BEETHOVENSonata No. 9 for Piano and Violin

BARBERSonata for Cello and Piano

TCHAIKOVSKYTrio for Piano, Violin and Cello

OSCAR SHUMSKY - Violin

CHARLES CURTIS - Cello

EARL WILD - Piano

IN CONCERT 1979

– 2 –

Beethoven • Barber • TchaikovskyOSCAR SHUMSKY, Violin • CHARLES CURTIS, Cello • EARL WILD, Piano

I N C O N C E R T 1 9 7 9

Disc I

BEETHOVEN - Sonata No. 9 for Piano and (36:25)Violin in A Major Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’

Adagio sostenuto - Presto - Adagio 13:30Andante con Variazione 14:27Finale (Presto) 8:15

Oscar Shumsky, ViolinistEarl Wild, Pianist

BARBER - Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 6 (18:28)

Allegro ma non troppo 8:16Adagio - Presto - Adagio 4:14Allegro appassionato 5:55

Charles Curtis, CellistEarl Wild, Pianist

Total Time 54:53

654

3

21

Disc II

TCHAIKOVSKY - Trio for Piano, Violin (43:23)and Cello in A minor Op. 50

Pezzo elegiaco (Moderato assai - Allegro giusto) 18:20A. Tema con Variazioni (Andante con moto) 17:53

B. Variazione finale e Coda 7:03(Allegro risoluto e con fuoco - Andante con moto)

Oscar Shumsky, ViolinistCharles Curtis, Cellist • Earl Wild, Pianist

Total Time 43:23

3

21

Var. I. L’istesso tempo Var. II. Più mossoVar. III. Allegro moderato Var. IV. L’istesso tempoVar. V. L’istesso tempo Var. VI. Tempo di ValseVar. VII. Allegro moderato Var. VIII. FugaVar. IX. Andante flebile ma non tanto Var. X. Tempo di Mazurka Var. XI. Moderato

i LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) jSonata for Piano and Violin No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’

Mystery surrounds most of Beethoven’s works that carry fanciful titles and the Violin SonataNo. 9 in A Major, Opus 47 is no exception. Of his ten sonatas for the instrument only two havenicknames, and we are left wondering if this work’s popularity was a contributing factor in the per-manent affixing of the title ‘Kreutzer.’ What we do know is this: Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831)was a French violinist who first met Beethoven in 1798. However, it was another man, the mulat-to violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower (c.1780-1860), who would give the first performancewith the composer at the piano on May 24, 1803 at the Auergarten Hall in Vienna. ThoughBeethoven was thoroughly impressed by Bridgetower, who even helped to make improvements tothe violin part, there was a falling out between the two after which Beethoven dedicated the sonatato Kreutzer who, ironically, never even played the work.

It was with this piece that Beethoven sealed the fate of the violin sonata as a concert work.Through his ten sonatas for the instrument, composed over a relatively short period of fifteen yearsbetween 1797 and 1812, he slowly brought the medium out of the private salon and into the per-formance hall. In the Kreutzer, Beethoven’s ninth contribution to the genre, he enlarged the roleof the violin and piano to concert proportions. The piano writing is no less involved or demand-ing than a solo sonata for the instrument, and the level of the violin’s importance is no less thanthat of a concerto. The outer movements of the work are both marked ‘presto,’ suggesting a bril-liance not present in violin sonatas of the late eighteenth century. These movements displayBeethoven’s intellectual mastery and feature dazzling virtuoso writing for both of the performers.Also not previously explored is the level of dialogue between the violin and piano that plays suchan important role in this work, which is immediately evident in the first movement.

The second movement is perhaps the enigma of this sonata. Both in style and content, thetheme and variations seem mismatched with the sonata’s grand outer movements. There is nodoubt that Beethoven fully explores the theme’s potential and, in what is the longest of the threemovements, shapes the variations to a satisfying dramatic arch; however, he curiously allows theviolin’s importance to diminish, as in the works of many earlier composers. The first half of thetheme is played by the piano alone, and in Variation I the violin’s role is reduced to providing brief

– 3 –

‘bird-calls;’ this is the first of many moments in whichhe appears to be writing a piano sonata with obbliga-to violin. Variation II, while possessing a charmingquality and simplistic beauty, seems more like a tech-nique exercise than a mature development of thetheme, and in the minor mode Variation III the vio-lin seems only to add color to the piano harmonies.Variation IV shows the violin engaging in brief dia-logue with the piano despite much trill and pizzica-to figurations; the remainder of this final variationcontinues on in much the same manner, and thoughthe piano shows an evolution of the theme, the vio-lin is never truly allowed to make any significantcontributions.

Beethoven used all three movements of theKreutzer to further exploit the development of his useof unconventional tonal centers. In the four measureintroduction, the unsupported violin majestically

establishes the work in the vibrant key of A Major; however, the first movement quickly shiftsmodally to the minor, and though A remains the tonal center throughout the rest of the movement,it is in the minor - not the major - that the movement is destined to end. As if adding to the con-fusion, Beethoven then chose to keep the second theme group in E Major, a peculiarity if we are inminor mode as the second theme group is traditionally in the relative major key. Beethoven favoredthird relationships in his music and let these harmonic relationships dictate his musical structures.Such is the case of his choice of F Major for the theme and variations of the second movement.This kind of tampering with the tonal structure was common in Beethoven’s musical output dur-ing this period, and he slowly but consistently pushed the audience - and other composers - towardthe acceptance of such practices. In later works he would progress even farther, using third rela-tionships within individual movements, such as in the Waldstein Piano Sonata, Op. 53 where onecan find more than a few similarities with the Kreutzer.

