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TR593
Extravaganza for Saxophone and Orchestra
Debra Richtmeyer, Alto and Soprano Saxophones
Slovak Radio Orchestra
Kirk Trevor, conductor
Richard Strauss
Concerto in D Major for Oboe and Small Orchestra, AV 144
David Ott
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra
Alexander Glazunov
Concerto in E flat Major for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra, Op. 109
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Concerto in D Major for Oboe and Small Orchestra, AV 144
(transcribed for Soprano Saxophone by Debra Richtmeyer)
With the success of the opera Salome, premiered at Dresden on December 9, 1905, Richard Strauss without question became the world's most famous living composer. With the fame came controversy as well as wealth. Kaiser Wilhelm remarked at the time: “I really like this fellow Strauss, but Salome will do him a lot of damage.” In his Recollections and Reflections published in the year of his death, Strauss dryly retorted: “The damage enabled me to build the villa in Garmisch.”
Garmisch is a village in the shadow of Bavarian Alps that rise to more than 9,000 feet above sea level. As the crow flies, it is about fifty miles southwest of Munich and just a little more than twenty miles from Innsbruck, Austria. Garmisch was a setting which Strauss found conducive to an idyllic family life and the quietude he needed to compose. Today, the villa is a museum maintained as it was by the composer during his happiest years there, the 1920s and `30s.
As World War II progressed, the quietude of Garmisch turned to isolation and, eventually, the Strauss household shared the deprivation experienced by all of war-torn Europe. By the winter of 1944-5, the Strausses had little fuel or food. On the morning of April 30, 1945, just hours before VE Day, the war came directly to Strauss' doorstep when American tanks appeared in the meadow adjacent to his villa where today grows a mature stand of trees. By 11:00 a.m., soldiers arriving by jeep ordered the villa's occupants to leave within fifteen minutes because the U.S. Army was commandeering it and other large residences in the area for its own use. Strauss dressed and went outside to the jeep and said in English: “I am Richard Strauss, the composer of Rosenkavalier and Salome.” Providentially, sitting in the jeep was a Major Kramer, a music lover who at once ordered his men to show respect to this German and his family. Before nightfall, the villa was protected from any further requisition attempts by a U.S. Army “Off Limits” sign. Thus, Salome not only built the villa, but also saved it for the Strausses.
That spring and summer, a number of American soldiers came to the Strauss villa to meet the famous man, although a number of them thought Strauss to be the composer of The Blue Danube. One American soldier who came fully appreciated the composer's gift, John De Lancie, who had been an oboist in the Pittsburgh Symphony prior to joining the army in 1942. After the war, De Lancie would become the principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and, in 1977, Director of Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. The American and the composer spent many hours in conversation, in French (Strauss spoke little English), and one evening De Lancie asked Strauss if he ever considered composing something for oboe. Strauss gave the one word reply, “No,” and De Lancie let the subject drop there. Soon, De Lancie had moved on, but Strauss began thinking the matter over and started sketching. By September 14, 1945, he had completed his Oboe Concerto in short score.
Fearing a coming winter at Garmisch with more deprivation than the previous one, Strauss sought permission from American and Swiss authorities for his family to go to Switzerland. Only Strauss and his wife were allowed to go. The children and grandchildren had to remain in Garmisch. On October 11, 1945, the composer and his wife arrived at Baden-bei-Zürich, staying at the Hotel Verenahof. In his diary that evening, Strauss entered “…this is heaven.” Although the luster of expatriate life soon wore off, within two weeks the Oboe Concerto was completed. Its premiere occurred February 26, 1946 in Zürich in a performance by its dedicatees, the Tonhalle Orchestra with Volkmar Andrae conducting and Marcel Saillet as soloist.
