Ellen Taaffe Zwilich "Millennium Fantasy" in Review
2010. CD RELEASE. ZWILICH, E.T.: Millennium Fantasy / Images / Peanuts Gallery (J. Biegel, R. Gainsford, and H.L. Williams (pianos), Florida State University Symphony, A. Jimenez conducting).
Review by Lynn Rene Bayley, Fanfare, Jan. 2011
This CD presents what could be dismissed as "lighter" works by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, but she, like expatriate American Nancy Van de Vate, is incapable of writing fluff. I'm absolutely thrilled that Naxos has been generous in issuing so much of Zwilich's music in its American Classics series, as she is one of my two favorite living composers (the other is Leif Segerstam).
That being said, I was terribly sad to have missed the world premiere of Millennium Fantasy when it was presented in Cincinnati. I was even sadder to read the interview with Zwilich published in our local rag (and I use that term deliberately), City Beat, in which she was asked questions so incredibly inane and pointless that I felt it was only her graciousness that kept the whole piece from becoming a farce. Zwilich claims that the music is based on a folk song that her grandmother sang to her as a child. The song's title is not given in the liner notes, though it is said that it "only appears in its entirety toward the end of the two-movement work." It doesn't matter that I don't recognize it; more important is the bold and imaginative musical treatment, sparse in orchestration but not in originality or interest. The piano solo, played excellently here by Jeffrey Biegel, is occasionally virtuosic but more often than not sparse, indulging in single-note figures while the orchestra weaves its texture around it. As in much of Zwilich's mature music, there is - to my ears, anyway - an uncanny Eastern European or even Russian sound to it.
Images (1986) is Zwilich's version of Pictures at an Exhibition, but in this case it presents, via piano and orchestra, her impressions of works by five different artists, not several paintings by the same artist. They are Self-Portrait by Alice Bailly, La Poupee Abandonnee by Suzanne Valadon, Iris, Tulips, Jonquils and Crocuses by Alma Thomas, Bacchus No. 3 by Elaine DeKooning, and Spiritualist by Helen Frankenthaler. Bailly's painting serves as the cover art for the CD; the others may be viewed online at presser.com/images/other/ellentaaffezwilichimages.cfm. I have to admit that I was rather startled by the opening music, bitonal, stark, and quite dramatic, whereas the painting itself, though modern in style, is quite calm, but Zwilich explains it this way: It "made me want to celebrate the opening of a museum dedicated to women artists." The others reflect the paintings' moods in a highly original and apropos manner.
The Peanuts Gallery is, undoubtedly, the most "fun" piece she's ever written, yet it elevates the cartoon characters to a level of personal meaning for the composer, who really identified with them. "Schroeder's Beethoven Fantasy," of course, borrows heavily from the famed composer, yet has a quality all her own. "Lullaby for Linus" is pensive and ruminative, "Snoopy Does the Samba" energetic and inventive, "Charlie Brown's Lament" not terribly sad but, as Zwilich puts it, an acknowledgement of times when we want to say "good grief." "Lucy Freaks Out" combines her gentleness with her explosive impatience, while "Peppermint Patty and Marcie Lead the Parade." a festive conclusion, includes them all. Zwilich was in awe of Charles Schulz for creating cartoon characters that she felt she knew personally.
Alexander Jimenez and the Florida State Symphony, who premiered the Peanuts Gallery, perform all three works here with tremendous sympathy, love, and excitement. If you are, like me, a Zwilich fan, you'll want this disc in your collection. Now, if only Naxos would recognize that Nancy Van de Vate exists!
Review by James Manheim, AllMusic.com, Dec. 2010.
"The album benefits from the presence of pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who has a lot of experience with Zwilich's works."
