John deLancie was soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting, in the first performances of David Amram's The Trail of Beauty, on March 3, 4, and 5, 1977. This work was commissioned by the Rittenhouse Square Women's Committee for The Philadelphia Orchestra in memory of Marcel Tabuteau, former first oboist of the Orchestra and Mr. de Lancie's teacher. Rose Taylor, mezzo-soprano, was also soloist in the new work. In Richard Freed's notes in the Philadelphia Orchestra program book, David Amram's autobiography Vibrations is quoted . . . .
"One night after the Philadelphia Orchestra had played I went with my hero, Marcel Tabuteau (who was the hero then of every orchestral player) to eat clams and talk about music. He told me something I have never forgotten 'Don't ever give up your composing. Try to write all you can every day. It's the best job in music, believe me. Even if you never make a dime in music you must continue your composition because you'll get more satisfaction from that than you ever will just from being a fine player.' "
. . . . "Naturally, Mr. Amram was both touched and delighted to be asked for a work honoring a man whose musicianship, friendship and encouragement had meant so much to him. His pleasure is compounded, he advises, in having this work performed by John deLancie, who has been his friend for more than a dozen years and has of course created his own distinguished standard in the chair once occupied by Mr. Tabuteau. Since he has become especially attracted to the music, the instruments and the general culture of the American Indian, Mr. Amram based his composition on the "poetry, prayers, and speeches of the native American people." He inscribed the following preface in the score:
"In the mystery of the spirit world of Native American people, there is the same quality of timelessness that is in the spirit of all true music. Marcel Tabuteau gave all musicians who knew him a higher sense of what music was all about. This will always be, through the recordings of his playing, and the part of him that lives and is passed down through his students. His tradition cannot be described. It has to be felt in the way he felt about music. Like most people in the USA, he was from another continent and settled here. The oldest and first Americans have a tradition in their making of music that best expresses the feeling of all of us in music have when we honor a musician. Leonard Crowdog, a Sioux medicine man, said this in 1970: 'When you have grown old, when you are dead and gone, the younger ones among us will remember you. At a pow-wow somebody will give a donation to the drummers, go to the announcer stand and tell the people they'll sing a song for you.' This is for Marcel Tabuteau."
The work is laid out in four sections, symbolizing the "four signs" which are cited frequently in Indian lore. Amram has used several authentic Indian melodies in the material for the oboe and the orchestra, but not in any of the music for the singer, all of which is original. In addition to the vocal and instrumental soloists, the score calls for a large orchestra with a percussion section that includes many native American instruments. Daniel Webster, writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer commented that
"Amram's style is intensely lyrical, long-lined, and rooted in tonality. The unusual combination of voice and oboe is a constant that flows through the varied orchestra sounds, the authentic Indian music and the composed native idiom. The oboe--played by John deLancie with elegance and projection--unifies the 30-minute work with its return to intervals of descending fourths and fifths. The haunting resonance of the oboe is used here to suggest some quality removed by time, the spirits that Chief Seattle said would remain to haunt the cities and the farms. Technically, the writing for oboe is straightforward. Amram's style is lyrical and flatters the inherent singing quality of the instrument. The virtuosity required is the skill of song, of expression and of finding balances with the voice and the text."
James Felton in the Philadelphia Bulletin showed rather less enthusiasm for the new work. He found it
"respectable in a non-offensive academic style. After a brief lead the oboe mostly fades to become a fitful commentator on a musical scene dominated more by the vocal text. deLancie made the most of his phrases, shaping them sweetly. Amram has really avoided the challenge of a full-blown piece for oboe. . . ."
Sara Watkins appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra (at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.) on November 9, 10, 11, and 12, 1976 in the first performances of Antal Dorati's Divertimento for Oboe and Orchestra. In Maestro Dorati's own program notes he comments:
"The unusual challenge (of the commission) interested me greatly and I accepted with pleasure. The result is the Divertimento. I decided on a concertant work for the oboe, because, as far as I know, the instrument has the scarcest concerto repertoire. The form of a divertimento came to mind because the succession of several short movements of varied content seemed to suit both the oboe and the mood in which I envisioned the piece. . . . The solo oboe is surrounded in the score by three groups of wind instruments, namely by three flutes, three clarinets, and three trumpets, by a double string orchestra, harp, celesta and a number of percussion instruments, such as kettledrums, bongos, tom-toms, vibraphone, etc. The Divertimento is fashioned somewhat in the manner of the baroque suites or overtures; but while the movements have the old-time frames and names, their character and content is contemporary."
The movements are entitled Preludio, Toccata, Villanella (which closes with a short cadenza for the oboe), Bergamasca, Menuetto, and Giga. Irving Lowens in the Washington Star found the Divertimento to be
"a sunny piece, rather lightly scored, pleasant to hear and admirably suited to demonstrate the soloist's artistry. The audience received it (and Miss Watkins' fine performance) in the most friendly fashion."
Miss Watkins herself comments that
"the piece is a delightfully imaginative and bravura one, and one that explores the many personalities of the oboe. Audiences respond to it very favorably, since it is easy to grasp, unlike many more obtuse pieces we know!"
Thomas Stacy was soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Erich Leinsdorf conducting, at Avery Fisher Hall, on November 17, 18, 19, and 22, 1977 in Vincent Persichetti's new Concerto for English Horn and String Orchestra, Op. 137. The work is one of a series of compositions for solo orchestral instruments commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its principal players. The commission was made possible by a gift from Francis Goelet. The composer has provided this note: (reprinted from the program book of the New York Philharmonic)
"During the serene opening of the Concerto (Con fantasia) the higher strings unveil suggestions of a theme (which will later show itself), as the lower strings respond in lyric pizzicato. The English horn enters, involving the strings in a search for some thematic footing. The violins discover a deceivingly affable song which the English horn turns into one of complaint. These two dramatic elements persist until the soloist insists upon holding the cadential tone long enough to discourage the entire string orchestra. The thematic core and heart of the work occurs in the opening of the second movement (Amabile). The English horn song stems from the alto solo in my work, The Creation, Op. 111:
"He knows the path of birds,
the sky-lark, the blackbird;
A butterfly asleep on the mountainside--
on a temple bell."A rustling central section combines various strands of tones from the opening of the Concerto and ends with an affirmation of the "Butterfly Song." In the agile and swift finale (Spiritoso), fragments of the core-subject take flight as sound levels shift quickly. The English horn, recalling the uneasiness of the earlier part of the work, interrupts with an accompanied cadenza of retrospection. A coda emerges, growing in vigor as it sheds all sorrow and sadness in dance."
Harold Schonberg, writing in the New York Times, comments that
"the concerto reflects the current trend of contemporary composers to write music that means something to an audience. If anything, it is an impressionistic work, although the score does contain sections where Mr. Persichetti demonstrates that the writing of the previous decade is not unknown to him . . . It does what a concerto should, and that is give the solo player plenty of opportunities for display. Mr. Stacy, a wonderful instrumentalist with an unfaltering lip and lungs of steel-belted rubber, made the best of the material. He spun out long phrases, he covered the whole dynamic palette of his instrument, and he produced an unfailingly rich, fat sound. Whatever one's opinion of the actual materials of the concerto, there is no denying that it is more melodious than many works composed these days."