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Classical Music Category

Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1. and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 The American Chamber Orchestra's program, Monday night in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater will include Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and the Symphony for Strings of Richard Nanes.

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam will include Brahms and Berio in its program.

Washington Post Kennedy Center Review

The American Chamber Orchestra managed something unusual Monday night in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. It gave a program of baroque music with one composer there to accept the warm applause. Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann could not be present; both had 300th birthdays during the 1980's. But Richard Nanes, who is 250-odd years younger, was able to take several bows after the Washington premiere of his Symphony for Strings, a work that peps up familiar baroque forms and formulas with some pleasantly modern flavors.

In the Winter of 1999, Richard Nanes was honored by the Albert-Schweitzer Society. 

Dear Mr. Nanes,

On behalf of the Austrian Albert-Schweitzer Society, I would like to send the warmest greetings and officially inform you that this year you are the only musician among 3 awardees of a Honored Medal and Diploma for Achievements in Science and Fine Arts of the Austrian Albert-Schweitzer Society in the category "composer".

The mentioned award is given every year to only 3 distinguished scientists, artists or musicians from all over the world.  I enclose to this fax a list of some selected awardees of the past years.  Award ceremonies of Albert-Schweitzer Society usually take place yearly in Brussels or Vienna, also in other capital cities in Europe.

The award ceremony this year, followed by a cocktail reception, will take place in Brussels (Belgium) on November 16 at 16:00 at the "The Piramide" - center of international exhibition "EUREKA" on the central square of Brussels; 

Address: 
Place Rogier.
B-1210 Brussels.
You will be given the award by the president of Managing Committee-
Prof. Dr Otto F. Joklik

Looking forward to seeing you in Brussels.

Best wishes and congratulations.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Wassil Nowicky
President, Anti cancer Institute in Vienna
Honorary member of Albert Schweitzer Society

"How does an artist go about capturing the emotional spectrum of a human tragedy, on the scale of the Holocaust? Spielberg did it masterfully on film. Composer Richard Nanes musically matches Spielberg's cinematic Homage with an equally impressive tribute to the innocent victims of human cruelty in his Symphonic work the Holocaust Symphony."

This free sort of direction of this fantastic ensemble detracts in no way from their playing. Precisely in Richard Nanes' Symphony for Strings, the rhythms and dynamics required tremendous discipline, resulting in a musical work which could only be described as superb. The piece in which one would like to feel at home between the styles of Samuel Barber and Dmitri Shostakovich, began with a bubbly temperamental Allegro Vivace, to be consumed by the tuneful flowing dream of the minuet. A fiery but easy-going and tingling interpreted Allegro concluded the work.

No less intensively detailed was the Symphony for the Strings by American composer Richard Nanes, a sparkling, good-humored work full of tonal finesse which the orchestra dealt with quite artfully. One recalls the charming Minuett with its subtle rhythm. Also the tempestuous Finale, in which the composer takes up again material from the first movement was presented marvellously.

Serious collectors who enjoy listening to the more challenging string quartets of Hindemith, Bartok, and Shostakovich may wish to investigate this music, composed by Richard Nanes.  In the first four quartets Nanes extends the expressive range of the ensemble by generous use of harmonics, glissandi, and "wrong" placement of bow on strings.  The works are full of harmonic and rhythmic complexiities, with long stretches of highly dissonant writing.  They are manifestly difficult for players and challenging for listeners. The fifth is quite different - a light but by no means shallow neoclassical essay, reminiscent of the Classical Symphony by Prokofiev and the Symphony No. 9 by Shostakovich.

The dissonance so much in evidence in the first four quartets is for the most part not atonal but polytonal.  Melodies and figurations which themselves have clear tonal centers clash with others which, consonant unto themselves, cannot agree with their neighbors.  Charles Ives and Darius Milhaud loved to write this way and, when moved to sound modern, so did Ralph Vaughan Williams.  But no one would mistake Nanes's polytonality for theirs.  Nanes indicates movements in all his quartets, they are clearly defined only in the neo-classical Fifth; the only four could properly be considered single movement works with discernible sections.  Musical ideas change somewhat in the fashion of the late Beethoven quartets. These are tight, disciplined works. Even when dissonant, strident, and difficult by design, Quartets 1-4 have a compelling sense of purposeful movement and direction.

The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is proud to announce the appointment of Richard Nanes as Composer in Residence.

The Santa Fe Symphony anticipated premiering new works by Mr. Nanes in the coming seasons.