Much-honored American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich has managed to satisfy both specialist audiences and general concertgoers over her career, often writing works that develop accessible material in a rigorous way. This disc collects three Zwilich works for piano and orchestra, and the interest begins with the fact that none of them can really be described as a piano concerto. Instead, the piano-orchestra dialogue is mapped onto other content, programmatic in two cases. The nonprogrammatic piece is the Millennium Fantasy, based on an unidentified folk song that Zwilich learned from a family member; it appears fragmentarily throughout and is assembled at the end of the two-movement work. Images (1986) consists of short movements depicting paintings in the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, along with one expressing Zwilich's reaction to the museum as a whole; many listeners will be hard pressed to catch the representational language here. Not so with the final work, Peanuts Gallery, composed in 1996 and apparently part of a mutual homage with cartoonist Charles Schulz, who mentioned Zwilich in several strips. Each movement depicts one of the strip's familiar characters, and U.S. listeners, at least, will have no trouble picking these out. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier," is quoted in the opening movement, "Schroeder's Beethoven Fantasy," and recurs later in the work. This work would be ideal for programs aimed at young listeners (who still remember Peanuts, long after Schulz's death), and it's both light and very artfully done. The album benefits from the presence of pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who has a lot of experience with Zwilich's works, and the enthusiastic Florida State University Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Jimˆ©nez. Some might criticize Naxos for using presumably low-cost university orchestras, but the fact is that young musicians who become involved in worthwhile projects of lasting value will go on to create prosperous musical economies of their own. A good place to start with Naxos' American Classics series.
Review by Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found , Nov. 2010.
Zwilich: Millenium Fant, Images, Peanuts ...; Biegel/Williams/Gainsford/Jimenez/FloriStU SO [Naxos]
RECOMMENDED (1 CD)
Back in 1983 Floridian Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939) became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music with her first symphony, also known as Three Movements for Orchestra. Since then she has become one of America's most honored and frequently performed contemporary composers. The three concertante works for one and two pianos on this new release from Naxos show why.
The concert begins with her Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra of 2000. It's in two movements, and according to the composer based on a folk tune her grandmother used to sing her as a child. A virtuoso undertaking, the work opens with a nostalgic, pizzicato-accented fragment (NP) of the song. The piano becomes infected with NP, and encouraged by the orchestra begins a jazzy St. Vitus' dance based on it. The frenzy eventually abates, and the movement then ends introspectively. Some listener's may detect a similarity between NP and the theme that opens Samuel Barber's (1910-1981) first symphony (1936, revised 1942).
With staggered hyperactive and restrained episodes, the second movement is full of pyrotechnics for both the soloist and tutti. The folk song is fully elaborated towards the end [track-2, beginning at 09:25], and the work closes with some thrilling bravura passages.
The next piece, Images for Two Pianos and Orchestra from 1986, was commissioned by theNational Museum of Women in the Arts. Each of its five movements was inspired by a painting in their collection (click here to view them).
The opening selection after Swiss Cubist Alice Bailly's (1872-1938) "Self-Portrait" (1917) is intensely dramatic with rushing strings assaulted by stabbing chords and runs on the pianos. By contrast there's a bit of angst in "The Abandon Doll" (1921) by French painter Suzanne Valadon(1865-1938), where female innocence turns to vanity. Incidentally, some may remember her for that outstanding 1893 portrait she did of her one-time lover Erik Satie (1866-1925).
The next three movements are based on pictures by American Abstract Expressionists. Alma Thomas' (1891-1978) "Iris, Tulips, Jonquils and Crocuses" (1969) is notable for a rapidly repeated note hammered out on the pianos as avian utterances from the winds waft by. There's a neoclassicism ˆÝ la Stravinsky (1882-1971) about the music for Elaine de Kooning's (1920-1988) "Bacchus #3" (1978), which also has an extended tuba passage Tubby would have loved. The meditative, brilliantly orchestrated finale depicting Helen Frankenthaler's (b. 1928) "Spiritualist" (1973) ends this exhibition much as it began.
The closing work, Peanuts Gallery for Piano and Orchestra (1996), is dedicated to Charles Schulz(1922-2000), who created the beloved Peanuts cartoons. In six movements honoring the strip's main personalities, it begins with "Schroeder's Beethoven Fantasy," where Zwilich with comic abandon tosses around motifs from the opening of Ludwig's Hammerklavier Sonata (No. 29, 1818) and the scherzo in his Choral Symphony (No. 9, 1822-24).
The dreamlike "Lullaby for Linus" finds him napping with his beloved security blanket. But not for long as "Snoopy Does the Samba" to a percussively punctuated, rhythmically infectious number that would wake the dead.
As an old poem once said, "A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, Over the face of the leader came..." in the subdued "Charlie Brown's lament." Then what would at first appear to be a follow-on movement of consolation for Charlie, lives up to its name of "Lucy Freaks Out ," in one of Zwillich's most colorfully unpredictable offerings.
The grand finale, "Peppermint Patty and Marcie Lead the Parade," brings to mind the conclusion of Saint-Saen's (1835-1921) Carnival of the Animals (1886), where all the thematic characters go marching by in a symphonic comic strip.
