"Fancy a Paganini who has read Maeterlinck; fancy an imagination fantastic and slightly strained in the path of the morbid; fancy perfect musicianship, a delicate sense of color, values, and a sense of the grotesque; fancy all these things and you have not yet grasped the half of Loeffler's music." |
In April 2020, Graeme discovered the unpublished manuscript to a forgotten, now-125-year-old work in the archives of the Library of Congress by the Berlin-born, Boston-based composer Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935). Unpublished, unrecorded and unheard since 1897, the piece is scored for an octet of two clarinets, harp, string quartet and double bass, and was premiered at Boston's Association Hall by the Kneisel Quartet and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. One reviewer present "[could] hardly say enough" about the Octet, writing that "the work took nearly everyone by storm." A second performance took place the following month, in March of 1897, at the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner. Incredibly, the piece was never heard again.
Hailed in obituaries as the "dean of American composers," Loeffler was one of the most performed American composers at home and abroad during his lifetime. He joined the Boston Symphony as assistant concertmaster in 1882, the orchestra's second season, and a time when Boston was the musical Athens of America. With its Brahmsian opening, Wagnerian Adagio and folksy alla Zingara finale, the collision of styles in Loeffler's Octet embodies the groping for national identity happening in America's nascent musical landscape at the time.
Graeme spent 2021 reconstructing the Octet's score from the 75-page manuscript, creating the first critical edition of the music and revealing a fascinating piece whose three movements span almost a half-hour. By resuscitating the piece for its first performance in living memory and first ever recording, he hopes to realize Loeffler's contribution to the chamber music repertoire and to spotlight his role in shaping American musical identity at its dawn.
Hailed in obituaries as the "dean of American composers," Loeffler was one of the most performed American composers at home and abroad during his lifetime. He joined the Boston Symphony as assistant concertmaster in 1882, the orchestra's second season, and a time when Boston was the musical Athens of America. With its Brahmsian opening, Wagnerian Adagio and folksy alla Zingara finale, the collision of styles in Loeffler's Octet embodies the groping for national identity happening in America's nascent musical landscape at the time.
Graeme spent 2021 reconstructing the Octet's score from the 75-page manuscript, creating the first critical edition of the music and revealing a fascinating piece whose three movements span almost a half-hour. By resuscitating the piece for its first performance in living memory and first ever recording, he hopes to realize Loeffler's contribution to the chamber music repertoire and to spotlight his role in shaping American musical identity at its dawn.
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The Ensemble Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet David Shifrin, clarinet Hannah Lash, harp Stella Chen, violin Siwoo Kim, violin Jordan Bak, viola Samuel DeCaprio, cello Sam Suggs, double bass |
Sample Program Ravel: Introduction and Allegro for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet (1905) Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [arr. Graeme Steele Johnson for flute, clarinet, harp, string quartet and double bass] (1894) Debussy: Première Rhapsodie [arr. Todd Palmer for flute, clarinet, harp, string quartet and double bass] (1911) Loeffler: Octet for two clarinets, harp, string quartet and double bass (1897) |
The Loeffler Octet revival project is supported by the Saint Botolph Club Foundation's Emerging Artist Award and by the generosity of a private donor.
For booking inquiries or to support this project, contact: gsteelej@gmail.com
For booking inquiries or to support this project, contact: gsteelej@gmail.com
Boston Symphony Orchestra program from premiere performance, February 15, 1897.
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Program from second performance at the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner, March 19, 1897.
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