Classical Music Discoveries

  

This week we are proud to feature composer Eric Schwartz.

Eric Schwartz has studied composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, New York University, and both the Interlochen and Aspen Summer Music Festivals. Past teachers have included Margaret Brouwer, Donald Erb, George Tsontakis, and Randy Woolf. Primarily interested in a synthesis of musical archetypes, Schwartz is always at work on a variety of genre bending projects. Formative influences include an amalgamation of the glam metal of the late 80's, and the baroque intellectualism of Arnold Schoenberg. His music has been performed at various venues throughout New York City, from The Knitting Factory to Merkin Concert Hall, as well as such far flung places as Bucharest, Romania and Thunder Bay, Ontario. He has received awards and grants from Meet the Composer, ASCAP, The Society for New Music, The Puffin Foundation, The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and The Ohio Federation of College Music Clubs. Schwartz has served on the faculties of New York University, Hunter College, and the Lucy Moses Music School, and is the artistic director of the Brooklyn, NY based experimental music group Forecast Music (forecastmusic.org). He was appointed Resident Composer for the Los Angeles based Tonoi contemporary music ensemble's 2007-2008 season. His debut CD "24 Ways of Looking at a Piano", named one of the top classical CDs of 2005 by All Music Guide, is available now from Centaur Records (http://www.centaurrecords.com). His music is also available on Capstone Records, and Trace Label (France), and is published by Staunch Music (UK) and Lovebird Music (US). Following a wonderful, rewarding decade in NYC, Schwartz has recently taken a position at the University of North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston-Salem. Schwartz, his three pets, and his lovely wife are currently living happily in Greensboro, North Carolina.

  

Sandy and Ken look back at 2009 and cover the highlights of the year.

Music selections included in this week's show are:
Shenandoah performed by Robert Bonfiglio
Crotchets and Breves written by Justin Locke and performed by the "Sing for Our Dinner Players"
Mendelssohn Piano Concerto, 3rd movement performed by Anna Sun
Chopin excerpt performed by Hannah Sun
Viva la Compagnie performed by the Mastersingers
Beethoven's Diabeli Variations "Theme" performed by Beth Levin
Hallelujah! from Messiah performed by the Orchestra of Southern Utah and the Messiah Chorus
Lux Eterna from Durufle's Requiem performed by the Cypress College Concert Choir

Also we review our Premium Podcasts available.

Sandy and Ken also go over some of this week's comments and reveal this week's NEW download leader.
Also, some hints as to what is in store for 2010.

  

This week we are proud to highlight Carol Worthey.

The day Carol was born, family friend Leonard Bernstein was in her house and made hamburgers in the shape of stars, declaring "This little girl's gonna be a star!" Not to make Lenny wrong, Carol began composing at age three and a half. A year later she was trying her hand at writing her music down. At age eleven and a half an Etude she wrote was performed in Carnegie Hall by pianist Vivian Rivkin. The following year Ms. Rivkin performed a Fantasia by Carol at the prestigious Hunter College Auditorium Artist Series.

With this encouragement, Carol began formal composition lessons at age thirteen, studying with a student of Aaron Copland, Grant Beglarian (later the Dean of the USC School of Performing Arts) in a glorious summer near Tanglewood at Merrywood School of Music, where the Music Director was John Harbison. The next summer Carol studied again at Merrywood with another Copland student, Karl Korte, and met Copland, Gunther Schuller and John Cage.

Carol Worthey (Carol Lee Symonds at the time) graduated Wheeler School with Honors and went to Barnard College, Columbia University, where she was transformed overnight from someone rather shy to a Campus Hero in her freshman year after winning First Prize in Composition at Columbia (renowned New York Times Music Critic Winthrop Sargent was one of the judges) for ballet music, thus saving the day for the Freshman Class in its "traditional battle" with the Sophomores known as Greek Games. Carol became a Music Major specializing in Composition, studying with Otto Luening, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Henry Cowell.

