Opus number: 32

Title: Concerto for Oboe and Five Instruments

Instrumentation: oboe, piano; strings: 1-1-1-1

Date written: 1988, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and American Academy in Rome

Length: sixteen minutes

Commissioner and dedicatee: Speculum Musicae

Premiere performance: Speculum Musicae, Steven Taylor, oboe, Benjamin Hudson, violin, Lois Martin, viola, Eric Bartlett, cello, Marji Danilow, doublebass, Aleck Karis, piano, April 24, 1989

Important subsequent performances: Öesterreichesches Ensemble für Neue Musik, April 1994, Salzburg, Austria

Program notes:

Drammatico e maestoso

Adagio e grazioso

Rondo pop

The Concerto for Oboe and Five Instruments was commissioned by Speculum Musicae. It was written at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and finished at the American Academy in Rome in July 1988.

The work is in three movement of a neo-Classic caste–fast-slow-fast. Unlike the typical concerto, the solo instrument here plays the role of mediator: It is the strings that are concerted against the piano. In addition a common developmental characteristic occurs in each of the movements: thematic “role reversal” of the strings and the piano. For instance, the opening octaves in the strings return as octaves in the piano in the recapitulation of the first movement.

The first movement is marked “Drammatico e maestoso,” the second “Adagio e grazioso,” and the third “Rondo pop.” The entire work, and especially the second movement, contains Ivesian juxtapositions of different music. These are unified by constant reference to one hexachord used as a mode centering around the “key” of d minor. The “key,” or mode, contains many obvious inflections of the blues and much American popular music. The effect of collage is also controlled by large polyrhythmic structures that denote phrase and section articulations. The last movement in particular has a very rock-influenced rhythm.

Reviews: “[Bell’s] postmodernly structured compositional style, in which diverse elements link with one another, orient it to Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives, as well as to Pop, Rock, and Neoclassicism.” –Ulla Kalchmair, Salzburger Volkzeitung(April 30, 1994)

Bibliography: Bell, Larry. “Some Remarks on the New Tonality,” Contemporary Music Review, vol. 6 part 2, 1992, pp. 42–47.

Opus number: 31

Title: The Book of Moonlight

Instrumentation: violin and piano

Date written: 1988, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

Length: twenty minutes

Commissioner and dedicatee: Peter Ciaschini

Premiere performance: Vahn Armstrong, violinist, Larry Bell, pianist, April 1989, The Boston Conservatory

Important subsequent performances: Ayano Ninomiya, violinist, Larry Bell, pianist, March 30, 1999, Jordan Hall, Boston; broadcast live from WGBH-FM, Boston, March 30, 1999; Ayano Ninomiya, violinist, Larry Bell pianist, January 17, 2002, Weill Recital Hall, NYC

Recordings: North.South Recordings (1031) Ayano Ninomiya and Larry Bell; WGBH-FM in Boston, Ayano Ninomiya and Larry Bell; tape at Boston Conservatory of Armstrong performance.

Program notes:  The best analogy for the structure of the 21-minute piece is the so-called “concept album,” a continuous set of songs based on one theme–  moonlight in music. The title of the work is taken from the Wallace Stevens poem, The Comedian as the Letter C, where, on approaching Carolina, the comedian reflects, “The book of moonlight is not written yet nor half begun.” This work is a set of nocturnes that refer to other music, both popular and classical, that center around the theme of moonlight. Its sections are:

I–On Approaching Carolina

1. Carolina Moon

2. Mr. Moonlight

3. O Holy Moon

II–Interlude

Mondschein

III–On Leaving Carolina

1. Harvest Moon

2. Luna di Miele

3. Carolina Moon Revisited

The melody for “Carolina Moon” was written when the composer was fifteen years old; only at its end is the familiar song quoted. The most extensive quotation is of “Mr. Moonlight,” written by Marv Johnson and recorded by the Beatles in 1965: John Lennon’s opening declamation is here reinterpreted by the violin introduction. The words  for the title “O holy Moon” are taken from a refrain in Roger Sessions’s Idyll of Theocritus.

“Mondschein” is the nickname for Beethoven’s Sonata, here used as an accompaniment to the composer’s own melody found in his narrator, cello, and piano work, The Black Cat.

“Harvest Moon” contains some hoe-down fiddle music. “Luna di Miele” is Italian for honeymoon. “Carolina Moon Revisted” reprises the opening original folk melody. Each of the “songs without words” is connected by episodes of ambiguous tonality. There are times when the instruments are playing in separate time frames and their bar lines do not match up.

