Arthur Berger - An Arthur Berger Retrospective (1988)

For over fifty years Arthur Berger's output consisted of sturdily crafted pieces that reflected the mixed lineage of Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Copland. Born in 1912 and raised in the Bronx, he first studied at City College and New York University, later at the Longy School of Music and at Harvard. Berger completed his formal education with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1941, two years after returning from study with Boulanger, Berger wrote his Quartet for Winds, a charmingly playful work that is among his best known. Virgil Thomson has called it "one of the most satisfactory pieces for wind in the whole modern repertory." The quartet is dedicated to Aaron Copland, with whom Berger has been long associated. Berger's Duo for Cello and Piano (1951), called "diatonic Webern" by Milton Babbitt, focuses on C major and shows a synthesis of traits from the Quartet for Winds: large melodic leaps, Baroque rhythm and counterpoint, and a dance-like lilt (found in the second movement of both works). The Trio for Guitar, Violin, and Piano (1972) is the most recent composition represented here. In it, two piano pitches are "prepared," meaning that, in this case, screws are inserted between the strings to give a more percussive sound. The trio is most striking for the discontinuity of its sound surface; pointillism has now become paramount. While formidable, it also yields glimpses of the spontaneity within Berger's art.

Tracklist

1. Duo No. 1 for Violin and Piano (14:03)

Joel Smirnoff, violin
Christopher Oldfather, piano

Quartet for Winds

2. I. Allegro moderato (3:21)
3. II. Andante (3:49)
4. III. Allegro vivace e leggermente (2:25)

Sheryl Henze, flute
Phyllis Lanini, oboe
Don Stewart, clarinet
Robert Wagner, bassoon
(members of the Boehm Quintette)

Duo for Cello and Piano

5. I. (4:32)
6. II. (6:27)

Joel Krosnick, cello
Gilbert Kalish, piano

7. Duo for Oboe and Clarinet (9:27)

Phyllis Lanini, oboe
Don Stewart, clarinet

8. Trio for Guitar, Violin and Piano (10:00)

Joel Smirnoff, violin
David Starobin, guitar
Gilbert Kalish, piano

New World 360-2