Why do we say that Nanes exemplifies 21 Century Music? Just as Copland, Bernstein and Rodgers reflected the jazz and pop music of their time, so Richard Nanes' music somehow reflects the pop and even rock sensibilities of today.  This is not to say that he necessarily does this consciously.  But whereas his music is obviously steeped in classical traditions from Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff to Oliver Messiaen (in the Grande Etude), I believe that it is equally true that anyone who digs Vangelis or Yanni or Andrew Llyod Weber can relate to most of Nane's music.  This could also be said of people like Steve Reich and Phillip Glass, but Nanes' music is far more mainstream and less "far out" than these composers'.  Until about the last quarter of the 20th Century, there was a decisive gulf between "serious" and "popular" music.  This gap has been steadily breaking down since that time, and Nanes' music reflects this.

Nanes is also a 21st Century composer in another respect:  He is an award winning artist who has frequently been played in post-Communist Eastern Europe.  Since Richard Nanes is already known throughout the world as an American individualist, we recommend to you a visit to the CD store so you can turn on to an artist who is bringing the words "American Individualist"/Richard Nanes into their homes.

Last year, Richard Nanes surprised the world by being chosen to receive the Albert Schweitzer Award in Belgium.  This year, he has already won the International Silver Angel Award for his Bravo television special, Symphony No. 3: The Holocaust.  You may think that I am kidding or exaggerating, but Richard Nanes does serve as a non-appointed ambassador from our country to the entire world.

Boris Pillin

Publisher: Boris Pillin
Editor: Tracey Alexander
Telephone: (213) 464-0515

Composer in Residence, Richard Nanes, also received a standing ovation for his masterful Symphony of Strings.

NANES: Piano Concerto No.2 A/Solo. Prelude and Rhapsody No.5 in C# Minor

NANES: Rhapsody Pathétique for Violin and Orchestra¹.  Concerto Grosso for Brass Trio and Chamber Orchestra.

NANES: Symphonies: No. 3; No. 4

Richard Nanes was born in Philadelphia, studied both in the United States and in France, and resides in New Jersey.  Delfon has released seven CDs featuring a group of his works composed mainly during the last ten years.  Four Discs feature the composer himself playing compositions for solo piano, the others present orchestral works in excellent performances by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Nanes is a brilliant pianist, and Gregory K. Squires  has provided state-of-the-art sound for all of these productions, so, if recordings can present a composer to the public in the best possible light, Nanes is now certainly so presented.

I have enjoyed listening to the three disks listed above, no doubt in part because everything is so beautifully performed and recorded.  What sort of music is it?  The notes make clear that Nanes takes considerable pride in being eclectic: he affects a neo-baroque style for both the Symphony (actually a suite in today's terminology) for Chamber Orchestra and the Concerto Grosso for Brass Trio and Orchestra.  The Rhapsody Pathétique for Violin and Orchestra, featuring gorgeous solo work by Eugene Fodor, is very much in the style of Franz Liszt, and suggests its recent date of composition only in some unusual pyrotechnics for the soloist, well along in the piece.  One becomes much more aware of the twentieth century in the Piano Concerto No.2 - a work for piano solo without orchestra - where clangorous dissonances rule for over ten minutes, before something resembling a tonal melody begins to emerge.  Dissonance and polytonality also assert themselves in the Third and Forth Symphonies, though Nanes conspicuously contrasts them with a very basic diatonic music in each case.  Indeed, the chaos of atonality and the order of traditional music represent the polarities of good and evil in the Forth Symphony.   The ear is led along by sounds pleasing, exciting, or engaging, and as all good composers must, Nanes has some surprises up his sleeve. 

The symphonies are original works, but considerable stretches of both will remind one of middle-period Shostakovich.  The Fourth Symphony is almost twice the length of the Third, but the two resemble one another in their compactness, continuous play and generally tragic cast (the third is a mediation on the World War II Holocaust).  Nanes' solo piano writing exploits every note on the modern concert grand and, occasional moments of quiet repose aside, floods the audience with a fireworks shower of notes.  Arpeggiation, infinitely varied and multiplied, is at the heart of his piano style, giving an improvisatory air to long stretches of his music.  Both the solo concerto and the Prelude and Rhapsody gain interest as they go along.  I am especially impressed by the authoritative way the Rhapsody comes to a close, and immensely impressed by the stunning concentration of all previous musical ideas (Nanes loves to contrast chaos and order) in concluding three-minute section of the concerto.  Though musically a great deal more than a stunt, this finale does constitute an extraordinary display of virtuosity; it is hard to believe that two hands can launch so many notes from so many far corners of the keyboard!