This work, completed in March 1988, was largely written at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in the summer of 1987 for Peter Ciaschini, concertmaster of the Dayton Philharmonic.

Opus number: 25

Title: River of Ponds

Instrumentation: cello and piano

Date written: 1985, London, American Academy in Rome

Length: twenty-five minutes

Commissioner and dedicatee: Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish

Premiere performance: Bruce Coppock, cellist, Randall Hodgkinson, pianist, Boston Chamber Music Society, April 29, 1988

Important subsequent performances: Andrés Díaz, cellist, Larry Bell, pianist, Jordan Hall, Boston, February 10, 1994; Eric Bartlett, cellist, Larry Bell, pianist, St. Stephens Church, New York, February 22, 1998, National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA) concert; Boston Conservatory, April 10, 1998; Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens, New York, May 15, 1998. Pamela Frame, cellist, Robert Weirich, pianist (Silver Lake movement), March 23, 1996, Eastman School of Music, Kilbourn Hall, Rochester, New York; Eric Bartlett, cello, and Lary Bell, pianist, April 10, 1998, The Boston Conservatory, and January 17, 2002, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Recordings: Eric Bartlett, cellist, Larry Bell, pianist, North/South Recordings #1018; Andrés Díaz, cellist, Larry Bell, pianist, for WGBH-FM in Boston; New England Conservatory Firestone library

Program notes:

I. Black Creek

II. Wyatt Earp’s Pond

III. Silver Lake

“River of Ponds” was completed in the summer of 1986 at the American Academy in Rome and was commissioned by and dedicated to Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish. Title itself is drawn from a series of paintings by Frank Stella, who was the Painter-in-Residence at the AAR during my Rome Prize Fellowship.

The underlying theme of Stella’s “River of Ponds” is a reflection upon his own childhood and the fishing trips he made with his father. The movement titles of my “River of Ponds”–”Black Creek,” “Wyatt Earp’s Pond,” and “Silver Lake”–also refer to my memories of childhood in North Carolina. In order to evoke childhood memories, it seemed to me important to write music that would evoke a specific time and place.

The first piece, “Black Creek,” is based on an original melody. This melody first occurs as a vague recollection from the past and the center of the movement contains a clear presentation of this theme as a vivid memory. The end of the movement dissolves as it began. G major and B major are contrasting tonal areas that grow out of the intervals of the theme itself. “Black Creek” is the name of a small town near where I grew up and the first house that I remember living in, in Lucama, NC, was on Black Creek Road.

“Wyatt Earp’s Pond” is a nickname given to a fishing hole practically within sight of where I went to high school. This title has a humorous connotation and the movement could be thought of as a scherzo; a scherzo with two trios. In the trios the hymn tune “Softly and tenderly” is quoted. All of the music in those movement, including the hymn tune, is based on what I would call “interval themes;” that is, there are four themes and each one contains three intervals that exhaust the supply of twelve possible intervals.

The last movement, “Silver Lake,” is a double variation form. The first theme is similar to the old hymn tune “The Old Rugged Cross,” stated in a slow and somewhat grandiose manner. The second theme is drawn from the first movement; however here the theme is dance-like and driving usually grouped in rhythmic units of seven. The recurrence of both themes suggests a rondo finale.

Reviews: [recording] “The other big work, River of Ponds for cello and piano, was inspired by Frank Stella’s series of paintings with that title. Here Bell produces reminiscences of his boyhood in three movements named after fishing holes of his youth. Hymn tunes show up in the second and third movement with the third movement being a double variation on The Old Rugged Cross. The juxtaposition of the famous hymn tune with what sounds a bit like Schroeder’s jazzy Beethoven (from the Peanutstelevision cartoons) is very entertaining. There is one place in the last movement where the music appears to get stuck rather the way a phonograph needle would periodically stick when playing a record, which is out-and-out funny.

“The performances center around Eric Bartlett, a member of both the New York Philharmonic and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. The recorded sound is very good. This is a fine release.” –John Story, Fanfare May/June 1999

“Larry Bell, who holds the doctorate from Juilliard, has won a long list of prizes and grants, and teaches at the New England Conservatory. This disc offers four compositions which differ widely in moood and performing forces.  . . . River of Ponds derives its title from a series of paintings by Frank Stella. Bell states that ‘the underlying theme . . . is a reflection of his own childhood and the fishing trips he took with his father.’ Special interest and insight are present when the composer participates in the performance–in this case, Bell is piano accompanist.