The summer after her Composition Prize, Carol ventured to Aspen Music Festival to study with Darius Milhaud, met Olivier Messaien and pianist Yvonne Loriod and had a song cycle "Confucian Odes" world-premiered at Aspen Tent. The following summer was spent at Dartmouth School of Performing Arts where Carol studied with the vibrant Vincent Persichetti of Juilliard, who declared, "You think like a composer." Carol was also mentored by Walter Piston and Elliot Carter at Dartmouth. At Columbia a string quartet by Carol was transformed into a ballet called "The Barren One" which was world-premiered at Minor Latham Playhouse. Graduating from Columbia in 1965, she was awarded Honorable Mention in the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship toward college teaching.

Carol married and for a time lived in an art colony in Mexico, San Miguel de Allende, where her works were performed at the Bellas Artes. She later settled in Los Angeles and studied arranging and orchestration at UCLA under Academy-Award winner Eddy Lawrence Manson. She continued honing her skills at Grove School of Music where she was the second woman to graduate from the prestigious and demanding Contemporary Composing and Arranging Program. It was there that she first wrote for full orchestra or Brass/Woodwind Band every week. The founder of the school, Dick Grove, publicly predicted at the Graduation that Carol would become the first famous woman composer in Hollywood, but Carol chose NOT to do film --- "I want people to recover the lost art of listening," she decided. However, in 1988 Carol was persuaded to do the score for a short film sponsored by George Lucas of Star Wars fame which was aired on HBO. Around this time Concert Pianist Mario Feninger performed Carol's work "Nocturne" in Italy, France and Canada, reporting that it was the most well-received work on his program.

Carol's imaginative skill in choral writing began to attract the attention of a number of local and international choirs. The Hollywood Chorale performed a semi-staged concert work, "Pop Cantata", which got a ten-minute standing ovation (which Carol recalls at will when discouragement ever sets in.) Her choral works have received seven World Premiers at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, including "Peace On Earth", simulcast on KCET-TV and KUSC-FM before an estimated audience of three and a half million. In 1999 Freiheit Singers performed "Creed" at an historic site, the beautiful but war-ravaged testament against war, Berlin's Memorial Church.

"I'm Lighting A Candle for Freedom", Carol's musical statement on behalf of tolerance, has been translated into French and Portuguese and in 2000 was sung in Paris, where Carol made her professional conductorial debut in a Benefit Concert sponsored by the United Nations on behalf of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (This song was created by her, lyrics and four-part arrangement, during a dream. She literally dreamt this song. Husband Ray's instructions were: "Write it down.")

In 1990 Carol Worthey won her second Composition Contest at the Inner City Cultural Center's "First Bar" Composers Competition --- a contest lasting four rounds --- with her "Fanfare for Joy & Wedding March" for Violin, Flute, Harp & Piano (written for her own marriage ten years earlier to Ray Korns, to whom she is still happily married). Carol has since been a Judge for their composing, songwriting and vocal competitions, a project she takes to heart, believing in the importance of encouraging new generations of talent. In 2002 Carol judged some extraordinary talent at the Piano and Composition Competitions put on by Armenian Allied Arts Association of Southern California.

In 2000 Carol became a professional speaker on Arts & Culture and her talks, "Turning Life into Art: How A Composer Works" and "Near-Forgotten Legacy: Six Women Composers of the Past", an illustrated lecture, were given at UCLA, USC, Cal Lutheran University and Borders Classical Music Society.

In 1988 she pulled off a wild challenge: Contacted at the last minute by a Producer/Director who had hired actors and built sets and costumes but had NO script OR music, Carol wrote the music, lyrics AND script in two weekends, just in time for the first scheduled rehearsal. "The Night Before Christmas" ran for five successful holiday seasons performed by the Los Angeles Children's Theatre and was featured at the Ovation Award ceremony (L.A.'s Tony) in 1991 and on "Entertainment Tonight". Additional performances were sponsored by celebrities at local children's hospitals. Two casts performed this at various times: Hearing actors with sign language "signers" and deaf actors with "speakers" at the side.

