Paul Freeman Introduces, Vol. 2
Paul Freeman (narrator), Louise Toppin (soprano), Jean-Michel Bertelli (clarinet), Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Sy Brandon is Professor of Music at Pennsylvania's Millersville University. His Celebration Overture was composed in 1995 in honor of WITF-FM's 25th anniversary and was selected as the winning composition in a contest held by the station. David Osbon was born in Reading, England in 1963 and studied composition in Great Britain. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Composed as a concert overture, Liberty is a deliberately ironic and ambiguous title for a work that reflects the composer's mixed reactions to life in Philadelphia. Celebrating his 70th birthday this month, Robert Muczynski grew up in Chicago and studied composition with Alexander Tcherepnin. He served as Professor at the University of Arizona for many years and now resides in Tucson. Written at the suggestion of Howard Mitchell, Symphonic Dialogues is dedicated to him and the National Symphony Orchestra. Richard Klessig studied jazz piano in New York City and graduated from the Berklee College in 1992. Meditation from Don Juan is taken from the third act of his 1996 ballet Don Juan which was composed for the twenty-fifth anniversary season of Ballet Oklahoma. Marvin Lamb is the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma at Norman. A native of California, Richard Felciano is a Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the founder of the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies. This disc features spoken introductions to the music by Mr. Freeman and as with the first disc in this series, the performances of this music are well rehearsed and recorded.
Track Listing
| Title | Composer | Performer |
|---|---|---|
| Celebration Overture | Sy Brandon | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor |
| Overture Concertante for Clarinet & Orchestra | Richard Felciano | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor, Jean-Michel Bertelli, clarinet |
| Three Poems of Fiona McCloud | Charles Griffes | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor, Louise Toppin, soprano |
| Meditation from Don Juan | Richard Klessig | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor |
| J.B. II | Marvin Lamb | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor |
| Symphonic Dialogues, Op. 20 | Robert Muczynski | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor |
| Liberty | David Osbon | Czech National Symphony, Paul Freeman, conductor |
Reviews
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"...The most notable entry on the program is Robert Muczynski's Symphonic Dialogues. As well represented as Muczynski is on disc today, very little of his orchestral music has been recorded. ...Composed in 1965, Symphonic Dialogues exemplifies the lively, syncopated, but generic Neoclassicism that was the lingua franca of American composers during the 1950s (the title refers to the prominence of dyadicinteraction among the instruments throughout the work). The piece is well crafted, with a darkly driven quality that gives it some real bite....Freeman leads an incisive performance that represents the work quite effectively."
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