“The music once again combines traditional and modern sounds–an intriguing and satisfying union. The performances are first-rate (Bartlett is Acting Associate Principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic). It is exciting to find new and rewarding literature for cello!” –Jocelyn Mackey, Pan Pipes, Fall 1999

“The longest and most enjoyable piece is River of Ponds,  a three-movement sonata evoking fishing trips taken by the composer and his father in North Carolina. For some reason this work manages to evoke the images that other works only hint at: it is really quite beautiful, humorous in places, and basically a positive experience.” –David W. Moore, American Record GuideVol. 63, No. 3 May/June 2000

           River of Ponds dates from 1986. The title is drawn from a series of paintings called River of Ponds by Frank Stella, one of which aptly adorns the cover of this release. The composer mentions that the titles of the three movements of the piece refer to his childhood in North Carolina. Black Creek is based on a folk-like, though original melody. The second movement Wyatt Earp’s Pond (a nickname given to a fishing hole near where the composer grew up) is actually a Scherzo with two trios, the latter quoting a hymn tune. The concluding Silver Lake is some sort of varied Rondo partly based on material from the first movement. A substantial piece of tuneful, warmly lyrical cello writing with a hint of Americana sometimes calling Copland to mind.

Larry Bell’s music is contemporary, though very tuneful and warmly lyrical, and – above all – very accessible. Eric Bartlett who enjoys a long association with Bell’s music is a dedicated performer in these fine works, and the composer is obviously also a very fine pianist. A very fine, enjoyable release on all counts. -Hubert Culot, MusicWeb.uk, (Jan. 2003)

Reviews: [performance] “The two most appealing were from the pen of Larry Bell: ‘River of Ponds’ for cello and piano and String Quartet No. 2. The former takes its title from a series of paintings by Frank Stella, who was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome at the same time as Bell, but it also refers to places and memories of the composer’s childhood in North Carolina. Consisting of three parts, two of them incorporating hymn tunes and the third based on an original melody that turns up throughout the work, it is a solid, old-fashioned piece of writing.” –Arthur Hepner, The Boston Globe (May 2, 1988)

Opus number: 18

Title: “Sleep Song” a children’s piece for violin and piano

Instrumentation: violin and piano

Date written: 1984, Boston

Length: two minutes

Commissioner: Verio Piroddi

Premiere performance: March 1986, Bell-Bartlett Concerts, Peter Ciaschini, violin, Michael Dewart, piano. First and Second Church, Boston

Recording: Ayano Ninomiya CD in progress

Program notes:Sleep Song is a lullaby for violin and piano, written for the children of friends of the Italian, Verio Piroddi. Both parts are designed to be played by children. In a popular song form it is meant to be repeated until the performers are lulled to sleep. Arranged for viola for Bob Williams, May 2002.

Opus number: 17

Title: Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn

Instrumentation: cello and viola

Date written: 1983, American Academy in Rome

Length: fifteen minutes

Commissioner and dedicatee: Joel Krosnick

Premiere performance: Joel Krosnick, cellist, Samuel Rhodes, violist, Juilliard Theater, New York, and Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., March 12 and 14, 1984

Subsequent performances: Juilliard String Quartet, April 1984, Library of Congress; Eric Bartlett, cellist, Sarah Clarke, violist, March 1986, Bell-Bartlett Concerts, First and Second Church in Boston; October 1986, American Academy in Rome; Bruce Coppock, cello, and Katherine Murdock, viola, April 21, 1987, The Boston Conservatory; Bartlett and Clarke, October 1992, Boston Conservatory and Greenwich House, New York.

Recording: Eric Bartlett, cello, Sarah Clarke, violist, North/South Recordings CD (N/S #1018); tape of Coppock and Murdock performance at The Boston Conservatory library; video of Bartlett-Clarke Boston Conservatory performance in library

Program notes:  “The ‘Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn’ for cello and viola was commissioned by Joel Krosnick for his 1983–84 six-concert series at Juilliard and the Library of Congress entitled ‘The Cello: A Twentieth-Century American Retrospective.’ The work was composed at the American Academy in Rome in 1983. The New York and Washington premieres were played by Krosnick and Samuel Rhodes in March 1984. Later the Fantasia was played on concerts of the Juilliard String Quartet. Eric Bartlett and Sarah Clarke gave the Fantasia its Boston and European premieres.

