Elliott Schwartz (b. 1936)

Chamber Concerto I (1976)
Anthony D'Amico, double bass

Chamber Concerto II (1976)
Gary Gorczyca, clarinet

Chamber Concerto III: Another View (1977, rev. 2007)
Nina Ferrigno, piano

Chamber Concerto IV (1980-81)
Eliot Gattegno, saxophone

Chamber Concerto V: Water Music (1991, rev. 2006-07)
Ronald Haroutunian, bassoon

Chamber Concerto VI: Mr. Jefferson (2007, rev. 2008)
I. The Inventor
II. The Violin
III. The Garden
IV. The Letter
V. The Portrait
Charles Dimmick, violin

Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose

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>I've been fascinated by concertos ever since I was a teenage piano student—dazzled by the Tchaikovsky and Grieg piano concertos with the virtuoso soloist placed directly in the spotlight for maximum one-against-all "heroic" affect. A decade or so later, however, I had become interested in alternative models: the neo-Baroque interplay of different weights and balances, the anti-heroic placement of a soloist within complex textures (lowering the spotlight), and possibilities for highlighting the theatrical/spatial dimensions so integral to the entire concerto enterprise.

Chamber Concertos I-VI can be heard, therefore, as a fusion of solo concerto and concerto grosso. They also reflect my responses to larger textural issues—the simultaneous layering of disparate narratives, and the interweaving of stylistic cross-references. On both counts, I've been influenced by a number of other composers—Ives, Ravel, and Mahler in particular—who can switch stylistic gears with ease. My own music attempts a similar synthesis of languages, very often an overlay of non-functional triadic harmony, Romantic chromaticism, and the angular, modernist language of the twentieth century. The resultant fabric might be perceived as a kind of time warp.

- Elliott Schwartz