Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Earl Browne

1926-2002

In every profession, there is someone who is famous for being unknown. Earle Brown was one of them.

Earle Brown, a veteran of the original
post-war avant-garde of John Cage, Morton Feldman, Pierre Boulez,
Karlheinz Stockhausen, died last Tuesday at his home in Rye, New York.

Brown was born in Lunenburg,
Massachusetts, on December 26, 1926. He studied mathematics and
engineering at Northeastern University, and attended the Schillinger House School of Music for techniques of composition and orchestration which was based on the ideas of the New York mathematician, composer and musicologist, who
had influenced a range of
composers including George Gershwin.

      Brown has been a major force in
contemporary music since the early 1950's. His work at that time with new notations, scoring methods, and performance attitudes led to his development of graphic,
    improvisational, and "open-form" scores such as DECEMBER 1952 (from his
     collection of FOLIO), TWENTY-FIVE
PAGES (1953) for one to twenty-five pianos, as well as the later orchestral scores AVAILABLE FORMS I and II
(1961 and 1962).

After then he continued to develop his
"open-form" concepts and performance
techniques in new ways. Directly influenced by the visual arts in many ways, in particular by the works of Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock,
Brown's music is also
related to the work of Robert Rauschenberg in its conception and formulation, for example in its use of collage and juxtaposition. In the past, Brown had organized "sonic events" and performances of his own and other new music in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe, making clear through these performances some of the relationships between contemporary
music and visual art.

Brown has been composer-in-residence at the California Institute of the Arts,
the University of California at
Berkeley, the
Peabody Conservatory of Music (which
awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Music in 1970), Rotterdam Kunstichting, the Basel Conservatory of Music, Yale University, Indiana University, Bloomington, and at the
American Academy in Rome (1987), among other institutions. He received numerous awards and commissions both in this country and abroad. Some of
these were a Guggenheim Fellowship
and an American
Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letter Awards, the Brandeis
Creative Arts Award, grants from the National Endowment
for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, and commissions from Darmstadt, Paris, Zagreb, London, Rome, Saarbrucken and Venice, among others.

        Brown had also been guest
   composer-in-residence at the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals, at D.A.A.D. Berlin (70'-71'), served as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts Inter-Arts Program, and was a director of the Fromm Foundation at Harvard and has been the
   president of the American Music Center.

NYTIMES OBIT

Earle Brown Web Site

What's New

Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra Bows

Oliver Knussen at 50

Music for Chillin'

John Eaton's "...inasmuch" Debuts

Lincoln Center Festival
Surprises

Interview with Gloria Coates

Entering the 21st Century with
Kitty Brazelton
Frank Oteri

Henry Brant's Ice Field
Wins 2002 Pulitizer Prize

Julia Wolfe after minimalism

Philip Glass at 65
Jerry Bowles

An Interview with Steven R. Gerber

New Hall for Philadelphia

Deborah Kravetz

Interview with Poul Ruders

Our writers welcome your comments on their pieces. Send your witty bon mots tojbowles@sequenza21.com and we might even publish some of them here. And, don't forget--if you'd like to write for Sequenza21 (understanding that we have no money to pay you), send me a note. JB