The Waldstein Sonata was composed only a year later. The first movement of the work, in C

– 4 –

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Major, has a second theme group in E Major. The bare triadic texture of this theme is very simi-lar to that of the Kreutzer’s second theme, also in E. Beethoven also originally intended to composea Rondo for the slow movement of the Waldstein that was very similar in style to the Variations ofthe Kreutzer, but would eventually discard the idea in favor of the more appropriate half slow-move-ment, half introduction-to-the-finale that was composed for the piano sonata’s premiere.

One may even say that Beethoven was moving toward a sense of the progressive tonality thatwe see in the works of later composers, starting with Schubert who would compose some of thefirst works to begin in a major key only to end in the minor mode, through Mahler’s progressivetonality over the course of an entire symphonic work.

The Kreutzer Sonata, in its daring virtuosity and formal experimentation, points the waytoward many of Beethoven’s own subsequent masterpieces, as well as those of later Austro-Germancomposers.

i SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981) jSonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6

On October 1, 1924 the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania opened itsdoors to students for the first time. The first to enter was Max Aronoff, a violin student who wouldlater play viola in the famous Curtis String Quartet and eventually join the faculty as a professor.The second student through the doors was a lanky, fourteen-year-old high school student namedSamuel Barber.

The educational philosophy of the institute was stated in the school’s catalogue written my MaryCurtis Bok, daughter of a prominent publisher and founder of the school of music. She stated:

– 5 –

It is my aim that earnest students shall acquire a thorough musicaleducation, not learning only to sing or play, but also the history of music,the laws of its making, languages, ear-training and music appreciation.

They shall learn to think and to express their thoughts against abackground of quiet culture, with the stimulus of contact with artist-teachers who represent the highest and finest in their art.

The aim is for quality of the work rather than quick, showy results.

This was the standard which would govern thenine years Barber spent in his studies at Curtis bothduring and after high school. He would immedi-ately engross himself in three areas of study,excelling in both piano (studying with IsabelleVengerova from 1926-31) and voice (with Emiliode Gogorza from 1926-30), but perhaps mostimportantly in his study of composition withRosario Scalero (from 1925-34). Among manyother things, Barber would learn to take advantageof the aid offered by his fellow students to familiar-ize himself with the idioms and possible uses of thevarious instruments, a practice he would not aban-don throughout his career. It was in this mannerthat he became friends with Orlando Cole, a youngcello student at Curtis. When asked of his initialimpressions of Barber, Cole recalls:

– 6 –

Samuel Barber

He was born in West Chester, PA., a town near Philadelphia, andhe came to Curtis when the school first opened in 1924; he was four-teen and I was sixteen. We were in classes together and we becamefriends later when he was writing his Cello Sonata (Op. 6), Dover Beach(Op. 3), the Serenade for String Quartet (Op. 1), and other works; I wasa member of the Curtis Quartet and we were helpful in playing hismusic. He majored in composition, of course, but he was also a finepianist. He was a beautiful singer as well; our quartet recorded his DoverBeach for baritone and string quartet with him in 1935 for RCA RedSeal. It’s still available today on many labels. Barber had previously writ-ten a violin sonata during his Curtis days; it was performed at theschool, won a prize, and then Barber destroyed the music. He was verydemanding of himself.

We had a lot of fun together, we gave many concerts in Italy; I had

Work on Barber’s Cello Sonata beganin the summer of 1932 during a visit to Italywith Menotti. Two weeks after arriving at theMenotti family villa Barber had completedthe first movement of the Sonata and hadbegun composing the Presto in the secondmovement. He wrote to his parents sayingthat he was proud that he had written it with-out the aid of a piano, and that it would soonbe played for him by the principle cellist ofthe La Scala Orchestra.

Upon his return to school in the fall, he showed the work-in-progress to Orlando Cole, andas Barber continued working on the sonata the two students would meet weekly to look over thenewly composed sections. Cole describes the collaboration:

– 7 –

Charles Curtis and Oscar Shumsky behind the stage at Wolf Trap, 1979

almost daily contact withhim, and a little later on withhis lifelong friend Gian CarloMenotti. I visited in 1936when he was on the AmericanAcademy’s Prix de Romescholarship where he hadbegun writing a string quartetfor us. Later he sent me a let-ter to say that he had finishedthe slow movement and that“it’s a knock-out,” and heunderlined ‘knock-out.’

I had only a minor influence on the Cello Sonata. At the time,Barber was twenty-two and still a student; in those days, we stayed atCurtis as long as the teachers wanted to keep us.