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel is no stranger to these pages (see the newsletter 15 February 2008), and once again distinguishes himself with technically accomplished performances of Millenium and Peanuts that are both rhythmically and dynamically animated. Heidi Louise Williams and Read Gainsford are equally impressive as duo pianists in Images. Their precision team work assures a carefully judged, sensitive reading of the most progressive and emotionally invested score here.
The Florida State University Symphony Orchestra is featured on this release, which seems appropriate considering the composer graduated from and is currently on the faculty of that institution. Under their conductor Alexander Jimenez, these Sunshine Musicians light up Zwillich's vivacious music.
The recordings of the first two selections are good with well rounded piano tone, and the soloists ideally balanced against the orchestra. The instrumental timbre is natural sounding across a wide soundstage in a favorable acoustic.
As for Peanuts, although all three works were recorded over a two day period in the same venue, the piano seems a bit recessed and the soundstage compressed in the first movement. However, the sonics seem to open up somewhat for the remaining five, suggesting a miking or mixing incongruity.
"Millennium Fantasy" Premieres in Cincinnati
Associated Press
September 22, 2000
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A piece of music commissioned by 27 orchestras premieres here today, performed by the Cincinnati Symphony conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos.
Unlike many new pieces of music, "The Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra" won't just be played once and shelved. During the next two seasons, all 27 orchestras that formed the Millennium Commissioning Project and commissioned "Millennium Fantasy" will perform it. The composer is Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1983 for her Symphony No. 1. The piano soloist is Jeffrey Biegel, who believes this is the largest number of organizations ever to combine to commission a piece of classical music. Upcoming performances of "The Millennium Fantasy" through November will be in Rockford, III.; Westmoreland, Pa.; Rogue Valley, Ore.; Champaign, III.; Battle Creek, Mich.; and El Paso, Texas.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
Cincinnati Enquirer
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Concert review
'Millennium Fantasy' Has Auspicious CSO Premiere
By Janelle Gelfand, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Over 106 years, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has performed many premieres. On Friday, the orchestra continued the tradition with the world premiere of Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra by American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
It was communicative and accessible, both Zwilich hallmarks.
Called by Ms. Zwilich a "reflection" of the turn of the last century, Millennium Fantasy is a substantial addition to the repertoire that could endure to the next century.
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel, dedicatee and soloist, put together the commission with 27 orchestras.
The composer based the Fantasyon the folk song "Fair and Tender Maiden."
In two movements, the 18-minute piece was a vibrant dialogue between piano and orchestra.
Mr. Biegel's technique was suited to the writing, which demanded a unique blend of
jazzy percussiveness and lyricism. Coloristic touches included harp-like glissandos in the piano. A beautifully serene moment came in the second movement, when the pianist played with a fluid touch against softly sustained strings. He tackled the jazzy cadenza (which had Prokofiev-like bite) with exhilaration.
The CS0, conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, gave it a dedicated and seamless performance. Ms. Zwilich shared the standing ovation from the Music Hall audience of 1,297.
The program concluded with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15. The composer's final symphony, its quotes of. Rossini's William Tell Overture and Wagner make it a kind of "enigma." The work emphasizes orchestral Soloists, and the CSO principal players brought wonderful artistry to their moments in the sun.
Mr. Lopez-Cobos led with intensity, from the lean, lighthearted first movement to the quirky third movement. The finale, though, was directionless; the sum of its parts least convincing, so that the truly amazing conclusion didn't ring with emotion.
Cincinnati Post
Saturday, September 23, 2000
'Millennium Fantasy' Appealing
By Mary Ellyn Hutton, Post music writer
Composer Ellen Zwilich's 'Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra' began a long journey Friday night at Music Hall. Commissioned by a consortium' of 27 U.S. orchestras, the work was given its world premiere by Jeffrey Biegel and the Cincinnati Symphony led by music director Jesus Lopez-Cobos.
In keeping with its soon-to be broad exposure, it is a broadly appealing work. If only 1,297 people turned out to hear' it Friday, chalk it up to fear of the unknown.
Biegel, who approached Ms. Zwilich to write 'Millennium Fantasy,' asked for something on the order of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." You might call it "Rhapsody in Sage" instead, for its use of a folk song, "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens" (compare "I am a Poor Wayfaring Strangers") and its meaty, flavorful construction.
