Ezra Laderman
with Vivian Perlis
New Haven, Ct.
August 20, 1990,
October 25, 1990,
May 22, 1991
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side a pp. 1-18
Birth in Brooklyn--love of baseball--raised in home imbued with the arts--his parents--frequent moves during childhood--exposure to art--playing piano at an early age--music studies at Settlement Music Schools in New York--first piece, work for viola, played at Town Hall--improvising in style of the masters at Brooklyn Ethical Culture School--growing up with Baroque and Romantic works, ignorance of 20th century music--siblings--going to concerts at Carnegie Hall and Brooklyn Museum of Art--understanding musical language as a child--playing piano, violin, flute--reason for applying to Music Division of High School of Music and Art--anecdote about double bass--being ignored by mother because of brother's illness--relationship with father--music in the family--encouragement of family to pursue music--not a good student generally--writing piano concerto in Junior year of high school--reaction of classmates--performance and recording--music as emotional release and fulfillment--the military--study at Juilliard and importance of record library--first work not catalogued--first performance of first work--influence of Shostakovitch and Gershwin--sports--children as athletes--military service--writing the Leipzig Symphony and playing it for military superiors--going to Paris to join the GI Symphony.
Side b pp. 18-22
Being chosen orchestrator of GI Symphony--Leonard Bernstein reaction to Leipzig Symphony and subsequent loss of status--return to the U.S.
Side c: pp. 22-40
Return to the U.S.--death of brother in war--studying music at Brooklyn College--student of Stefan Wolpe--studying with Otto Luening--writing chamber music--having learned developmental procedures from Wolpe--music as a scenario--moment of harmony in a piece--belief in himself gained from Luening--division between Stravinsky world and Second Viennese World in early fifties--wide spectrum of possibilities today--writing works without score--first catalogued work, flute sonata--early works unpublished--writing for friends--receiving M.A. from Columbia--beginning study toward Ph.D. on recommendation of Paul Henry Lang--giving up Ph.D. to continue composing--marriage--teaching piano to earn living--violin sonata, second piano sonata, first string quartet--first attempt at string quartet--Prix de Rome--Guggenheim Fellowship--The Hunting of the Snark--commission from TV program "Look Up and Live," opera Jacob and the Indians--The Hunting of the Snark--happiest in creative act of composing.
Side d pp. 40-56
The Hunting of the Snark--writing for choreographer Jean Erdman--other choreographers--Flute Duet, Dance Quartet, Esther, Song of Songs, Solos and Chorale, Fearful Symmetry--"Luther" Symphony--And David Wept--Machinal--long range associations--writing for Judith Raskin--Sarah, television opera for CBS--Herschel--division between "serious" works and television works--Pamela Ilott and Sunday morning television--television works--using biblical texts for religious programming--Galileo--Joe Darion--Songs for Eve, written for Judith Raskin--playing for Archibald MacLeish--Magic Prison--film, The Burden of the Mystery--Air Raid.
Side e pp. 56-68
Return to U.S. from Rome--meeting Jack Kierny--writing opera Sarah for CBS-TV with librettist Clair Roskam--Herschel--writing tonally for television--collaborating with Joe Darion--musical Dominique--decision to join ASCAP--success of Darion's Man of La Mancha and consequent putting aside of Dominique--television oratorios: And David Wept, The Questions of Abraham, Galileo, Handful of Souls, A Mass for Cain--collaboration with Darion on "provocative" works--difficulty of librettist to receive due recognition--Jewish and Christian themes of television operas--Jewish themes of other works--opera in progress--involvement in American Music Center in late 60s.
Side f pp. 69-79
Becoming president of American Music Center--as chairman of NEA Composer/Librettist Program--Toni Greenberg, executive director of AMC--initiating Meet the Composer--Composer/Librettist Program--teaching at SUNY, Binghamton--decision not to go to Hollywood--importance of chamber works in evolution as composer--decision not to accept composer-in-residence position with Minnesota Symphony--decision to accept directorship of NEA Music Program--television works taped and preserved--living in parallel worlds.
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES 18 i-o
Ezra Laderman
with Susan Hawkshaw
Yale University
New Haven, CT
December 9, 2004
January 15, 2005
April 27, 2005
June 28, 2005
December 12, 2005
Feb. 10, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
December 9, 2004
Side i pp. 1-19
Study with Stefan Wolpe--early influences on Laderman--serial influences--importance of long lyric line for him--importance of technique of continuing variation--study of Berg--Wolpe's view of serial technique--Laderman’s Nonette (written for the Norfolk Chamber Festival in honor of his eightieth birthday)--serial technique in his Second String Quartet--watershed piece: Organ Preludes (1977) and the realization that different techniques could be combined in the same work--use of chance in one of the organ preludes--use of aleatoric techniques in other works--2004 performance of his Fourth Symphony by Sidney Harth--January 2005 recording of Celestial Bodies--aleatoric technique in Celestial Bodies--use of pitch cells--Fourth Symphony--brass quintet for which he wrote only parts, not a full score--Sanctuary--use of tonality and serialism in that piece.
Side j pp. 19-28
Chamber music--duos--duo for violin and marimba--First String Quartet--fun moment that briefly suspends the tension--influences on him in First String Quartet--Second and Third Quartets--Fifth Quartet: performance by Vermeer Quartet in Europe--rethinking of various genres in the Fifth String Quartet--suite, sonata form and variation form--Fifth String Quartet (1976) as beginning of return to tonality.
