Piano Music of North America (Canada & the USA)

[fhimpsl]

It's been some time since we've had a posting of classical piano from the USA. Here is an interesting set of four preludes by one Harrison Kerr (don't know anything about him). Enjoy!

Frank

Kerr, Harrison - Four Preludes for Piano.pdf

[fredbucket]

It's been some time since we've had a posting of classical piano from the USA. Here is an interesting set of four preludes by one Harrison Kerr (don't know anything about him).

Grove knows about him...

Kerr, Harrison

(b Cleveland, 13 Oct 1897; d Norman, OK, 15 Aug 1978). American composer and educationist. His principal studies were with James H. Rogers in Cleveland and with Boulanger in Paris (1921). He returned to the USA in 1921 to begin a long career as a teacher and administrator: first in Cleveland, then briefly at Greenbrier College, West Virginia, and subsequently at the Chase School, Brooklyn, where he remained from 1928 until after World War II. It was there that he became active in several interrelated organizations, among them the ACA and the AMC. He served as executive secretary for both of these as well as serving on the editorial boards of the New Music Edition and New Music Quarterly Recordings. During the immediate postwar years he spent much time abroad as chief of the Music, Art and Exhibits Section of the Army Civil Affairs Division; he was then also a member of the music panel for UNESCO. From 1949 until his retirement in 1968 he was professor of music and composer-in-residence at the University of Oklahoma; he was also dean of the university’s College of Fine Arts until 1959. Despite these many activities he composed a wide variety of scores, chiefly during the periods 1935–40 and after 1950. His most extensive work is an opera, The Tower of Kel (1958–60), from which he extracted material for several smaller compositions. In general, Kerr’s musical language combines linear chromaticism, vertical dissonances built largely from triads and perfect intervals, and strong rhythms with a feeling for classical form and gesture.

(The four preludes above date from 1943)

Regards
Fred

[mballan]

John Powell (1882 - 1963) was an American pianist, ethnomusicologist and composer [but not a nice man owing to his racist tendencies]!! Piano works include:

Op 16 In the South
At the fair (1907)
Op 20 Variations
Op 21 Sonata Noble (1907-8)
Op 24 Sonata Teutonica
Rhapsodie Nègre for piano and orchestra

At the Fair

Powell J - At The Fair.pdf

Op 20 Variations

Powell J - Op 20 Variations.pdf

Malcolm & Mr P

[fleubis]

It's been some time since we've had a posting of classical piano from the USA. Here is an interesting set of four preludes by one Harrison Kerr (don't know anything about him). Enjoy!

Frank

Kerr, Harrison - Four Preludes for Piano.pdf

Frank thank you for the most pleasant surprise of the Kerr preludes. I like his clearly stated ideas and find his harmony reminiscent of Dello-Joio, IMHO. Great fun to play these pieces.

[fhimpsl]

courtesy of wikipedia:

Eastwood Lane (May 22, 1879 - January 22, 1951) was an American composer who wrote piano suites and ballet music.

Eastwood Lane was born in Brewerton, New York.

His compositions for piano include In Sleepy Hollow (1913), Five American Dances (1919), Adirondack Sketches (1922), Mongoliana (1922), Eastern Seas (1925), Sold Down the River (1928), Pantomimes (1933), Fourth of July (1935), Here Are Ladies (1944), Jesuit's Journey (1947), Central Park, Colonial Suite, Knee-High to a Grasshopper. Three of his pieces, "Sea Burial", "Persimmon Pucker", and "Minuet for Betty Schuyler", were arranged by Ferde Grofe for the orchestra of Paul Whiteman.

Lane's most popular piano suite is Adirondack Sketches. The titles of its six pieces are "The Old Guide's Story", "The Legend of Lonesome Lake", "Down Stream", "The Land of the Loon", "A Dirge for Jo Indian", and "Lumber-Jack Dance". These pieces had an influence on jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke's piano compositions.

Lane, Eastwood - Adirondack Sketches.pdf

Lane, Eastwood - Sold Down The River.pdf

[fredbucket]

courtesy of wikipedia:

A bit more from Grove:

Lane, (Sidney) Eastwood

(b Brewerton, NY, 22 Nov 1879; d Central Square, NY, 22 Jan 1951). American composer. He studied Belles Lettres at Syracuse University, a course that included a weekly class in music, but did not complete the degree. In 1910 Alexander Russell, whom he had met at Syracuse, became the concert director of the Wanamaker Auditorium, New York, and invited Lane to work as his assistant. Lane married Modena Scovill, a professor of music theory at New York University in 1933. He retired in 1935 but continued composing.

Largely self-taught, Lane familiarized himself with the works of MacDowell, Debussy and others from piano rolls played on an Ampico player piano. He regarded composition as a hobby and showed little interest in compositional theory. He found the process of notating a work an agonizing chore and would customarily commit entire pieces to memory before writing them down. His compositions, primarily for solo piano, reflect a profound interest in American legends, folk music and literature. Occasionally the influences of Asian and medieval music are also present. Although strongly influenced by MacDowell’s style, Lane employed a rich harmonic language that was all his own. A resourceful and idiosyncratic treatment of thematic material is also characteristic of his work.

Regards
Fred

[Duirton]

Hello all,

anybody have the manuscript of the "Sonata Sauvage" of G. Antheil...?
Ask this because I've noticed any little difference of notes between the Schirmer edition and the many records (all the records) of this (begin 2nd movement, and not only)


Thanks
Duirton

[remy]

Does anyone have the scores of these pieces by Charles Tomlinson Griffes?

Piano Piece in Bb Major (1915?) A.66

De Profundis in G Minor (1915) A.78

Thanks very much.

jeremy

[fredbucket]

Does anyone have the scores of these pieces by Charles Tomlinson Griffes?

One, but not the other.

Griffes - De Profundis (1915).pdf

Regards
Fred

[remy]

Thanks very much for De Profundis, Fred.

jeremy