Violin and String Quartet Composer: Morton Feldman Performer: Christina Fong, Karen Krummel, et al. Ensemble: Rangzen Quartet Listening to this epic 2-CD chamber work is like watching a large block of ice melt for nearly two hours--excruciating sameness, tantilizing variation, in equal measures. A labor of love by all involved and the kind of thing that only small, independent labels will do. Bravo OgreOgress Productions	Anake & Other Works Composer: Lyell Cresswell Performer: Daniel Bell, William Conway, et al. Nmc Records - #77 Compositions for solo instruments (other than the piano) rarely get recorded which is a shame because sometimes--as in this case--the results are spectacular. New Zealand-born British composer Cresswell's warm and passionate solo turns for the violin, cello, flute, and piano are given convincing readings by members of The Hebrides Ensemble.	Symphony 4 / Overture / Nympholept Composer: Arnold Bax Peformers Lloyd-Jones, Royal Scottish Nat'l Orch Naxos - #8555343 Not in Vaughn Williams or Arnold's class as a symphonist, Bax nonetheless has a highly invidual voice and offers tremendous pleasures for those who look for less traveled paths.	Silk Road Journeys Composer: Michio Mamiya, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, et al. Performer: Yo-Yo Ma Ensemble: Silk Road Ensemble Sony - #89782 Okay, so the guy is a one-man marketing machine, classical music's equivalent of Sting, but the music is nearly always honest and heartfelt and God knows modern classical music doesn't sell itself.
Turandot Suite Composer: Ferruccio Busoni Performers: Wong, Hong Kong Phil Orch Naxos - #8555373 Little-known suite that Busoni extracted from his incidental music to Gozzi's play, Turandot. Completed in 1905, and in eight descriptive sections, it is engaging late Romantic with hints of Straussian darkness. The Saraband and Cortege are from Busoni's better-known Doktor Faust.	Compositions for Piano (1920-1952) Composer: Stefan Wolpe: Performer: David Holzman, piano BRIDGE 9116 From the nice people at Bridge Records comes an invaluable look at an early and largely forgotten modernist just in time for the Wolpe Centenary (1902-2002) Pianist Holzman wins the uphill battle with such Wolpe knuckle-busters as the Sonata No. 1 "Stehende Musik" (1925), the aptly named Battle Piece (1943-47), The Good Spirit of a Right Cause (1942), Adagio. Gesang, weil ich etwas Teures verlassen muss (1920), Tango (1927), Waltz for Merle (1952), and Zemach Suite (1939)	The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Revenge from the Medieval Icelandic Edda Ensemble: Sequentia Marc Aurel Edition - #20016 Wagner's mother lode. Apocalyptic texts, atmospheric performances, bring to shattering life the age of the Vikings and the Valkyries when Gods and mortals jousted for the medieval soul. Thoughtful music for an age in which evil men once more live in caves and wreak havoc upon their fellow men.	Stephen Hough's English Piano Album Composer: Alan Rawsthorne, Stephen Reynolds, et al. Performer: Stephen Hough Hyperion - #67267 Stephen Hough is among the most talented pianists today and also one of the most adventuresome. Rather than concentrating on the surefire crowd pleasers, he has followed his own tastes which have taken him down a less traditional path. His focus on neglected works by less-known composers is never less than rewarding and particularly so in this CD which showcases virtuoso piano pieces from English composers like Alan Rawsthorne and Stephen Reynolds as well as Elgar and Bridge. A delight from start to finish.
Speaking Extravagantly Composer: David Stock Performer(s): Cuarteto Latinoamericano innova 563 Stock blends influences from Ives to minimalism, from Bartok to jazz, and from synagogue music to Schoenberg into a fresh and imaginative style of dramatic sweep and lyrical flight. His close collaboration with Cuarteto Latinoamericano, one of the world’s outstanding chamber ensembles, has produced a recording of great emotional power and driving rhythm, with blazing colors and a wide dynamic and expressive range.	The Epic of Gilgamesh Composer: Bohuslav Martinu Conductor: Zdenek Kosler Performer: Ludek Vele, Stefan Margita, et al. Naxos - #8555138 Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in what is now modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C. Many stories and myths were written about Gilgamesh, some of which were written down about 2000 B.C. in the Sumerian language on clay tablets in the script known as cuneiform and which still survive, providing continuing inspiration for writers and poet and musicians. One of the most inspired of these was Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, who wrote this magnificent choral masterpiece based on the legend in 1955--only a couple of years before his death. Like virtually everything Martinu wrote, this one is indispensible.	Concertos for Two Pianos Composer: Bohuslav Martinu, Alfred Schnittke Conductor: Eiji Oue Performer: Kathrin Rabus Cpo Records - #999804 An inspired pairing of works for two pianos by two of modern music's real giants. Martinu's concerto is big, sprawling and filled with musical color; Schnittke's is restrained with tensions that build into moments of momentous relief. Taken together, a testimony to the power of the imaginative to produce different, yet equally compelling, solutions to the same problems.	Symphony No. 9 Composer: Hans Henze Performer: NYPhilharmonic Berlin Radio Choir No record can quite capture the excitement of a live performance, but having been there the night the Henze 9th was recorded, I can testify that this CD comes very close to capturing the epic, shattering, passionate, heartbreaking pain of this incredible work. The Philharmonic plays magnificently, and the Berlin Radio Choir sings with total commitment this setting of seven harrowing poems by Hans-Ulrich Treichel, based on Anna Seghers's wartime novel "The Seventh Cross," about the re-capture and martyrdom by crucifixion of seven concentration camp escapees. No one who listens to this work will ever forget it.

Violin and String Quartet
Composer: Morton Feldman
Performer: Christina Fong, Karen Krummel, et al.
Ensemble: Rangzen Quartet
Listening to this epic 2-CD chamber work is like watching a large block of ice melt for nearly two hours--excruciating sameness, tantilizing variation, in equal measures. A labor of love by all involved and the kind of thing that only small, independent labels will do. Bravo
OgreOgress Productions

Anake & Other Works
Composer: Lyell Cresswell
Performer: Daniel Bell, William Conway, et al.
Nmc Records - #77
Compositions for solo instruments (other than the piano) rarely get recorded which is a shame because sometimes--as in this case--the results are spectacular. New Zealand-born British composer Cresswell's warm and passionate solo turns for the violin, cello, flute, and piano are given convincing readings by members of The Hebrides Ensemble.

