Emanuel Vardi, violin – Vivian Rivkin, Piano – Alan Shulman Theme and Variations for Viola and Piano – February 18, 1942 – American Music Festival – WNYC, New York.
Premiers this weekend. Violist Emanuel Vardi and Pianist Vivian Rivkin in the first radio performance of Theme and Variations for Viola and Piano by Alan Shulman, broadcast as part of the American Festival of Music on February 18, 1942 from the studios of WOR in New York and broadcast by WNYC.
Alan Shulman was an American composer and cellist. He wrote a considerable amount of symphonic music, chamber music, and jazz music. Trumpeter Eddie Bailey said, “Alan had the greatest ear of any musician I ever came across. He had better than perfect pitch. I’ve simply never met anyone like him.” Some of his more well known works include his 1940 Neo-Classical Theme and Variations for Viola and Piano and his A Laurentian Overture, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1952 under the baton of Guido Cantelli. Also of note is his 1948 Concerto for Cello and Orchestra which was also premiered by the New York Philharmonic with cellist Leonard Rose and conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos. Many of Shulman’s works have been recorded, and the violinist Jascha Heifetz and jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw have been particular exponents of his work both in performance and on recordings.
Emanuel Vardi (21 April 1915 – 29 January 2011), was considered to have been one of the great viola players of the 20th century.
Vivian Rivkin was a frequent performer on most of these American Music Festival concerts. She actively involved in new music and premiered an astonishing number of works by Contemporary American composers, as well as premiering a considerable number of works outside the U.S. She frequently performed with the Stuyvesant String Quartet and recorded the American premier of Shostakovich’s Quintet for Piano and Strings op. 57 for Columbia Records. She was briefly married to conductor Dean Dixon and died in New York City at the age of 55 in 1968.
Enjoy the premier.
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