DEATH BE NOT PROUD
'A quite wonderful CD of a composer and his music that should be at the forefront of live concert activities.'
The music of Andrew Imbrie -
by a devoted admirer, BILL NEWMAN
The music of Andrew Imbrie, born New York, 1921 of Welsh/Scottish descent
has always appealed to me. He studied piano and composition with Leo Ornstein
from 1940-2; later with Robert Casadesus. Most of his influences, though,
came from private studies with Roger Sessions from 1938-48, and he worked
in Rome during 1947-51/1953-4 where he picked up the coveted Prix de
Rome. The early 1942 String Quartet is dedicated to Sessions.
Imbrie says this about his musical style: "It is a little like
describing one's voice and manner. It is easier to say what it is
not, than to say what it is. It does not strive to be American like my nationality,
nor Scottish like my ancestry. It is neither experimental nor conventional.
I always start at the beginning and let the ideas shape themselves as they
must; the direction they will pursue and the changes in character they will
undergo become increasingly clear as I go on."
Requiem (1984) was his response to the sudden death of his son
John in 1981, not yet 19 years of age known as a first-rate student, curious
and diligent always striving to find and understand what lay beneath the
surface, already an accomplished musician and a considerable athlete. Medicine
and research then turned his attentions towards planning a college major
in biochemistry, physics and Peace Corps service following. But it was not
to be. Imbrie's music sums up the warmth, courage and humanity of
the boy's visions, the only tempered violence heard in the percussion
writing almost in a sense of unresolved disturbances and frustrations for
unfullfilled ambitions.
Continue >>
Copyright © 7 October 2000
Bill Newman, Edgware, UK
CD INFORMATION - BRIDGE 9091
PURCHASE THIS DISC FROM AMAZON
<< Music
& Vision home
Sam Haywood >>
|