While the work shows strong influences of the music of Brahms, notably the cello sonataswhich Barber had great admiration for, Barber’s Sonata also displays many contemporary featuresdespite this Romantic tone. Complex rhythms, rapid shifts between duple and triple meter, and aunique balance of key relationships help to affix the work in the twentieth-century and conflictingrhythms between the piano and cello in the presto section of the second movement present techni-cal challenges at an unforgiving tempo. The Sonata is cast in the standard three-movement formand shows an amazing combination of contemporary sparkle and creativity with long, warm tonalmelodies that mark so many of Barber’s works. Barber completed the Sonata on December 9,1932; less than a month would pass before he and Orlando Cole would unofficially premiere thework. Cole remembers the experience, saying:

– 8 –

While he was writing the Sonata I would play through the pages asthey were completed and I was also free to make any suggestions. Hewrote on my printed copy:

Sam made all kinds of changes to the Cello Sonata; the originalcopies that I played from, many times, showed numerous corrections.We didn’t have tape in those days so the corrections were glued andpinned on, scratched out, and so forth.

to Orlando - physician at the birth of this Sonata

in appreciation of his help and interest Samuel Barber

New York seven years late.

We rehearsed the piece, but we’d been playing parts of it as it wasbeing written so it wasn’t any great chore to put it all together. We gavethe first official performance on March 5, 1933 in New York at a Leagueof Composers concert and it was very well received; later we played it inbroadcasts along with his String Quartet. This lead to its publication andI think he also won some prizes for the piece in school. Today I believeit’s one of the most frequently performed of his compositions, except forthe Adagio for Strings which I find is really overplayed.

Mary Curtis Bok had taken a special interest in the career of one of the finest students at herschool, and in 1934 she introduced Barber and Menotti to Carl Engel at G. Schirmer, Inc., whichlater became the exclusive publisher of Barber’s music. After the Cello Sonata began to enjoy a cer-tain degree of fame it was brought to Engel, who by 1935 had already published three of Barber’ssongs; the production costs for the Cello Sonata were provided, possibly without Barber’s knowl-edge, by Mary Curtis Bok.

Officially, Barber dedicated the Cello Sonata to his teacher Rosario Scalero, this being the lastcomposition completed under his guidance at Curtis.

Samuel Osmond Barber II died on January 23, 1981 in New York after suffering a stroke.

i PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) jPiano Trio in A minor, Op. 50

In October 1880, Nadezhda von Meck took a sudden, newinterest in works composed for piano trio. The wealthy widow of arailway engineer named Karl von Meck, Nadezhda requested thatthree musicians in her service form a piano trio to satisfy her dailycravings for works in the genre; and thus it would be that the Polishviolinist Wladislaw Pachulski, the cellist Peter Danilchenko and theyoung French pianist Claude Debussy (who was at the time busywith the composition of his own piano trio) found themselves per-forming these works for her. Nadezhda von Meck was also apatroness to, and correspondent with, Tchaikovsky to whom sheeagerly wrote a letter enquiring, “Peter Ilyich, why have you not writ-ten a single trio?”

Tchaikovsky’s reaction to her new fascination was, most likely, an unsuspected one. He wrote back saying, “How unnatural is the union of three such individualities as the

pianoforte, the violin and the violoncello! Each loses something of value. A trio implies equalityand relationship, but do these exist between stringed solo instruments and the piano? They do not;and this is the reason why there is always something artificial about a pianoforte trio. I do not care

– 9 –

Tchaikovsky

for the trio as a form, there-fore I shall never produceanything sincerely inspiredthrough the medium of thiscombination of sounds.”

Previously in 1866, thecelebrated conductor andpianist Nikolai Rubinsteinhad been appointed as thefirst director of the MoscowConservatory and he in turnoffered Tchaikovsky a posi-tion there as a professor ofharmony. Rubinstein was anextraordinary teacher, and hisdirectorship at the conserva-tory allowed him the oppor-tunity to lay the foundationsfor the Russian school ofpiano playing. He was alsoTchaikovsky’s most ardentsupporter and was responsi-

ble for the premiere of many of his protégé’s new compositions. However, no matter how muchthe two men respected one another, their relationship could never develop into a real friendship.A depressed social outcast, Tchaikovsky must have found Rubinstein’s demanding character andhis excessively sociable lifestyle very foreign. After his estrangement in 1875 with Rubinstein,Tchaikovsky wrote, “As an artist, I have always held Nikolai Rubinstein in the very highest regard,but (especially of late) have felt no inner allegiance to him as a person.”

In late 1881, Tchaikovsky wrote again to Nadezhda von Meck, surprisingly informing herthat he had just begun the composition of a new work - for piano trio. This was a rather unex-pected change of heart considering his opinions of the genre. He explained his newfound motiva-

– 10 –

Oscar Shumsky, Earl Wild and Charles Curtis performing the Tchaikovsky Trio on stage at Wolf Trap, July 15, 1979

tion by saying, “I hope you willbelieve me when I say that theonly reason for reconciling myselfto the combination of piano andstrings was the hope of giving youpleasure by this work.” However,this was not the only reason for hissudden inspiration, nor was iteven the principle one. On March23, 1881, Nikolai Rubinstein haddied. He was only 45 years of age.Tchaikovsky was devastated, andresolved to compose a work inmemory of the man who hadplayed such an important role inhis professional life.

Choosing to compose apiano trio allowed Tchaikovsky tocreate a work that would suitNadezhda von Meck and couldalso contain an engrossing pianopart that would stand as a tribute to Rubinstein’s outstanding piano skills. Tchaikovsky began com-posing the work in December of 1881 and worked briskly, completing it on February 9, 1882.Pianist Sergey Taneyev, violinist Ivan Hrimaly and cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen gave the work itsfirst private hearing at the Conservatory in Moscow on March 2, 1882 on the occasion of the firstanniversary of Rubinstein’s death; later that year, Tchaikovsky thoroughly revised the work and itwas published by Jurgenson in a deluxe edition. Dedicated ‘To the memory of a great artist,’ thePiano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 received its public premiere on October 30 of the same year at theopening concert of the Moscow Russian Musical Society.

