Vol. 22 No. 5 “Larry Bell, who holds the doctorate from Juilliard, has won a long list of prizes and grants, and teaches at the New England Conservatory. This disc offers four compositions which differ widely in mood and performing forces. . . . Caprice, for solo cello, and Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn illustrate both in title and content one of the most notable characteristics of Bell’s music: a wide range of styles, techniques, and effects within the same piece.” Jocelyn Mackey, Pan Pipes, Fall 1999 Title: “The Idea of Order at Key West” A Double Concerto for Soprano and Violin (text by Wallace Stevens) Instrumentation: four percussionists, pf-cel, harp; large string orchestra Date written: 1979–1981, New York, Boston Length: twenty-one minutes Premiere performance: Juilliard Philharmonia, Jorge Mester, conductor, Ruth Jacobson, soprano, Nicholas Mann, violinist, May 14, 1982, Alice Tully Hall, New York City Program notes: Bell writes, “I have long been interested in setting the poetry of Wallace Stevens to music and have tried to emulate Stevens’s unusually wholesome yet profound poetic character as well as his inevitable sense of form. Having set two of Stevens’s poems, ‘Domination of Black’ (for five solo voices) and ‘Reality is an Activity of the Most August Imagination’ (for soprano and piano), I felt ready to tackle the more complex poem, ‘The Idea of Order at Key West.’ This piece has two soloists, a soprano, who is the woman singing by the sea, and a violin who provides a subliminal voice. The first-chair strings form an octet of spectators. The body of the strings and the percussion represent the sea and the exotic setting of Key West.” She sang beyond the genius of the sea. The sea was not a mask. No more was she. For she was the maker of the song she sang. But it was more than that, It was her voice that made Then we, As we beheld her striding there alone, Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon, Reviews: Entitled “Music was right on Key West” and written by Bill Zakariasen for The New York Daily News (May 17, 1982), the article read in its entirety: “America’s Mouse That Roared, Key West, got into the news again this past weekend, thanks to the Juilliard School of Music. “On Friday night, the Juilliard Philharmonia under Jorge Mester’s direction gave the world premiere of “The Idea of Order at Key West” by Larry Bell, a current doctoral candidate at the school. “Described by the composer as ‘A Double Concerto for Soprano and Violin,’ Bell’s work is set to the poem of the same name by Wallace Stevens. Like much Stevens poetry, “The Idea of Order at Key West” is pretty knotty stuff–more notable for setting indefinable, though definite, moods rather than making much overt sense to the reader. “Bell admits a special affinity for Stevens, however (he set two other large poems by him in preparation for this project), and if his music doesn’t necessarily clarify any of the poetry’s hidden meanings, it takes on a decisive and individual life of its own. “Bell’s writing is highly evocative of nature, and the parts for solo violin and soprano are demanding. One suspects he has on occasion been influenced by one of David del Tredici’s ‘Alice’ pieces, but that’s not a bad model these days. “It’s really quite impressively beautiful, and in the main the performance, featuring soprano Ruth Jacobson and violinist Nicholas Mann, seemed fine. However, Stevens’ poetry–which needs all the clarity of projection it can get–was given short shrift by Jacobson’s mushy diction, in which consonants didn’t seem to exist. “The rest of the concert included a good performance of Mozart’s Fourth Horn Concerto with Ozeas Arantes, while Mester led stylish renditions of Respighi’s “The Birds” and Koday’s “Dances from Galanta.” “The Philharmonia is classed as Juilliard’s’ number three orchestra, but it played like number one Friday.” Excerpt: The Idea of Order at Key West Title: “Prologue” and “The End of the World” (texts by Archibald MacLeish) Instrumentation: chorus SATB Date written: 1982, New York,, Boston Length: seven minutes Commissioner: Juilliard Pre-College Chorus for commencement ceremonies Premiere performance: Juilliard Pre-College Chorus, Rebecca Scott, conductor, June 1982, Juilliard Theater, New York Texts: “Prologue” These alternate nights and days, these seasons somehow fail to convince