In two-movements, the 20 minute work also recalls Vaughan Williams' 20th-century masterwork, "Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis," not just in the shape of the tune, but in the use of plucked strings at the beginning. There are vigorous jazz rhythms - a three note syncopated motif recurs throughout - and a lovely ruminative passage in the second movement reminiscent of Bartok or Shostakovich.
Biegel gave it an extraordinarily committed performance of virtuosic dimensions. He and Ms. Zwilich shared a standing ovation, which Biegel capped with his own finger-flying, Horowitzian version of Strauss' "Blue Danube Waltz."
Shostakovich's 15th and final symphony is remarkable for its allusions to other music, extensive use of solo instruments and frequent, almost chamber music textures. If one were to search for meaning, most likely would be contemplation of death. How else to explain the progression from perky, "scherzoid" first movement, to dirge-like second, ironic third and fatalistic fourth?
And there are those quotes. It is startling, especially to those reared on "The Lone Ranger," to hear Rossini's ’ÄúWilliam Tell Overture" interlude merrily on the opening movement. There' is also a big climax right out of the composer's own 10th symphony in the Adagio- and, in the finale, the "Fate" motive and timpani beats that signal Siegried's death in Wagner's "Ring." Lopez-Cobos put just the right spin on another Wagner quote, from the Prelude to ’ÄúTristan and Isolde,’Äù where instead of a crushing dissonance, Shostakovich segues resignedly into a wan little dance.
Most Vivid of all is the ending, where the percussion "tick tock" off-into the distance. Kudos to principal cellist Eric Kim, first trombonist Cristian Ganicenco, concertmaster Timothy Lees and the entire percussion section for their solo work. The concert repeats at 8 tonight at Music Hall.
Contemporary 'Fantasy' Ponders Passing Of Time
By Kenneth LaFave
In a healthy musical environment, scores such as Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy for piano and orchestra would be our daily bread. The work for piano and orchestra, which received its Arizona premiere Sunday, April 14, in Sun City West, is typical of Zwilich: rich in harmonic imagination, detailed in orchestral coloration, alive with the sense that the composer has something to say and wants you to hear it.
Joan Tower, Michael Torke, William Bolcom, John Adams and a couple dozen others alive and writing are similarly gifted. They should be the staples of our symphonic diet, with an occasional Beethoven or Brahms piece thrown in for perspective.
The opposite is true, and because of that the "classical music" world is a bleak universe that overly regards the past and grossly undervalues the present.
But for 20 minutes on Sunday, we got to kick back and experience a little of what might be, as the Symphony of the West Valley and pianist Jeffrey Biegel performed Millennium Fantasy for a perplexed, if polite, audience.
The biggest surprise was the title, or rather how the work didn't match expectations roused by the title. No earth-shaking piece of musical historiography, Millennium Fantasy proved to be a personal statement on the passing of time, scored for small forces (chamber-size winds, percussion, piano and strings) and pinned to the fanciful memory of a Celtic-flavored folksong called Fair and Tender Maiden.
Zwilich uses the tune, which she says her grandmother sang to her long ago, as departure for a meditation in which the piano comments on orchestral mutations of the melody. Now plaintive and pastoral, now Gershwinian in its syncopations, the scores flies through time while trying to hold onto shards of melody as if they were dying memories.
Biegel played with pearly brilliance - here is a pianist who knows how to produce tone, where many settle for volume - and with bold enthusiasm. A champion of new scores, he engineered the commission of the work, which was shared by a number of orchestras. Thanks to music director James Yestadt, Symphony of the West Valley was among them.
Yestadt and his musicians showed great ability as accompanists, not only on the Zwilich, but in the familiar bars of Liszt's Piano Concerto No.1, which Biegel also played. It's a signature concerto for Biegel, and with good reason: He conveys Liszt as if it were Mozart, with transparently beautiful voicing and an unerring sense of grace.
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
'Millennium Fantasy' Concert Jazzy, Bluesy
By Sharon McDaniel
Thursday's all-American trio of composer, pianist and conductor was far from a Florida Philharmonic Orchestra "first." But it was the South Florida premiere of Millennium Fantasy (2000), a piano concerto by Ellen Taafe Zwilich, a Miami native and Pulitzer Prize winner, that the orchestra commissioned.
Guest pianist Jeffrey Biegel has championed the work steadily for the past 19 months, from its world premiere with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to the regional premieres by 26 other commissioning orchestras nationwide. At the Kravis Center, his colleague was guest conductor Michael Christie for not only the Zwilich, but also the familiar Franck concerto Symphonic Variations. The concert opened and closed with Dvorak: Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 6, Op. 60. Zwilich typically build large-scale works out of short, recognizable melodies. For the 20-minute concerto, she borrowed from the Celtic folk song Come all Ye Fair and Tender Maidens (A paternal twin to I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger). it by bit, over the concerto's's two movements, she adds more fragments of the melody until it's nearly complete.