“In an interview with Perry Goldstein Krosnick says of this piece, ‘Larry Bell has organized his serial structures in diatonic ways–that is, with the same building blocks with which traditional tonal music is made. Rhythmically, however, and in terms of its polyphony, it is contemporary in its complexity and careful detailing. The two instruments in Larry’s piece often represent two different characters, juxtaposing different kinds of music simultaneously, much like in the Carter Sonata. And yet, the organization of the materials and the materials themselves clearly come from the emotional world of Larry Bell. The music is often lyrical, sweet, playful–quite American sounding, containing the lilt of Southern folk music.’”

Reviews: [performances] “For all the ferocity of some of the work’s lines, it ends lyrically. No hymns are actually used, but the composer uses serial harmony to suggest the flavor of such hymns–an attractive new twist on the Charles Ives esthetic.” –Lon Tuck, The Washington Post (March 15, 1984)

“Bell is a skilled craftsman who deftly blends serial techniques with more conventional methods of expression. He has a gift for melody, a sense of wit and a feeling for continuity. All were evident in four ‘Miniature Diversions’ for piano in 1983 and in a ‘Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn’ for viola and cello, all composed in 1983.” –Arthur Hepner The Boston Globe (March 5, 1986)

[recording] “Larry Bell, who holds the doctorate from Juilliard, has won a long list of prizes and grants, and teaches at the New England Conservatory. This disc offers four compositions which differ widely in mood and performing forces.  . . . Caprice, for solo cello, and Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn illustrate both in title and content one of the most notable characteristics of Bell’s music: a wide range of styles, techniques, and effects within the same piece.” –Jocelyn Mackey, Pan Pipes (Fall 1999)

[recording] Fantasia on an Imaginary Hymn Op.17 (1983/4) is for the somewhat rarer combination of viola and cello. It falls into two parts of fairly equal length in which counterpoint is paramount. The music is strictly organised and tightly argued. Any less modest composer would have called this piece a sonata, which this impressive piece really is. -Hubert Culot, MusicWeb.uk(Jan. 2003)

Opus number: 16

Title: String Quartet No. 2

Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello

Date written: 1982, American Academy in Rome

Length: fifteen minutes

Premiere performance: Columbia String Quartet, Benjamin Hudson, Carole Zeavin, violins, Sarah Clarke, viola, Eric Bartlett, cello, February 4, 1985, St. Michael’s Church, New York

Important subsequent performances: Boston Chamber Music Society, Stephanie Chase, Sharan Leventhal, violins, Robert Dan, viola, Bruce Coppock, cello, April 29, 1988, First and Second Church, Boston

Program notes:  String Quartet No. 2  was begun in Boston and completed at the American Academy in Rome in October 1982. The composer says, “To me the work is about the temporal and psychological dislocations brought on by sudden and unexpected tragedy.  The first movement begins in a light and carefree manner.  As it progresses, it becomes more reflective and somber in tone.  The slow movement is an instrumental Lacrimosa, lyrical and cathartic.  The last movement gradually becomes more lively, bringing the work full circle to a close.”

The Quartet is in three movements. The first is marked ‘Scherzo diventi Adagio,’ or a scherzo becoming a slow movement.  The center of the work is a lyrical lament dominated by the first violin, who often plays with bravura against an unresponsive trio. The climactic moment of the entire piece occurs after the slow and dramatic disintegration of a central serenade.  The last movement reverses the pattern of the first movement–Adagio diventi (becoming) Scherzo.

Movements:

I.  Scherzo (diventi Adagio)

II.  Adagio–Serenade–Adagio

III. Adagio (diventi Scherzo)

Reviews: “It’s elegantly and thoroughly composed, and dramatic in its progress.” –Andrew Porter, The New Yorker (February 18, 1985)

“In the eighth annual Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards program . . . special mention was made of Larry Bell’s String Quartet No. 2, which [was] deemed ‘persuasive and of very high musical merit’ by the jury, but which were disqualified because of their brevity. Frankly, that seems like very high praise.” – Karen Monson, The Baltimore Sun (October 28, 1985)

“The most appealing were two from the pen of Larry Bell: ‘River of Ponds’ for cello and piano and String Quartet No. 2. . . .

