Beethoven: The Grosse Fugue Revisited

Beethoven:  The Grosse Fugue Revisited 
(Transcribed by James Furman to include brass and singers)

Eric Lewis, Conductor

Manhattan String Quartet:
Eric Lewis, Violin I
Roy Lewis, Violin II
John Dexter, Viola
Judith Glyde, Cello

Westconn Brass Quintet
Joseph Grasso Jr., Trumpet I
James Cahill, Trumpet II
Lawrence Huntley, Horn
Howard Williams, Trombone
Andrew Rogers, Tuba

Alumi Vocal Sextet
Vira Czerny, Soprano I
Jessie Landsberg, Soprano II
Cynthia McCorkindale, Alto
James Maroney, Tenor I
William Smith, Tenor II
George Hawley, Baritone

Beethoven:  The Grosse Fugue Revisited is a transcription which includes a vocal sextet and Brass Quintet in addtion to the original String Quartet.  It was completed on May 21, 1980.  The Manhattan String Quartet, the Annapolis Brass Quintet, and the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble premiered it on July 29, 1980 at Art Park, Buffalo, New York.  Furman's reaction to Eric Lewis' commission is stated vividly in the following letter:

When you (Eric Lewis) suggested that I transcribe Beethoven's monumental Grosse Fugue, I was albaze with excitement.  As I touched this mighty opus (and I might add with great humility) there was a deep sense of pride for the confidence placed in me to appoach the "black hole" of musical creativity.

No one dare change a note of Beethoven! The fundamental Point d'appiu of the string quartet remains intact, with its motor force illuminated by a brass quintet and vocal sextet.  These added dimensions inevitably provide a color option to the original state.  A larger performing community now fortifies existent conversations with dramatic input articulating despair and triumph.

There are motivic seeds which give birth to the abstraction of words from Shiller's Ode to Joy, while other literary references inspire passages from his Das Lied von der Glocke.  At times, Beethoven's built-in pointillism triggers my imagination toward sound spectra associated with twentieth century procedures, such as microtones, glissandi, slow and fast vibrati, pointillistic punctuation, klangfarbenmelodie, flutter tonguing, rapid repetition of a pitch, a la electronic wailing,etc.

The late quartets, Op. 132, 130, and 131 form a grand arch with the Grosse Fugue as the central force.  These quartets are a paradox of their time, but the Grosse Fugue has added dimension of prophecy which anticipates sound concepts of the twentieth century.  The Grosse Fugue embraces a past, conventional fugal concept, but transforms it into a seemingly unbridled and sometimes gentle freedom.  It transcends its own time barrier, containing the pathos and anxiety of the Romantic spirit.  It enters the twentieth century like a super rocket exploding with cosmic wisdom.

In retrospect, I closed as I began my visitation, with a prayer.

-James Furman