Aptly named, the fantasy is a loose-knit collection of jazzy, bluesy musings that cycle continuously. Also a la Zwilich, it has a contemporary bark, but no harsh bite. The flavor boils down to Ken Burns' Civil War folksiness meets Gershwin's Catfish Row meets Prokofiev piano sonata. It's a good vehicle for Biegel, but it's doubtful that other pianists will jump to pick it up. Biegel is well equipped for clarity in the fantasy's percussive outbursts as well as more restrained elements ’Äî harp-like glissando and poignant reflections on the melancholy love song.
PALM BEACH POST
LIFE&STYLE
Rockford Register Star
Tuesday, Oct. 3. 2000
Music Review
RSO Opens Season On Exciting Note
By NAT BAUER
ROCKFORD -- The Rockford Symphony Orchestra began its 66th season this past Saturday at the Midway Theater with a full house and an audience that left buzzing with excitement.
Steven Larsen, music director of the RSO, began the evening with "Reels and Reveries," a work by Philip Rhodes, based on snips of bluegrass music and an old hymn tune allegedly derived from eastern Kentucky, maybe from the early 19th century.
Filled with the typical "fiddler" sounds of bluegrass, simple harmonies, intricate meter changes and intriguing use of brass and winds, it was a rather delightful work. To the surprise of the audience, the orchestra turned "choir" for a few bars of "Cluck or Hen."
The next two works featured the gifted virtuoso pianist Jeffrey Biegel.
First was a 1998 work, "Millennium Fantasy" for piano and orchestra written on suggestion and commission by Biegel by one of America's leading composers, Ellen Taaffee Zwilich.
The music is based on a folk song the composer heard from her grandmother. It became the basis for this musical fantasy for piano and orchestra.
The work required tremendous power and gentleness, unleashed emotion and quiet restraint, unbelievably rapid attack of the keys and the most sensitive touch. Biegel was up to the challenge.
Much of the music was dissonant, but not in an overbearing manner. The orchestra handled the musical mood shifts exceptionally well.
New works sometimes are viewed with reserve, but this audience responded with much appreciation. Knowing the work's demands on the piano, a tuner was on hand to "tweak" a few strings. When the touch-up was completed, the audience applauded the tuner and we were on to the next work, which, was Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.in E-fiat major.
This concerto is full of excitement and demands extreme energy and skill by the performer.
Though written as one continuous movement, the work appears to have the typical four movement symphonic form.
Biegel again displayed his power in the forte passages as well as his great dexterity in some very rapid passages. Shifting from very energetic to gentle moments in the music was no concern. Both were handled with great skill.
The audience gave Biegel a lengthy standing ovation for his excellent performance.
Following intermission, the orchestra concluded the evening with Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. One might see this work as a farewell to Beethoven and the transition to Brahms' "having arrived," though Brahms had been established as a renowned musician by the time this symphony was introduced in 1876. The first movement began with full orchestra and the solid beat of the time. The dynamic texture, accents and suspensions were performed well by the orchestra.
The second and third movements were much lighter, more graceful and gentle than the first and final movements. The second ended with solo violin and orchestra in a beautiful legato melody.
Unfortunately, the orchestra appeared to be a bit overpowering for the violin. The final movement, announced by solo horn, was full and rich in sound. The tempo established by Larsen was brisk, yet welcome and refreshing. It was indeed a great evening with the RSO.
Nat Bauer is music director at First Presbyterian Church in Belvidere.
New Work, Conductor Rare Treats
THE SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale)
By Lawrence A. Johnson
The penultimate week of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra concerts brought a breath of fresh air in this transitional, dysfunctional season. With a capable young conductor, a bright soloist and a revised program with a diverting mix of old and new, Tuesday's night's concert at the Broward Center gave us the most all-around satisfying Philharmonic performance of the season.
In a long and arduous program, the 27-year-old conductor Michael Christie elicited polished and impassioned playing from the Philharmonic. It was especially heartening (and rare) to hear the Philharmonic play a new and noteworthy piece such as the Millennium Fantasy by Ellen Taafe Zwilich with such conviction.
