Steven Gerber

This article is about the composer. For the comic book writer, see Steve Gerber.

Steven Roy Gerber (September 28, 1948 – May 28, 2015)[1] was an American composer of classical music.

Biography and career

Steven Gerber's works include the contrapuntal Fantasy for Solo Violin,[2] which has been recorded [3] on both the CRI and Naxos labels, and Piano Trio, commissioned by the Hans Kindler Foundation.[4]

His composition teachers included Robert Parris, James K. Randall, Earl Kim, and Milton Babbitt.

His early works are in a free atonal style. During his years as a graduate student, he wrote serial and non-twelve-tone works, such as the a cappella choral works "Dylan Thomas Settings" and "Illuminations" (Rimbaud), and throughout the remainder of the 1970s most of his works were twelve-tone. Beginning in the early 1980s, he abandoned twelve-tone composition, with rare exceptions, and his music became much more tonal, for example in his Piano Sonata. Since then his music remained largely tonal, sometimes extremely chromatic, sometimes diatonic.

His music has been reviewed in The New York Times[5] and The Washington Post.[6] His music has been played in the former Soviet Union perhaps more widely than that of any other American composer.[7]

In 2005, the conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy commissioned Gerber to compose an orchestral work. The resulting six-movement suite, Music in Dark Times, was premiered by Ashkenazy with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on March 25–28, 2009.[8] He died on May 28, 2015, aged 66.[9]

List of compositions

Orchestral

Chamber

Vocal

Choral

Piano

Other solo

Articles

Recordings

Spirituals for String Orchestra; Clarinet Concerto; Serenade Concertante
St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony/Vladimir Lande, conductor
Jon Manasse, clarinet; Jose Miguel Cueto, violin; Natalia Malkova, violin
Arabesque CD Z6803

Symphony No. 1; Dirge and Awakening; Viola Concerto; Triple Overture
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra/Thomas Sanderling, conductor
Lars Anders Tomter, viola
The Bekova Sisters:
Elvira Bekova, violin
Alfia Bekova, cello
Eleonora Bekova, piano
Chandos CD 9831

Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto; Serenade for String Orchestra
National Chamber Orchestra/Piotr Gajewski, conductor
Kurt Nikkanen, violin; Carter Brey, cello
KOCH International Classics KIC-CD-7501

Fantasy; Three Songs Without Words
Curtis Macomber, violin
Composers Recordings, Inc. CD 706

Une Saison en Enfer
The New Calliope Singers/Peter Schubert, conductor
William Parker, baritone; Steven R. Gerber, piano
Composers Recordings, Inc. CD 638

Elegy on the Name "Dmitri Shostakovich"; Françoise Renard, viola
Suoni e Colori SC 53006

Gershwiniana for three violins; 3 Folksong Transformations; 3 Pieces for two violins; Notturno for piano trio; Elegy on the Name Dmitri Shostakovich for viola; 3 Songs Without Words; Fantasy for violin; Duo for violin and cello; Piano Trio
Kurt Nikkanen, violin and viola; Cho-Liang Lin, violin; Cyrus Beroukhim, violin; Brinton Averil Smith, cello; Sara Davis Buechner, piano
Naxos 8.559618

References

  1. ↑ Musicsack
  2. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (2004-06-17). "MUSIC REVIEW; In Summertime Enrichment, The New and the Familiar Mix - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  3. ↑ "((( Fantasy > Overview )))". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  4. ↑ "Hans Kindler: Information from". Answers.com. 1949-08-30. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  5. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (1998-10-08). "MUSIC REVIEW; An Evening Russian in Spirit and Sound - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  6. ↑ The Washington Post, [October 18, 1999, Page C 5]
  7. 1 2 http://www.21st-centurymusic.com/ML210203.pdf
  8. ↑ "Program Notes". Sfsymphony.org. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  9. ↑ Death announcement on Steven Gerber's official website (stevengerber.com). Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  10. ↑ Jerry Bowles. "Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly". Sequenza21.com. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  11. ↑ "NewMusicBox". NewMusicBox. 2003-06-01. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  12. ↑ http://www.crisismagazine.com/october2001/music.htm

External links

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