Ernst krenek--suite for mandolin and guitar

[mandobuzz]

I have searched the forums and am surprised that there has been no mention of Ernst Krenek's Suite for mandolin and guitar, op. 242. I find this to be a major modern work for mandolin, and a piece that I love. As some of you may know it was written for and recorded by the Mair/Davis group (on their CD "Zu").

Last year I performed it a number of times in the Los Angeles area with UCLA faculty guitarist Peter Yates. I have uploaded an audio file of the 3rd movement from a UCLA performances on my myspace music page (see: http://www.myspace.com/buzzgravelle if you are interested).

I feel I have a special connection to this music as my instructor (and one of my mentors) at UCLA, where I studied classical guitar, was the late Theodore Norman (see: http://www.parfaitole.com/ted_norman/ (http://www.parfaitole.com/ted_norman/recordings.html) if you are interested). In short, Ted was one of the first classical guitarists to embrace the--at the time--new language on modernism. He was the guitarist on the first recording of Pierre Boulez's Le Marteau Sans Maître and also the guitarist on an early recording of Schoenberg's Serenade. He also was friends with Krenek (and Schoenberg). #I, unfortunately, never had the opportunity to meet Krenek, but some as my fellow students did make the trip from L.A. to Palm Springs (where Krenek was living) to meet him before he died in 1991. I regret that I passed up on that opportunity.

[Bruce Clausen]

Thanks for this, Buzz. I remember listening to Marteau with Norman on guitar way back, and learning the Krenek Suite for guitar. There were some chamber works as well with guitar and maybe mandolin, but I've never come across op. 242. The clip is very nice (but too brief). Is the work available from a publisher?

BC

[mandobuzz]

Yes, it is published by Barenreiter. I bought my copy off of sheetmusicplus.com.

Krenek's Suite for guitar, op. 164 is also a great work. I sometimes give it to students (who I feel will be receptive to it) at Cal Poly Pomona, where I teach. According to Ted Norman, Krenek composed most of it while he was staying at his house in L.A. as a houseguest. Ted Norman is listed as the editor of the Suite for guitar, and I remember him saying that a fair bit of editing was required, as there were chords that were unplayable, etc.. When I first started learning the Suite for mandolin and guitar I contacted Marilynn Mair via email. She too said that there was a fair bit of editing necessary for that piece, for the same reasons. Krenek wrote music as he conceived it and left it up to the performers to translate it to their instruments.

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello Buzz,

Thank you for the link with Krenek's Suite (op. 242). Excellent playing! Indeed a highly interesting work in the mandolin and guitar repertoire. Ànd a joy to listen too.


Best regards,

Alex

[Arto]

Krenek, Krenek… Why does this sound so familiar?

Bingo! I have an LP by the great, weird, wonderful late guitarist John Fahey, with a title I Remember Blind Joe Death ( I don´t too much of his total production, but this is my favourite album of his among those I know).

The album´s back cover is written full of Fahey´s unimitable self-made mythology about him and the black guitarist Blind Joe Death (his alter ego?). An excerpt from the last part of the text:

“… His career as a volk entertainer was briefly interrupted when he was drafted and sent to New Zealand to fight with the allies against the Finno-Armenian invasion. After the war was over, John, a decorated war hero, returned to his home and re-established relations with Blind Joe. In 1952, only a few years before Blind Joe´s bodily ascension, Patricia Sullivan, working in coordination with the Library of Congress (of Bessarabia), recorded the two of them and issued them on the now rare Takoma label (for which, unfortunately, neither was paid, in the tradition of many recorded volk entertainers, such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Leroy Garnett, POOR BOY KRENEK, and Barbeque Cage)….

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Arto

[margora]

"Krenek's Suite for guitar, op. 164 is also a great work."

I've played the guitar suite many times, although never in public. I have only heard one live performance, an excellent one by Stanley Yates (I also have a recording, I believe by Stefano Grandona). In the end, though, I don't think the piece really "works" that well, and not because of the language (there are other works in the guitar literature from roughly the same period that, in my opinion, make a bigger impact; "Nunc" by Petrassi comes right to mind). I respect the Krenek but it doesn't move me. I feel the same way about the mandolin-guitar suite -- a fine piece, one that I respect, but not one I pull out of the file drawer (where it resides) all that often to read through or to learn.

