Cellist Joel Krosnick and pianist Gilbert Kalish present "American Milestones of the Last 100 Years" on Thursday, December 6 at 8 PM in Paul Hall

Recital with Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish, sonata partners for more than 20 years, part of Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series

Cellist Joel Krosnick and pianist Gilbert Kalish present their second recital this season as part of the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series on Thursday, December 6 at 8 PM in Paul Hall. (Enter at 144 West 66th Street.) The program on Thursday, December 6 entitled, American Milestones of the Last 100 Years, comprises works for cello and piano that have had a great influence on the duo’s lives and careers as musicians. The program features the world premiere of Robert Stern’s Tekiah G’Dolah, reflections on Shofar (2007); Ernst Bacon’s A Life (1946/1970); Ralph Shapey’s Sonata Appassionata (1995); and Richard Wernick’s Duo (2002). 
      
Joel Krosnick has been a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1974. With his sonata partner of more than twenty years, pianist Gilbert Kalish, he has performed recitals throughout the United States and Europe. Since 1976, they have given an annual series of recitals at Weill and Merkin halls, as well as at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University and at Juilliard. In 1984, Mr. Krosnick and Mr. Kalish gave a six-concert retrospective of 20th-century music for cello and piano at Juilliard and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. They returned for duo performances at Juilliard in 2002-03 and 2005-06. Mr. Krosnick and Mr. Kalish have recorded on the Arabesque label.

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Robert Stern says of his work, Tekiah G’Dolah, which was written for the duo and has its world premiere on this concert: “Tekiah g’dolah is the long and final blast of the shofar (ram’s horn), one of four blasts, which usher in the ten-day period of prayer and reflection between the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The work is my attempt to bring closure to an extended artistic and spiritual journey, which began in 1998 and culminated in the premiere of my oratorio Shofar, an extended work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra in the fall of 2006.” Mr. Stern, emeritus professor of composition at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has composed many scores on Jewish themes. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and Israel by prominent musicians, including Lukas Foss, Howard Hanson, Gunther Schiller, Joan Tower, Joel Smirnoff, Joel Krosnick, Gilbert Kalish, the Gregg Smith Singers, and the Da Capo Chamber Players at the Musica Viva Concert Series (Tel Aviv), the Festival of American Music, and the Aspen Music Festival, among many others.

A Life is a work that celebrates birth (and also commemorates the passing of an individual). Ernst Bacon wrote the first three movements on the birth of his son, Paul, in 1941, and the last two following Paul’s tragic death in 1968. The foreman of a group of workers assembling a radio tower in the mountains of Colorado, Paul fell to his death when the tower toppled. The composition was completed in 1972. The composer writes: “The music is not programmatic or descriptive, but embodies feelings and memories needing no definition. Each movement has its own rhythmic pulse. Cello and piano are partners; the former concerned more with line, the latter with the color of harmony. If the two together can convey the warmth, firmness, and lovability of the subject, the author may suppose he has written some plain, honest music.” Mr. Bacon was a composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, and critic. He accepted a position at Syracuse University in 1945 and remained there for two decades. He continued to compose until his death. In his lifetime he wrote more than 250 art songs, two symphonies, two piano concertos, band and choral works, and chamber music.

Ralph Shapey’s Sonata Appassionata, composed for the duo in 1995, emphasizes the epic range of the cello, and broadens it by asking the cellist to retune the lowest string from a “C” to the “A” below that. This retuning darkens the timbre of the instrument, as well as provides three more pitches below the usual bottom of the range. Mr. Shapey served for many years on the faculty of the University of Chicago. He composed scores for The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among many others. 

Richard Wernick’s Duo was completed in 2002 on commission from cellist Scott Kluksdahl, in memory of the pianist and composer, Robert Helps. Work on it was interrupted by the tragic events of 9/11 and taken up again months later. The original idea called for a cello sonata with piano accompaniment, but when the piano took on a role equal to that of the cello, the title was changed to Duo. Boston-born Richard Wernick received a Pulitzer Prize in 1977 for his vocal work, Visions of Terror and Wonder. He was a member of the University of Pennsylvania faculty from 1968 to 1996 and has been commissioned by many of the world’s leading performers and ensembles, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard String Quartet, and Emerson String Quartet.

Juilliard presents more than 700 dance, drama, and music events annually. During ongoing renovations, a full calendar of events is scheduled. For a complete listing of events, as well as construction updates, go to www.juilliard.edu.