| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
|---|
| By Sorabji on Friday, January 2, 1998 - 05:32 pm: |
|
| By Jicotea on Friday, January 2, 1998 - 05:55 pm: |
|
| By Sorabji on Saturday, January 3, 1998 - 10:34 am: |
I'll have to collect my thought. Can only think about that guy once in a great while. |
| By C Berg on Tuesday, January 27, 1998 - 10:40 am: |
Yes, I wonder... |
| By Jicotea on Wednesday, January 28, 1998 - 06:22 pm: |
|
| By Sorabji on Wednesday, January 28, 1998 - 11:56 pm: |
I met Andrew one very rainy day at a subway station somewhere in Flushing, Queens. He was kind enough to give me several copies and tapes of his solo piano music, 2-piano music, and chamber music. I had then and still have the intention of performing at least one of these pieces. I am fuzzy now as to the details of his life, but when I met him he was living in a monestary in Queens, and I believe he had returned (not recently) to this country from a trip to Asia in which he spent some time exploring what were described to me as "mystical" religions. Again, though, this is based on recollections from phone conversations years ago, so I'm not ready to venture into any more detail except to say that Andrew was quite a charming guy when I met him that day. His music is obscure but known among pianists and other composers of today. Robert Helps I know to be familiar with Violette's music as well as with him personally; and Janice Webber performed some of his scores and is the dedicatee of at least one of his sonatas. It was Don Garvelmann who first described Andrew to me as "The Sorabji of Washington Heights." I suspect this description derives from the most obvious shared characteristic of those 2 composers' piano scores: Their massive complexity and, in some cases, tremendous duration. The 3rd Sonata from 1979 is in one movement and, in the recording I have with the composer playing it, over an hour long. The 6th Sonata (1985), dedicated to Janice Webber, is much swifter, sort of a perpetuum mobilé cross between the last movement of Chopin's 2nd Sonata and a Godowsky transcription combining 3 or 4 of Chopin's most difficult études into one piece of music for 2 very over-extended hands. (This description is only meant for anyone who has never heard or seen these scores.) The 5th Sonata is another vast work covering 51 pages and, to apply a quote from Isidor Philippe in his famous reference to Charles Alkan, reaching the utmost bounds in the art of piano playing. It is subtitled "Sonata in the form of a Cantata in five movements for piano - based on the American Folk Hymn, "What Wondrous Land is This?" Of the works by Andrew Violette with which I am familiar I would say that this is his finest. Written at the MacDowell Colony in 1984 it is, to me, everything American music from late in the 20th century should be. It contains heroic, boldly dissonant strokes of rich, reverberant sounds, genuinely spiritual choral passages, and it successfully explores styles of 20th Centrury music with strength and without sounding like a passive outsider mimicking the styles of other composers for his own use. The similarities to Sorabji carry further than simply tremendous duration and seemingly insurmountable difficulty, though Sorabji is, for all his inscrutability, basically an accessible composer to listen to (strictly in my opinion). Listening to Violette takes time, and a bottle of hard whisky, but it is rewarding music full of venom and sweetness. Having not visited this music in some time, I think I'll dig up the old tapes and give them another spin, and maybe when I have less of a headache I'll report my observations back here. |
|
http://www.users.interport.net/~cci/projects/solo_flights/archive.html (concert previously announced in CCi's newsletter http://www.users.interport.net/~cci/about_cci/newsletter-spring97.html) Let's see what more information I can turn up here... probably not much alas... an overture for piano was mentioned at http://www.axnet.it/slap/silenzio/h.html but that site seems no longer to exist. Ok... library hunt. Assuming the same Andrew Violette: his Amor dammi quel fazolettino was on an Opus One lp circa 1979 with many works by others. His 1974 "Piano Piece Two" was on a 1980 Opus One lp along with his 1976 "Black tea". A 1978 Opus One lp, in turn, had his 2piano sonata. He was (not to deny he may still be alive) also pianist on a number of others' recordings. Black Tea was performed by the Group for Contemporary Music during its 1978-9 17th season (see http://www.stokar.com/Deaver.htm ). I realize none of this gives the information desired, but hope some of it is useful to somebody. I will continue seeking the information requested meanwhile. |
|
Tickets are only $10. The number for the Merkin Box office is 212.501.3330, and I found this link http://www.culturefinder.com/calendar/event?id=151442&date_id=2055392. |
|
|
|
Tickets $10, Merkin Box Office 212 501 3330. It will be a memorable evening. |
tim violette |
http://www.staugustineparkslope.org/worship.html |
|
http://www.monmouthsymphony.com/soloists.html |
tim violette |
|
|
BTW Sorabji, I am happy to have found your site. |
|
Glad you were able to go. James |
|