Echoes: Music for Viola and Piano of the Americas

Composer/conductor José Sabre Marroquin studied with Rodolfo Halffter in Mexico City. In addition to his work as a conductor of ensembles of varying types, he composed in popular and classical idioms.  These two short works are typical of over 300 songs and short pieces he composed, many unpublished.

(Note by Laura Klugherz)

Manuel Ponce was perhaps the most acclaimed of early 20th c. Mexican nationalist composers. He studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico before continuing his studies (during the years of the Mexican Revolution) in Italy, Germany and Cuba. In the 1920’s he lived in Paris where he studied briefly with Paul Dukas, before returning to Mexico to teach theory and composition at the National Conservatory. Many of his works are based on Mexican traditional rhythms and harmonies. Jeunésse is an original work for violin and piano, composed during Ponce’s Paris years.

(Note by Laura Klugherz)

Dexter Morrill studied composition with Bill Russo, William Skelton, Leonard Ratner, Leland Smith, and Robert Palmer. In 1962 he received a Ford Foundation Fellowship for the Young Composer’s Program. His early performances featured his Concerto for Trumpet and Strings performed by the Syracuse and Baltimore Symphonies. Three Lyric Pieces, commissioned by Ruggerio Ricci, premiered at Lincoln Center (1970).

The next twenty years saw numerous performances of Morrill’s computer music. As guest researcher at IRCAM (1980) Morrill worked with trumpeters from the ensemble Inter-Contemporain to study musical phrasing (IRCAM papers). Perhaps his best-known work, Getz Variations, was composed for saxophonist Stan Getz.

Additionally, Morrill has authored two books, on the American String Quartet and the recordings of Woody Herman.

Composed for Laura Klugherz in 1994, Dance Bagatelles showcases her great skill and energy in the performance of Latin and other dance music. Though devoid of specific dance forms, the “bagatelles” evoke the motion of dance in tiny pieces. The musical gestures and sounds are equally important, inviting listeners to imagine their own ideas-some dream of another place, reveries on time past, or remembrances of dancing partners.  

(Note by Dexter Morrill)

Identity is at the center of Gabriela Lena Frank’s music. Born in Berkeley, California, to a mother of Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Ms. Frank explores her multicultural heritage through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bartók and Ginastera, Frank is a musical anthropologist who has traveled extensively throughout South America. Consequently, her compositions reflect Latin-American folklore and native musical styles, blended into a western classical framework.

Cinco Danzas de Chambí is Frank’s interpretation of five photographs by Amerindian photographer Martin Chambí. Chambí’s personal characteristics (remarkable artistic vision, unassuming nature, and ease in portraying diverse persons) as well as Ms. Frank’s deep interest in Native American culture are reflected in this work.  

(Adapted from notes by Gabriela Lena Frank)

In writing about Mrs. H.H.A. Beach’s Sonata, both her contemporaries and those who are rediscovering her music note two things in particular: the “scholarly” nature of her musical structures, and the muscular beauty of her lyrical themes. That these two features should come together in the Sonata is not at all surprising. As a composer Mrs. Beach was largely self taught. She learned her craft by studying scores and translating treatises by Berlioz (in particular, the classic Traite d’instrumentation et d’orchestration) and Gevaert on orchestration and instrumentation. While Mrs. Beach is primarily remembered for her songs - her catalogue includes 110 - she was the first American woman to compose a symphony. The Sonata was, in fact, written in six weeks, following the premiere of the Gaelic Symphony.

The Sonata for Violin (transcribed for viola by Roger Hannay) is a work in which equal attention is given to both the piano and the viola; the two are genuine partners. The work is written in a traditional four movement form. The piano opens the first movement, “Allegro moderato,” with an introduction of the first theme, setting a somber, reflective mood. When the theme is picked up by the viola, the mood brightens, but this optimism is subtly questioned by the repetition of the theme in the piano line. The viola opens the second theme which, while built on the descending pattern of the first theme, now has a lilting, song-like quality. The first theme returns in the piano towards the end of the development, introducing the darker mood which never again disappears entirely. In contrast, the Scherzo opens with a bright, playful theme. The two instruments appear engaged in a spirited game of tag. The trio provides a distinct contrast, with the piano introducing a chromatic theme against the sustained timbre of the viola line. Out of the sense of languor heard in the opening of the “Largo con dolore” there arises a presence that asserts itself in an ascending line and dramatic use of dynamics. There is a richness and strength about this movement, marked by the chromatic harmonies, viola double stops, and lush sonorities in the piano part. The Finale opens with a tempestuous and passionate presentation of the theme by the viola, reminiscent, rhythmically, of the opening theme of the first movement. The second theme provides an abrupt contrast in mood, recalling rhythmic patterns from the first theme but now presented in a lyrical setting. The development contains a marvelous fugue followed by a melodic interlude with a Wagnerian flavor. A brilliant final coda brings the work to a fervent and triumphant conclusion.

(Note by Martha Dietz)

Lauded by the New York Times as “dramatic, emotional and evocative,” Laura Klugherz, Professor of Music and Africana/Latin American Studies and founder/director of the Colgate Chamber Players, made her Carnegie Hall debut to rave reviews in June 1989 and performs internationally as a concertmaster, solo recitalist and chamber artist.

