Files
Download Full Text (890 KB)
Publication Date
9-16-2007
Year of Release
2007
Note(s)
Ann Marie Bingham, clarinet
Leslie Petteys, piano
Reed Smith, violin
Program Notes
The Paris Conservatory has been renowned for excellence in woodwind pedagogy and performance since its founding in the late eighteenth century. Paul Jeanjean was a highly esteemed professor there who wrote a great number of clarinet technical studies and solo pieces. Arabesques is a graceful, highly embellished piece that has been a staple of the clarinet repertoire since it first was published in 1926.
Charles Villiers Stanford was born in Dublin, Ireland to English parents. His musical influences include the works of Brahms and Schumann as well as those of his teacher Carl Reinecke, and Irish folk music. He was a well-respected choral conductor and served as a professor of composition at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in London. Among his more prominent students were Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Aldridge Grainger. Stanford was a significant figure in the late nineteenth century revival of English music.
Like the clarinet sonatas of Brahms, Stanford's Sonata, Op. 129 is a true duo sonata with the piano and the clarinet sharing equal roles. It is lyrical and warm with complex rhythmic relationships frequently occurring between the two parts. The middle movement is particularly interesting. Caoine, pronounced "keen", is a Gaelic word meaning wail or lament. Both the clarinet and the piano exhibit the "keening" that is a tradition of Irish wakes.
Martin Rokeach is a professor of music at St. Mary's College of California in. San Francisco. He is an avid proponent of contemporary music and is one of the founders of Composers, Inc., San Francisco's new music concert series.
About can't wait, Rokeach says, "Did you ever feel so excited to do something you didn’t think you could wait, but you had to wait anyway? To my ear, this is the feeling that drives the piece."
can't wait was commissioned by the Music Teachers-' Association of California.
Ohio native Rick Sowash plays many roles comfortably. He is a storyteller, author, publisher and composer. He has worked in many other fields as well, including radio broadcasting, inn keeping and politics. His music is tuneful and accessible, making him a favorite with performers and audiences.
American Variations on a Belorussian Folksong, completed in 2005, is based on a tune called The Sun Already Shines. Sowash intends for the piece to represent the friendship that has evolved between Russia and America since the end of the cold war. The melody is treated with several American folk and dance traditions including the sentimental ballad and ragtime. The tune never completely loses its Russian character, however. This symbolizes the distinct flavors of the two cultures.
Note
Smith Recital Hall
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance
Recommended Citation
Bingham, Ann and Petteys, Leslie, "Marshall University Music Department Presents a Faculty Recital, Ann Marie Bingham, clarinet, and, Leslie Petteys, piano, Reed Smith, violin" (2007). All Performances. 872.
https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/872