me. “The End of the World” And there, there overhead, hung over Excerpt: “Prologue” and “The End of the World” Title: Miniature Diversions Instrumentation: piano Date written: 1982-83, January 2, 1983, American Academy in Rome Length: six minutes Dedicatee: To Andrea Olmstead Premiere performance: Larry Bell, pianist, March 31, 1983, American Academy in Rome Important subsequent performances: Penelope Roskell, July 1983, University of Keele, UK; February 29, 1984, Bell at The Boston Conservatory; Michael Dewart, March 1986, Bell-Bartlett Concerts, First and Second Church, Boston; Bell, November 6, 1987, at The Boston Conservatory Recordings: tapes of Larry Bell Boston performances, 1984 and 1987 at The Boston Conservatory library Program notes: Serenade The Miniature Diversions consist of four pieces written in four days between December 20 and January 4, 1983. They are dedicated to Andrea Olmstead as a first wedding anniversary gift. The first performance was on 31 March 1983 at the American Academy in Rome, played by the composer. The Serenade is like a two-part invention which uses inversion. They Rhythm Study is sub-titled “Laying Bricks” because of the overlapping metric structure: The right hand plays in 5/4, the left in 7/4. The Scherzino is also arranged this way. The Imaginary Hymn is an original tune that floats above the wistful slow movement. The Hymn is parodied in the next piece, Scherzino. The pieces were designed as compositional exercises for the Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn for ‘cello and viola. Reviews: “Bell is a skilled craftsman who deftly blends serial techniques with more conventional methods of expression. He has a gift for melody, a sense of wit and a feeling for continuity. All were evident in four ‘Miniature Diversions’ for piano and in a ‘Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn’ for viola and cello.” –Arthur Hepner, The Boston Globe (March 5, 1986) Title: String Quartet No. 2 Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello Date written: 1982, American Academy in Rome Length: fifteen minutes Premiere performance: Columbia String Quartet, Benjamin Hudson, Carole Zeavin, violins, Sarah Clarke, viola, Eric Bartlett, cello, February 4, 1985, St. Michael’s Church, New York Important subsequent performances: Boston Chamber Music Society, Stephanie Chase, Sharan Leventhal, violins, Robert Dan, viola, Bruce Coppock, cello, April 29, 1988, First and Second Church, Boston Program notes: String Quartet No. 2 was begun in Boston and completed at the American Academy in Rome in October 1982. The composer says, "To me the work is about the temporal and psychological dislocations brought on by sudden and unexpected tragedy. The first movement begins in a light and carefree manner. As it progresses, it becomes more reflective and somber in tone. The slow movement is an instrumental Lacrimosa, lyrical and cathartic. The last movement gradually becomes more lively, bringing the work full circle to a close." The Quartet is in three movements. The first is marked ‘Scherzo diventi Adagio,’ or a scherzo becoming a slow movement. The center of the work is a lyrical lament dominated by the first violin, who often plays with bravura against an unresponsive trio. The climactic moment of the entire piece occurs after the slow and dramatic disintegration of a central serenade. The last movement reverses the pattern of the first movement--Adagio diventi (becoming) Scherzo. Movements: I. Scherzo (diventi Adagio) Reviews: “It’s elegantly and thoroughly composed, and dramatic in its progress.” –Andrew Porter, The New Yorker (February 18, 1985) “In the eighth annual Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards program . . . special mention was made of Larry Bell’s String Quartet No. 2, which [was] deemed ‘persuasive and of very high musical merit’ by the jury, but which were disqualified because of their brevity. Frankly, that seems like very high praise.” – Karen Monson, The Baltimore Sun (October 28, 1985) “The most appealing were two from the pen of Larry Bell: ‘River of Ponds’ for cello and piano and String Quartet No. 2. . . . “Bell’s quartet is an abstract, three-movement work of parabolic design. The outer movements are obverse, the first opening with a scherzo that slows down to an adagio and the last reversing the process with an adagio becoming a scherzo. Between them lies a lyrical lament in which the first violin runs counter to the others. Stephanie Chase and Sharan Leventhal