Commissioned by soloist Jeffrey Biegel and 27 orchestras with which Biegel is performing it, the local premiere of Millennium Fantasy shows why Zwilich, a Miami native, remains one of our most accomplished and consistently interesting composers.
Cast in two movements running about 20 minutes, the work is based on a folk theme the composer's grandmother would sing to her as a child. Zwilich expands and deconstructs the tune in an artful and ear-catching way, yet the theme is always apparent in its various guises.
The solo part begins with Prokofiev-like broken chords and syncopated piano writing, mercurial in its rapid shifts of meter and mood. In the second movement blue-notes Gershwin-esque flavor is palpable, with a drum set's off-the-best percussion adding bite and intensity.
Millennium Fantasy is a fine addition to the piano concertante canon. The accessible, tightly crafted work is characteristic of Zwilich in its graceful melding of solo virtuosity and colorful orchestral effects. Biegel's nervy pianism and virtuosic edge gave this work sterling advocacy, with refined full-tilt support by Christie and the orchestra.
Young Guest Conductor Shines In His Debut With Philharmonic
THE MIAMI HERALD
By James Roos
Many who most deeply value the Florida Philharmonic sometimes find it an orphan; at the moment it lacks a residential conductor who would offer t he audience a mutually enriching relationship. This should change reasonably soon. But some of the orchestra's recent guest conductors have been less than lustrous.
However, there was talent of a high order on the premises Saturday night at Gusman Center, with the debut of Michael Christie, a young American conductor; who-so impressed the organizers of the Colorado Festival two years ago, they hired him almost on the spot. I can understand why. I have only a cursory idea of the extent of his experience and repertory, but he seems a musician of tantalizing promise.
For one, he knows the difference between an excited conductor and one who makes music exciting. For another, he has fine feeling for the sweep of musical line, a keen ear for detail, seems a capable accompanist, and the Philharmonic played for him with enthusiasm, control and considerable precision. Dvorak's Carnival Overture crackled with fire and flair, and the composer's seldom-done Sixth Symphony was a home run with the bases loaded. It is as Bohemian as the Slavonic swirl of its furiant Scherzo, and was played with terrific ardor. Dvorak had written no symphony for five years when he began this one, which may explain why it has such a quality of release, as if the big scale delighted him.
Sandwiched between the Dvorak bookends came the Miami premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy" and Franck's Symphonic Variations, both with Jeffrey Biegel as fluent and eloquent piano soloist.
Zwilich begins with muted trumpets and faint cymbal rolls. Her bluesy orchestra, with musing woodwinds, is by turns plaintive and perky, the pianist a strong presence but in spurts of striding chords or gently cascading scales. The score alternates Gershwinesque sections with momentary but distinct echoes of Shostakovich, yet Zwilich manages to be herself - engrossing, audience-friendly.
Franck's Symphonic Variations was give noble breadth by Biegel and Christie, Biegel's breezy encore for fleet fingers depicted Hong Kong at rush hour and was by his late teacher, Abram Chasins ’Äî himself a student of the phenomenally dexterous Josef Hofmann.
LPO Adds Another Star To Its Crown
THE LAWTON CONSTITUTION Feb. 2002
By Charles Clark
ON THE SCENE
Maestra Miriam Burns pulled yet another rabbit out of her hat as she led Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra to another crowning achievement.
On Feb. 16 at McMahon Memorial Auditorium, Burns and the LPO were joined by pianist Jeffrey Biegel, of New York for the first half of the evening.
The program opened with Ellen Taeffe Zwilich's "Millennium Fantasy". Though many members of the orchestra were new, and younger, faces to the Lawton audience (there was a ballet in Oklahoma City that night which pulled away many of LPO's regular musicians) Burns had them in top form. Biegel displayed amazing skill at the piano. Though arriving just the day before (his first trip to Oklahoma), the Long Island native had only a couple of run-throughs with the orchestra before stepping on stage to a near full house. Though young in years, Biegel's performance showed the depth of his experienced and professionalism.
The Zwilich piece is one Biegel is particularly close to. It was composed for him by Zwilich, a Pulitzer Prize winner and the l999 Musica America Composer of the Year. Having premiered the work in September of 2000 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, he had most recently played it last week in Kenosha, Wis., where Burns was also conducting.
The audience's reaction was more cautious than usual. Perhaps they were simply stunned, not unlike someone experiencing "modern art~ for the first time. It struck me as worth listening to time and again to catch all the missed nuances.