Though it is easy to believe that these three discs came from the same composer, they are quite different.  One disc, containing Rhapsody Pathétique,  Symphony for Strings, an the Concerto Grosso, presents classical "easy listening."  I do not mean this as an insult, but rather classify it with terms like Vaughn William's Lark Ascending or Dag Wiren's Serenade as warm, friendly accessible music.  The symphonies, with their long stretches of densely dissonant argument,  require more serious attention; listening to them (this is admittingly subjective) reminds me of listening to the later symphonies of William Schuman, as well as long essays in grim conflict as the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies of Dimitri Shostakovich.  (Nane's First and Second Symphonies are also serious, demanding works.)  The solo piano disc falls somewhere in between; without careful attention much of it can sound like improvisation pure and simple.  But the sheer dazzle of pianistic display, along with the whirlwind finish of the concerto, may make  this the most likable of the three disc's here reviewed.

Richard Nanes' "Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 make powerful personal statements, each showing a distinctively strong musical personality.  These works are colorfully orchestrated, contrasting passages of pulsating energy with moments of quiet lyricism, reminiscent of Copland.  The Symphony No. 3, written in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, is especially moving" 

Barry Edwards (Dec.)

This opening concert was extra special on several levels.  The orchestra highlighted the WSO Composer in Residence, Richard Nanes of Livingston.

His Rhapsody for Violin along with its foremost interpreter, violin soloist Zina Schiff, the protegee of the late Jasha Heifetz, were received with great enthusiasm from the audience.

The second and third pieces were the Rhapsody for Violin and the Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) by Pablo de Sarasate, both of which featured Ms. Schiff on Violin.

The finale of the evening was the orchestral powerhouse, Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky.

Composer Richard Nanes in his Rhapsody for Violin, has written a piece to be reckoned with.  His Rhapsody, which has origins in folk music, can be described as a Hebraic Lament.  The chosen key was that of C Minor, the most somber of the musical keys.

The strength of the piece lays in its simple nature.  It is clear that Nanes recognizes that the most beautiful of things draw their beauty from sheer simplicity.  Without  encumberment, the plaintive  melody of  the violinist soars above moving cords, played in the brass section, which draw the listener constantly forward.

Complementing those lines are fluid arpeggios in the string section, which add to the sense of constant motion.  The work includes a fabulous virtuoistic cadenza, which Ms. Schiff interpreted with emotion.  Her warm tone and accuracy of pitch were of particular note.

Soloist Schiff went on to display even further feats of virtuosity in the Zigeunerweisen.  The violin showpiece combines the spirit of the gypsy with tempos varying from slow to that of dazzling speed.

Richard Nanes is an American classical composer in the vein of a Charles Ives or Leonard Bernstein if these two symphonies are any indication.  Like Ives and Bernstein, Nanes creates passionate moods with a heavy blend of cacophony and true lyrical beauty.

And like John Williams, he packs potent emotion in his first two symphonic masterpieces - so much that the London philharmonic Orchestra seems to explode out of the speakers when least expecting it. A moving disc worthy of great critical praise.

MIKE FARREL
LIFETIME ACHEIVMENT AWARD

'THE PRINCESS DIARIES'
BEST FAMILY FILM - DISNEY

'HARRY POTTER AND THE SCORCERER'S STONE'
BEST FANTASY FILM - WARNER BROS.

'SEA OF GLORY'
BEST BOOK BY KEN WALES & DAVID POLING

'PARA TI MUJER'
BEST RADIO - HISPANIC EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Hollywood, February 15th 2001: Richard Nanes' Rhapsody Pathetique telecast was awarded the coveted International Silver Angel Award sponsored by Excellence In Media at their 24th International Annual Awards Ceremony here at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Mary Door, President of the Excellence In Media Foundation, presented the International Silver Angel Award to classical composer and recording artist, Richard Nanes, a New Jersey resident. The award was for Excellent Spiritual Programming for National Television. In 1999 Richard Nanes was awarded the International Silver Angel for his BRAVO telecast: Symphony No. 3: The Holocaust, and last year received the International Silver for his telecast: Symphony No. 4: The Eternal Conflict.

Nanes' Rhapsody Pathetique and Symphony For Strings was taped on location at Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow where it was performed by the Moscow Philharmonic. Martin Bookspan, narrated the program and also interviewed Richard Nanes, who also performed his Grand Etude for piano at the conclusion of the telecast in the Moscow Conservatory. The concert program was telecast nationwide over the PBS affiliates and Internationally over USIA World Net

Excellence in Media judges all forms of media presentation on its social, moral or spiritual impact and its efforts to make this a better world. Kultur International has issued the program, worldwide on VHS and the Delfon Recording Society has recorded Rhapsody Pathetique and Symphony For Strings with the London Philharmonic.

The event was emceed by Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows.