Скачать или смотреть Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 78, by Arthur Foote

Douglas B. Moore, cello
Paula Ennis-Dwyer, piano
World premiere recording from ca. 1980

Cellist Douglas B. Moore’s world premiere recording of music by Arthur Foote includes the composer’s Sonata, Op. 78, Aubade, Op. 77, Three Pieces, Op. 1, Romanza, Op. 33, and Scherzo, Op. 22. Using Foote’s original manuscripts, Dr. Moore prepared these works for their first modern edition (Music for Cello and Piano by Arthur Foote, AR Editions, 1982). He also gave the first modern performances of Foote’s Cello Concerto, Op. 33, which had not been heard since its world premiere in December 1894. Professor Emeritus of Cello at Williams College, Dr. Moore is also known for his creative arrangements for cello ensemble, available at playmoorecello.com

A composer of the Second New England School, Arthur Foote (1853-1937) studied with John Knowles Paine at Harvard University, receiving the first Master of Arts degree in music ever awarded in the United States. Except for a brief teaching stint in California, Foote resided in Boston, where for 38 years he served as the organist of the First Unitarian Church and later taught at the New England Conservatory. A founder of the American Guild of Organists, Foote was also heard regularly as a pianist, most notably in the first performances of his own chamber works. His compositional output embraces all genres except opera and symphony. His overture In the Mountains, symphonic prologue Francesca da Rimini, Four Character Pieces after Omar Khayyam, and two suites for strings all received multiple performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The majority of Foote’s nine major chamber works (three string quartets, two piano trios, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, a violin sonata, and a cello (or viola) sonata) were premiered on concerts of the Kneisel Quartet in Boston and New York. Foote composed many character pieces, suites, and studies for piano and organ, and his solo songs, choral works, cantatas, anthems, and works for the Harvard Glee Club were often performed during his lifetime.

Arthur Foote’s Sonata for Cello and Piano [in E minor], Op. 78, was probably composed in 1913. No date appears on the manuscript, but the Aubade to Alwin Schroeder, Op. 77, is dated 1912, and the Songs, Op. 79, 1914. In 1919 Foote adapted the sonata for viola. In 1982 AR Editions published the Foote cello sonata for the first time; editor Douglas B. Moore based this edition on the composer’s manuscript in the Harvard Musical Association library in Boston. Dr. Moore notes that the manuscript required extensive editing before performance was possible, and describes the works as follows:
“The Sonata is a typical example of Foote’s mature style, a fascinating mixture of Brahms and Wagner. The chromatic harmonies are very reminiscent of Wagner, while the tightly constructed and well-defined formal structures are derived from those of Brahms. The cello writing is very impassioned and melodic, covering the entire range of the instrument, while the piano writing is quite challenging, illustrating Foote as pianist assuring his instrument equal partnership in true sonata style.
“The first movement is in sonata form with clearly defined first and second themes. Foote modulates through a great variety of keys in a very chromatic development. The second movement is in the enharmonically related key of A-flat major and is in a three-part song form. The character of this movement is that of a song, perhaps a romance. The third movement is another sonata form, and the 6/8 meter gives it the strong feeling of a tarantella. A passage of rich chromatic wandering before the recapitulation slows the motion before the final, furious conclusion of the work, where the key changes triumphantly to E major.”