were the violinists with Robert Dan, viola, and Coppock in a well-articluated performance.” Arthur Hepner, The Boston Globe (May 2, 1988) Title: Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn Instrumentation: cello and viola Date written: 1983, American Academy in Rome Length: fifteen minutes Commissioner and dedicatee: Joel Krosnick Premiere performance: Joel Krosnick, cellist, Samuel Rhodes, violist, Juilliard Theater, New York, and Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., March 12 and 14, 1984 Important subsequent performances: Juilliard String Quartet, April 1984, Library of Congress; Eric Bartlett, cellist, Sarah Clarke, violist, March 1986, Bell-Bartlett Concerts, First and Second Church in Boston; October 1986, American Academy in Rome; Bruce Coppock, cello, and Katherine Murdock, viola, April 21, 1987, The Boston Conservatory; Bartlett and Clarke, October 1992, Boston Conservatory and Greenwich House, New York. Recording: Eric Bartlett, cello, Sarah Clarke, violist, North/South Recordings CD (N/S #1018); tape of Coppock and Murdock performance at The Boston Conservatory library; video of Bartlett-Clarke Boston Conservatory performance in library Program notes: “The ‘Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn’ for cello and viola was commissioned by Joel Krosnick for his 1983–84 six-concert series at Juilliard and the Library of Congress entitled ‘The Cello: A Twentieth-Century American Retrospective.’ The work was composed at the American Academy in Rome in 1983. The New York and Washington premieres were played by Krosnick and Samuel Rhodes in March 1984. Later the Fantasia was played on concerts of the Juilliard String Quartet. Eric Bartlett and Sarah Clarke gave the Fantasia its Boston and European premieres. “In an interview with Perry Goldstein Krosnick says of this piece, ‘Larry Bell has organized his serial structures in diatonic ways–that is, with the same building blocks with which traditional tonal music is made. Rhythmically, however, and in terms of its polyphony, it is contemporary in its complexity and careful detailing. The two instruments in Larry’s piece often represent two different characters, juxtaposing different kinds of music simultaneously, much like in the Carter Sonata. And yet, the organization of the materials and the materials themselves clearly come from the emotional world of Larry Bell. The music is often lyrical, sweet, playful–quite American sounding, containing the lilt of Southern folk music.’” Reviews: [recording] Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn Op.17 (1983/4) is for the somewhat rarer combination of viola and cello. It falls into two parts of fairly equal length in which counterpoint is paramount. The music is strictly organized and tightly argued. Any less modest composer would have called this piece a sonata, which this impressive piece really is. Larry Bell’s music is contemporary, though very tuneful and warmly lyrical, and – above all – very accessible. Eric Bartlett who enjoys a long association with Bell’s music is a dedicated performer in these fine works. . . A very fine, enjoyable release on all counts. –Hubert Culot Musicweb.uk January 2003 [performances] “For all the ferocity of some of the work’s lines, it ends lyrically. No hymns are actually used, but the composer uses serial harmony to suggest the flavor of such hymns–an attractive new twist on the Charles Ives esthetic.” –Lon Tuck, The Washington Post (March 15, 1984) “Bell is a skilled craftsman who deftly blends serial techniques with more conventional methods of expression. He has a gift for melody, a sense of wit and a feeling for continuity. All were evident in four ‘Miniature Diversions’ for piano in 1983 and in a ‘Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn’ for viola and cello, all composed in 1983.” –Arthur Hepner The Boston Globe (March 5, 1986) [recording] “Larry Bell, who holds the doctorate from Juilliard, has won a long list of prizes and grants, and teaches at the New England Conservatory. This disc offers four compositions which differ widely in mood and performing forces. . . . Caprice, for solo cello, and Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn illustrate both in title and content one of the most notable characteristics of Bell’s music: a wide range of styles, techniques, and effects within the same piece.” –Jocelyn Mackey, Pan Pipes (Fall 1999) Title: “Sleep Song” a children’s