ORION ENSEMBLE

Making variations, preludes, fantasies. Many composers excelled in the art of improvising, in composing music impromptu. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven took these improvisations down and called them fantasy, theme with variations, prelude… With Bach the prelude was still an overture to a fugue. Chopin composed his twenty-four preludes as independent pieces of music. Also Gershwin was a great improvisor. After the example of Chopin he too wanted to write twenty-four preludes, one in every key, but he only produced some five or six. Short, playful compositions, mutually different in atmosphere.
Musical improvisation allows of no restriction. Both Stuchevsky’s Sounds from the Past and Leutscher’s Homages are fantasies in the real musical sense of the word, for the listener is carried away and surprised by the many unexpected musical variations and fancies to witness improvisations on the composer’s favorite themes. In this case the improvisations are based on themes derived from popular music cherished by these three composers in their own way. American jazz, Jewish klezmer, and the European popular music of the sixties.



Of this programma the cd Fantasies & Preludes was released. 

• Three Preludes - George Gershwin
• Sounds from the Past - Joachim Stutchevsky
• Hommage (fantasies for pianotrio on three Beatle themes) - Leonard Leutscher

(choice of music with reservation)