“Bell’s quartet is an abstract, three-movement work of parabolic design. The outer movements are obverse, the first opening with a scherzo that slows down to an adagio and the last reversing the process with an adagio becoming a scherzo. Between them lies a lyrical lament in which the first violin runs counter to the others. Stephanie Chase and Sharan Leventhal were the violinists with Robert Dan, viola, and Coppock in a well-articluated performance.” Arthur Hepner, The Boston Globe  (May 2, 1988)

Opus number: 6

Title: String Quartet No. 1

Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello

Date written: 1973, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Length:  ten minutes

Premiere performance: Juilliard String Quartet, May 4, 1976, Juilliard Theater, New York. Robert Mann, Earl Carlyss, violins, Samuel Rhodes, viola, Joel Krosnick, cello

Important subsequent performances: Juilliard String Quartet, June 1976, Ravinia Festival, Chicago, Illinois; Cavatina String Quartet, April 17, 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard; Gruppo Musica 900, July 1983, Pontino Festival, San Felice Circeo, Italy

Program notes:  String Quartet No. 1 won first prize at the North Carolina Music Teachers Association, 1973. Written during the last three weeks of July 1973, it was premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet on May 4, 1976, at the Juilliard Theater.

This is a one-movement work, approximately ten minutes in length, and is made up on an introduction, three main sections, and a coda. The unison statement and the short cello solo at the beginning contain the principal thematic ideas that are restated and developed throughout the piece.

The first section is an exposition of the work’s basic character types, while the last two sections are ongoing developmental variations. Just before the coda there is a varied restatement of the introduction. The coda is one large upbeat to a unison that concludes the work.

Reviews: “Bell’s single-movement quartet takes only a little more than 11 minutes to hear, but he covers a remarkably large section of the musical landscape. Like many of his father’s generation, he has taken Mahler and the Schoenberg of  ‘Verklärte Nacht’ as starting points, using the sharp contrasts and unison preferences of the one and the delicately organized musical moods of the other. Unlike many students, he speaks concisely as well as authoritatively. Each of his thematic units possesses the emotional force and precision control of a major talent.” Thomas Willis–The Chicago Tribune (July 1, 1976)

“A Quartet by Larry Bell, a 21-year-old student at New York’s Juilliard School, showed the younger generation heading back toward romanticism. With intensity and pathos, this music sweeps along rather predictably, but nevertheless absorbingly. Bell, a North Carolinian, deserves attention. We’ll be haring more from him.” –Karen Monson, The Chicago Daily News (July 1, 1976)

Opus number: 5

Title: Eclogue

Instrumentation: saxophones AATB

Date written: 1973, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Length: ten minutes

Premiere performance: Juilliard Saxophone Quartet, Glen Stuplin, Matthew Balensuela, altos; Kenneth Hitchcock, tenor; Joseph Roldan, Jr., baritone, April 6, 1976, Paul Hall, The Juilliard School Composer’s Concert.

Important subsequent performances: May 24, 1978, Allice Tully Hall, Wednesday One O’clock Concert Series: John Ingram, Goerge Lowery, alto saxophones; Kenneth Hitchcock, tenor, Matthew Balensuela, baritone. April 17, 1980, Bell doctoral recital, Paul Hall, Juilliard: Vincent Gnojek, Allen Won, altos, Robert Roman, tenor, Don Haviland, baritone

Program notes:  “Eclogue” for saxophone quartet was written in 1973 and is an abstract instrumental piece for two altos, tenor, and baritone saxophones (string quartet seating) based on Bell’s earlier vocal work “Domination of Black.” “Eclogue” refers to a genre of pastoral poetry. The stereotypical sound of the saxophone, however, seems to bring the work closer to the realm of urban jazz. The piece is a five-part rondo, slow-fast-slow-fast-slow. The last slow section acts as an expansive combination of the previous slow music.

Opus number:  4

Title: Mirage

Instrumentation: flute and piano

Date written: 1972, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Length: ca. eight minutes

Premiere performance: Salem College, Winston-Salem. Nancy Neidlinger, flute, and Gregory Kosteck, piano, 1972

Important subsequent performances: East Carolina University; Composers Conference in Johnson, Vermont, Karl Kraber, flute, and Robert Miller, piano, summer 1972; David Erlanger, flute, Larry Bell, piano, April 17, 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard

Program notes: “Mirage” for flute and piano was written in 1972 when the composer was a sophomore at East Carolina University. It was first performed by Nancy Neidlinger, flute, and the composer’s teacher, Gregory Kosteck, pianist. It received first prize in the North Carolina Music Teachers Association competition in 1971 and was first performed at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the spring of 1972. It was subsequently performed at the Composers Conference in Johnson, Vermont, by Karl Krager, flute, and Robert Miller, piano.