Symphony 4 / Overture / Nympholept
Composer: Arnold Bax
Peformers Lloyd-Jones, Royal Scottish Nat'l Orch
Naxos - #8555343
Not in Vaughn Williams or Arnold's class as a symphonist, Bax nonetheless has a highly invidual voice and offers tremendous pleasures for those who look for less traveled paths.

Silk Road Journeys
Composer: Michio Mamiya, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, et al.
Performer: Yo-Yo Ma
Ensemble: Silk Road Ensemble
Sony - #89782 Okay, so the guy is a one-man marketing machine, classical music's equivalent of Sting, but the music is nearly always honest and heartfelt and God knows modern classical music doesn't sell itself.

Turandot Suite
Composer: Ferruccio Busoni
Performers: Wong, Hong Kong Phil Orch
Naxos - #8555373
Little-known suite that Busoni extracted from his incidental music to Gozzi's play, Turandot. Completed in 1905, and in eight descriptive sections, it is engaging late Romantic with hints of Straussian darkness. The Saraband and Cortege are from Busoni's better-known Doktor Faust.

Compositions for Piano (1920-1952)
Composer: Stefan Wolpe: Performer: David Holzman, piano BRIDGE 9116
From the nice people at Bridge Records comes an invaluable look at an early and largely forgotten modernist just in time for the Wolpe Centenary (1902-2002)

Pianist Holzman wins the uphill battle with such Wolpe knuckle-busters as the Sonata No. 1 "Stehende Musik" (1925), the aptly named
Battle Piece (1943-47),
The Good Spirit of a Right Cause (1942), Adagio. Gesang, weil ich etwas Teures verlassen muss (1920), Tango (1927),
Waltz for Merle (1952), and
Zemach Suite (1939)

The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Revenge from the Medieval Icelandic Edda
Ensemble: Sequentia
Marc Aurel Edition - #20016
Wagner's mother lode. Apocalyptic texts, atmospheric performances, bring to shattering life the age of the Vikings and the Valkyries when Gods and mortals jousted for the medieval soul. Thoughtful music for an age in which evil men once more live in caves and wreak havoc upon their fellow men.

Stephen Hough's English Piano Album
Composer: Alan Rawsthorne, Stephen Reynolds, et al.
Performer: Stephen Hough
Hyperion - #67267
Stephen Hough is among the most talented pianists today and also one of the most adventuresome. Rather than concentrating on the surefire crowd pleasers, he has followed his own tastes which have taken him down a less traditional path. His focus on neglected works by less-known composers is never less than rewarding and particularly so in this CD which showcases virtuoso piano pieces from English composers like Alan Rawsthorne and Stephen Reynolds as well as Elgar and Bridge. A delight from start to finish.

Speaking Extravagantly
Composer: David Stock
Performer(s): Cuarteto Latinoamericano
innova 563
Stock blends influences from Ives to minimalism, from Bartok to jazz, and from synagogue music to Schoenberg into a fresh and imaginative style of dramatic sweep and lyrical flight. His close collaboration with Cuarteto Latinoamericano, one of the world’s outstanding chamber ensembles, has produced a recording of great emotional power and driving rhythm, with blazing colors and a wide dynamic and expressive range.

The Epic of Gilgamesh
Composer: Bohuslav Martinu
Conductor: Zdenek Kosler
Performer: Ludek Vele, Stefan Margita, et al.
Naxos - #8555138
Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in what is now modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C. Many stories and myths were written about Gilgamesh, some of which were written down about 2000 B.C. in the Sumerian language on clay tablets in the script known as cuneiform and which still survive, providing continuing inspiration for writers and poet and musicians. One of the most inspired of these was Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, who wrote this magnificent choral masterpiece based on the legend in 1955--only a couple of years before his death. Like virtually everything Martinu wrote, this one is indispensible.

Concertos for Two Pianos
Composer: Bohuslav Martinu, Alfred Schnittke
Conductor: Eiji Oue
Performer: Kathrin Rabus
Cpo Records - #999804
An inspired pairing of works for two pianos by two of modern music's real giants. Martinu's concerto is big, sprawling and filled with musical color; Schnittke's is restrained with tensions that build into moments of momentous relief. Taken together, a testimony to the power of the imaginative to produce different, yet equally compelling, solutions to the same problems.

Symphony No. 9
Composer: Hans Henze
Performer: NYPhilharmonic
Berlin Radio Choir
No record can quite capture the excitement of a live performance, but having been there the night the Henze 9th was recorded, I can testify that this CD comes very close to capturing the epic, shattering, passionate, heartbreaking pain of this incredible work. The Philharmonic plays magnificently, and the Berlin Radio Choir sings with total commitment this setting of seven harrowing poems by Hans-Ulrich Treichel, based on Anna Seghers's wartime novel "The Seventh Cross," about the re-capture and martyrdom by crucifixion of seven concentration camp escapees. No one who listens to this work will ever forget it.