January 15, 2005
Side k pp. 28-48
Recording session for Celestial Bodies (flute and string quartet)--Aspects of musical organization other than the cell—rightness for him of working with a cell—juxtaposition of material: dynamics, tempi, density—influence of Bartók—harmonic aspect of Celestial Bodies—ways of avoiding tonality—creating finality using a row—naming Celestial Bodies—titles—Samuel Baron—middle movement of Celestial Bodies written and premiered first—flute line in that movement—Ransom Wilson performing Celestial Bodies—Fifth String Quartet—first movement: use of the idea of a suite—interludes that become increasingly tonal between the movements of the suite—return to tonality—First Piano Concerto—George Rochberg—Second Violin Concerto—sonata form in the second movement of the Fifth String Quartet—Beethoven’s device of reducing a motive to a single chord and its influence—last movement of the Fifth String Quartet—Sixth Quartet.
Side l pp. 48-52
Sixth Quartet continued--quartet program headed by the Lenox Quartet—thematic ideas in the Sixth Quartet—non-developmental nature of the quartet—repeated chord—“we will survive” as the theme of the work.
April 27, 2005
Side m pp. 52-73
Sixth Quartet: “survival”—non-developmental procedures—nature of the themes—Audubon Quartet—string quartet program at SUNY Binghamton—opening theme of Sixth Quartet—challenge of reworking these ideas—special chord, its structure—gaining confidence in returning to tonality—Second Piano Concerto and the beginnings of his rethinking tonality, serial techniques and tonality in the same piece—cadence, harmony, tonality—comparison of his music to abstract Expressionist painting—A Mass for Cain—Seventh Quartet: “a quartet of drive and accomplishment” but concluding with a “funebre”—overall theme followed by four different ideas—dissonance and tonality co-existing at the same time at the end—concert with Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Quartets at Merkin Hall in 1989—Eighth Quartet—passacaglia theme—seven variations, each one being a day in the week of shiva—move in the quartet from very dissonant idiom to a more romantic idiom—wide accessibility of materials in his music—feeling comfortable moving in and out of tonality—compositional practice—conversations with Steve Reich—influence of Brahms—meeting Steve Reich—Meet the Composer—other non-developmental pieces—Eleventh Quartet—structure—Eleventh Quartet based on his Fantasy for Solo Cello.
Side n pp. 73-76
More on the Eleventh Quartet and its derivation from the Fantasy for Solo Cello—versatility of the string quartet—his lyricism—Bassoon Concerto (chamber version),
Side o June 28, 2005 pp. 76-82
Bassoon Concerto (version for bassoon and string quartet)—background, performance history and structure of the work.
[Sides p, q, r are tapes of a lecture Mr. Laderman gave at the Norfolk Chamber Festival, June 28, 2005.]
December 12, 2005
Side s pp. 83-103
Coming to Yale for a semester on the invitation of Jacob Druckman—becoming dean of the Yale School of Music—making Sprague Hall handicapped-accessible—Fred Rose commissions him to write a piece—Fred Rose and his support of Yale, Juilliard and Rose Hall in New York—Lester and Dinny Morse and their funding of the project to make Sprague Hall handicapped-accessible—fund raising in connection with concert at Yale by Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Emmanuel Ax and Jaime Laredo—Friends of the School of Music at Yale—former student’s sizable gift to Yale enables purchase of Steinway pianos—sizable gift to the School of Music from Norfolk resident—development of string quartet program at Yale—development of Affiliated Artists Conducting Program at Yale—development of string quartet program at Yale—Tokyo String Quartet as pedagogues to other young quartets brought to Yale—Laderman’s course in writing for the string quartet using the other quartets-in-residence.
Side t is a composers seminar with Mr. Laderman done Dec. 11, 2003
Feb. 10, 2006
Side u pp. 104-139
Upcoming performances of Laderman’s music—David Diamond—Laderman’s work at the National Endowment for the Arts—work as head of the Composer-Librettist Program at the NEA—Creation of Chamber Music America—Choral Society created by Endowment—mission of CMA—joining the American Academy of Arts and Letters—meeting other members of the Academy—election to Board at Academy—quality of arts in our country and what role the Academy should play—Academy’s role in giving awards—classical music in U.S. culture: U.S. as a country of late bloomers—reason for going to the National Endowment—accomplishments as president of AMC—desire to bring musicians, artists, and poets to the Academy for concerts, exhibits, readings, etc.—string quartet program at Yale—commissions from Jean-Pierre Rampal, Emanuel Ax—Double Helix—influence of pop and jazz styles in his opera Marilyn—influence of Laderman of Big Band jazz—jazz influenced pieces: Third Piano Sonata, Clarinet Concerto, Brass Trio—how the unusual ending of the Nonet came about—his chamber music performed in international venues.
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES 18t OHV
Ezra Laderman
With Susan Hawkshaw
April 20, 2007
Yale University, New Haven CT
Table of Contents
Side pp. 1-35
Usual importance for him of having a commission—writing the Third Piano Sonata without commission—setting of Canto 5 from Dante’s Inferno using Robert Pinsky’s adaptation—asking Pinsky to extract one sentence from each of the three protagonists in order to write a trio—work on piece for Yale Brass Trio for Norfolk Summer 2007—work on viola concerto for Berkshire Symphony—commission by Alianza Quartet of his twelfth string quartet—premiere of Synergy for Orchestra in California—performance of Eighth Symphony in Pittsburgh in March 2008—work at the American Academy: purchase of the Numismatic Building next door—work at the Academy on the issue of copyright—new prize in opera—work on the issue of the lack of the arts in public schools—more on Synergy.