In 2001 Carol participated in a Los Angeles art exhibit called A Community of Angels, her first venture in integrating music and visual art. This wasn’t the first time she has taken up a paintbrush. (As a child prodigy in art as well as in music, Carol was admitted at age five to adult classes at Rhode Island School of Design where she studied for seven years.) "Angel of Music" was displayed at the Music Center in Los Angeles where it was seen by over half a million people from around the world. The music by Carol is activated at the press of a button and is designed to embody the healing qualities of music and to inspire children of all ages to participate in music. Carol painted the front with colorful musical instruments and decorated the painted “feathers” in back with the names of 160 great composers of the past. She orchestrated the song using the instruments painted on it so that it’s educational. "Angel of Music" was voted Most Popular statue in the exhibit. A music video filmed by Randy Tobin can be seen/heard at her website www.carolworthey.com.

Recently Carol was commissioned by renowned Cellist Joyce Geeting (protégé of cello great Janos Starker) to compose Elegy for Cello & Orchestra, a one-movement concerto world-premiered at St. Martin in the Fields, London in Spring of 2003 to rousing acclaim. Elegy is a musical enactment of the events of 9-1-1 and is her heartfelt tribute to those lost and those left behind: It is designed to heal. Since its premiere, Elegy has been performed numerous times, including the Seventh American Cello Congress, and in Germany. Elegy is featured on Ms. Geeting’s newly released CD “Soul Stirring” along with works by Johannes Brahms and Max Bruch.

Music remains Carol's primary language and (aside from people) her greatest passion. Composer, painter, lyricist, poet, arts lecturer and humanitarian, Carol Worthey firmly believes that the greatest artwork one can create is a life well-lived --- a life that makes a difference in a troubled world. She has certainty that each and every person is creative in some way, however unexplored. Through music Carol Worthey aspires to help release the listener's creative participation, to have listener AND performer feel more ALIVE.

Podcast hostess: Sandy Hedgecock
All music and visuals are used by permission.

  

Our annual Christmas show, our Christmas gift to all of our listeners.

This year we feature an original story by Ken Hedgecock called "Fritz the Reindeer" acted out by:

Daniel Hedgecock, Amy Mickel, Crystal Giglio, Sandy Hedgecock and Ken Hedgecock.

Music included in this podcast:

I Saw Three Ships - performed by the Orchestra of Southern Utah Brass section

White Christmas - performed by the Master Singers

O Little Town of Bethlehem - performed by David Hedgecock

Fantasy on the Conventry Carol - composed by Douglas Townsend and performed by Maria Choban and Kenn Willson.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - performed by the Coal Creek Brass

Silent Night - performed by Daniel Hedgecock and Angela Smith

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - performed by David Hedgecock

Podcast hostess: Sandy Hedgecock

Sound/Mixing: Ken Hedgecock

All performances used by permission.

If you have come here to listen to the Master Singer's Christmas concert, please click on the "Premium Podcast" link at the top of this page. Thank you!

  

A Messiah to Remember

By Bryce Christensen

            No word serves Christmas-season advertisers more reliably than the adjective new as they entice us to buy new clothes, new jewelry, new electronic entertainments.  But with two splendid Heritage Center performances of Handel’s Messiah on December 13^th and 14th, the Orchestra of Southern Utah (OSU) and the Messiah Chorus reminded hundreds of appreciative listeners of the power of a time-honored musical tradition to renew all that makes the holiday marvelous. 

            From the familiar but still stirring strains of the opening Overture to the to the last regal Amen of “Worthy is the Lamb,” the performance made fresh and vibrant once again the range of feelings that elevate Christmas to its special place in our shared lives.  Except perhaps for the innovative placement of a subchoir in the balcony for “Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates,” the choir and orchestra offered nothing surprising.  Indeed, in this year’s judiciously abbreviated version of Handel’s lengthy original masterpiece, listeners heard only the most familiar numbers.  Yet who was not surprised nonetheless at the way these timeless pieces—beautifully rendered—defy the years as they evoke yet again the deepest emotions of the season.