Nothing was lost, however, the next selection, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". But, it, too, was something of a slightly different tune. This particular 17-minute version was the fully restored 1924 manuscript. So, the LPO audience was treated treated to two Oklahoma premieres in that concert. The standing ovation and encore bows offered Biegel showed this event was not wasted on the ever-growing classical music audience in southwest Oklahoma.
The rest of the evening belonged to Franz Schubert. His Symphony No. 9 in C Major, 'The Great", went from the joyful and lively first movement An dante, marching through the more somber Andante con moto and livelier Scherzo to the grand conclusion, Allegro vivace. LPO under Burns presented a worthy rendition, topping off a night of true artistry.
Orchestra Concert Was Exhilarating
THE KENOSHA NEWS
By Thomas Blankley
Awe inspiring, exhilarating are just two of many high-powered flatteries to bring this February's Kenosha Symphony Orchestra concert to life by mere words. A combination of the very new (2000), mid 20th Century (1953) and early l9th Century (1828) provided a most appreciative Reuther audience with an evening to cherish.
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millenium Fantasy For Piano & Orchestra opened the program, a premier for Kenosha. Zwilich's scoring is highly complex, ranging from single woodwinds to great orchestral power, always a bit restrained. The piano features considerable activity well below middle C, massive bass tremolos, and delicate single note melodic lines. At one point in the second movement, the orchestra seems enveloped in a musical wave.
This premier performance sounded as if soloist Jeffrey Biegel, Maestra Burns, and the orchestra were giving a 21st performance, not a first ’Äî a fitting tribute to the very high grade professionalism on the stage. One dearly wishes this Zwilich work to be recorded as soon as possible.
Leroy Anderson's Piano Concerto in C (1953) can be characterized as in a very late romantic genre, broad color strokes, gentle lyricism, rich strings, full orchestral majesty. At one point a melodic line passes through three sections; other times there are faint echoes of Franz Liszt. Some of the third movement could almost be set to a ballet.
Jeffrey Biegel is a truly gifted pianist, worthy of any major orchestra. Kenosha's Reuther audience was quite privileged to hear such virtuosity.
Franz Schubert's massive, mighty Ninth Symphony closed the program. Maestra Burns and the KS0 gave us a powerful, crisp interpretation. The trombone section had one of its finest hours and was duly recognized (with others) afterward. Principal bassoonist Cathy Ann Springob received this year's special award for her service to the orchestra. A biographical sketch showed her life to be an heroic triumph of the human spirit.
The evening could also be considered a triumph for women in general ’Äî a very talented woman conductor, an amazingly gifted woman composer, and a very fine orchestra comprised of over 20 women in the chairs.
Jinbo Shines in 20th Century Celebration
By DAVID HALL
Special to THE ELLSWORTH AMERICAN
THE ELLSWORTH AMERICAN November 2001
ORONO ’Äî Sunday afternoon, the Maine Center for the Arts was the scene for a program of contemporary and near-contemporary American music performed by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Jinbo. The music director of the famous Pierre Monteux School for conductors at Hancock, Jinbo is second of the five aspirants for the post of musical director of the Bangor orchestra.
Joining maestro Jinbo and the symphony for the first half of the program was tall, dark and handsome piano soloist, Jeffrey Biegel, who participated in the Maine premiere of "Millennium Fantasy" by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich along with a singular version of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." Mr. Jinbo had the orchestra to himself following intermission with Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and Three Dance Episodes from Leonard Bernstein's musical "On the Town." "Millennium Fantasy" composer Zwilich was the first of her gender to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music back in 1983. Since then she has taken her place among the foremost of a substantial phalanx of American women composers who have graced the creative musical scene over the past generation.
Her "Millennium Fantasy" is in two movements, the first being of a contemplative preludial nature with emphatic interjections from the piano soloist. The second is longer and more active with plenty of virtuosic action from the keyboard along with a lovely pastoral interlude. The whole is based on a folksong that Zwilich remembers from her grandmother called "Fair and Tender Ladies." To these ears it sounded suspiciously close to "Poor Wayfaring Strange" but at all events it made a lovely underpinning for the work as a whole in its cleverly varied transformations and glistening orchestral garb. It was interesting to note that instead of the usual timpani in the percussion department, Zwilich has made subtle use of a jazz drum set, along with quietly effective use of rolled cymbals. The music as a whole is firmly in the honorable American symphonic tradition represented by the likes of Aaron Copland, Morton Gould and William Schuman.
