This will be posted to ARSC website soon, but please feel free to forward around to anyone
interested.
ARSC New York Chapter
MARCH 2015 Meeting
7 P. M. Thursday, 3/26/15
at the CUNY Sonic Arts Center
West 140th Street & Convent Avenue, New York
or enter at 138th Street off Convent Avenue
Shepard Hall (the Gothic building) - Recital Hall (Room 95, Basement level)
An elevator is located in the center of the building
The Unknown Nadia Boulanger: Recordings from The Crane School of Music Archives
Presented by Gary A. Galo Audio Engineer Emeritus
The renowned teacher and conductor Nadia Boulanger had a long association with The Crane School of
Music at SUNY Potsdam, beginning in the summer of 1925 when Helen M. Hosmer, a faculty member and
future director of the school, traveled to Fontainbleau for a summer of study in France with Mlle.
Boulanger. A friendship that would last over half a century developed between them, and during the
course of that time Boulanger appeared as guest conductor of Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony
Orchestra at SUNY Potsdam four times, in 1939, 1945, 1958 and 1962. Crane Chorus also traveled to
New York City in April, 1941 for a special benefit concert for the Polish Relief given in honor of
Ignace Jan Paderewski. For the New York concert, members of the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of
New York and fifteen distinguished soloists joined Boulanger and Crane Chorus.
Boulanger made a relatively small number of commercial recordings, and the archives of The Crane
School contain a number of works not otherwise found in her discography, much of it reflecting her
interest in 20th-century composers. This presentation will sample those recordings, beginning with
an excerpt from a 1939 performance of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, recorded on 16-inch lacquer
discs. The 1941 Polish Relief Concert was recorded on five 16-inch, 33 1/3-rpm lacquer discs by the
Carnegie Hall Recording Company. The repertoire on that concert included the complete History of the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Heinrich Schütz, "Fac me tecum pie flere" from the Stabat Mater by
20th-century Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, and the 14th century Polish chant Bogurodzica
Dziewica, in a polyphonic setting probably done by Boulanger. The Requiem of Gabriel Fauré, a staple
of the Boulanger repertoire, concluded the concert. Excerpts from her 1958 appearance will include
Vielle Prière Bouddhique by her sister Lili, and Hymne Olympique by the Polish composer Michal
Spisak. Excerpts from the 1962 concert will include Cantate by Igor Markevitch, the motet Sequentia
de Vergina Maria by Hungarian composer Láslo Lajthe, Gloria by Poulenc, and Cantate by Corsican-born
Leo Preger, the latter a commission by The Crane School on the recommendation of Mlle. Boulanger.
This presentation will combine expanded versions of two papers previously presented at ARSC national
conferences: Nadia Boulanger: The Polish Relief Benefit Concert given in Milwaukee, WI in 2007, and
The Unknown Nadia Boulanger: Recordings from The Crane School of Music Archives given in Kansas
City, MO in 2014.
Gary A. Galo retired in June 2014 after thirty-eight years as Audio Engineer at The Crane School of
Music, SUNY Potsdam, where he also taught courses in music literature and audio technology. He has
been an ARSC member since 1982, was the Sound Recording Review Editor of the ARSC Journal from
1995-2012, was co-chair of the ARSC Technical Committee from 1996-2004, has been a frequent
presenter at ARSC Conferences, and has written numerous articles, book reviews and sound recording
reviews for the ARSC Journal. Mr. Galo is a widely published author with over three hundred articles
and reviews to his credit on both musical and technical subjects, in over a dozen publications. He
is a Regular Contributor to audioXpress magazine, has reviewed numerous books for Notes: Quarterly
Journal of the Music Library Association, is the author of the "Loudspeaker" entry in The
Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound in the United States, 1st edition, and has also written for the
Newsletter of the Wilhelm Furtwängler Society of America, and Toccata: Journal of the Leopold
Stokowski Society.
DIRECTIONS TO THE SONIC ARTS CENTER
Subway: Take the 1 train to 137th Street City College and walk north to 140th St. & Broadway,
then go east to 140th St. & Convent Avenue. Take the A, B, C, or D trains to 145th St, go south on
St. Nicholas to 141st St, (one long block), then west one block to Convent Avenue, and south one
more block to 140th & Convent Avenue.
Bus: M4 and M5 on Broadway; M 100, 101 on Amsterdam Ave. (one block West of Convent Avenue)
The Sonic Arts Center at CCNY offers 4-year Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Music with a
concentration in Music and Audio Technology. Their program provides an in-depth curriculum
emphasizing real-world skills with a project-based approach. Students enjoy a well-rounded program,
with emphasis on audio technology, music theory, orchestration, and history to help them compete in
a field that today demands an ever-growing and highly diverse skill set.
All ARSC NY Chapter meetings are free and open to the public. Voluntary contributions to help defray
our expenses are welcome!
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