piece for violin and piano Instrumentation: violin and piano Date written: 1984, Boston Length: two minutes Commissioner: Verio Piroddi Premiere performance: March 1986, Bell-Bartlett Concerts, Peter Ciaschini, violin, Michael Dewart, piano. First and Second Church, Boston Recording: Ayano Ninomiya CD in progress Program notes: Sleep Song is a lullaby for violin and piano, written for the children of friends of the Italian, Verio Piroddi. Both parts are designed to be played by children. In a popular song form it is meant to be repeated until the performers are lulled to sleep. Arranged for viola for Bob Williams, May 2002. Title: “Incident” (text by Countee Cullen) Instrumentation: baritone and piano Date written: June 1984, Boston Length: three minutes Premiere performance: Robert Honeysucker, baritone, Michael Dewart, piano, Bell-Bartlett Concerts, March 1986, First and Second Church in Boston Program notes: “Incident is based on a text by Countee Cullen that depicts the loss of innocence and recognition of racial prejudice. The work’s most prominent formal feature is its change from all white notes to all black notes at the central reversal in the poem. It was written after the composer’s brief, but intense, jury duty in Suffolk County. Once riding in old Baltimore, Now I was eight and very small, I saw the whole of Baltimore Title: “Four Sacred Songs” Text: Old hymn tunes Instrumentation: soprano and piano Date written: “July 1984, Boston, Mass.” Length: sixteen minutes Premiere performance: Rebecca Scott, soprano, Melville Brown, pianist, January 15, 1985, Whitney Museum Sculpture Court, New York Important subsequent performances: Mary Saunders, soprano, Michael Dewart, pianist, March 1986, Boston Conservatory; Mary Saunders, Larry Bell, April 20, 1985; Saunders and Bell, November 10, 1988, Boston Conservatory Recordings: tapes of both Saunders and Bell performances at The Boston Conservatory Program notes: Four Sacred Songs were written in July 1984 in Boston and were designed as studies for a larger commissioned orchestral work entitled Sacred Symphonies. Each song is a setting of a familiar hymn tune text; the music, however, makes no references to the original hymn tunes. The first and fourth songs are written in a popular American style combining secular and sacred elements. The second song is optimistic, and evangelical and the third song represents the tragic aspects of aggressive violence. Each song is strophic and has three verses. The set ends “transcendently” with a prayer of humility. The world premiere was given in New York 15 January 1985 by Rebecca Scott; Mary Saunders presented the Boston premiere in April 1985. 1. There is a fountain (William Cowper) There is a fountain filled with blood The dying thief rejoiced to see Ever since, by faith, I saw the stream, 2. Take the Name of Jesus With You (Mrs. Lydia Baxter) Take the name of Jesus with you, Take the name of Jesus ever, O the Precious name of Jesus! 3. Stand up, stand up, for Jesus (George Duffield) Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Stand up, stand up, for Jesus, Stand up, stand up, for Jesus, 4. Spirit of God descend upon my heart (George Croly) Sprit of God descend upon my heart; Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh; Title: Revivals Instrumentation: piano Date written: 1983–1984, American Academy in Rome, Boston Length: twenty-five minutes Dedicatee: Frederic Rzewski Premiere performance: Larry Bell, pianist, The Boston Conservatory, March 28, 1985 Important subsequent performances: Larry Bell, pianist, January 1985, Bowdoin College; March 1985, Florida State University; March 1985, Harvard University; April 1985, The Boston Conservatory; November 1987, Atlantic Christian College, Wilson, North Carolina; November 6, 1987, Boston Conservatory; April 23, 1986, Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta, Boston Conservatory; March 1992, Bell, The Boston Conservatory Recordings: Larry Bell, pianist, recording for WGBH-FM in Boston; tape of Bell’s March 1985, November 1987, and March 1992 performances at Boston Conservatory library; tape of Rodriguez-Peralta April 1986 at Conservatory Program notes: 1. The Old Gospel Ship Revivals for Piano is a set of five piano pieces. In Revivals Bell uses hymn tunes as Baroque composers used chorale melodies as the basis for extended compositions. Part variation, part fantasy, part parody, the composition reflects upon death and