The score was commissioned for Jeffrey Biegel by a consortium of some twenty-seven American orchestras and had its first performance in September 2000 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The singularity of Biegel's reading of the familiar Gershwin "Rhapsody in Blue" stemmed from his use of a fully restored version of the original score, which he had premiered in 1997. Some fifty additional bars of solo piano material found their way into the Bangor performance, which added substantially to the scope and shape of the work as a whole. Biegel's performance was beautifully nuanced in both rubato elements and dynamics, and in general removed from the usual blockbuster approach. He and the orchestra (a ragged opening clarinet glissando notwithstanding) received rousing applause from the near-capacity audience. Aaron Copland's 1944 dance masterpiece for Martha Graham ’Äî "Appalachian Spring" ’Äî occupied most of the program's second half. Here we have magical writing for strings and woodwinds evocative of mountainous rural landscape, sharply contrasted with athletic Stravinskian rhythmic gesture, the whole being matched, if not transcended; by the famous Shaker hymn variations on "Simple Gifts." The piece is devilishly demanding in its demand for clarity of line and precise rhythms. Copland's lean and glistening orchestral texture leaves no margin for error.
Mr. Jinbo, poised and forthright, guided the players through the treacherous shoals and rapids of the piece, though the going got a bit dicey in the frenetic running staccato string figures associated with the Bride's solo dance. The upbeat nature of the program as a whole was emphasized in the closing sequence of Three Dance Episodes from "On the Town," Leonard Bernstein's hugely successful 1944 musical, with its sailor protagonists and their encounter with New York's Miss Turnstiles. Regrettably, the printed program failed to mention the titles of the Three Dance Episodes ("The Great Lover," "Lonely Town," "Times Square"), but Mr. Jinbo saved the day with delightful elucidation from the podium, including his recollections of the famous MGM film version with Gene Kelly.
The Bangor players really cut loose in the razzmatazz of the first number, caught nicely the poignant bluesiness of the second and gave their all in the closing "Times Square" with its fantasy on the "New York, New York" theme song. Hefty applause was the result, and Jinbo interrupted gracefully to express his pleasure in coming to know Bangor and its orchestra and to urge the utmost in community support.
Clearly the audience at the Maine Center for the Arts got immense enjoyment from this all American program and its spirited presentation. There is no doubt that Maestro Jinbo knows his stuff when it comes to 20th century musical fare. Should he get the nod for the next Bangor Symphony conductorship, it remains to be seen (or heard) how he does with Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.
Pittsburg (PA) TRIBUNE-REVIEW Monday, Oct. 9, 2000
WSO, Biegel Open Season on High Note
By Jeff Yoders
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel helped the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra open its 2000-01 season with a figurative bang Saturday and Sunday.
Biegel was the highlight of the opening concerts that featured a combination of classics and pops that Review showcased the diverse talents of the symphony's musicians. Conductor and Director Kypros Markou chose a program that included Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and Chopin's "Grande Polonaise," which not only showed the strengths of Biegel's piano work but also the WSO's own powerful brass and clarinet sections, instruments that could easily be missed in a mostly piano concert.
Biegel's work was stunning yesterday, from the deft movements of his overpowering left hand on "Grande Polonaise" to his interplay with the symphony on Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's "Millennium Fantasy." Biegel, 39, of Long Island, N.Y., is best known for his 1997 performance of the fully restored original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," and he did include some Gershwin in his encore performance. Biegel, who has studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, was most impressive playing Chopin's solo piece but he still towered over the WSO when playing with accompaniment.
As for the Biegel-less music, the Symphony showed much of the same fine form of last season. All the new members were right in line with concertmaster Warren Davidson's violin and principal trumpet David Anderson played well in the seat previously held by Steve Groba. The brass and percussion stood out particularly well on Ottorino Respighi's "The Pines of Rome," which takes the audience on a musical journey from the Villa Borghese to a spooky catacomb and finally to a march in the Appian Way. An interesting trick the WSO employed was putting the horn, trumpet and trombone players in the Palace's opera boxes to create the feel of a Roman street lined with horn-playing centurions. It was effective. The opera boxes could be a great place for this kind of focused music in future shows. Principal clarinet Marianne Hapeman also performed beautiful solos on "The Pines of Rome," particularly in the "The Pines of Janiculum," the third part of the piece. The WSO has been performing with some of the world's finest pianists for the past two seasons, but Biegel's performance was head and shoulders above all his contemporaries last weekend.