Did Tchaikovsky, in the composition of his piano trio, betray the strong beliefs he commu-nicated to Nadezhda von Meck regarding the genre? The short answer is no. He further addressed

– 11 –

Oscar Shumsky, Earl Wild and 19-year-old Charles Curtis backstage at Wolf Trap

his concerns to her by saying that “the piano should only be employed in three cases: as a soloinstrument; opposed to the orchestra; or for accompaniment, as the background to a picture.” Ifthe violin and cello fulfill the role of the orchestra in the trio, then the writing for the piano close-ly follows the guidelines and options Tchaikovsky had set for it.

The historical model Tchaikovsky used for this work was Beethoven’s final Piano Sonata (Op.111), therefore the Piano Trio is set in two lengthy movements with a theme and variations as thesecond half. The opening melancholy theme is stated by the cello before the formally ambiguousfirst movement (entitled Pezzo elegiaco, or ‘Elegiac piece’) continues. The role of this movement isnot immediately evident to be a memorial; however, the initial theme is an expression of griefwhich functions as the ‘thematic glue’ that binds the work as a whole. Tchaikovsky will go on topresent three more distinct themes, each one a testament to his melodic gifts, before subjectingthem to a series of transformations.

Just as one can be sure that the very prominent, and technically demanding, piano writing ofthe first movement is testament to Rubinstein’s capabilities as a pianist; the folk like melody usedas the theme in the second movement recognizes his love of folk music. Through eleven variations,Tchaikovsky will fully develop the emotional and musical potential of the theme. Some haveattributed each variation to some unspecified event or aspect of Rubinstein’s life, something that iseasy to do after witnessing the kaleidoscope of treatments the theme undertakes. Though a fewvariations have a sadness about them, some of the more outstanding character variations include ascherzo (Var. III), the sounds of a music box (Var. V), a waltz (Var. VI), a fugue (Var. VIII), and amazurka (Var. X).

When critics questioned Tchaikovsky as to whether or not each variation was a representa-tion of various parts of Rubinstein’s life, he wittily replied, “How amusing! To compose music with-out the slightest desire to represent something, and suddenly to discover that it represents this orthat, it is what Molière’s Bourgeois Gentilhomme must have felt when he learned that he had beenspeaking in prose all of his life.”

Following the eleventh variation, Tchaikovsky presents a vast Variazione finale e Coda in fullsonata form. The music moves majestically and fatefully towards a glorious return of the openingtheme from the first movement. Played fortississimo, it is now the most powerful grief beingexpressed in the most public manner just before the overwhelming emotion collapses inwards.

All that remains is a lingering funeral march which will finally succumb to the silence.

– 12 –

i OSCAR SHUMSKY (1917-2000) jOscar Shumsky represents a direct link to the ‘Golden Age’ of violin playing. Born of Russian

parents in Philadelphia on March 23rd 1917, he is widely acknowledged today as one of the great-est violinists of his time. A startling prodigy of the violin, having begun instruction on the instru-ment at the age of three, his first public recital was given at age five. He made his much-heraldedorchestral debut in 1924 at the age of seven, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by LeopoldStokowski in a performance of the Mozart Concerto No. 5 in A Major ‘The Turkish’. This concertintroduced the phenomenal young violinist to the public at large in a most extraordinary way.Stokowski called Oscar Shumsky, “the most astounding genius I have ever heard.”

Following that monumental occasion he was immediately offered many concerts andappeared with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Baltimore Orchestra playingBoccherini, Mendelssohn E minor, Mendelssohn D minor and the Julius Conus E minor Concerto.During this time Oscar was introduced to Fritz Kreisler who took a personal interest in him. Theeight-year-old prodigy astonished Kreisler by attending only two his performances of the BeethovenConcerto and memorizing all the Kreisler cadenzas, which were still unpublished at the time.Following that encounter Kreisler, who played the piano quite well, accompanied Shumsky in fourof his own pieces at a New York gathering of musicians.

In 1925, at the age of eight, he began private studies with the legendary Russian violinistLeopold Auer, who also taught Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman and Efrem Zimbalist. Mr. Shumskywas the youngest prodigy ever accepted by this master teacher. In 1928 he entered the CurtisInstitute in Philadelphia and upon the death of Auer in 1930, he was accepted into the class ofEfrem Zimbalist. In 1932, while only fifteen years old Mr. Shumsky performed the Brahms andElgar Violin Concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra on tour. He remained at Curtis until 1936and then continued private studies with Zimbalist until 1938. In 1938, at the age of 22, he audi-tioned for Arturo Toscanini and was invited to join the newly-formed NBC Symphony Orchestraunder the direction of Maestro Toscanini. While at NBC, Shumsky teamed up with fellow orches-tra members to form the Primrose String Quartet (Oscar Shumsky, first violin; Josef Gingold, sec-ond violin; William Primrose, viola and Harvey Shapiro, cello). Along with his many radio broad-casts throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s on New York stations WNBC, WOR, WQXR, WNYC andWABC, he built his career as a major soloist with appearances with most of the leading orchestras

– 13 –

in the United States. A Shumsky concertor broadcast was always a special event thatwas not to be missed. Between 1938 and1942 on the NBC radio network, Shumskyalong with pianist Earl Wild performed vir-tually the entire repertoire for violin andpiano.

