30EE3890-8B6F-484F-ACC2-A1F3D9D91FE8

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ID30EE3890-8B6F-484F-ACC2-A1F3D9D91FE8
TitlecodeX541001
Title NameOmaggi e Fantasie
Marketing CopyComprises three central movements, each paying homage to a well-known 20th century composer. Recorded by Michael Cameron (double bass) and David Liptak (piano), Songs and Night Scenes, Gasparo CD GSCD-28.
InstrumentationDouble Bass, Piano
Commission(not set)
Dedication(not set)
Program NotesOmaggi e Fantasie for double bass and piano comprises three central movements, each paying homage to a well-known 20th century composer and each preceded by a "fantasia." The composers to whom tribute is given for my won compositional development are, respectively, George Crumb, Olivier Messiaen, and Bela Bartok. The music of the fantasias alludes to a particular work by a fourth composer, Gustav Mahler, whose identity emerges unmistakably in the concluding section. I hope that Omaggie e Fantasie will be meaningful to listeners who are unfamiliar with these composers as well as to those who recognize the allusions, for the piece is intended as an independent work with independent musical content. --Claude Baker
Title Brand2
Year Composed1981/87
Copyright Number(not set)
Copyright Year(not set)
Duration15
Ensemble Size2
Date Created2008-10-31 20:33:11.000000
Date Updated2025-09-30 20:33:11
Inhouse Note(not set)
Bsc Code(not set)
Text Author(not set)
Premier Performance Memo(not set)
Recording CreditsRecorded by David Randolph (tuba), Richard Zimdars (piano), Aca CM 20018-18.
Recorded by Michael Cameron (double bass) and David Liptak (piano), Songs and Night Scenes, Gasparo CD GSCD-286.
Review"Of special interest is the unusual and attractive piece by Claude Baker. Postmodernism has finally found the tuba; this is 17 minutes of avant-garde techniques (including inside the piano percussion), beautiful sounds, and a sort of cosmic timelessness. I hope it will become an important part of the repertory."--Barry Kilpatrick, American Record Guide<BR><BR>

"...has nothing classic about it. It is slow, contemplative music in three sections, paying homage to Crumb, Messiaen, and Bartok. Preludes to each are fantasias after Mahler's DAS LIED VON DER ERDE, and Baker's conclusion is based on the finale 'Ewig...Ewig...' Both tuba and piano use a variety of performance techniques, with the piano sometimes operating as a percussion section, from bass drum to wood blocks to brushed cymbals. It is a lovely piece, which asks for and receives much from its performers.<BR>-- James H North, Fanfare Magazine<BR><BR>

"...interesting in terms of exploiting the unique characteristics of the tuba and piano through tasteful new music techniques. The pianist is the most challenged with many inside the piano sounds such as string strumming and plucking, knocking on the wood with the sustaining pedal down, and in one section, imitating Henry Cowell's AEOLIAN HARP composition that features autoharp like strumming of the strings producing chords...The tuba is required to negotiate extremely high and sustained notes within an antagonizingly slow passage. This section makes playing Kraft's Encounters II seem like eating candy. ..The music is interesting and enjoyable to listen to."<BR>-- Mark Nelson, TUBA Journal<BR><BR>

"A quiet intensity is the mark of Claude Baker's Omaggi e Fantasie for Double Bass and Piano, which the IU professor wrote in 1984. In it he sought to pay his respects to composers who had an influence on him, as teachers and forces: George Crumb, Olivier Messiaen, Bela Bartok, and Gustav Mahler. It is a work of whispers, of evocations, of the mystic. Baker has an unusual way of suffusing the gifts of the past with the patina of now. And he's done so here again, most effectively."<BR>--Peter Jacobi, Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times
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"Omaggi e Fantasie...sustained interest on more levels than anything else heard last night. The music, intended partly as an 'homage' to composers who influenced Baker, is a fastidious balance of intellectual and emotional elements, episodic in structure and consistently demanding of the player's technique...Last night's performers...appeared to revel in their tasks. And the music they produced beguiled, shifting from spiky, atonal passages to comforting nostalgic lyricism."<BR>-- Andrew Asler, Louisville (KY) Courier Journal
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"Like your [CD] reviews concise? This oneÕs a beauty -- buy it...Omaggi e Fantasie honor Crumb specifically, and Messiaen, Bartok, and Mahler too, with deftly handled quotes. Gorgeous stuff!...a quotation from 'Der Abscheid,' the final movement of DAS LIES VON DER ERDE, quite breaks the listener's heart."<BR>--Mike Silverton, Fanfare Magazine
Awards(not set)
Title Category10
Title Movements(not set)
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Set Series ID(not set)
Title Instrument Category TextDouble Bass
Title Sub Category Text(not set)
Title Sub Category99
Title Instrument Header59
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Clean Urlomaggi-e-fantasie-x541001