Oskar Morawetz' 'Sinfonietta' Wins Critics' Award
Oskar Morawetz was awarded this year's coveted Critics' Award of the
International Composers' Competition at Cava dei Tirreni in Italy for his
Sinfonietta For Winds.The Sinfonietta was completed in the summer
of 1965 and was first performed by the Montreal Symphony, almost by accident. It
was only during a visit to Toronto by the Montreal Symphony that its conductor,
Zubin Mehta, upon meeting Dr. Morawetz backstage after the performance, asked
the composer why he hadn't forwarded any scores for his consideration lately.
The composer replied: "Most conductors are so deluged with material, that I
don't think you are really serious." Mehta retorted: "Send me a score right
away."
Final Concert
The result was that Sinfonietta For Winds was scheduled as part of the
final subscription series of concerts by the Montreal Symphony later that year.
The reviews of the composition and its performance were excellent.
The original impetus to enter the work in the Cava dei Tirreni competition
came from Maestro Ernesto Barbini, who was later to so successfully conduct the
performances at the competition.
The composer made some changes in the orchestration following the Montreal
performance, particularly in the middle movement of the three-part work.
When he decided to write Sinfonietta For Winds, Dr. Morawetz planned
to write a work for an entire symphony orchestra without strings as he had
previously completed a Sinfonietta For Strings. This proved to be a
formidable task. As a result the composer decided to make some basic changes
after the Montreal performance.
The composition is in three movements: Allegro non troppo, Adagio pesante
and Allegro vivace.
The first movement is a free fantasy, of mostly rhythmical character, though
the beginning and ending are almost impressionistic in orchestral colouring.
Father's memory
The second movement, subtitled 'Elegy', was composed during the last months
of the life of the composer's father, and is dedicated to his memory. It is
ternary both in orchestration and thematic material. The first part, a
dirge-like slow march, employs only brass and drums. The middle section, an
expressive Andante, starts with woodwinds only. Later in its dynamic
climax, the full orchestra joins in combination with the high-pitched percussion
of the zylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone and whip. The last section is again
scored for brass only, with several of the 'deep' percussion-like bells and
tam-tam added to the drums. It was in this movement that the composer made the
most substantial changes following the premiere of the work.
The third movement, with its continuous motion, could almost be described as
a Toccata.
The composer heard the first performance of the revised composition at the
opening of the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and stated that the performance
given the composition by the Festival's Music Director, Walter Susskind, was
"magnificient".
Dr. Morawetz comments candidly: "I always try to forget about competitions
but after I knew that Sinfonietta had been selected for the finals of the
competition at Cava dei Tirreni on July 29th, I combed the papers rather
anxiously for some news. By August 2nd I had received no information about the
award and left for my cottage in Muskoka. It was not until August 5th that the
CBC News announced that I had won the Critics' Award."
The composition was played twice: one on July 29 during the finals and again
on July 31 at a concert of award-winners. The final concert was televised in
Italy, France and Yugoslavia. Dr. Morawetz is most anxious to receive a tape of
the performance in order to hear Maestro Barbini's excellent interpretation of
the work.
The composition is to be performed by the Toronto Symphony under Seiji Ozawa
on January 10 and 11, 1967, as part of the orchestra's subscription series and
several American orchestras have expressed an interest in the work as a result
of the fine critical reaction to the performance at the Aspen Music Festival.
The CANADIAN COMPOSER would like to congratulate Dr. Morawetz on his success
which, we feel, is important not only to the composer himself, but also to the
advancement of Canadian music and all Canadian composers.