the comforting aspects of religious “reality” for survivors of painful and disorienting experiences. Each of its folk melodies, or hymn tunes, was chosen because of its textual association with the afterlife. The Old Gospel Ship and When the Stars Begin to Fall are of folk origin, and the others are often found in Protestant hymn books. The first piece was finished in Rome in July 1983. The tune of The Old Gospel Ship is first suggested after a passage marked “Like a mandolin.” This melody not only appears in the foreground in distorted octave displacements, but its general shape determines the high points and harmonic articulations of the entire piece. The text of the gospel hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arts, was written by Elisha A. Hoffman and the tune was composed by Anthony J. Showalter. The work is in two parts, which form a binary scherzo, where the hymn tune is sometimes mocked and is elsewhere used in a lyrical fashion. The culmination of the second part occurs after a tonal quotation is interrupted by a chromatic movement marked “with a sense of shocked disillusionment.” The piece ends “dreamily.” When the Stars Begin to Fall, also finished in the summer of 1983 in Rome, begins with a clear diatonic canon of the revival tune, which gradually dissolves. After the climax of the movement, written in the highest register of the piano, a gradual descent programmaticly depicts the falling of stars. When the Roll is Called Up Yonder was written by James M. Black, a Methodist minister. Bell remembers writing his high-register canon on a train between Cologne and Augsburg. Like Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, it is an evangelical scherzo dominated by dotted rhythm. The text of Jesus Calls Us is by the Anglican Cecil Frances Alexander, and the tune by the English organist William H. Jude. This movement concludes the work with an overlapping cadence in D-flat major and G major, the central tonal conflict of Revivals, and its spacing suggests church bells ringing in the distance. The composer gave the Revivals its world premiere in Boston in 1984, as well as well as having performed it on concerts at Bowdoin College, Harvard University, the University of Florida, and in Rhode Island and his native North Carolina. The other works he performed on the premiere program were Ruth Crawford’s Preludes for piano Nos. 6, 7, 8, and 9, Rzewski’s “Which Side Are You On?” from the North American Ballads, and Twleve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46 by Edward MacDowell. Revivals was inspired by and is dedicated to the composer Frederic Rzewski. Title: First Tango in London Instrumentation: piano Date written: June 1985, London Length: two minutes Commissioner: Yvar Mikashoff Premiere performance: Yvar Mikashoff, pianist, February 1986, Dance Theater Workshop, New York City Subsequent performances: Larry Bell, March 25, 1986, and November 6, 1987, the Boston Conservatory Recording: tape of Bell’s 1986 and 1987 performances at Conservatory Program notes: “First Tango in London” was written for Yvar Mikashoff’s tango project. It was written one evening in the summer of 1985 at the home of Keith Potter and Kay Yeo in East London. Excerpt: First Tango in London Title: Sacred Symphonies Instrumentation: 1-1-1-1; 1-1-0-0; 2 perc. pf, hp; strings Date written: 1985, Boston; Bellagio, Italy Length: 25 minutes Commissioner and dedicatee: Verio Piroddi Premiere performance: Seattle Symphony, Christopher Kendall, conductor, February 10, 1987, Seattle, Washington Important subsequent performances: Boston Conservatory Orchestra, Ronald Feldman, conductor, February 15, 1989; Symphony Pro Musica, Mark Churchill, conductor, May 1992, Hudson, MA; Da Capo Orchestra, Mark Hodgkinson, conductor, Christchurch, New Zealand, June 1996. Recording: Radio Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Szymon Kawalla, conductor, Radio Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Modern Masters #3016; tape of Feldman performance at The Boston Conservatory Program notes: The Sacred Symphonies was commissioned by and is dedicated to the composer’s Italian friend Verio Piroddi. Signor Piroddi had requested a religious work, therefore the composer drew from his own religious experience as a Southerner whose family was raised in the Pentecostal Holiness church. The title Sacred Symphonies is an Anglicization of the titles of the Schütz and Gabrieli works. To