Brownbag Concerts | Program Notes
Program Notes
November 19, 2003
JASON CUTMORE, piano
Claude Debussy said, in 1911, "The sound of the sea, the curve of the horizon, the wind in the leaves, the cry of a bird enregister complex impressions within us, then suddenly, without any deliberate consent on our part, one of these memories issues forth to express itself in the language of music." Thus the composer described in a few words the essence of 'impressionism', not the recreation of a scene in music, but the capture of our evanescent response to a scene. Nowhere in his music is this process so evident as in the three sets of 'Images'. Originally, there were to be three sets for solo piano, but Debussy used the material for the third in the orchestral suite by the same name. In the first book of piano images, he invokes reflections in water, pays respect to the great French Baroque composer Rameau in a solemn Sarabande, and the third piece, the most ambiguously titled, suggests other Debussy pieces based on the characters in the Italian Commedia dell'Arte.
François d'Assise Morel was born in Montreal in 1926, where he studied composition, leaving Canada only to study with Edgar Varese in New York in 1958, the same year in which he was a co-founder of the 'Music of Our Time' association. Varese had a significant influence on Morel's later music, but the two Études de Sonorité (Studies in Sonority) date from the earlier years of 1952-1954, before he began the progression which brought him to discover an individual style in serial composition.
Ferenc Liszt, the Hungarian piano virtuoso, largely invented the modern lifestyle of the touring artist during his extensive travels in the decade from 1838-1848, when he enjoyed the kind of celebrity status we now accord to major pop stars. The three-year cycle of piano pieces called 'Years of Pilgrimage chronicle Liszt's deep emotional impressions of Switzerland (Year 1) and Italy (Years 2 & 3) where he immersed himself in the beauties of the countryside of Switzerland and in the cultural masterworks of the Italian city-states both as an escape from his arduous performing activities and as a hobby. So intense was his response both to scenery and the artifacts of art and literature that he was able to turn nature and poetry (two pieces are based on sonnets of Petrarch) into amazingly evocative and expressive wordless songs. The second 'Year' begins with Sposalizio, an impression of Raphael's painting of the wedding of Joseph and Mary and ends with a similar impression of a reading from the works of Dante which Liszt turned into a severe and extremely demanding sonata which numbers among his major piano works).
Jason Cutmore is active as a soloist, collaborative pianist and teacher in Canada, the United States and abroad. Recent performances have taken him to New York City, twice to Lithuania for concert tours of solo and piano duet music, and a five-city tour of Alberta which included music for piano and orchestra in addition to solo and piano duet recitals. Upcoming engagements include venues in Chicago, New York, Oberlin, Canada, Germany and India. Mr. Cutmore has been heard on Hungarian National Radio, CKUA Alberta Radio and CFRN-TV, and has recorded on the Bridge Records label, as well as with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra.
Originally from Edmonton, Canada, where he was a student of pianist and conductor Michael Massey, Mr. Cutmore moved to New York City for three years to continue his studies under Eleanor Hancock. Currently Mr. Cutmore is a student of Professor Robert Shannon of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he recently graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree. Additionally, he has participated in a number of important music festivals, including the International Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the International Music Festival & Academy 'Meranofest' in Merano, Italy, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Orford Arts Centre in Quebec.