For many years she was first violinist of the Morrison String Quartet, and concertmaster/soloist with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Munich Bach Orchestra. A recipient of numerous prizes, among them the Midland-Odessa Young Artist Award, the San Jose Symphony Young Artist Award, the Premio Juan Morales of Madrid, and Juenge Kuenstler Award of Bavaria, she has also been a student Fulbright Scholar (Germany) and has received a Fulbright Post- Doctoral Award recipient (Spain). Critics have acclaimed Ms. Klugherz as an exciting performer of Spanish and Latin American music, both contemporary and traditional. She regularly commissions and premieres works of living Spanish and Latin American composers. Sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Fulbright Foundation, she is the author of Biographical Guide to Spanish Music for Violin and Viola 1900-97 (Greenwood Press).

Radio and television broadcasts include performances for the Bavarian State Radio, the South African Broadcasting Association, National Public Radio, live television performances with Menahem Pressler and Raphael Hillyer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, featured artist on WQXR’s (NY) “Listening Room” and she can be heard often on Syracuse’s WCNY, and NPR. As Cultural Specialist for the U.S. Information Service, and at the invitation of the Fundación Andes and the Fulbright Invited Professors program, she performed and taught extensively in Central and South America. With pianist Jill Timmons she has recorded on Centaur Records (The Violin and Viola Music of Amy Beach), and Capstone Records (Dexter Morrill, Music for Strings). Recently, the Amy Beach recording was named “one of the year’s ten best” by The Oregonian. An excerpt from the Beach recording was selected by Ken Burns as soundtrack in his PBS series “The War.”

In 2013, Centaur released Echoes (with pianist Steven Heyman), a recording of viola/piano works from Africa, Spain and the Americas commissioned and/or premiered by Laura Klugherz. This recording garnered a 2013 Sammy Award. As founder/director of the Chenango Summer MusicFest (1997-2009), and Retiro Curanilahue (Chile), Laura combined her interests in creative chamber music programming with world music and somatic education. From 2010-2016 she was acting guest violist with the Carlos Chavez String Quartet in Mexico City. During the 2022-23 season, she will perform violin and viola recitals and give masterclasses in California, Oregon, New York, Germany and Mexico, and complete a recording project of premiere Mexican viola works in Mexico City.

Laura holds an Artists’ Diploma from the Bayerische Hochschule für Musik in Munich, Germany and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Texas. As a specialist in movement modalities for performers, she is a registered Hatha Yoga teacher and a certified Feldenkrais instructor. Laura Klugherz is Professor of Music and Africana/Latin American Studies, and director of chamber music and strings at Colgate University.

Syracuse native and pianist Steven Heyman has appeared in solo recitals, chamber music concerts, and as concerto soloist throughout the United States, Canada, China, and Europe. He has appeared in London, Paris, Prague, Munich, Strasbourg, Vienna, Salzburg, Oslo, Montreal, Quebec, Beijing, Shenyang, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Washington, Salt Lake City, Juneau, Philadelphia, and New York, among others. In New York, he has appeared in Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, given recitals on WQXR, Columbia University, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and appeared as an invited artist for a Juilliard tribute to the late legendary artist/teacher Adele Marcus.

He received his education at the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Adele Marcus and at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Hans Graf. Mr. Heyman has won prizes in over a dozen national and international competitions. As a result of winning the Juilliard School’s Concerto Competition, he appeared with the Juilliard Orchestra in Lincoln Center. An active performer, he can be heard on nine commercial CD recordings. Two of these received SAMMY Awards, a Central New York area music award for excellence in recorded music. The first, on the Innova label, includes works written for and dedicated to Mr. Heyman, and the most recent SAMMY was given for Echoes, a work on the Centaur label, is a CD of new works for viola and piano recorded with Laura Klugherz. In addition, another CD (all Corigliano on the Black Box label) was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Chamber Music Performance, and this recording was also listed in BBC Magazine as their North American record of the month.

Very active in new music, he has been involved in dozens of premieres, including premieres throughout the U.S., and in Mexico, Europe and China. Several composers have written for and dedicated music to Mr. Heyman. He played with the Society for New Music for over 25 years and received a special tribute from this organization in 2008.  In the Central New York area, he has an active performing career including being the soloist with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra (Symphoria) 29 times over a 49 year period, most recently, in 2021, was featured in a performance of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor. Mr. Heyman is currently the Artist-in-Residence at Colgate University, where he frequently performs in solo recital, chamber music, and has appeared as soloist with the Colgate Orchestra twelve times. He is also an Associate Professor in Piano at Syracuse University and has been on the faculty for 34 years.  At Syracuse University, among dozens of concerts in Setnor Auditorium, he has performed multiple concertos with the SUSO, including a Beethoven Concerto under the baton of Leon Fleisher.  In the summer of 2007, Mr. Heyman gave concerts and classes in Beijing and Shenyang China. At the conclusion of a residency at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, he was appointed a Full Visiting Professor. At Colgate for this 2022-23 season, he is looking forward to playing a solo recital in January, and the Schumann Piano Concerto, with the CUSO in November. Mr. Heyman is a Steinway Artist.