Guernica Piano Concerto and Other Orchestral Works

Fredrick Kaufman (b. 1936) is a noted pedagogue and composer, whose Holocaust cello concerto, Kaddish, has had over one hundred performances. The eponymous Guernica Concerto is a direct response to the Picasso mural that pays homage to the Nazi destruction of the Spanish town in April 1937. The keyboard part is set as an antiphon, or dialogue, to the convulsive sounds of the orchestra.
1. The Tragedy of Guernica. An ostinato piano part is set against 14 divided strings. The piano opens quietly, but the writing assumes aggressive complexity. The rapid, asymmetrical passages and
dissonances in piano and orchestra project an eerie, violent context. Some clusters and passing harmonies suggest jazz or atonal compositions. The strings and brass use sliding patterns, while the piano uses staccato percussion and jabbing rhythms imitated by the timpani. The coda, in cross rhythm 16thand 32nds , covers 4 octaves. (9:31)
2. Mourning. The melodic line invokes pastoral Spain, the oboe’s providing a theme recurrent in the movement. The idyll suffers a break when the music returns to the violence of the first movement. The opening, calm music returns in ternary form, a nostalgic reminiscence of the lifestyle lost to tyranny. (6:50)
3. Resurrection. Starting in flamenco, folk style, this movement attempts to find hope arising from the ruins. The solo piano part introduces jazz motifs, supported in strings, brass, and percussion. The texture
increases in wild, slashing effects, glissando (slides) and pizzicato (plucked). The piano part becomes driven and insistent, an upheaval of sound that ends abruptly. (4:25)
4. “Kaddish” Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra. Written in 1985 as a memorial to his dead parents, the Concerto is one extended mvmtt, divided by a solo cadenza into two parts. The cello part speaks for the energetic, mercurial father; the violin expresses the vivacity of his mother. “Kaddish” is the Hebrew word for the prayer for the dead. (14:09)
5. Seascape. The 3rd composition by Kaufman to celebrate the natural order, the musical materials depict the shifting forces of water, winds, and seabirds. The instrumentation belongs to strings, harp, celesta, and percussion. The texture permits interruptions in the opening, glistening effects, even invoking a series of storms. Beneath the transparent surface we sense the implacable forces of the sea’s depths. (10:53)