In this splendid array of works that have long held great personal meaning for him, Anthony de Mare brings together three very diverse early 20th Century masterworks — Claude Debussy’s luminescent second book of Preludes, Arnold Schoenberg’s soulful and emotionally driven Opus 11 Klavierstucke and Henry Cowell’s haunting, string piano classic The Banshee – with two of today’s most intriguing creators. The first half of this international program is framed by two milestone works written in the same year by two of America’s most influential mavericks — Philip Glass’s spirited Mad Rush and Frederic Rzewski’s industrial blues powerhouse Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.
Presented together, these works juxtapose contradictory emotions and style with dynamic displays of sound color. Listeners will appreciate why Philip Glass once compared his music to “the motor on a space machine,” as they hear elements of jazz, expressionism, minimalism, Eastern influences, and lush pianistic imagery spin this surprising program into scintillating motion.

PROGRAM:
Mad Rush (1979) Philip Glass
Drei Klavierstucke, Op. 11 (1909) Arnold Schoenberg
The Banshee (1925) Henry Cowell
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (1979) Frederic Rzewski

–Intermission–

Preludes, Book II (1913) Claude Debussy
Brouillards
Feuilles mortes
La Puerta del Vino
Les Fees sont d’exquises danseuses
Bruyeres
General Lavine – eccentric
La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
Ondine
Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.
Canope
Les tierces alternees
Feux d’Artifice