Although Strauss' autograph score carries the heading “Oboe Concerto 1945/suggested by an American soldier/oboist from Chicago,” John De Lancie did not have an opportunity to perform the work publicly until the summer of 1964 when he did so with the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy conducting at Interlochen (Michigan). This Oboe Concerto is in three movements for a modest accompanying ensemble of pairs of flutes, clarinets, bassoons and horns, plus an English Horn and the customary strings. The piece is as approachable to audiences as just about anything Strauss ever composed, but right out of the box it requires almost superhuman capabilities from the soloist. After two introductory wisps from the cellos, the soloist has a fifty-seven bar solo without so much as a 16th rest in which to take a breath. The melodic line is sinuous, thoroughly romantic and extraordinarily vocal in manner. The middle Andante is much like, but more emotive than, the opening Allegro. Again, the endurance of the soloist is immediately challenged with a slower, thirty-three-bar unbroken cantilena. An elaborate cadenza leads directly to a spirited, concluding rondo which American musicologist Michael Steinberg recently described as “gracefully nostalgic for the eighteenth century.”
Debra Richtmeyer transcribed this concerto for soprano saxophone solo at the suggestion of Maestro Kirk Trevor. The two premiered the transcription with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra at Zlin in the Czech Republic in November 1996. On a subsequent occasion, Ms. Richtmeyer commented to me: The transcription was quite easy to do, since the soprano saxophone and oboe have nearly identical playing ranges. Because the oboe part had to be transposed up a full step (the soprano saxophone is in B flat compared to the oboe which is in C), the concerto's range is slightly above the normal range for soprano saxophone, which results in increased difficulty for the saxophonist. In contrast, the saxophone in general has a larger dynamic range and [greater] ease of playing long phrases than the oboe.
David Ott (b. 1947)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra
The commission for this work was extended by the Knoxville Symphony Society immediately after the popular and critical reception of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's premiere in January 1986 of David Ott's Water Garden, which the Society had commissioned to commemorate two milestones — the inaugural season of Kirk Trevor as Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and the beginning of the second fifty years of existence of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. The following season gave rise to the celebration of yet another benchmark for the Society — its fifth annual series of subscription concerts for the Knoxville Chamber Orchestra. Kirk Trevor and the Society had already engaged Debra Richtmeyer as soloist for the concluding concert in the upcoming 1986-'87 chamber orchestra series. Soon after the Water Garden premiere, the dots were connected and David Ott was at work on his second commission from the Society, the present Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra composed specifically for Debra Richtmeyer.
The premiere occurred at Knoxville's historic Bijou Theatre on April 11, 1987, and for that occasion the composer graciously provided the following commentary: The saxophone, long overlooked by composers, presents a most unique instrument for a concerto. Its special blend of brass construction and reed tone production gives a wonderful haunting timbre, a wide dynamic range and extremely facile capabilities. Within the Concerto I have consciously sought to explore these features.
The first movement is constructed in an arch form, the outer portions of the movement being similar in content while the middle section reaches climatic proportions. The opening theme begins with the saxophone playing the simplest of motives: three descending chromatic pitches followed by a flourish of arpeggiated pitches. This is set over the middle and low strings which play an ostinato of broken triads in constant eighth notes setting up a hypnotic tension. At successive restatements the theme undergoes rhythmic contractions, propelling the music forward. A very lyric, though somewhat bitter sweet, melody dominates the central section. Though the saxophone fairly floats above the orchestra at its inception, turmoil unfolds leading to thunderous proportions with the soloist pitted in open combat with the entire orchestra. The opening theme returns, though abbreviated, to end the movement.
The second movement is more dolce, or sweet-like in its mood. It is gentle and reflective, never reaching loud proportions.
The finale is a fiery movement built on rapidly ascending scales. It moves along with strong rhythmic force while shifting accents create a sense of surprise. Though the rhythm propels the motion ahead, a sense of suspended animation is provided by rather static harmonic and melodic motion, setting up an interesting interplay of elements. The Concerto closes on an optimistic tone utilizing Pan-American rhythms and fast solo flourishes.
The orchestral accompaniment calls for two flutes (one doubling piccolo, and one doubling alto flute), two oboes (one doubling English horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, one each of trumpet and trombone, timpani, a batterie of percussion, piano, harp and the customary strings.
A review of the premiere appearing in The Knoxville Journal asserted that the performance “gave birth to a work that is certain to have a long and prosperous life...its future...as secure as any silver spoon could guarantee.” The first movement, the review continued, was filled with “drama, mystery and energy,” the second with “gorgeous lyricism.” The Knoxville News-Sentinel was equally prescient by predicting that the concerto “could well become one of the standard works in [the] repertory.”
