Leo Ornstein: Piano Quintet & String Quartet No. 2
10/27/2023, 6 Tracks, 1:12:47
Featuring
Simin Ganatra
Sibbi Bernhardsson
Masumi Per Rostad
Brandon Vamos
Marc-André Hamelin
Pacifica Quartet
Leo Ornstein
Did you know?
1/7
Composer's Artistic Vision
Ornstein believed in a highly intuitive approach to composition, claiming music simply came to him and resonated in his head until he wrote it down.
Composer Biography
Leo Ornstein, born in Ukraine, was admitted to the St Petersburg Conservatory at age ten but his family fled Russia in 1906 due to anti-Semitic pogroms.
Critical Reception
Ornstein was hailed as a sensation in the early 20th century, with critics like Waldo Frank predicting he would be greater than Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
Notable Performances
The premiere of Ornstein's Piano Quintet in Philadelphia in 1928 featured Ornstein himself at the piano and also included two works by Béla Bartók, who was present.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Ornstein's early ultra-modern compositions, like 'Danse sauvage', emerged from his mind as fully formed, dissonant sounds, leading him to question his own sanity.
Composition History
Ornstein's Piano Quintet was privately commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, an important patron of American musical culture in the early 20th century.
Composer Biography
After composing his String Quartet No 2, Ornstein went silent for forty years, only resuming composition in the 1970s and writing his last major work at age 98.
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