1/17/2014

Listening Report
Cody Roseboom

Title: Piano Quintet
Composer: Leo Ornstein
Year: 1927

Background of the piece: Commissioned to write it by the Philadelphia Orchestra. First
premiere with Ornstein himself at the piano. A tonal modernist work for chamber
ensemble.

Instrumentation: Violin 1-2, Viola, Cello, and Piano.

Title of CD, performing ensemble(s): Hamelin plays Ornstein

Assessment of the performance and/or recording: The performance was very
good and seemed accurate to the score. I had the score in hand while I listened to it,
and it was apparent that the quartet was very good. Hamelins part is very difficult and it
was impressive that he was even keeping in tempo at times. The group seemed very
tight and had a similar view on how this piece should be performed.


What is good about it?
Each melodic line was very expressive and didnt seem to get lost in another part, which
can happen all too often in over polyphonic modern music. The melodic content was
very modal, a lot of the melodies reminded me of the Rite of Spring, in a manner of folk
song revival. Striking rhythmic changes and contrast can be hard to listen to, but I found
watching along with the score to be very rewarding to prepare me for what was to come.
Each section appeared to be abruptly detached from one another, there appears to be
lack of transitions. After listening to some of Ornsteins music it is apparent that he has
the ability to make hyper-modernistic works that still retain the best qualities of more
classical works.

Ways in which this performance could have been improved?
Transitions could be made smoother, maybe. Although it would appear that is was
Ornsteins intentions for the piece to come off as gruff and disjunct at times.

Compositional techniques heard (style, harmony, extended techniques, etc.):
High and fast notes for string players, with small intervals. Lots of tone clusters and
trills. Harmonic content was very lively and imaginative. Piano part was very difficult and
rhythmical, there were a lot of polyrhythms and hard to read note groupings.

Orchestration techniques heard (timbre, texture, register, etc.):
Dynamic technique used in every instrument, every part of it seemed to be used at one
point. The texture ranged from homophonic to extremely thick and polyphonic at times.
Comments (any interesting observations):
This is one of the few modern pieces that follows the classical and academic train of
thought that is truly genuine and beautiful. I really liked how it blended together almost
every style of music. It was a bricolage of almost every style of music. I really liked the
sections that sounded impressionistic and Ravel-like. Also, I read in the front of the
score a little biography about the piece, I found it funny that Ornstein was commissioned
to write it for 500$, and for his performance of it at the piano he was paid 1,500$. He
was apparently not very happy about that.