So immediately committed to this piece, Debra Richtmeyer asked the composer to rescore the accompaniment for concert band for her performance with the U.S. Navy Band at the 1988 American Saxophone Symposium. Both versions have been published by MMB Music, Inc. Additional performances by Ms. Richtmeyer quickly followed with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, again with Kirk Trevor at the podium, and with the Sinfonia da Camera at Urbana-Champaign, Ian Hobson conducting. Performances of the concerto have since occurred steadily, two of the more notable and recent ones being at the 1997 (Thirteenth) World Saxophone Congress held in Valencia, Spain, when Debra Richtmeyer was invited to be the first woman to perform a solo concerto with orchestra before that assembly, and in May 2002 in Kocise, Slovakia, as part of the 47th Kocise Spring International Music Festival, with the same forces employed for this recording.
This is the premiere recording of David Ott's Saxophone Concerto.
David Ott
In The Indianapolis Star review of the previously noted 1989 performance of the Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, writer Jay Harvey described David Ott as “a composer riding the crest of growing renown...with [the Concerto representing a] part of a burgeoning catalog under the [then] Depauw University composer's name.” In the fourteen years since, David Ott's “catalog” has grown tremendously and become some of the most frequently heard music in the concert hall by an American composer born in the mid-twentieth century. Now the Pace Eminent Scholar and Composer-in-Residence at the University of West Florida, David Ott was most recently bestowed the Music Alive Award by the American Symphony Orchestra League's “Meet the Composer” program in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the repertory of America's orchestras.
The composer of four symphonies, one ballet, two oratorios, and, in his words, “overtures too numerous to count,” David Ott has often been commissioned to write concerted works, now numbering sixteen, several with two or more soloists.
One of his earliest “multiple” concerti was commissioned in 1987 by the National Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director, world©renown cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, for two of his protégés, David Teie and Steven Honigberg. In its review of the February 4, 1988 world premiere of the work, the Washington Post, under the headline “OTT'S BRILLIANT PREMIERE,” called the concerto “dramatic; it sings; it has a sense of dialogue; brilliant display, pensive musings, rich harmonics...The audience gave it a five-minute standing ovation.” The Washington Times said: “it was a case of love at first hearing. Long and spontaneous cheers, complete with hoots, whistles and a standing ovation...This happy rarity, a profound crowd-pleaser, came to a close with a sudden orchestral explosion. Mr. Rostropovich hugged and kissed the composer and his cellists as the packed house roared its approval.”
Later that year, the National Symphony Orchestra nominated Ott's Double Cello Concerto for the Pulitzer Prize, the composer's second composition to be so honored. The National Symphony also took the concerto on its 1989 and 1994 National Tours. In Los Angeles, one reviewer enthused that the Double Cello Concerto “produced unexpected greatness...a spellbinding palette of melodies and technical effects with which to hold the audience captive.” Predictably, the National Symphony immediately commissioned another work from Ott, his Concerto for Three Brass (1990), for the orchestra's first-desk horn, trumpet and trombone players.
Additional contributions to the genré by the composer include his Triple Concerto from 1993 commissioned by the Verdehr Trio (violin, clarinet and piano), and his 1996 Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra premiered in February 1996 by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Kirk Trevor conducting, with soloists Margaret Dugdale and Marjorie Lange Hanna.
In 1999, David Ott eased into conducting, an experience he believes has “opened new worlds” in his composing. He currently serves as Music Director of the Philharmonic Society of Northwest Florida.
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936)
Concerto in E flat Major for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra, Op. 109
Alexander Glazunov's experience during World War I, and the ensuing so-called “peace” that Russia endured before and after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed in March 1918, leave little wonder why so many Russians who could leave that country at the time did so. Glazunov, since 1905 the Director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, elected to stay, probably in large measure out of concern for the welfare of the conservatory students and because his aged mother either could not or would not leave. Deprivation was the norm throughout Russia. By the time renowned English novelist H.G. Wells visited Glazunov in 1920, his situation had improved somewhat, yet, still, the Englishman found that the composer's once grand apartments had become uninhabitable. The composer, his wife, adopted daughter and mother were huddled into two rooms heated by small stoves consuming whatever could be spared as fuel. As Wells reported in his book, Russia in the Shadows: “He used to be a big, florid man, but now he is pallid and much fallen away, so that his clothes hang loosely on him.” Glazunov related to his distinguished visitor that “he still composed but that his stock of music paper was almost exhausted. `Then there will be no more.'”
