KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Four Compositions by Mel Powell
Analog Audio
Event Type
MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
P.POW.MEL.01Program Length
23 minDates
| broadcast| 402 | created
Description
This recording of 4 compositions by Mel Powell include:EVENTS for tape recorder
Voices: Mildred Dunnock, Martha Scott, Lee Bowman
IMPROVISATION
Ward Davenny, piano; Keith Wilson, clarinet; David Schwarfz, viola
SECOND ELECTRONIC SETTING
TWO PRAYER SETTINGS
New York Chamber Soloists; Charles Bressler, tenor; Melvin Kaplan, conductor
MEL POWELL (b. 1923) is Chairman of the composition faculty and Director of the Electronic Music Studio at Yale. His music is characterized by a delicate lyricism that never descends to mere preciosity, and by a passion for clarity and immediacy that illumines even his most complex works.
EVENTS (1963) uses three pre-recorded voices and electronically-generated sounds. Each of the actors was asked to read Hart Crane's "Legend." The recorded voices were then treated exactly like the electronic sounds, and their overlappings and transformations result in a poem-collage. The simultaneities, and the returns and repeats of isolated phrases and words create a number of subsidiary meanings and associations, thus "interpreting" the poem. Intertwined with the poem-collage, and interacting with it, are the electronic sounds, and the interaction makes EVENTS Powell's most overtly dramatic piece.
IMPROVISATION (1962), a commission of the Yale University Summer School of Music, and TWO PRAYER SETTINGS (1963), written for the New York Chamber Soloists, make use of tightly controlled polyphonic webs which nevertheless allow each performer considerable freedom. The controls tend to create harmonic areas with clearly delimited interval content which often coincide with and unify motivic groups, as well control of the directional thrusts of the groups and their manner of attack. At times the tempo indication requires that each player perform as fast as possible without regard for the vertical correlation of the parts.
In IMPROVISATION the fluctuations of the tempo and the relatively complex writing in the strictly ensemble sections obscure the division between these and the freer sections, creating a continuum from one to the other.
In the TWO PRAYER SETTINGS, the strings are treated as a single polyphonic instrument and set against the oboe and the voice. The work is so rooted in the delivery of the texts that often they can be understood as normal discourse. Thus, the most complex passages occur when the voice is silent as, for example, at the opening of the second setting. The words of the first setting are by Paul Goodman, those of the second are attributed to Gregory the Great.
The SECOND ELECTRONIC SETTING (1962) contrasts sharply with EVENTS. Its divertimento-like surface and straight-forward structure make apparent the amazing technical virtuosity of the work. The individuality of the parts is made explicit by their own registral, timbral and rhythmic characteristics; thus the SETTING carries to the electronic medium some of Powell's attitudes towards instrumental music. However, like every true virtuoso performance, the piece can be enjoyed for its sheer engaging sound by listeners who do not care how it was put together.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters and its parent organization, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, are honorary societies with a distinguished membership of creative artists. They are chartered by an act of Congress and are devoted to the furtherance of the arts in the United States.
Through joint committees of selection, these societies every year award fifteen grants to young artists in recognition of distinction and promise. Four of these awards go annually to composers, in addition to the Marjorie Peabody Waite Award given every third year to an established composer of distinction.
In the spring an exhibition of the works of award winners in painting and sculpture is held at the Academy building. In 1956, it was decided to inaugurate a series of recordings with the similar purpose of calling attention to the works of award winners in music. This release, presented in collaboration with Composers Recordings, Inc. offers works by 1963 award winners, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Mel Powell.
This recording has been processed in Universal Stereo. For best results It should be played on stereophonic equipment, but it may also be played on modern monaural machines.
Genres
20th century classicalMusical Selections
Events, for tape recorder [text by Hart Crane] (1963) (6:45) -- Improvisation, for clarinet, piano, and viola (1962) (6:00) -- Electronic Setting No. 2 (1962) (4:45) -- Two Prayer Settings: Oh, Fainter Now [text by Paul Goodman] ; My World, My Only [text by Gregory the Great], for tenor, oboe, and string trio (1962) / Mel PowellPerformers
Mildred Dunnock, voice (Events)Martha Scott, voice (Events)
Lee Bowman, voice (Events)
Ward Davenny, piano (Improvisation)
Keith Wilson, clarinet (Improvisation)
David Schwartz, viola (Improvisation)
Charles Bressler, tenor (Two)
New York Chamber Soloists (Two)
Melvin Kaplan, conductor (Two)
Subjects
20th century classicalElectronic music
Trios (Piano, clarinet, viola)
Sacred songs (High voice) with instrumental ensemble