Oscar Shumsky combined an awesomevirtuosity with the most refined artistrythat ensured a special dignity to all hismusical pursuits. His purity of style, beau-tiful tone and elegance of execution gainedhim the highest respect from his colleaguesand critics alike. David Oistrakh calledOscar Shumsky, “one of the world’s greatestviolinists.” Other accolades included: “Aviolinist of superb equipment, and also amaster musician;” “He may be ranked cer-tainly among the few great violinists of ourtime;” “Shumsky is flawless on both violaand violin;” “Oscar Shumsky immediatelycaptured the audience with his magnificentachievements of virtuosity and artistry;”Shumsky is undoubtedly a virtuoso of thehighest class;” “It is seldom that one hears

that kind of infallible mastery of an instrument.” Long considered a ‘violinist’s violinist, Gramophonemagazine praised his “expression and musical experience, his playing combining Central European refine-ment with American chutzpah.” “Shumsky was the last living representative of a style where the violinwas played with an aristocratic elegance and beauty of sound.”

Mr. Shumsky made his conducting debut at the Stratford Festival in Canada in 1959 whileserving as artist-in-residence. His appointment as conductor in Stratford lasted until 1969. At Stratford he

– 14 –

Violinist Leopold Auer with eight-year-old Oscar Shumsky

appeared with Glenn Gould andLeonard Rose in works such asBeethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio and StraussSonata for Violin and Piano. He has alsoconducted the Westchester Symphony,the Madison NJ. Symphony, the SanFrancisco Symphony and the MostlyMozart Orchestra. He has performedfrequently as guest soloist throughout theU.S. in venues such as: the New York andSan Francisco Mostly Mozart Festivals,Wolf Trap Farm Park, the TanglewoodFestival and was featured on LincolnCenter’s ‘Great Performer Series’. OscarShumsky was also a member of the BachAria Group, and toured throughout theworld with this group for about 10 years.

He taught at the PeabodyConservatory of Music in Baltimorefrom 1942 to 1953 (although for twoof those years 1942- 1944 he was assigned to the U.S. Navy Orchestra and Band playing clarinetand violin), The Juilliard School in New York from 1953 to 1961, the Curtis Institute inPhiladelphia from 1961 to 1965, Yale University in New Haven from 1975 to 1981 and later atThe Royal Conservatory in Toronto.

Oscar Shumsky’s repertoire was immense. At his immediate command he had the violin con-certos of Bach, Barber, Bartok, Beethoven, Block, Brahms, Bruch, Chausson, Dvorak, Elgar,Glazounov, Goldmark, Haydn, Hindemith, Joachim, Kreisler, Lalo, Mendelssohn, Mozart,Nardini, Paganini, Prokofiev, Respighi, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Sibelius, Spohr, Frederick Stock,Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps, Viotti, Vivaldi, Walton, Vaughan Williams and Wieniawski. A formida-ble list when you consider that half of the above composers wrote several works for violin andorchestra. Shumsky’s sonata repertoire was also enormous along with his unending list of smaller pieces.

– 15 –

Oscar Shumsky (c. 1990’s)

With the Primrose Quartet in the 1940’s Shumsky recorded Haydn’s Seven Last Words fromthe cross, Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 in E minor “From my Life,” with Jesus Maria Sanroma at thepiano, the Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat Major, Op. 44 and the Brahms Quartet. In the1950’s he recorded the Mozart Concerto No. 5, five Mozart Sonatas, the Ravel Sonata for violinand cello with Bernard Greenhouse and the Respighi Sonata for violin and piano with ArturBalsam. Beginning in the late 1970’s Shumsky began to record many works for a variety of labelssuch as Nimbus Records, ASV and Music Masters which included: the complete sonatas & parti-tas for solo violin by Bach; the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart; the completesonatas for solo violin by Eugène Ysaÿe, the complete works of Fritz Kreisler, the 21 HungarianDances of Brahms transcribed by Joachim, the Beethoven Violin Concerto with PhilharmoniaOrchestra conducted by Andrew Davis, the Dohnanyi, Weiner and Grieg sonatas, the BachConcertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Viotti A minor Concerto, the Mozart Duosfor Violin and Viola plus duos by Rolla, Spohr, Handel and Martin with his son violist EricShumsky and the Concertos No. 4 and No. 5 by Mozart.

Oscar Shumsky was also an expert carpenter and cabinetmaker. He did much of the work onhis house of many years in Rye, New York. The word around the local lumberyard was “that car-penter up on Rockledge Road is one hell of a fiddler!”

Mr. Shumsky owned and performed on the 1715 Stradivari known as both the ‘Ex-PierreRode’ and the ‘Duke of Cambridge’ violin.

i EARL WILD jEarl Wild is a pianist in the grand Romantic tradition. Considered by many to be “the last

of the great Romantic pianists,” he is often heralded as a “super virtuoso.” This eminent musicianis internationally recognized as one of the great virtuoso pianist/composers of all time. His leg-endary career, so distinguished and long, has continued for over 75 years. One of only a handfulof living pianists to merit an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, he is there-in described as a pianist whose technique “is able to encompass even the most difficult virtuosoworks with apparent ease.” He was included in the Philips Records series entitled, The GreatPianists of the 20th Century, with a double CD which included all piano transcriptions. He has been

– 16 –

– 17 –

featured on two separate occasions in TIMEmagazine, the more recent one was in December2000 honoring his eighty-fifth birthday.

