Americans in Rome: Music by Fellows of the American Academy in Rome

Americans in Rome: Music by Fellows of the American Academy in Rome
Donald Berman, Artistic Director

DISC A
Vocal Music
Robert Beaser: Four Dickinson Songs (2002)
Hila Plitman, soprano; Donald Berman, piano
Samuel Barber: In the Dark Pinewood (1937), Beggar's Song (1936), Of That So Sweet Imprisonment (1935), Sleep Now (1936)
Randall Thomson: Siciliano (1978)
Ezra Laderman: Songs from Michelangelo No. 1 (1967)
Derek Bermel: Spider Love (1999)
Jack Beeson: Prescription for Living, 1978;
Charles Naginski: Look Down, Fair Moon (1940)
Leo Sowerby:  The Forest of the Dead Trees (1920)
David Rakowski: For Wittgenstein (1996)
Vittorio Giannini: There Were Two Swans (1943)
Scott Lindroth: The Dolphins (1995)
Susan Narucki, soprano; Chris Pedro Trakas, baritone
Donald Berman, piano
Roger Sessions: Two Tableaux and Malinche's Aria from Montezuma(1964)
Arr. By Richard Aldag, Susan Narucki, soprano
Chamber Ensemble, Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor
Elliott Carter: Warble for Lilac Time (1943/1979),
Voyage (1943/1979)
Tony Arnold, soprano
Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra
Scott Yoo, conductor.

DISC B
Music for Strings and Piano
Aaron Jay Kernis: Mozart en Route (1991)
Ida Kavafian, violin; Steven Tenenbom, viola
Peter Wiley, cello
Paul Moravec: Passacaglia (2003)
Trio Solisti: Maria Bachmann, violin
Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; Jon Klibonoff, piano
Arthur Levering: Tesserae (2000)
Jonathan Bagg, viola; Donald Berman, piano
John Anthony Lennon: Sirens (1992)
Trio Solisti
Alexander Lang Steinert: Violin Sonata (1929)
Sunghae Anna Lim, violin; Donald Berman, piano
Martin Bresnick:  Three Intermezzi (1971)
Ole Akahoshi, cello
Stephen Hartke: Beyond Words (2002)
Opus One Piano Quartet: Ida Kavafian, vln.
Steven Tenenbom, viola; Peter Wiley, cello
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano

DISC C
Music for Piano Solo
Lukas Foss: Fantasy Rondo (1944)
Kamran Ince: My Friend Mozart (1987)
George Rochberg: Bagatelles (1952)
Walter Helfer: Nocturne (1927)
Tamar Diesendruck: Sound Reasoning in the Tower of Babel (1990)
Hunter Johnson: Piano Sonata (1936)
Mark Wingate: Sombras (1995)
Billy Jim Layton: Three Studies for Piano, Op. 5 (1957)
Loren Rush: Oh, Susanna (1970)
Donald Berman, piano

DISC D
Music for Winds and Piano
Yehudi Wyner: Commedia (2002)
Richard Stoltzman, clarinet; Yehudi Wyner, piano
David Lang: Vent (1990)
Patti Monson, flute; Donald Berman, piano
Andrew Imbrie: Dandelion Wine (1967)
Collage Music Ensemble, David Hoose, conductor
Lee Hyla:  Pre-Amnesia (1979),
Mythic Birds of Saugerties (1985)
Tim Smith, Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
Bun-Ching Lam   - (solo) = (duo) (1977)
Patti Monson, flute
James Mobberley: Beams (1986)
John Leisenring, trombone,  with tape
Howard Hanson: Pastorale for Oboe and Piano (1949)
Laura Ahlbeck, oboe; Donald Berman, piano
Harold Shapero: Six for Five Wind Quintet (1995)
The Curiously Strong Wind Quintet

BRIDGE 9271A/D 

mp3 sample

“Since 1921, the American Academy in Rome has offered annual residencies to American composers at formative stages of their careers. Thirty-seven of them are represented in this four-disc set, lavishly annotated and with high standards of performance and recording. On a solo piano disc, the artistic director of the project, Donald Berman, shows great stylistic flexibility, both between pieces and within Tamar Diesendruck’s multifarious Sound Reasoning in the Tower of Babel.

The other discs feature voices, strings and winds. Among the highlights are a tantalizing fragment (in a chamber arrangement) from Roger Sessions’s operatic masterwork Montezuma, Elliott Carter’s luminous orchestrations of two early songs, Stephen Hartke’s piano quartet Beyond Words (a restrained Tallis-based meditation on 9/11) and David Lang’s coruscating Vent for flute and piano. But if you have even a passing interest in 20th-century music, you’ll want to explore this rich seam of American musical history and choose your own favourites.”

-Anthony Burton in BBC Music Magazine January 2009

This four disc collection contains works by thirty-seven composers who were all in residence at the American Academy in Rome.  The earliest work dates from 1920, the most recent from 2003.  Composers include the well known: Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter, and Roger Sessions; the largely forgotten: Charles Naginski, Alexander Lang Steinert, Walter Helfer; and many of today's most active voices: Robert Beaser, David Rakowski, Aaron Jay Kernis, Paul Moravec, Stephen Hartke,  and David Lang.  Curated by Donald Berman, the disc features  performances by many of today's leading performers of contemporary music, including  Richard Stoltzman, Yehudi Wyner, Susan Narucki, Tony Arnold, Fred Sherry, Daniel Druckman, Curtis Macomber, Trio Solisti, Ida Kavafian, Scott Yoo, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, Anne-Marie McDermott, Hila Plitman, Chris Pedro Trakas, and Jeffrey Milarsky.