Actually, Glazunov had not composed much since the war started, and the 1920s saw the completion of not a single work for the concert hall, or for the ballet or opera stage. The creative spring seemingly had run dry. In June 1928 Glazunov left for Vienna as the Soviet Union's representative to the Schubert Centenary celebration. He extended his leave, with both the Soviets and the Conservatory, to conduct an evening of his works in Paris in December. Further extensions followed, as did opportunities to conduct his works with some of the finest orchestras throughout Western Europe and, in 1929, in the United States. In 1932 the composer, still in Paris, experienced a marked setback in his health. He remained in that city the last four years of his life, but Glazunov gathered his stock of music paper to set out a concerted work one last time.
Glazunov's inspiration came from one of the earliest, and certainly one of the most gifted, saxophone artists. Born in 1907 near Düsseldorf, Germany, at Elberfeld (which merged into the city of Wuppertal in 1929), Sigurd Rascher first came to the United States in 1939, later purchasing a farm at Shushan in upstate New York where he lived with his family until he passed away in 2001. In 1934, Rascher was in Paris literally hounding Glazunov for a saxophone concerto. The composer corresponded in March to a former colleague at the St. Petersburg Conservatory that he had started work on the piece “under the influences of attacks rather than requests from the Danish (sic) saxophonist named Sigurd Rascher.” Nonetheless, Glazunov became imbued with Rascher's contagious enthusiasm and completed the score in June.
Already teaching saxophone at Copenhagen's Royal Danish Conservatory (hence, Glazunov's reference to him as a “Danish” saxophonist), Rascher had also just been appointed to a similar post at the conservatory at Malmö, Sweden, a brief ferry ride across the Baltic's Kattegat straits from the Danish capital. He wanted an original piece to play in his “new” country, and Rascher premiered Glazunov's concerto on November 25, 1934 at the Swedish seaport and commercial center of Nykoping, followed just a few days later by another performance in nearby Stockholm.
It is unlikely that Glazunov ever heard his Saxophone Concerto publicly performed, the first Paris performance of the work coming after his death in early 1936. The composer, however, managed to leave the following brief note on this concerto in his June 4, 1934 letter to Maximilian Shteinberg, a professor of composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (and Rimsky-Korsakov's son-in-law): The concerto is written in E flat major and goes non-stop. First goes exposition, Allegro moderato, 4/4, and ends in G minor. After a short development followed by [a] singing Andante in C double flat major (sometimes B major), 3/4, is the [transition] into a little cadenza. The conclusion begins after the cadenza with a condensed Fugato, 12/8, in C minor. All the previous elements appear again which bring this to [a] Coda in E flat major. The form is very condensed, and the total time is no more than 18 minutes. The accompaniment is built on strings with much divisi…I use this technique very often; strings in octave divisi and an upper voice in unison with two cellos. In forte, I use double notes a lot.
Sigurd Rascher continued to champion this work, along with other saxophone concerti he “coaxed” from a number of highly visible 20th century composers, concerti which form an essential part of the relatively meager concerted repertory for this family of single-reed brass instruments. Indeed, it is one of those works often used, consciously or not, to measure and compare both contemporary saxophonists with one another, and, with the advent of sound recordings in the past century, saxophonists across generational lines.
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
(arranged for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra by Tristan M. Willems, edited by Debra Richtmeyer)
Unlike Glazunov, Sergei Rachmaninoff tried (though at first unsuccessful) to leave Russia following the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in March 1917. In the ensuing October Revolution, the Rachmaninoff family estate at Ivanoka, deep in rural south Russia, was demolished and, along with virtually all bank depositors in the country, Rachmaninoff could not access his bank accounts. Finally, an invitation to perform some concerts in Stockholm gave Rachmaninoff the opportunity he desired, and the Communists allowed him and his family to travel there. The Rachmaninoffs arrived in the Swedish capital on Christmas Eve 1917, never again to step foot on Russian soil.