            Without doubt, high praise goes to the soloists, whose talents endowed 250-year old music with potent new life.  First in this distinguished group, tenor Benjamin Tyrrel sang “Comfort Ye My People” and “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted” with intense yet controlled passion.  Likewise impressive, alto Geneil Perkins offered radiant interpretations of “Behold! A Virgin Shall Conceive” and “O Thou That Tellest.”  And the audience may have wondered if they had not unaccountably slipped into the very heavens as soprano Regan Hanselman poured forth the soaring strains of “There Were Shepherds Abiding in the  Field,” “And the Angel Said Unto Them,” and “And Suddenly There Was With the Angel.”

            Celestial in the rich texture of her voice, Taliah Johnson rendered “Then Shall the Eyes of the Blind be Opened” and the first part of “He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd” with rare poignancy, yielding the spotlight to soprano Meredith Morse, who completed the second number with remarkably lyric yearnings.

            Though the youngest of the soloists, Tristan Schulties sang “Behold, I Tell You a Mystery” and “The Trumpet Shall Sound” with an astounding mastery that invested his performance with all of the gravitas and authority typically associated with a seasoned bass.  What is more, listeners could only marvel during “The Trumpet Shall Sound” at the wonderful way Schulties’ vocal mastery perfectly meshed with the instrumental brilliance of trumpet soloist Robert Carnesecca, whose piercing intensity aroused the audience to keen admiration. 

            As the final soloist, soprano Kenisha Thompson performed “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” with a stunning and radiant vibrancy as she musically affirmed the miraculous source of all Christian hope.

            The luminous gifts of the soloists, however, could not obscure the essential and likewise remarkable collective performance of the orchestra and chorus.  Under the gifted and indefatigable baton of director Xun Sun, the orchestra captivated listeners with their profound devotion to the music they played, whether behind the vocal soloists and choir or in the entirely instrumental passages—such as in the opening Overture and the Pastoral Symphony.  Similarly deserving of favorable attention was the choir, well prepared by choral director Adrianne J. Tawa.  Having attracted a larger number of voices than in some past years—with a particularly notable increase in the male voices--Tawa had her ensemble ready to absolutely transport the audience with the musical floodtides of “And the Glory of the Lord,” “For Unto Us A Child Is Born,” and “Glory to God.” The audience needed no prompting to leap to their feet not only in traditional response to the “Hallelujah!” chorus but also in spontaneous gratitude at the conclusion of the concert. 

For though most in the Heritage Center audience had heard every single number many times before, all felt—and gave thanks for--the ever-new thrill of inspiring music, movingly performed.     

Podcast Hostess: Sandy Hedgecock
Recording: Pete Akins
Mixing: Ken Hedgecock
Photo used by permission

  

This week we would like to dedicate this performance to Jessie Swenson who passed away on December 8, 2009 after a brave battle with cancer.

Jessie is the mother of Sandy Hedgecock, the hostess of "Classical Music Discoveries" and thus Sandy is not able to do the show this week.

Jessie was a fine lady who was very close to her family and Sandy was extremely close to her mother Jessie.  I will always have wonderful memories of Jessie as she was a fantastic kind and loving mother-in-law.  These wonderful traits were passed on to her daughter Sandy.

She will be dearly missed.

This week's podcast is was originally aired on Jan. 8, 2008 so some of the information is out of date, but I am sure you will understand as this does not diminish the outstanding performance of the Cypress College Choir of this magnificent work by Durufle.

  

 

