Elliott Schwartz: Chamber Concertos I-VI

BMOP/sound 1013
October 2009
75:20
  • Boston Modern Orchestra Project
  • Gil Rose, conductor

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CD price: $16.99

Track Listing

Disc 1
  • 1.Chamber Concerto I (1976)
  • 2.Chamber Concerto II (1976)
  • 3.Chamber Concerto III: Another View (1977, rev. 2007)

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  • 4.Chamber Concerto IV (1980-81)

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  • 5.Chamber Concerto V: Water Music (1991, rev. 2006-07)
  •  Chamber Concerto VI: Mr. Jefferson (2007, rev. 2008)
  • 6.I. The Inventor
  • 7.II. The Violin
  • 8.III. The Garden

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  • 9.IV. The Letter
  • 10.V. The Portrait
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News & Press

Fanfare reviews Elliott Schwartz: Chamber Concertos I-VI
March 1, 2010 — Elliott Schwartz’s music uses collage to a great degree. Juxtaposition can be stark, including the use of tonal against the non-tonal. Quotations may be present. He also uses “frame notation” extensively, a technique possibly most famously used by Lutosławski.
Fanfare Full review
Schwartz's eclectic concertos are ably and attractively presented by BMOP
January 1, 2010 — This is a fine tribute from the highly acclaimed Boston Modern Orchestra Project to 30 years of Elliott Schwartz’s idiosyncratic output. Each of the six chamber concertos, four in first recordings, features a single soloist in a continuity ranging from monologue to free-ranging superimposed textures. Schwartz describes his technique as “different strategies for dealing with the ‘concerto’ principle—six variations, not on a theme, but on a genre.” An essential part of his idiom is quotation from older styles, actual or implied but often unobtrusive.
Gramophone Full review
Records International review Elliott Schwartz: Chamber Concertos I-VI
December 1, 2009 — These six little concerti are typical of Schwartz’s gleefully eclectic style, the presentation of the many facets of which is facilitated through his espousal of a deep- and wide-ranging use of ‘collage’ technique. What this means in practical terms is that the music presents a kaleidoscopically shifting assemblage of layers of material, which can range from literal quotations of classical or romantic models in their original tonal language to reminiscences of the styles of earlier music (of many kinds) to frankly atonal, abstract and complex gestures.
Records International Full review
BMOP records Schwartz's six chamber concertos
November 1, 2009 — These works were composed over a span of 30 years from 1976 to 2007; 3 of them (Nos. III, V, and VI) were revised (with one, No. III, now with the subtitle “Another View,” having been essentially completely reconstructed) for the performances and subsequent recording by BMOP over the past 2 years. The result is a set of very compelling eclectic pieces that make for enjoyable repeated listening.
Classical Voice of New England Full review
CD of Elliott Schwartz concertos merits multiple listens
October 18, 2009 — The long-awaited CD of all Maine composer Elliott Schwartz’s chamber concertos has finally been released by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP/sound, 1013) and it lives up to expectations. Conductor Gil Rose and his orchestra are among the foremost interpreters of modern music, and their performances of these six works, from 1976 to 2007, with the composer’s input, can be considered definitive.
Portland Press Herald Full review
Retired music professor compiles concertos for CD release
October 16, 2009 — After a 43 year stint at the College, former Robert K. Beckwith Professor of Music Eliott Schwartz has one more accomplishment to add to his list: the recent release of an album featuring six chamber concertos of his own composition. The album is titled Elliot Schwartz: Chamber Concertos and will be released through the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) label this month. Schwartz, an internationally regarded composer, retired from Bowdoin’s faculty in 2007, with 12 of his 43 years in the music department spent as department chair.
The Bowdoin Orient Full review
BMOP Sound