Born on November 26, 1915, inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania Earl Wild’s technicalaccomplishments are often likened to whatthose of Liszt himself must have had. Bornwith absolute pitch he started playing thepiano at three. Having studied with greatpianists such as Egon Petri, 1881-1962, his lin-eage can be traced back to Scharwenka, 1850-1924; Busoni, 1866-1924; Ravel, 1875-1937;d’Albert, 1864-1932; and Liszt himself, 1811-1886.

Earl Wild’s career is dotted with musicallegends. In 1942, he was soloist with ArturoToscanini and the NBC Symphony. Sincethen he has performed with virtually everymajor conductor and symphony orchestra inthe world. Rachmaninov was a friend and animportant idol in his life. It’s been said of EarlWild, “He is the incarnation of Rachmaninov,Lehvinne and Rosenthal rolled into one!” In 1986 after hearing him play three sold-out CarnegieHall concerts, devoted to Liszt, honoring the centenary of that composer’s death, the New YorkTimes critic said, “I find it impossible to believe that he played those millions of notes with 70-year-old fingers, so fresh-sounding and precise were they. Perhaps he has a worn-out set up in hisattic, a la Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray.” In 1986 the People’s Republic of Hungary award-ed him the Liszt Medal in recognition of his long and devoted association with the music of FranzLiszt.

He’s one of the few American pianists to have achieved international as well as domesticcelebrity. He also has the singular honor of having performed at the invitation of six Presidents of

Earl Wild

– 18 –

the United States, beginning with Herbert Hoover. While serving in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1944 he was frequently requested to accompany First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on her many speak-ing engagements, where he performed the national anthem as a prelude to her speeches. In 1939,he was the first classical pianist to give a recital on the new medium of Television. At fourteen hewas performing in the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of Otto Klemperer as well as work-ing at radio station KDKA, where he played many of his own compositions. As a virtuoso pianist,composer, transcriber, conductor, editor and teacher, Mr. Wild continues in the style of the leg-endary great artists of the past.

In addition to his distinguished concert career, which encompasses performances with eminentconductors such as Stokowski, Reiner, Maazel, Solti and Mitropoulos, and great artists like Callas,Tourel, Pons, Melchior, Peerce and Bumbry, Earl Wild successfully shines as both a conductor andcomposer. The ABC television network broadcast his Easter oratorio, Revelations, in 1962 and againin 1964 with Mr. Wild conducting. His composition, Variations on a Theme of Stephen Foster forpiano and orchestra (Doo-Dah Variations), was premiered with Mr. Wild as soloist with the DesMoines Symphony Orchestra in 1992 - and recorded that same year.

Mr. Wild has been called “the finest transcriber of our time,” and his many piano transcrip-tions are widely known, respected and performed.

Earl Wild has built an extensive repertoire over the years, which includes both the standardand modern literature. He is one of the world’s most recorded pianists, having made his first discfor RCA in 1937. Since then he has recorded hundred’s of discs on 20 different record labels andbecome world renown in particular for his brilliant performances of the virtuoso Romantic works.

Today at 88, Mr. Wild continues to record new CDs and perform concerts throughout theworld. In 1997, he won a GRAMMY® award for his CD, The Romantic Master - Virtuoso PianoTranscriptions, which included thirteen piano transcriptions (nine of his own). Praised by criticsand music lovers around the world (and featured in Time Magazine), it is now available in its orig-inal HDCD state-of-the-art audiophile sound on the IVORY CLASSICS label (CD-70907).

At age 79, he recorded an extremely well received disc of Beethoven piano sonatas whichincluded the monumental Hammerklavier Sonata, as well as another CD dedicated to the music ofSergei Rachmaninov; Eighteen of his Preludes and the Second Piano Sonata.

In 1998, for the initial release of the newly formed IVORY CLASSICS label, Earl Wild record-ed the complete 21 Chopin Nocturnes (CD-70701) - which the eminent critic, Harold C. Schonberg

– 19 –

wrote in the American Record Guide, “These are the best version of the Nocturnes ever recorded.”Since 1998, IVORY CLASSICS has released 17 newly recorded and or re-released Earl Wild CD’s.These include: a disc for piano and orchestra entitled, Earl Wild Goes to the Movies (CD-70801), adisc entitled, Spanish and French Gems (CD-70805), an all Beethoven disc (CD-70905), a doubledisc entitled, The Virtuosity of Earl Wild (CD-70901), a solo piano disc devoted to Russian masters(CD-70903), an all Schumann solo piano disc (CD-71001) and a double disc devoted to the musicof Franz Liszt (CD-72001). Material from the various discs came from recordings made in the1960’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Another IVORY CLASSICS reissue is a historic Gershwin disc whichfeatures Mr. Wild’s 1945 recording of the Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman conducting - thedisc also includes Mr. Wild’s legendary solo piano transcriptions (CD-70702).

