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Schott Music Corporation Acquires Works of George Perle

Jul. 07, 2014

Schott Music Corporation Acquires Works of George Perle

Schott Music Corporation (NY) is proud to announce the acquisition of nearly 50 works by renowned composer, scholar, and MacArthur Fellow George Perle. Celebrated for his prolific output of chamber and orchestral pieces as well as his influential writings on 20th-century music, the Pulitzer-prize winning composer secured his position in the late 20th-century canon with a sophisticated and idiomatic synthesis of 12-tone music and traditional tonality.

Norman Ryan, Vice President for Composers & Repertoire at Schott|EAM, comments: "Honored in his lifetime with both a MacArthur Fellowship and Pulitzer Prize, George Perle was also a distinguished music theorist and educator. His contributions to Alban Berg scholarship were particularly noteworthy. Perle's music is a joyful mix of clarity, elegance, and rhythmic presence. Having acquired a substantial number of George Perle’s works in our acquisition of the Boelke-Bomart catalogues in 2011, we are delighted to become, with this acquisition, his principal publisher."

Perle was an advocate and admirer of the Second Viennese School, having written several critical texts on the subject including Serial Composition and Atonality and The Operas of Alban Berg. This influence materialized in his compositions, often lyrical and romantic and employing a technique he developed called “twelve-tone tonality.” In 1986, he was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his Wind Quintet No. 4 and inducted into the prestigious MacArthur Fellows Program. The composer passed away in January of 2009 in New York City and is survived by his wife Shirley Perle.

Schott has acquired several of Perle’s most significant works, including many early works for solo piano, Thirteen Dickinson Songs for voice and piano (commissioned by Bethany Beardslee in 1978), Serenade No. 3 for solo piano and chamber orchestra (choreographed by American Ballet Theater and recorded by Nonesuch Records, earning a Grammy Award nomination), Wind Quintet No. 4, Piano Concerto No. 1 (commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for Richard Goode), Transcendental Modulations for orchestra (commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 150th anniversary), and later works including Critical Moments I and II for ensemble and Brief Encounters for string quartet.

For more information on George Perle, visit www.schott-music.com.

George Perle
Thirteen Dickinson Songs (1978)
for soprano and piano
37’

Serenade No. 3 (1983)
for solo piano and chamber ensemble
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20’

Wind Quintet No. 4 (1984)
for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon
18’

Piano Concerto No. 1 (1990)
for piano and orchestra
4(pic).3(ca).4(bcl).4(cbsn)-4.4.3.1-timp.perc-cel.hp-str
25’

Transcendental Modulations (1993)
for orchestra
4(2pic, 2afl).3.ca.3(piccolo cl, bcl).4(cbsn)-4.4.4.1-timp.3perc-cel.hp.pno-str
21’

Critical Moments I (1996)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano
7’

Critical Moments II (2001)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano
12’

Brief Encounters (String Quartet No. 9) (1998)
for string quartet
30’

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