of Iowa where,
incidentally, he founded the renowned Center for New Music, he’s been living,
teaching and composing in New York. If the program is any measure, he’s been
doing quite a bit of the latter – four of the seven pieces were from the
1990’s, two written this last year alone.
In addition, there was a 1953 “Sonata No. 1” for clarinet
and piano, his Bi-centennial piece, “Chamber Music for Six
Players”, and the largish “The Tree”,
commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony in 1984. Intriguing were the back-to-back settings of John
Milton’s poem “The Subtle Thief”, the first (1990) for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, the second (1997)
for voice and piano; the
title being the obvious point of reference, one succeeded
in hearing musical connections that, in fact, may not have been there at all
(wishful hearing?). Also new, his
“Toccata” for solo piano is a
short, spicy confection which works despite his claims that the piece is
“tonal”. (In a program note, Hervig makes the same claim
about “most” of his music.) The
performances by students at the Manhattan School, conducted by the ever-capable
and
oft-lauded Glen Cortese, were all really first-rate,
played with a refreshing sense of enthusiasm and (yes) mission.
As I told an Iowa City newspaper
reporter in attendance: It’s rare but always a delight to hear music that sounds like the composer,
and in Dick Hervig’s case his music, like him,
is warm, witty, and always a pleasure to run in to.