In March of 2000, Mr. Wild recorded a piano quintet CD devoted to the music of Schumannand Dohnanyi for IVORY CLASSICS. This world premiere recording uses a full compliment ofstrings using the American String Orchestra, Isaiah Jackson conductor (CD-71003). Later thatyear Mr. Wild recorded three 20th century piano sonatas: works by Barber, Hindemith andStravinsky; as well as one 21st century piano sonata his own Piano Sonata 2000. It was released asan 85th Birthday Tribute (CD-71005). In July of 2001 Mr. Wild recorded a world premiere 2-CDset of 53 solo piano pieces entitled, Le Rossignol Eperdu, written in the early 20th century by therenowned French composer Reynaldo Hahn. This disc was released by IVORY CLASSICS inNovember 2001 (CD-72006) and was nominated for a GRAMMY® in 2002. In October of 2002IVORY CLASSICS released a CD of Mr. Wild performing Brahms piano works (CD-72008),which included a new recording of the monumental Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5, a Ballade andsome Intermezzi along with a live 1982 performance from Paris of the Paganini Variations (Books I& II). In February 2003 Ivory released an all Schumann recital of pieces recorded in concert inMontreal in 1982 (CD-73001) and in April 2003 Ivory released an all Liszt disc of pieces record-ed in concert in London in 1973, Chicago 1979 and Tokyo 1983 (CD-73002).

– 20 –

i CHARLES CURTIS j

Charles Curtis studied cello at the Juilliard Schoolunder Leonard Rose and Harvey Shapiro. Beforereceiving his Bachelors and Masters degrees in 1985,he spent two terms reading history at the LondonSchool of Economics and Political Science. Upongraduating from Juilliard, Curtis was appointed to thefaculty of Princeton University, where for four yearshe taught cello and chamber music and advised grad-uate composition students on matters of string per-formance and technique.

In 1989 Charles Curtis was named First SoloCellist of the Symphony Orchestra of the NorthGerman Radio (NDR) in Hamburg. In this capac-ity and as a concert soloist he has performed soloworks under the baton of distinguished conductorssuch as Herbert Blomstedt, André Previn, John Eliot

Gardiner, Günter Wand and Max Rudolf. He has been guest soloist with such orchestras asthe San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Orchestre de la SuisseRomande, Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, Orquestra de la Maggio Musicale Florence, and theorchestras of Sao Paolo, Brazil and Santiago de Chile, among many others.

A recording of the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the NDR Symphony Orchestraunder Leopold Hager was released on the German Klassik Club label.

Since 2000, he has been a Professor at the University of Southern California San Diegomusic department. Mr. Curtis is regarded internationally as a leading voice in the performanceof new music, particularly the rarely performed works of radical early minimalist composerssuch as La Monte Young, Richard Maxfield and Terry Jennings. The dedicatee of a major newsolo work for cello and electronics by La Monte Young (the composer’s first new work in tenyears), Mr. Curtis will give its première at four European new music festivals during the 2003-04 season (Berlin, Paris, Lyon and Dijon). Mr. Curtis has already led ensemble performances of

Charles Curtis, 2000

– 21 –

Young’s works at the Barbican Centre in London, the Darmstadt Festival, the Inventionen Festivalin Berlin, the Cathedral of Dreams Festival in Krems, Austria, the Dia Center for the Arts in NewYork, the Beyond the Pink Festival in Los Angeles, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, theDream House concerts in New York, with Belgium’s Ictus Ensemble at the Brugge 2002 Festival,and leading the strings of Ensemble Modern for the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt. Curtisis one of the few instrumentalists to have perfected Young’s highly complex just intonation tun-ings, and is one of only a handful of musicians to have ever appeared in duo formations withYoung, performing works by early minimalists Richard Maxfield and Terry Jennings.

Charles Curtis has enjoyed an extensive and distinguished chamber music career. At theage of seventeen he won first prize in the Coleman International Chamber Music Competitionas cellist of the Gagliano Quartet. He also won the first Gregor Piatigorsky Prize and the JosephSchuster Scholarship of the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles. At eighteen theBirmingham, Alabama News reported, “Charles Curtis played with the maturity of a 52-year-old. To be specific, like Rostropovich.” In 1979, at the age of nineteen he made his CarnegieHall debut performing the Tchaikovsky Trio with two legendary musicians, violinist OscarShumsky and pianist Earl Wild (the performance heard on this disc). In 1980 the WashingtonPost said of a performance by Mr. Curtis and Mr. Wild and Wolf Trap; “It takes no great seerto predict that Charles Curtis will soon be a household name in this business. This very youngcellist already plays with a commitment and maturity beyond his years, and with a distinctive,warm tone that truly lets his instrument sing.”

As cellist of the Ridge Quartet from 1986 to1988 he toured Europe, Japan and NorthAmerica, including an extensive tour with Rudolf Firkusny as guest pianist. Curtis’ collabora-tion with the Ridge concluded with a concert on the string quartet series at Carnegie Hall. Hewas twice a participant in the Marlboro Festival and toured nationally several times withMusicians from Marlboro; he has been a guest performer with the Chamber Music Society ofLincoln Center, the Concert Soloists of Wolf Trap, the Ravinia and Victoria Festivals, and at theinvitation of Shlomo Mintz, in the concert series “Shlomo Mintz et ses amis” at the Louvre inParis. He was featured as continuo soloist on Kathleen Battle’s album “Grace” released by SonyClassical, and toured with Miss Battle and Anthony Newman performing Purcell, Dowland,Handel and Bach. The list of his chamber music collaborators includes musicians such as BrunoCanino, Christoph Eschenbach, Joseph Kalichstein, Paul Gulda, Ursula Oppens, Lillian Kallir,Jeffrey Kahane, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Spivakov, Leila Josefowicz, Jaime Laredo, Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg, Janos Negyesi, Rolf Schulte, Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Lynn Harrell, FredSherry, Aurèle Nicolet and many others.

