Classical Music | Clarinet Music

Lukas Foss

Composer’s Holiday, from Three American Pieces  Play

Seunghee Lee Clarinet
Arlene Shrut Piano

Recorded on 03/29/2005, uploaded on 01/21/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Composer's Holiday, from Three American Pieces           Lucas Foss

Born in Berlin in 1922, Lukas Foss started composing at the age of 7.  He continued his studies in Paris after his family fled Nazi Germany in 1933.   He came to America as a 15 year old piano prodigy and graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music with honors.  He went on to study composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale University and conducting with Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood.  American by choice, this renowned pianist, conductor and composer has written some of the most influential works of contemporary music, including Time Cycle, Echoi and TASHI.  An essential feature of his music is the tension between traditional and new modes of musical expression; his works prove that a love for the past can be reconciled with many kinds of innovations.  He originally composed Three American Pieces for the violin, but these pieces have been performed on the clarinet by artists such as Richard Stoltzman who has performed it in many concerts accompanied by Lukas Foss on the piano.    Seunghee Lee