[mandobuzz]

Hello Margora. Nunc is a great piece. I know it well. However, I feel that the Krenek pieces (both the guitar Suite and the guitar and mandolin Suite) are also great works. Obviously, one can discuss the merits or faults of particular works ad nauseum. All I can do is describe my feelings about what I enjoy about a particular work or a particular composer's body of works.

I know some people, like yourself, that are fans of modernism but feel that Krenek's musical language can be a bit austere (sorry if I am putting words in your mouth). A piece like Nunc and the Suite are good pieces to compare as they are similar in certain ways and different in others. I find Nunc to be full of more overtly "lyrical" gestures. Maybe it is the Italian background of the composer? Maybe not. However, I find that in much of Krenek's music the lyricism is contained within a pretty strict formal framework. It's no coincidence that the Suite for mandolin and guitar is full of baroque-like textures: counterpoint, imitation, canonic passages...Maybe it's his German background (maybe not?) #but I find his music to be less emotive in a lyrical sense, and if one is looking for that they may leave dissapointed. I approach his works for guitar/mandolin the same way I approach listening to a Bach fugue; music that is full of inventiveness but who's beauty is tied up in how that inventivess plays itself out within a strict form. When I try to help students express themselves when learning the Krenek Suite for guitar I sometimes describe it this way, and it seems to help. Don't take this as a criticism of Petrassi's music. He is a top rate composer.

To push the German/Italian analogy potentially past the breaking point it may be like comparing Bach to Vivaldi (I know this may not be fair as Bach is hard to top in any comparison), but hopefully you understand my point.

Just my 2 cents.

Respectfully--Buzz

[margora]

"I know some people, like yourself, that are fans of modernism but feel that Krenek's musical language can be a bit austere (sorry if I am putting words in your mouth)."

My reaction to the Krenek has nothing whatsoever to do with the language being austere or the strict framework, etc. etc. As I said, when I listen to or play the Krenek piece I respect it but it doesn't move me, as music. He was a fine composer but, as a listener or player, I prefer others. Simple as that.

[markmdavis]

Buzz,

The Krenek op. 242 is an excellent and very important piece. # What other piece by an equally important 20th century composer do mandolinists have?
I think that your performance of the third movement is first-rate! #Congratulations! #When do we get to hear the rest of it?

Mark

[mandobuzz]

Mark, thank you for your kind words. Coming from one of the persons responsible for making this piece happen, I consider that a big compliment.

Regarding hearing more of our performance: Peter Yates and I performed this peice four times last year. Unfortunately, only one concert was professionally recorded, so that is all I have to offer. I've just uploaded another movement for the Suite on my myspace page. However, I must explain something first. If it were not for something that happened during the performance it would be a great audio file. The movement is the Soliliqui, one of my favorites of the Suite. This movement is 90% mandolin, full of beautiful, disjointed melodies which require a lot of nuance and dynamic shadings. When done well, it can really draw in the audience in an intimate way, as the title of the movment suggests. About 15 seconds into it a cell phone of someone in the front row went off, then the person next to him groaned out loud in displeasure, then the phone emitted one of those ring-tone like noises that they sometimes do when they are being shut off. I barely noticed it when I was performing, but it comes out LOUD AND CLEAR on the recording. Oh well, what can one do? I probably won't keep that movement up on my page for too long, but if anyone is interested in hearing another movement and doesn't mind some 21st century inturuption they should give it a listen.

More importantly, for anyone who is interested in hearing this piece in it's entirety I urge you to buy the Mair/Davis Duo's CD "ZU". Not only is their performance of the Krenek Suite wonderful but the entire album is fantastic.

-Buzz

[barbaram]

"The Krenek op. 242 is an excellent and very important piece. What other piece by an equally important 20th century composer do mandolinists have?"

Pieces by (to offer just a few composers):

Per Norgard
Franco Donatoni
Eric Gross
Hans Werner Henze
Lisa Lim
Michael Finnissy