Steve Schwartz replies to Kelly Rinne:

>> Hi all - I attended a concert today that featured works by John
>> Creston (nee Giuseppe Guttoveggio), entitled Two Choric Dances.  A
>> basic Wikipedia/Internet search turned up zippo - would any listers
>> care to enlighten me on John Creston, good, bad or indifferent?
>
>First of all, it's Paul, not John, Creston (wrong Beatle).  On the other
>hand, I can never remember his birth name.  He claimed to have picked
>out "Paul Creston" from the Manhattan telephone directory, but apparently
>his nickname in high school was "Cres," (after "Crespini," a role he
>acted in a high-school play).  To me, a wonderful "maverick" composer,
>although ultimately minor, with a unique sound.  His Second Symphony I
>think is his masterpiece.  However, there's plenty of enjoyable work,
>including his Partita and Violin Concerto.  His compositional trademark
>is his generation of complex cross-rhythms.

It's funny how often I cite Creston as a similarity when I write reviews,
e.g., "such and such reminds me of Creston."

>His music was almost totally forgotten after the early Sixties, along
>with people like Mennin, Hanson, and Ward, but performers are now showing
>signs of renewed interest in it.

True.  But Creston has definitely not been forgotten by trombone players.
He wrote one of the best and most difficult works for the instrument.
Most every serious classical player has tangled with it, and I can
remember one famous player who lost.  I can easily testify about its
difficulty, having struggled with it on one level or the other for years.

Roger Hecht

             ***********************************************
The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R)
list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability
Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery.  For more information,
go to:  http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html