They Helped Us to Listen Better
It was a brand new venue for us, and in retrospect we must admit to a bit of nervousness. After all, the Renee Weiler Concert Hall at the Greenwich House Music School (GHMS) is an intimate setting for a purely musical event.
One could just not imagine how it would serve to host a gala fund-raiser that had been run twice before in a fairly large auditorium at New York University’s Frederick Loewe Theater, a theater that seats 300 comfortably. But to our surprise, many friends and newcomers came, filled the auditorium, and nary a complaint was heard regarding the slightest detail. The audience enjoyed a most delightful program of music and talk, perhaps with more fun and pleasure than at any of our four previous engagements.
Our theme, “My Listening Ear,” was based on words in a poem by Eugene Field that seems to reflect the great joy in aural discovery. Our first honoree to speak, Robert Sherman, addressed that very idea so perfectly in his acceptance of the New Music Media award. Recalling his early days at New York’s WQXR where he hosted “The Listening Room” daily, he sounded a humble note when he said, “Everything that I did for composers was kind of by accident.” He then spelled out his approach to that program. “WQXR at that time, as well as now, was very nervous about new music. Somehow that dictum, which applied to the rest of the hours of the station, didn’t really affect me.” He pointed out that the composer was the key when he spoke about his new work. “If the composer explained what he had in mind when he wrote it … it personalized him and it gave the listener a different context in which to hear the piece … [and he/she] would listen with reasonably open ears.” Mr. Sherman closed his remarks with a generous assessment of his days on live radio. “I owe a great deal of thanks for the honor and the privilege of having in the course of events met so many outstanding creators of music … [who] were given the opportunity to present their work to the public.”
Richard Brooks, our New Music Champion, was equally modest in accepting his award. After briskly thanking his mother and father, a gesture that drew laughs, he said he was truly touched by his recognition. “I think the worst thing any artist, musician, composer has to deal with in life is simple neglect. We have so many talented artists, so many wonderful composers all over the country, and I hear piece after piece after piece that I think is absolutely spectacular, and yet the composer is known only within a small circle.” He spoke about the way Capstone came about, a story told in our last issue during Brooks’ interview with Diane Rapaport. In summarizing his feelings he said: “I am so grateful to be able to do something like this for so many wonderful talented composers and performers. I hope that Capstone can play some small part in helping make that music better known among audiences who will appreciate it.”
The third honoree of the evening was the late Ruth Schonthal. Was this to be a sad interlude for the audience? Such a thought was quickly dispelled. Ruth’s spirit came to life almost immediately when her pianistic interpreter,
Margaret Mills, spoke about the composer, then sat down to give us an extraordinary performance of Canticles of Hieronymus . This was one of Ruth’s most ambitious compositions, a musical impression of Bosch’s triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights. All of the painter’s bright colors mixed with subtle shades were there, and the event was the central highlight of the evening. Brava, Margaret, again and again and again. You made us proud to be new music adherents.
In fact, all of the music programmed was sheer joy. Proceedings began with a set of original songs by Melanie Mitrano, which had been recorded on Capstone, Brooks’ label. She sang them with great charm and was accompanied by pianist Judith Munro de Wette. The evening ended with six of the eight members of the Fireworks Ensemble playing music by Raymond Scott which brought back memories of his band’s jazzy instrumentals of 50-65 years ago.
We extend our sincerest appreciation for the success of the event to Mimi Stern-Wolfe, who introduced Bob Sherman and Margaret Mills, and to President Hubert Howe and Executive Director Jasna Radonjic of the American Composers Alliance, for presenting the champion’s plaque to Richard Brooks. The program could not have run so smoothly without the help of Ms. Mitrano, our program coordinator and Mike Thurlow, stage manager. A very special note of thanks must also be slipped under the door of Meredith Mayer for her very warm remembrances of those occasions involving her husband, William, who appeared on Bob Sherman’s “The Listening Room.”
Thanks are due to Linda Pehrson, Gene McBride and Edith Amster, who had things under control nicely at the door as greeters. Rose James once again supervised the reception with perfectly tasty victuals and welcome libations. Jeff James of James Arts helped run a raffle that generously distributed several of his own CDs.
There were still other helpful hands behind the scenes we should name: artists’ managers Beverly Wright and Rosalie Calabrese, Lynda Ciolek and Marty Streicher of STEORRA Public Relations, NMC reviewer John de Clef Piñeiro, who promoted the event among fellow members at the New York Composers Circle, Leonard Lehrman, Copy Editor and contributor of text about Mr. Sherman, and Brian Coughlin, bass player and general coordinator for Fireworks, who responded so willingly to an eleventh-hour request to perform for us.
Of course, we must not, should not and cannot overlook our own sponsors and our conduit at Composers Concordance, Patrick Hardish and Joseph Pehrson. We have now conferred together on such projects for 14 years. In the process we have had the pleasure of meeting the very best in the field, and B.C. Vermeersch, GHMS Director, and Scott Taylor, Concert Manager, surely qualify in that regard.
Both Compcord and NMC are convinced of the fine services, the cooperative spirit and the intimate space afforded at GHMS, and we have both committed ourselves to future programs at the Renee Weiler Concert Hall.
B.L.C.