These notes have been adapted from NW 285 (Alfred Frankenstein) and NW 319 (Perry Goldstein)

QUARTET ROMANTIC New World Records 80285 These notes have been adapted from NW 285 (Alfred Frankenstein) and NW 319 (Perry Goldstein). Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961) Wind Quintet If John J. Becker is the most obscure composer on this record, Wallingford Riegger is the most difficult to get hold of stylistically. He wrote music in every manner there was in his time; he even published pop pieces under nine different pseudonyms. His career—as composer, cellist, conductor, theorist, and professor of composition at various universities—was as varied as his musical output. Riegger's short, vigorous, peppery one-movement Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon was published in 1952. Of all the major avant-garde Americans of his era, Riegger was the most interested in modern dance. He wrote much for Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman and others, and the generally spare, severe, athletic style preferred by these dancers is clearly reflected in his music. The Quintet is full of Riegger's beloved canonic devices and sharp, reiterative Stravinskyan rhythms as well. Henry Cowell (1897-1965) Quartet Romantic Unlike the other works on this record, Henry Cowell's Quartet Romantic is essentially a demonstration of theoretical principles, and some inkling of these principles is essential to understanding the music. Unfortunately, the principles are abstruse. Cowell wrote the better part ...