stereo 3216 0040

3216 0039

COPLAND PIANO FANTASY

PIANO VARIATIONS

WILLIAM MASSELOS PIANO

Sidel COPLAND: PIANO VARIATIONS (10:56)

Side 2 COPLAND: PIANO FANTASY (29:40)

The selections are ASCAP.

WILLIAM MASSELOS, Piano

Piano Variations Notes by Julia Smith

®That Aaron Copland is a man of his time, reflect¬

ing the spirit and mood of his age through his music, is no less true of the disillusion-filled depression years of the early thirties than it was of the careless, extravagant, jazzy, “bourgeois” twenties. Because of

their “absolute” aesthetic conception, the works of the years 1929 to 1935 have been termed “esoteric” or “abstract.” Paul Rosenfeld has stated that Cop¬ land’s works of this time “resemble nothing so

much as steel cranes, bridges and the frames of sky¬

scrapers.”

One of the most controversial of Copland’s works

is the Piano Variations of 1930. With the possible exception of the Piano Quartet (1950), Copland in

the Variations has come closer to the Schoenberg principles of the “serial” technique (use of the “tone row”) without, however, completely relinquishing

the principle of tonality. This complex composition,

now regarded as one of the important works in con¬ temporary piano literature, has made its way surely

and steadily, propelled to a large extent by the com¬ poser’s excellent performances of the work here and

in Europe. Published in 1932, the Piano Variations has been more widely circulated in the concert hall,

in the dance theater [in 1932, Martha Graham based a choreographic work, Dythirambic, on the

Piano Variations] and through phonograph record¬ ings than have the other works of the Abstract Period.

It was in Paris in 1922 that Copland first heard

Schoenberg’s “atonal” Pierrot Lunaire, which evi¬ dently had some effect on his subconscious thought. His contact with Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite, heard at the Baden-Baden Festival (July, 1927), seems to

have interested him further in the “serial,” or twelve-tone, technique, for he was groping in that direction in the Song composed later that summer in Konigstein. This was an isolated experiment, and he did not return to this technique until the Piano Variations, written three years later.

Tire Piano Variations differs from the other works of this period and is unique because of its “sharper” dissonances; these are achieved through a combina¬ tion of “serial” principles in conjunction with poly-

tonal relationships. By means of the device of pointillism, tonal heights and depths are sculp¬

tured in terms of a texture that is sparse, transpar¬

ent, economical, but sufficient. With the composer himself at the piano, the

Piano Variations was first performed at a League of Composers’ concert, January 4, 1931, at the Art Center, 65 East Fifty-sixth Street [in New York], Copland played from a pencil copy at the time, the definitive version not being completely established

until after the first performance. The New York Times reported that the young

American composer, “who started out in orthodox

fashion not many years ago, has been attracted more

and more to the ‘stream of consciousness’ school, and more than one passage yesterday recalled simi¬

lar essays in words of Gertrude Stein.” The New York Herald Tribune noted: “Mr.

Copland, always a composer of radical tendencies,

has in these variations sardonically thumbed his

nose at all of those esthetic attributes which have hitherto been considered essential to the creation of

music.” Observing that on the subject of modern

music he did not wish to play the prophet, the critic hoped “some day to find enjoyment in such music

as Mr. Copland’s.”

Condensed from Aaron Copland by Julia Smith. Copyright, ©, 1956, by Julia Smith. Reprinted by permission of E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Piano Fantasy The Piano Fantasy was commissioned by the

Juilliard School of Music on the occasion of its fif¬ tieth anniversary and was completed on January 19,

1957. It is dedicated to the memory of the Ameri¬

can pianist William Kapell. The work was given its premiere at the Juilliard Concert Hall by William

Masselos on October 25, 1957. The composer sup¬ plied the following note on the work:

“Sketches for an extended piano solo work are to be found in my notebooks as far back as the early

fifties. Consecutive work on the Fantasy was carried on during 1955 and 1956 in southern France, at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire and at my home in the Hudson Valley. Like my two previous

extended works for solo piano, the Piano Variations (1930) and the Piano Sonata (1939-40), the new Fantasy belongs in the category of absolute music. It makes no use whatever of folk or popular music

materials. My purpose was to attempt a composi¬

Cover: Cato

Stereo—32 16 0040 Mono—32 16 0039

tion that would suggest the quality of fantasy, that

is, a spontaneous and unpremeditated sequence of ‘events’ that would carry the listener (if possible) from the first note to the last, while at the same time exemplifying clear if somewhat unconven¬ tional structural principles.

