Wordless Verses

Featuring

Roger Roe
Michael Isaac Strauss
R. Kent Cook
August Klughardt
Felix Harold White
Joseph Holbrooke

Charles Martin Loeffler

Did you know?

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Composer's Artistic Vision

The composers on this album, with the possible exception of Loeffler, are not widely known today, reminding listeners of the vast amount of music history beyond canonic masters.

Composer Biography

Josef Holbrooke, an English composer, conductor, and pianist, was obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe, producing over 30 compositions based on Poe's works, which he called his 'Poeana'.

Performer Biography

Roger Roe, the oboist, has served as English horn and assistant principal oboe of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for 20 years and teaches at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

Compositional Technique

All four compositions on this album use the rare scoring of oboe, viola, and piano, and each is a musical commentary on specific poems.

Composition History

August Klughardt's 'Schilflieder' is the oldest piece on this recording, written in 1872 and dedicated to Franz Liszt.

Composition History

Charles Martin Loeffler's 'Deux Rhapsodies' for oboe, viola, and piano is a recasting of music originally composed for voice, clarinet, viola, and piano, based on texts by French poet Maurice Rollinat.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in February 2013 in Clonick Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, which is the official record label of the conservatory.