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Designs (1962)
| composer |
Ursula Mamlok (b. 1928) |
| performers |
Catherine Tait, violin
Barry Snyder, piano |
| affiliation |
BMI |
| label |
Gasparo Records 300
|
| duration |
05:55 |
Designs is a work for violin and piano dedicated to composer Ralph Shapey, one of Mamlok's teachers and greatest influences. A study in asymmetrical rhythms, the piece features two contrasting movements, the first combining "lyricism and wildness" (Mamlok) followed by a generally playful and scherzo-like second. The contrasts are framed by a minor third interval which begins the work and returns in a different form at the conclusion.
Influenced by Paul Hindemith and the Second Viennese School, Ursula Mamlok (b. 1928) is a serial composer whose elegant and nuanced pieces belie such strict techniques. Her output consists primarily of chamber music in a multi-movement format. Mamlok has described her aesthetic as follows:
"My main concern is that the music should convey the various emotions in it with clarity and conviction. It interests me to accomplish this with a minimum of material, transforming it in such multiple ways so as to give the impression of ever-new ideas that are like the flowers of a plant, all related yet each one different."
Mamlok studied composition and piano as a child in Berlin, Germany, where she was born. Her family emigrated to New York in 1941, and she continued her studies there with George Szell at the Mannes College of Music and Vittorio Giannini at the Manhattan School of Music. Her many private teachers included Stefan Wolpe, Roger Sessions, and Ralph Shapey. A professor at the Manhattan School since 1974, Mamlok previously taught at New York University, City University of New York, and Temple University. She is a recipient of grants and commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Eastman School of Music, and the Fromm, Guggenheim, Koussevitzky and Rockefeller Foundations. Her music has been recorded on the Centaur, CRI, Gasparo, Leonarda, Music and Arts, Newport Classic, Opus One, and True Media labels.
related websites
http://www.sai-national.org/phil/composers/umamlok.html
Catherine Tait studied violin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and North Carolina School of the Arts. Her violin teachers included Ivan Galamian, Paul Makanowsky, and Jaime Laredo; she also studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, and Budapest String Quartets. A first prize winner in the Charleston Competition (1978) and Bryan Young Artist Competition (1979), Tait performed as a soloist throughout the US and Europe. Her teaching positions included the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Michigan State University, and Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she taught from 1986 until her death in 1997.
Pianist Barry Snyder studied with Vladimir Sokoloff and Cécile Genhart at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York; he has taught at the school since 1970. A triple prizewinner at the Van Cliburn International Competition in 1966, Snyder has been a member of the Eastman and Meadowmount Trios, and has performed with the Cleveland, Curtis, Purcell, and Composers String Quartets. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Montreal, Poland, Singapore, and Japan, and at international festivals throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and South America. His over thirty solo and chamber recordings include the Bridge, Gasparo, Mercury, Pro Arte, Pro Viva, and Vox labels.
related websites
http://www.rochester.edu/Eastman/faculty/BarrySnyder.htm
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