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New Music for a New Century Bryce Christensen “What,” the editors of New Sounds recently asked, “will the new orchestral music of the 21st Century sound like?” As part of their own creative answer to that question, the Orchestra of Southern Utah (OSU) once again premiered delightful new music at its November 19th Fall Concert at the Heritage Center on the theme of “Romance and Heroics.” To be sure, the evening did not begin with new orchestral music. Rather, the concert began with two movements from a work that has endeared itself to music lovers for more than a century: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathetiqué. Written during the last year of the great Russian composer’s life, the first movement opens in notes of somber brooding. The poignant yearnings of the strings suggest an intense pleading for life, but the insistent strivings of the brass interrupt, implying the ultimately tragic futility of such pleading. Still, the stern brass instruments yield to tranquil interludes, as flute and then reed soloists beguile listeners with liquid reflections on the loves that have filled a marvelously creative life. The mood changes, however, in the second and final movement of the performance: the score grows tense, signaling struggle and impending conflict. The feeling then modulates, as waves of keening sorrow swell into majestic strains of profound melancholy, punctuated by sharp outbreaks of irrepressible grief. Redolent with funereal sadness, this poignant masterpiece finally fades into reverent silence. In choosing this daunting number, OSU director Xun Sun placed a difficult challenge before the musicians of his ensemble. But he and they rose to that challenge, deeply moving the audience with the tender passion of their collective interpretation. As always, Sun directed with evident emotion and engagement, and the instrumentalists under his baton responded with power and grace. After the Intermission, the spotlight shifted, as the orchestra joined with composer Keith Bradshaw in answering the query posed by New Sounds. Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra-- commissioned by OSU especially for this concert--thrilled listeners with the rich tapestry of truly exciting 21st-century music, remarkable both its kinetic energy and its tender pathos. In composing this piece to showcase the musical talents of his wife (Tracey Bradshaw) as a piano soloist, Bradshaw indeed sought to create “very contrasting effects,” delivering a very up-tempo and “energetic” first movement, followed by a second movement that is “melodic, and lyrical, allowing expressiveness and sensitivity,” and then concluding with a third movement that is “fast and driving to the end.” Together, the composer, the soloist, and the accompanying orchestra transported the audience into a wonderland of sonorous pleasure. Whether in the pulsing dynamism of the first movement, the languid introspection of the second movement, or the intense fury of the final movement, Ms. Bradshaw showed herself a consummate musical artist, her deft interpretation of her husband’s work sustained by exceptional technical skill but informed by an insightful imagination. Nor should the artistry of the orchestra go unnoticed, for Ms. Bradshaw’s solo shone all the brighter because of the perfectly modulated backdrop the orchestra provided. Composer, soloist, conductor, and orchestra all deserve high praise for bringing this exceptional new music to Cedar City: the standing ovation this number received was well earned. If the coming 91 years provide comparable music, then the musical legacy of the 21st century will be truly impressive. Having heard from a canonical Russian composer and from a rising American talent, the audience was ready for broadening their international horizon yet further in the third number: Celebration by the Chinese composers Zheng Lou and Ma Hong Ye. (Conductor Sun’s intimate knowledge of the musical wealth of his homeland probably accounts for the inclusion of this splendid number.) Beginning with the hushed expectancy of humming strings, Celebration quickly resounds with the far-off cry of horns, quickly echoed, only to explode in an astounding outpouring of infectiously melodic joy. Strings, percussion, brass, woodwinds—every part of the orchestra joins in this exuberant festival of sound. Listeners would have to search very hard to find a comparable eruption of sheer symphonic happiness! The final number enlarged the international character of the concert not by adding a new nationality to the list of composers, but rather by focusing on a globally international event: The Olympics. Written by the American composer John Williams for the centennial Olympics of 1996, Summon the Heroes stirred in listeners’ minds memories of truly heroic athletic feats performed by a global phalanx of athletes. Trumpets sound a martial call for valor in the opening notes, drums and cymbals marking the discipline of resolute struggle and the entire orchestra joining in an anthem to gallant exertion. With the inspiring dignity of their performance, the orchestra captured the spirit of the world’s greatest athletic enterprise. Though not yet playing to a packed house, the OSU attracted a very sizable audience for this concert (filling a good part of the balcony as well as most of the main-level seats), giving evidence that more and more Cedar City residents are discovering why every OSU concert merits a place on the music-lover’s calendar. Whether premiering new music or playing well-established classic works, the Orchestra of Southern Utah is making the 21st century a wonderful era for music. Podcast hostess: Sandy Hedgecock Recording/Sound: Ken Hedgecock Graphics by: Rollan Fell

Helen Foster Snow (1907-1997) was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s.  She is one of Cedar City's most famous international residents.  This dedication to her was recorded live at the Heritage Center on November 11, 2009. Podcast hostess: Sandy Hedgecock Recording/Sound: Ken Hedgecock Photo used by permission.

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