“The musical framework of the entire piece is based upon a sequence of ten different tones of the

chromatic scale. To these are joined, subsequently, the two unused tones of the scale, treated through¬ out as a kind of cadential interval. Thus, inherent

in the materials are elements able to be associated with the twelve-tone method and with music tonally

conceived. The Piano Fantasy is by no means rigor¬ ously controlled twelve-tone music, but it does

make liberal use of devices associated with that technique.”

odyssey William Masselos is internationally known as a champion

of contemporary music and has given the world premieres of

many new works, among them the First Piano Sonata of

Charles Ives, the Piano Fantasy of Aaron Copland and most

of the major keyboard music of Ben Weber.

Mr. Masselos was born in Niagara Falls, New York. At

the age of twelve, he entered the Juilliard School of Music

and at eighteen, made his New York debut in Town Hall.

Since then he has concertized widely in Europe and America

and has appeared frequently with the New York Philhar¬

monic under the direction of such distinguished conductors

as Dimitri Mitropoulos, Pierre Monteux and Leonard Bern¬

stein.

The pianist has received many important awards for his

service to contemporary music, among them the Award of

Merit from the National Association of American Com¬

posers and Conductors.

At the present time, Mr. Masselos divides his time be¬

tween concert tours and resident teaching duties at Catholic

University in Washington, D.C.

Library of Congress catalog card number R67-2577 applies to

32 16 0039/R67-2578 applies to 32 16 0040.

A Product of CBS. Inc., SI W. S2 Street. New York. N.Y.

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SCARLATTI FIORENZA

SARRI MASTERS OF

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SCHUMANNI CELLO CONCERTO-

FIVE PIECES IN FOLK STYLE

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THE PRADES FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

LEOPOLD MANNES. PIANO

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THE ALFRED DELLER _ CONSORT (^ENGLISH MADRIGALS W, AND FOLK SONGS

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WEELKES AND OTHERS

32 16 0018 (Stereo) 32 16 0017 (Mono) One side is devoted to masters of the English madrigal—Morley, Tomkins, Weelkes and others. The other presents traditional folk songs of England. The Deller Consort is hailed for "its superb stylistic knowledge and consummate skill and artistry." (HiFi/Stereo Review)

BEETHOVEN Legendary

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EMPEROR CONCERTO

GIESEKING VON

KARAJAN THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA

32 16 0029 (Mono only) ”... A triumph ... a definitive version of one of the most monumental of all piano concertos.” (The Gramophone)

Legendary Performances

odyssey

MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4

BRUNO WALTER

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC DESI HALBAN, SOPRANO

32 16 0025 (Mono only) “... One of the greatest performances in the history of recorded music.... No other interpretation can match Walter’s.” (HiFi/Stereo Review)

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odyssey

THE SYMPHONIES OF

HAYDN VOL I

SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN C SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN G

OVERTURE TO "LO SPEZIALE"

MAX GOBERMAN CONDUCTING

THE VIENNA STATE OPERA ORCHESTRA

32 16 0006 (Stereo) 32 16 0005 (Mono) Haydn’s Symphony No. 1 is “thoroughly enjoyable” (HiFi/Stereo Review); No. 3 is “a Baroque confection of enormous wit and vitality.” (High Fidelity)

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CORELLI TWELVE CONCERTI GROSSI

OPUS 6 COMPLETE

odyssey MAX GOBERMAN

THE VIENNA SINFONIETTA

VIVALDI

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CONCERTOS FOR WOODWINDS AND STRING ORCHESTRA

IN G MINOR "LA NOTTE"

FOR FLUTE AND BASSOON

IN E FLAT MAJOR FOR BASSOON

IN A MINOR FOR PICCOLO IN C MAJOR FOR TWO OBOES.

TWO CLARINETS

FEATURING JULIUS BAKER, FLUTE/SAMUEL BARON. PICCOLO-MAX GOBERMAN

CONDUCTING THE NEW YORK SINFONIETTA

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stereo

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SCHUBERT UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

ROSAMUNDE OVERTURE MAGNIFICAT IN C MAJOR

MAX GOBERMAN CONDUCTING THE VIENNA NEW SYMPHONY

32 16 0010 (Stereo) 32 16 0009 (Mono) Schubert’s “Unfinished” exactly as he left it (with the sketch of the third-movement scherzo up to the first repeat of the trio) plus the only available recording of the soaring Magnificat.

STEREO

COPLAND:

PIANO FANTASY

WILLIAM MASSELOS, Plano