COMPOSER CHRISTOPHER JAMES AND
NORTH/SOUTH CONSONANCE TO PRESENT
CONCERT AT DI MENNA CENTER JUNE 11, 2024
May 14, 2024, New York, NY – Press Release
The acclaimed North/South Consonance Chamber Ensemble and composer Christopher James join forces on June 11 at the DiMenna Center in New York to present a concert of four of James’ recent chamber and vocal works, all world premieres.
James has been a presence on New York’s new music scene for more than four decades. He earned his DMA from Juilliard in 1987, studying with David Diamond and Milton Babbitt, and has received numerous awards and laudatory reviews.
North/South Consonance founder and director Max Lifchitz writes “I am delighted to be programming and performing music that is well crafted and highly accessible. While Chris James is very aware of musical traditions, his works are very innovative and inviting to the ear.”
THE PROGRAM
Sextet for Clarinet, Horn, String Trio and Piano (2019)
The North/South Chamber Ensemble, Max Lifchitz, Conductor
Labyrinths for Violin and Piano (2022)
Claudia Schaer, Violin Marc Peloquin, Piano
I N T E R M I S S I O N
Songs of the Tragic Generation (2007)
Tyler Duncan, Baritone Erika Switzer, Piano
Concerto Grosso for Strings (2023)
The North/South Chamber Ensemble, Max Lifchitz, Conductor
THE ARTISTS
Composer Christopher James was the recipient of the Juilliard String Quartet Prize for new quartet music in 1987 for his String Quartet No. 1, which was performed at the Library of Congress and broadcast transcontinentally. His orchestral work Lohengrin Follies was performed at Carnegie Hall in 1989 by the New Music Orchestral Project conducted by Jorge Mester. Donal Henahan of The New York Times wrote of that performance “Mr. James uses the orchestra with exceptional skill and a concern for clarity even in the densest textures.”
Since 1980, North/South Consonance has garnered widespread praise for its eloquent performances of music by composers of our time. Under the leadership of Max Lifchitz, its founder and director, this adventurous ensemble has brought to the attention of the New York public over 750 different works by composers from every corner of the world.
Violinist Claudia Schaer is recognized for her beautiful and insightful interpretations, alongside intriguing programming. Her recording of the Bach Sonatas and Partias for solo violin is hailed for its “elegant, light touch and lucid timbre … a wonderful performance” (Japan Bach Review). She is a versatile recitalist, chamber musician and soloist.
A refined and sensitive solo and chamber musician, pianist Marc Peloquin curates the Keyed Up Music Project, exploring the unique sound worlds of composers, their influences, and those they have influenced. He has recorded the complete piano music of David Del Tredici in four volumes for Naxos and Albany Records.
With a voice described as “honey-colored and warm, yet robust and commanding” (The Globe and Mail), baritone Tyler Duncan has performed worldwide to great acclaim in both opera and concert repertoire. He is currently on the joint music faculty of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Renaud Machart of Le Monde described Erika Switzer as“one of the best collaborative pianists I have ever heard; her sound is deep, her interpretation intelligent, refined, and captivating.” She is also an active teacher, serving on the music faculty at Bard College and the Vocal Arts Program of the Bard Conservatory of Music.
The concert is free and open to the public, with limited seating availability.
Those wishing to attend should email ns.concerts@att.net to reserve a seat.
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 West 37th Street
Mary Flagler Cary Hall
New York, NY. 10018
Tuesday, June 11, 2024, 8:00 PM
The concert will conclude at approximately 9:30 PM
For additional information, visit christopherjamescomposer.com.
Christopher James – June 11, 2024 Concert at DiMenna Center
PROGRAM NOTES
SEXTET
The Sextet, written for the unusual combination of clarinet, horn, string trio, and piano, is a buoyant
and energetic neoclassical work that explores the myriad possibilities for instrumental combinations.The opening movement begins with a mysterious slow introduction that sets the stage for the ensuing athletic Allegro which displays instrumental brilliance and is full of surprises and dramatic contrasts. The inward-looking slow middle movement, Lento assai, contains an agitated, wildly emotive central section that recalls the violent episode in the Andantino movement of Schubert’s great A major sonata, D. 959. An important referential sonority in the work’s finale is the octatonic pitch collection, an eight-note scale or chord built on alternate whole and half steps (for example, C, D, E flat, F, F#, G#, A, B) and the harmonies that can be extracted from it. The movement opens genially and acquires momentum as several subordinate themes are introduced and developed. A long, gradual accelerando whips up excitement, culminating in an emphatic close.
LABYRINTHS
Labyrinths, for violin and piano, was composed in 2022 for Claudia Schaer, who performs here with her frequent duo partner Marc Peloquin. The work is serial and atonal, which is exceptional in the composer’s oeuvre. James studied with two foundational theorists of twelve-tone music, David Lewin and Milton Babbitt, and from his youth has greatly admired the works of the composers of the Second Viennese School and many of their successors. The work, in three movements, is technically based largely on derivations from the Pythagorean Lambdoma, an array of superparticular ratios (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, etc.) and their inverses (2/1, 3/2, 4/3, 5/4, etc.) The derived series are applied to both pitch and rhythm. The aesthetic is one of abstract contemplation. The work concludes with a rapt and technically challenging elegy for violin alone.
SONGS OF THE TRAGIC GENERATION
The Songs of the Tragic Generation were composed in 2007 as a 70th birthday tribute for David Del Tredici. The five poets whose work is set to music in this group of songs were members of the informal literary society known as the Rhymers’ Club, which met in London in the 1890’s. William Butler Yeats’ 1922 essay entitled “The Tragic Generation of English Poets” contains reminiscences of their unhappy and often brief lives, and at a thirty years’ remove, offers a critical evaluation of their work that is sympathetic and fair. The songs are unusually demanding for both singer and pianist, and run an emotional gamut from lyrical reflection to blazing passion.
CONCERTO GROSSO FOR STRINGS
The Concerto Grosso was introduced to the musical world by Arcangelo Corelli in 1714 with the publication of his Twelve Concerti Grossi for stringed instruments, Op. 6. Corelli divided his forces into a small group of soloists, the concertino, and a larger group, the ripieno (Italian for “filling” or “stuffing”.) The form was cultivated widely in the eighteenth century by many composers including Handel and Bach, but was almost entirely superseded by the solo concerto by the end of the eighteenth century. The twentieth century witnessed a revival of interest in the form, and many composers provided examples, including Stravinsky, Bloch, Tippett, and Martinu. James’ concerto sets in opposition two differently constituted string quintets which sometimes go their separate ways and at other times unite in concert. The first movement is massive, contrapuntal, and stylistically wildly eclectic, including baroque, classical, romantic and modern references, cheek by jowl. The second movement is a heartfelt lament. The finale is a spirited romp that features some breakdown fiddling and a wild ride with many twists and turns, concluding on an affirmative high note.