– 22 –

For the last fifteen years Curtis has maintained an interest and a presence in the down-town New York free music scene, performing in clubs like the Knitting Factory, the Cooler,ABC No Rio, CBGB and Acme Underground. He is an active collaborator with poetry-rockpioneers King Missile, John S. Hall and Kramer, and has been a guest of artists and groups suchas Elliott Sharp, Malcolm Goldstein, Ned Rothenberg, David First, Ben Neill, Donald Miller,Dogbowl, Michael J. Schumacher, Alan Licht, Dean Roberts, Bongwater, Borbetomagus, CircleX, and with individual members of the bands Television, Pere Ubu and Public Image Limited.Curtis appeared as a guest on Herbie Hancock’s “Gershwin’s World” album for Verve Records,and has recorded and performed with saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker.

A particular area of Curtis’ research is reflected in his ongoing performance seminar,Ensemble Realizations of Unconventionally Notated Scores. The performing musicians (manyof them composers and technologists) in this group have realized challenging graphic, text-based, rule-based and actionist scores by composers such as Alvin Lucier (under his supervi-sion), Cornelius Cardew, Christian Wolff, La Monte Young, Walter de Maria, George Brecht,James Tenney, Michael Pisaro and Steve Reich.

As an outgrowth of his intensive work with La Monte Young and his presence in the NewYork avant-garde rock scene, Mr. Curtis has evolved into a creative artist straddling the bound-aries between art rock, sound art and minimalist composition. For a number of years he has ledthe Charles Curtis Trio, presenting his sound-installation-style rock music in clubs throughoutEurope and releasing four critically acclaimed albums. His large ensemble and electronics workfor children, “Richard’s Trip”, was released in 2000 by Deutsche Grammophon. He has touredas soloist with his abstract sound and text pieces, performing in Paris, Den Haag, Amsterdam,Berlin and numerous American cities; and he has led larger ensembles in concerts mixing hisown works and the works of avant-garde composers whom he champions (La Monte Young,Terry Jennings, Richard Maxfield, Morton Feldman).

During the academic year 2001-2002 Curtis co-curated (with composer Roger Reynolds)a series of concert and film presentations entitled Time Forms, exploring the varying relation-ships, which composers and filmmakers exhibit, to the experience of time. In this context Curtisperformed the Webern String Trio (with János Négyesy and Päivikki Nykter) and the 1958 Triofor Strings of La Monte Young; and Morton Feldman’s 1981 long work for cello and piano,Patterns in a Chromatic Field (with Aleck Karis). In 2004 Mr. Curtis will begin a survey of theBeethoven Sonatas and Variations for cello and piano, with UCSD’s Professor of Piano AleckKaris. Mr. Curtis continues to oversee the programming for SONOR, UCSD’s resident facultynew music ensemble.

– 23 –

i CREDITS jTracks 1 - 3 from Disc I were recorded in concert at Carnegie Hall

in New York City, November 19, 1979 Tracks 4 - 6 from Disc I were recorded at a live radio broadcast,

September 12, 1979 Tracks 1 - 3 from Disc II were also recorded in concert at Carnegie Hall,

November 19, 1979

Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson

Generous assistance came from the J.S. Charitable Trust and the Ivory Classics Foundation

24-Bit Remastering

Liner Notes: Christopher Weiss

Christopher Weiss and Ivory Classics would like to extend a special thank you to Orlando Cole for granting us an interview for this release.

Photos courtesy of Michael Rolland Davis Productions

Design: Samskara, Inc.

To place an order or to be included on our mailing list:Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068

Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799michaeldavis@ivoryclassics.com • Website: http://www.IvoryClassics.com

®

2003 Ivory Classics® • All Rights Reserved.Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 341068

Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A. Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799

michaeldavis@ivoryclassics.com • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com

64405-73003STEREO

Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis • Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson24-Bit Remastering

Disc I

BEETHOVEN - ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata (36:25)

Adagio sostenuto - Presto - Adagio 13:30Andante con Variazione 14:27Finale (Presto) 8:15

Oscar Shumsky, ViolinistEarl Wild, Pianist

BARBER - Cello Sonata (18:28)

Allegro ma non troppo 8:16Adagio - Presto - Adagio 4:14Allegro appassionato 5:55

Charles Curtis, CellistEarl Wild, Pianist

Total Time 54:53

654

3

21

Disc II

TCHAIKOVSKY - Piano Trio (43:23)

Pezzo elegiaco (Moderato assai - Allegro giusto) 18:20A. Tema con Variazioni (Andante con moto) 17:53B. Variazione finale e Coda 7:03

(Allegro risoluto e con fuoco - Andante con moto)

Oscar Shumsky, ViolinistCharles Curtis, Cellist

Earl Wild, Pianist

Total Time 43:23

3

2

1

Beethoven • Barber • TchaikovskyOSCAR SHUMSKY, Violin • CHARLES CURTIS, Cello • EARL WILD, Piano

I N C O N C E R T 1 9 7 9