An American Culinary Concert

Location: St. Luke's Episcopal Church · 99 Pierce St. · East Greenwich, RI

Date: June 7th at 6:00 pm

PAUL SCHOENFIELD (1947-    )   Cafe Music

Paul Schoenfield was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan in 1947, began his study of music at the age of six. Amazingly, his first composition came only a year later. He studied music at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the University of Arizona, studying piano primarily with Ozan Marsh and Rudolf Serkin and composition with Robert Muczynski. Since then, he has split his time between the midwestern United States and Israel.  Schoenfield has taught in Toledo, Ohio, lived on a kibbutz in Israel, and was a freelance composer and pianist in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. He and his family now divide their time between Israel and Cleveland, Ohio.

Paul Schoenfield about Cafe Music: "The idea to compose Café Music first came to me in 1985 after sitting in one night for the pianist at Murray's Restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Murray's employs a house trio which plays entertaining dinner music in a wide variety of styles. My intention was to write a kind of high-class dinner music -- music which could be played at a restaurant, but might also (just barely) find its way into a concert hall. The work draws on many of the types of music played by the trio at Murray's. For example, early 20th century American, Viennese, light classical, gypsy, and Broadway styles are all represented. A paraphrase of a beautiful Chassidic melody is incorporated in the second movement. Café Music was commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) and received its premiere during a SPCO chamber concert in January 1987." 

MORTON GOULD (1913-1996)   Benny’s Gig     

Born in Richmond Hill, New York in 1913, Gould was recognized early on as a child prodigy with the ability to improvise and compose. At the age of six he had his first composition published. Gould’s most important teachers were Abby Whiteside (piano) and Vincent Jones (composition).

Morton Gould was a prolific and versatile composer whose works throughout this century reflected the moods and outlook of this country in all its rough-and-tumble optimism. Like Gershwin, Copland, and Ives, Gould turned to the indigenous musical styles of the peoples of this country for inspiration--jazz, folk, hymns, spirituals, gospel, and Latin American music--and produces full-blown orchestral works that are immediately accessible and unmistakably American. Morton Gould wrote the first seven duos of Benny’s Gig in celebration of Benny Goodman’s 1962 Russian tour and the final movement in 1979 as a 70^th year birthday gift for Benny. They range in style from blues to calypso. (From the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts “About the Composer” series).

BILL DOUGLAS (1947-    )   Suite Cantando

Bill Douglas about Suite Cantando: This piece was commissioned by fifty-one clarinetists, bassoonists, and pianists in October, 2005. I completed it in March, 2006. The first, third, and fifth movements follow the basic jazz form: a theme, an improvisation on the chord progression of the theme, and a return to the theme with slight variations. In this case, the ‘improvisation’ sections are completely written out, but hopefully will sound as if they are being improvised.

The first movement was influenced by Brazilian and Cuban music (hence the combination of ‘Samba’ and the ‘Bata’ rhythms of Cuba in the title). The third movement is an F major blues, a tribute to the great jazz musician Miles Davis. The fifth movement combines a chord progression often played by jazz musicians with rhythms influenced by African music.
Although much of the music in this suite was influenced by jazz and world music, the players are instructed to sing expressively (‘Cantando’) throughout, as though they were playing Mozart or Bach.

COLE PORTER (1891-1964)   Begin the Beguine                       

Born in Peru, Indiana in 1891, Porter studied music from an early age, and began composing as a teenager. After high school he attended Yale University, where he was voted "most entertaining man." Though he went on to law school at Harvard University, his interest remained in music and he continued to write a number of his pieces that were used in Broadway musicals. Porter originally composed Begin the Beguine for a Broadway musical, entitled Jubilee, which premiered in 1935. It didn't become a hit though until the release of the best-selling record by the Artie Shaw Orchestra in 1938, which remains the song's most memorable version. 

Evan Price's arrangement for string quartet was written in 2005 for a commission by The Sun Quartet, a group which is in residence at California State University, Sacramento. By chance, the completion of the piece coincided with Artie Shaw's passing at the age of 94, so the arrangement is dedicated to him.