By the time Rachmaninoff made his first American tour for the 1909-10 season, principally as a piano soloist, he had composed three of his four piano concerti and two of his three symphonies. These works were the staples of his American appearances. Although Rachmaninoff disliked such tours, his piano concerti and his performance of them were so popular in America that he found he could earn obscene (at least it seemed to him) sums of money there in just three months or so. When he left Russia for good in 1917, losing in its economic collapse all his accumulated wealth, American promoters came calling and Rachmaninoff remembered. By November 1918 he and his family were in New York. Although he continued to tour frequently in Europe, after 1921 Rachmaninoff resided only in the United States.
The popularity of Rachmaninoff in his day is difficult to grasp in this electronic, virtual age. He was lionized as much as today's “pop,” “country” or “rock” artists are when they go on tour. Although his concert manner was austere, he possessed a formidable keyboard technique marked with precision, verve and a highly refined legato. His interpretations, either at the keyboard or from the podium, were sublime, each calculated and carefully executed. If any keyboard performance by Rachmaninoff seemed extraordinarily inspired, it was because it was the only performance by that genius that you ever heard. He could give only an inspired rendering of any piano work, be it one of his own composition or the creation of another.
For about three years following his 1909-10 American tour, Rachmaninoff could afford to take the summers off from the concert circuit and compose. Three extraordinary collections date from these fertile summers — Thirteen Preludes, Op. 32 (1910), nine Etudes-tableaux, three of which were withdrawn before publication in 1911 as the composer's Opus 33, and Fourteen Songs, Op. 34 (1912), with piano accompaniment. The last of the Fourteen Songs was a wordless vocalization of original, hauntingly melodic beauty, Vocalise. Vocalise has been arranged in numerous guises by many musicians, including the composer himself who prepared a version entrusting the melody, much reinforced, in a violin choir accompanied by an orchestra of pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns, plus one English horn and the remainder of the string corps. Rachmaninoff conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in a famous RCA Victor recording of this version in 1929.
In the arrangement for soprano saxophone solo prepared and recorded here by Debra Richtmeyer, the violins assume a more supporting role, and harp, finger cymbals and timpani are added to the accompanying forces employed in the composer's own orchestration. Discrete textual changes have also been made to better support the sonority and uniquely vibrant timbre of the solo reed instrument. Here, as has often been shown in other well-crafted arrangements, Vocalise is a seductive miniature; but, in this version, the long, slowly descending phrases so typical in Rachmaninoff are rendered even more penetrating, seemingly capable of piercing any heart.
Debra Richtmeyer
In addition to her career as a soloist, Debra Richtmeyer has been Professor of Saxophone at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1991 and, as schedule permits, performs principal saxophone with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Sinfonia da Camera, a much acclaimed chamber ensemble headed by the talented Ian Hobson. For ten years prior to joining the University of Illinois faculty, she was professor of saxophone at the University of North Texas, and from 1981 to 1991 Debra Richtmeyer played principal saxophone with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
In 1997 Debra Richtmeyer received the University of Illinois “College of Fine and Applied Arts Award for Outstanding Faculty,” and this past year achieved wider recognition at the university when she received the prestigious “Campus Award for Outstanding Graduate and Professional Teaching.” Her students teach and perform the world over.
When Debra Richtmeyer premiered in Knoxville in April 1987 the David Ott Saxophone Concerto written for her, and which receives its recorded premiere on this disc, the audience was energized, with music critic Bob Barrett writing in The Knoxville News-Sentinel: “[Richtmeyer] demonstrated one of the sweetest tones heard from an alto sax in many years, along with flawless fingering and tongueing techniques. She could make her instrument race or sing, depending on the demands of the music. It is no wonder she has won international awards and recognition for her playing.”
