IDAGIO | Gould: Concerto Grosso - Cinerama Holiday Suite - World War I

Featuring

Gerard Schwarz
John Weller
Mikhail Shmidt
Maria Larionoff
Mariel Bailey
Jeffrey Silberschlag

Seattle Symphony
Morton Gould

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

The Concerto Grosso from 'Audubon' is scored for four violins and orchestra, and Morton Gould described it as a 'transformation of hoedown tunes' with rhythmic asymmetries and surprising harmonic shifts.

Composer Biography

Morton Gould's career spanned and often blurred the traditional boundaries between 'serious' and 'popular' music, encompassing symphonic works, ballets, Broadway shows, film scores, and television soundtracks.

Historical Context

Morton Gould composed the score for the 1955 film Cinerama Holiday, which was commissioned to demonstrate the potential of Cinerama, a new movie projection technology using a large curved screen and three synchronized projectors.

Composer Biography

Morton Gould, like George Gershwin and Aaron Copland, was raised in New York by Jewish immigrant parents and showed exceptional musical ability from a young age.

Performer Biography

Jeffrey Silberschlag, the trumpet soloist on this album, has had pieces written for him by several composers, including Morton Gould, the composer featured on this recording.

Composition History

Morton Gould's Concerto Grosso from 'Audubon' was originally intended for a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine, but the collaboration was ill-fated and the ballet remained unfinished.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Morton Gould, the composer, retained traditional notions of melody and harmony, seeing no artistic compromise in writing accessible music for a broad audience, even during the rise of high-modernism.