ROBERT MANNO
Chamber Music
Sextet for Strings ~ Three
Poems
~ A Mountain Path
Stiller Freund der
vielen Fernen ~ Fern Hill
VARIOUS ARTISTS
MS1029
~ $12.95
American Composer
Robert Manno's music includes over 30 chamber works, a
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, 2 Song Cycles, pieces for chorus, solo piano
pieces, art songs and arrangements. Composer Ned Rorem has described his
music as "maximally personal and expressive." He is currently working on a
Concerto for Orchestra and, upon it's completion will begin work on a full-length
opera.
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Robert Manno was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1944. His parents
introduced him to music through the study of violin, piano and voice. After
graduation from Haverford High School, he attended Temple University, the Granoff
School of Music, and the Combs College of Music, and performed intermittently in
the Philadelphia area as a jazz pianist. He first studied composition with Romeo
Cascarino in 1964, then moved to New York City in 1965 and began writing music
in 1966. He studied jazz piano with John Mehegan and Steve Kuhn, and
composition with Vladimir Padwa. During this period he was torn between
becoming a lieder singer, a jazz pianist or a composer. He then decided to continue
his composition studies at the 28th Annual Composers Conference in Johnson,
Vermont with Donald Erb and Mario Davidovsky.
Manno holds an undergraduate degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music
and an MA in music composition from New York University. He was a member of
the Metropolitan Opera Chorus from 1977 to 2001, and was previously a member
of the New York City Opera Chorus. He was also a baritone soloist appearing in
recital, chamber music programs, and with companies such as the Westchester
Symphony Orchestra and the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
In 2002, Manno served as a part-time assistant conductor on the music staff of
the Metropolitan Opera.
As a composer, he has been awarded the Ernest Bloch Award for "This is the
Garden" for a cappella chorus, First Prize at the Delius Festival for
"Birdsongs" for
soprano and violin, and many Meet the Composer Grants and ASCAP Awards.
His music has been performed in New York City, St. Paul and Los Angeles; as well
as in Florida, Vermont, Texas and throughout New York State.
He is the founder of the Windham
Chamber Music Festival, an annual concert series in Windham, New York.
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Excerpts from Fanfare Review
Actually, all of the music on this CD is harmony driven, which is not to say that it
lacks momentum; there is a sense of pulse and a narrative quality to all of this
material.
But the essential character of the music comes through in the vertical part of the
score, more so than the horizontal dimension, and, again, it is easy to imagine the
influence of Manno's' choral work in this quality of his writing...
Three Poems is scored for two violins and piano, a combination designed to
achieve a conversational quality, especially between the violins. The piece is similar
in mood and conception to the trio "A Mountain Path," with the second violin
replaced by a cello... Manno certainly achieves a personal voice in these two
works for three instruments, but I am reminded of the fairy-tale allusions to Czech
music by Janácek and Martinu, as well as the structural simplicity of the American
Minimalists, including Reich and Glass.
Manno's poetry settings are also successful, displaying an expansive, well-rounded
sense of architecture and shape, a welcome relief to those contemporary
song-composers who allow the verse to meander as if at will...
The performers on this lovely disc are mainly Met colleagues of the composer. All of
the instrumentalists are members of the superb Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and
the two vocalists are up-and-coming youngsters who have performed on the big Met
stage.
The sound they make is luminous and focused, and serves this rich and lyrical
music well."
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