Similarly, music critic Harold Duckett writing in The Knoxville Journal observed that “Richtmeyer's talents include an enormous musical intelligence and a dazzling tonal quality to match...the dexterity of her fingering and wonderful roundness of her saxophone's voice, unforgettable in the second movement, leave no doubt that she is a top-rank musician.” When she performed the Ott Saxophone Concerto with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra on March 6, 1989, The Indianapolis Star's Jay Harvey boasted that “[Richtmeyer] was equal to the work's seamlessly joined challenges and delights.”
In performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Dallas Times Herald reviewed her playing as “gorgeous...beautiful and subtle sounds,” while The Dallas Morning News referred to her “atmospheric...and ravishing...first class solo playing.”
Debra Richtmeyer is internationally respected by peers and colleagues, being invited in the twenty-five years since she was a medalist in the 1978 World Saxophone Competition in Gap, France to perform at numerous North American, British and World Saxophone Congresses, Conferences and Symposia. She has premiered works at no fewer than six World Saxophone Congresses, the most ground-breaking appearance to date coming at the 1997 World Saxophone Congress held in Valencia, Spain, when she became the first woman soloist to perform a solo concerto with orchestra before that assembly, and the piece performed was David Ott's Saxophone Concerto. Richtmeyer has served two terms as Second Vice President of the North American Saxophone Alliance, and for a number of years she has maintained a distinguished association with the Selmer Corporation as an artist and clinician for this well-established and highly regarded musical instrument manufacturer.
Kirk Trevor
English born, and trained at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Kirk Trevor is an internationally known guest conductor in the world's great concert halls. He was Resident Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1988, and in 1990 Kirk Trevor won the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Competition.
As Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony and Chamber Orchestras since 1985, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra since 1988, and the Missouri Symphony since 2000, Kirk Trevor has forged a strong musical partnership with two of America's leading regional orchestras. He conducts more than fifty-five concerts each season with the Knoxville orchestras throughout East Tennessee, and has been recognized, with the Tennessee Governor's Award for the Arts, for bringing a new level of awareness to classical music throughout the region. In Indianapolis, Trevor has created a strong community identity for one of America's busiest chamber orchestras. In addition to its own subscription series, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra partners with the city's major cultural institutions in the fields of opera, ballet, chorus and the visual arts. Trevor was recognized in 1997 for his outstanding contributions to the arts in the State of Indiana by the House of Representatives.
Kirk Trevor became Chief Conductor of the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra at Zlin in the Czech Republic in 1994. He continues as Principal Conductor with that orchestra, and during his tenure there as Chief Conductor made numerous commercial recordings, particularly of works by contemporary American composers such as Joan Tower, David Ott, Victoria Bond, and Gian Carlo Menotti, among many others. His recording of Aaron Copland's opera, The Tender Land, celebrating the centenary of the composer's birth, with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, is available on the Albany Records label, (TROY482/83).
The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (SRSO)
The SRSO was founded in 1929 at Bratislava as the first professional symphony ensemble in Slovakia. In addition to its long tradition of radio broadcasts, the SRSO has performed in music festivals and on concert stages throughout Europe and the Far East. The SRSO has also toured extensively under its own auspices over the years and, with Principal Guest Conductor Kirk Trevor, will undertake a twelve-concert tour of Japan in 2003. The orchestra has a tremendous state-of-the-art recording facility, and has recorded more than 300 compact discs on several labels, including Albany Records, Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and Pro Arte, with more than 150 recordings to its credit on the Naxos label alone.
Kirk Trevor became Principal Guest Conductor of the SRSO in 2000, and he has forged a program involving a consortium of independent recording companies committed to recording new American music. So far, seventeen recordings have been made, and the present recording is the ninth to be released, as a part of this on-going project.
— Notes by Rudy Ennis
©2003 The Mozart Works
Producer: Emil Niznansky
Sound Engineer: Hubert Geschwandtner
Recorded May 2002, Bratislava, Slovakia
Additional mastering by Jon Schoenoff, Audio Director, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana, Illinois
This recording is dedicated to my parents, Dr. Lorin and Grace Richtmeyer and to my husband, Dr. Steven Rummel. Many thanks to you and to Maestro Kirk Trevor and the Slovak Radio Orchestra for your continued support and artistry throughout this project.
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