prepare for the orchestral work Bell composed Four Sacred Songs for soprano and piano. Each song is a setting of a familiar hymn tune text, however the music is new and makes no reference to the original hymn tunes. The four movements of the Sacred Symphonies correspond, Mahler-like, to the four songs: “There is a Fountain,” “Take the Name of Jesus with you,” “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus,” and “Spirit of God Descend upon my Heart.” Each represents a religious state: atonement, evangelism, suffering, and humility. Sacred Symphonies has a double texture throughout: The symphonic development of the themes of the songs coexists simultaneously with a slow-moving version of the songs in a distant tonality. The sequence of movements suggests a sense of spiritual progress–a coming to terms with the conflicts of the past. Reviews: Larry Bell?s Sacred Symphonies Op.23 is another
quintessentially American [recording] “ . . . a bittersweet, sophisticated, and half-ghostly simulacrum–the depth and simplicity of homespun religious sentiment.” American Record Guide [performance] “Conductor Mark Hodgkinson’s skill with the acquired art of programme building was shown in the final piece, ‘Sacred Symphonies’ by one Larry Bell. “This contemporary American composer is new to me, and his music had plenty to arrest and stimulate an audience, with nothing to alarm the wary listener. Bright orchestral colours, dancing rhythms, and melodies recotnisable as such made a winning formula. “ . . . with soloists and programmes as rewarding as thes, ‘Da Capo’ concerts remain very much work watching out for.” –Timothy Jones The Press New Zealand (June 24, 1996) Title: Celestial Refrain Instrumentation: guitar Date written: July, 1985, Bellagio, Italy Length: fourteen minutes Commissioners and dedicatees: Russell Southcott and Steven Walter Premiere performance: Bell-Bartlett Concerts, March 1986, Russell Southcott, Steven Walter, guitarists (each played the work on the series) Important subsequent performances: John Muratore, MIT, April 4, 1996; Steven Walter, The Boston Conservatory, April 23, 1986; Russell Southcott, Conservatory, April 17, 1991; John Muratore, April 23, 1997, Conservatory; John Muratore, Museum of Fine Arts, January 2001. (?) Recording: John Muratore, guitarist, recorded 1999; not yet released; Walter, Southcott, and Muratore tapes all at The Boston Conservatory Program notes: Celestial Refrain for solo guitar was commissioned by Russell Southcott and Steven Walter and was completed, with the aid of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, in July 1985 at the Rockefeller Foundations Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy. The work is a double variation based on two different themes; one is slow and dramatic and the other fast and dance-like. The centerpiece is a song drawn from Bell’s Sacred Symphonies based on the words “Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart.” As the piece unfolds these themes become more alike in shape and character. Reviews: “Larry Bell’s ‘Celestial Refrain’ consists of eleven pages of great music Bell has come up with a composition that is folk-like, at times almost primitive, yet always incredibly rich in ideas and inventiveness . . . invigorating, fascinating . . . [It] will haunt both your mind and your heart.” –John Minahan, Guitar Review “Pianist Larry Bell teaches at the Boston Conservatory; his Celestial
Refrain is unusual in that it has not one but two separate
commissioners, Russell Southcott and Steven Walter (not to be confused
with our reviewer), who each gave a ‘first’ performance on 3 and 10
March 1986 respectively. Some 14 minutes long, it revolves around an
essential ingredient of driving dance rhythms, insistent and throbbing in
their relentlessness, pushed inexorably on by pedals and syncopations,
often redolent of rock and pop. These sections are interspersed, and given
relief by, quieter interludes; in fact, this principle of alternation
pertains throughout the structure for the work. The introduction is
violent while the conclusion is found in gentle harmonies. A fairly short
and peaceful pivotal point is the passage entitled Song: Spirit of God,
Descend Upon My Heart, a quote from the composer’s own Sacred
Symphonies, in turn based upon his Four Sacred Songs. The
overall texture of this composition definitely makes it guitaristic, with
a performer requiring an innate sense o |
