Schulhoff: Concertino for flute, viola and bass

Concertino for flute/piccolo, viola and double bass was written in 1925. Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) was born in Prague. An early musical talent, at age 7 he had an audition with the famous composer, Antonín Dvorák.  Schulhoff studied at the Prague Conservatory beginning in 1904. In addition, he studied in Leipzig, from 1908 to 1910 with Max Reger.

Schulhoff moved away from the compositional style of the late Romanticism of his conservatory teachers. While in Dresden, he met several important artistic figures, including the painter George Grosz, with whom he listened to records of American jazz. Schulhoff blended Jazz, Czech music, Russian and eastern music, Romanticism, and expressionism into a personal style.

Schulhoff wrote the Concertino in four days. It is in four movements:  Andante con moto, the first movement, begins with the viola and bass playing an eastern-style motif while the flute enters with an improvisatory theme. Schulhoff returns to the opening motif numerous times. The second movement, FURIANT Allegro furioso introduces the piccolo into the piece, and dances in the unsettling meter of 5/8. In the third movement, Andante, a folk song (from what is now western Ukraine) provides the basis of the melodic material.  To end the piece, Schulhoff has the flute sound like a “Moravian seller of shepherd’s flutes in the streets of Prague” for the final movement, RONDINO, Allegro gaio. A lively folk dance.

After the Germans took over Czechoslovakia, Schulhoff tried to emigrate to the Soviet Union and to the West, but without success. The Nazis arrested him in June 1941; he died of tuberculosis in the Bavarian fortress of Wülzburg just over a year later. (Erik Peterson)

Ofer Ben-Amots: Nigun of the Seven Circles for viola and piano

Born in Haifa, Israel in 1955, Ofer Ben-Amots currently serves on the faculty of Colorado College. His music is inspired by Jewish folklore and European Yiddish traditions. He studied composition in Tel Aviv, Geneva, and Detmold Germany. Ben-Amots is the winner of numerous prizes for his many of compositions including operas, orchestra works, and chamber music. Ofer Ben-Amots’ music has been repeatedly recognized for its emotional and highly personal expression. The interweaving of folk elements with contemporary textures, along with his unique imaginative orchestration, creates the haunting dynamic tension that permeates and defines Ben-Amots’ musical language. (William David)

Claude Bolling: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio

Born in Cannes, France, in 1930, Bolling made his home in Paris. A child prodigy pianist, he loved the music of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. In his early teens, under German occupation in France, when the Nazis banned jazz music, he pursued his interest ‘underground,’ winning informal jazz polls. With the influx of jazz musicians in Paris after World War II, Bolling became the premier jazz pianist, both for concerts and recordings. His unique skills in performance and composition made him the ideal ‘crossover’ artist to work with classical musicians. 

Bolling wrote this suite for Jean-Pierre Rampal in 1973. A fusion of Baroque form and idiom with modern jazz and swing, it topped the hit parade in the United States for two years and was on the ‘Billboard Top 40’ for around ten years. The individual pieces, Baroque and Blue, Sentimentale, Javanaise, Fugace, Irlandaise, Versatile, and Veloce, are basically dance forms with contrasting moods. 

Following his work with Rampal, Bolling went on to work with many musicians from different genres and to perform tributes to many others. Bolling was also notable as the composer of music for over a hundred movies, including the Lucky Luke animated feature La Ballade des Dalton (1978). Bolling died in December 2020. (Craig Lehman)