Paul Schoenfield

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Schoenfield at the piano

Paul Schoenfield, also spelled Paul Schoenfeld or Pinchas Schoenfeld,[1] was born January 24, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan and died April 29, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. He was a classical composer and pianist known for combining popular, folk, and classical music forms.

He began to take piano lessons at the age of six, and wrote his first composition a year later. In 1966 he appeared with Leonard Bernstein on one of the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts[2] and made his Town Hall recital debut while still in his teens. Among his teachers were Julius Chajes, Ozan Marsh and Rudolf Serkin. He held a B.A. degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Doctor of Music Arts degree from the University of Arizona.

Musical career[edit]

Schoenfield was for many years an active concert pianist, performing as a soloist and with chamber groups including Music from Marlboro. With violinist Sergiu Luca he recorded the complete violin and piano works of Béla Bartók. He gave the premiere of his piano concerto Four Parables with the Toledo Symphony in 1983. Jeffrey Kahane recorded the work in 1994 with John Nelson and the New World Symphony. Also on the Argo CD are Vaudeville, Schoenfeld's concerto for piccolo trumpet, played by Wolfgang Basch, and Klezmer Rondos, concerto for flute, baritone and orchestra, performed by flutist Carol Wincenc. Critic Raymond Tuttle called the CD: "Some of the most life-affirming new music I've heard in a long time", while he characterized Four Parables as "wild silliness in the face of existential dread."

One of Schoenfield's most frequently performed and recorded works is his piano trio Café Music, which was commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) and inspired by Schoenfeld's turn as house pianist at Murray's steakhouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[3] It premiered under the title Divertimento at an SPCO chamber concert on January 25, 1987 with violinist Leslie Shank, cellist Joshua Koestenbaum, and Schoenfeld at the piano.

In 1994, the same year he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize, an evening of Schoenfield's pieces was presented at Reinberger Hall by violinist Lev Polyakin and other members of the Cleveland Orchestra with the composer at the piano. Cleveland Orchestra principal violist Robert Vernon gave the world premiere of Schoenfield's viola concerto in 1998, and made the premiere recording, released on Naxos Records in the same year.[4] Andreas Boyde gave the European premiere of Four Parables in 1998 with the Dresdner Sinfoniker and Jonathan Nott, a live performance which was issued on the Athene Records label in 1999. In 2008 the work was released on Black Box Classics with Andrew Russo and the Prague Philharmonia led by JoAnn Falletta. Also on the CD Russo plays Four Souvenirs with violinist James Ehnes and the piano trio Café Music with Ehnes and cellist Edward Arron.

Schoenfield's two-act opera, The Merchant and the Pauper, was commissioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and given its premiere there in 1999. Its libretto is adapted from a tale fashioned and first told in 1809 by one of the most significant personalities in Hassidic history, philosophy, and lore- Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1811), the founder of the Bratslaver Hassidic sect. Schoenfield's song cycle Camp Songs was commissioned by Seattle's Music of Remembrance (MOR). It was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003.[5][6] The song cycle Ghetto Songs, commissioned by MOR, was recorded in 2009 by Naxos. In 2010 Schoenfield's Sonata for Violin and Piano was premiered at Lincoln Center with Cho-Liang Lin, violin, and Jon Kimura Parker, piano.

Schoenfeld’s introspective nature led him on an unconventional career which shifted gradually from performance to composition, moved between the U.S. and Israel, and embraced diverse interests in mathematics and the Talmud. “I’ve always found something lacking in just being a perpetrator of old music by dead composers,” he confessed.[7]

Schoenfield taught at the University of Toledo and the University of Akron and capped his career in 2021, retiring as Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan.

Works[edit]

A partial list of his compositions is available via the Milken Archive of Jewish Music.[8] Paul Schoenfield scores are available from Migdal Publishing[9] and Opus Imprints.[7]

Discography (as pianist)[edit]

1978

Czech Music for Violin (works by Smetana, Dvořák, and Janáček) (with Sergiu Luca, violin) Nonesuch LP H-71350[10]

1981

Béla Bartók: Complete Music for Violin and Piano (with Sergiu Luca, violin; David Shifrin, clarinet) Nonesuch 2-LP set DB-79021[11]

1983

Alex Lubet: Two Octave Studies Minnesota Composers Forum/McKnight Disc LP MN-101[12]

Scott Joplin: The Best of Scott Joplin (The Entertainer; The Cascades; Palm Leaf Rag; Elite Syncopations; Maple Leaf Rag; Easy Winners; Solace; Swipsey Cakewalk) Pro Arte LP SDS-613[13]

1984

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski: Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano (with Joseph Longo, clarinet; John Miller, bassoon) innova LP MN-102[14]

1987

Paul Schoenfield: Three Country Fiddle Pieces (with Robert Davidovici, violin) New World Records LP NW-334[15]

1988

Dominick Argento: Peter Quince At The Clavier (with the Dale Warland Singers; Dale Warland, cond.) Musical Heritage Society LP 912199[16]

1989

Paul Schoenfield: Café Music (with Young-Nam Kim, violin; Peter Howard, cello) innova LP, CD, and cassette MN-108[17]

1991

Stephen Paulus: All My Pretty Ones (with soprano Ruth Jacobson) Albany CD TROY-036[18]

2001

Paul Schoenfield: British Folk Songs (with Nathaniel Rosen, cello) Albany CD TROY-494[19]

2004

Paul Schoenfield: Burlesque and Carolina Réveille (with Lev Polyakin, violin; Robert Vernon, viola; Nathaniel Rosen cello; John Sampen, saxophone; Michael Sax, trumpet; Don Miller, percussion) innova CD 544[20]

2009

Paul Schoenfield: Camp Songs and Ghetto Songs (with Angela Niederloh, mezzo-soprano; Erich Parce and Morgan Smith, baritones; Music of Remembrance) Naxos CD 8.559641[21]

2015

Paul Schoenfield: Al hanissim (with Essential Voices USA chorus; Judith Clurman, cond.) Dorion Sono Luminus CD DSL-92182[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Paul Schoenfeld: Professor of Composition". Faculty & Staff Profiles , School of Music, Theatre & Dance. University of Michigan. Retrieved 21 August 2018.[dead link]
  2. ^ Episode 35 (Young Performers No. 7), broadcast November 23, 1966.
  3. ^ "Paul Schoenfield's "Cafe Music"". www.yourclassical.org. January 25, 2022.
  4. ^ Naxos CD 8.559418
  5. ^ Fischer, Heinz Dietrich (2010). The Pulitzer Prize Winners for Music: Composer Biographies, Premiere Programs and Jury Reports. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-59608-1.
  6. ^ "Finalist: Camp Songs, by Paul Schoenfeld". Pulitzer.org. 2003. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Paul Schoenfield". Opus Imprints.
  8. ^ "Schoenfield, Paul". Milken Archive of Jewish Music.
  9. ^ "Migdal Publishing (The Music of Paul Schoenfeld)". United Music and Media Publishers.
  10. ^ "Sergiu Luca, Paul Schoenfield – Czech Music For Violin (1978, Vinyl) - Discogs".
  11. ^ "Béla Bartók – The Complete Music For Violin And Piano (1981, Vinyl) - Discogs".
  12. ^ "Eric Stokes / David Means / Gerald Near / Alex Lubet / Richard Paske – New Music From Minnesota (1983, Vinyl) - Discogs".
  13. ^ "Paul Schoenfield – The Best Of Scott Joplin (1983, Vinyl) - Discogs".
  14. ^ "Stanislaw Skrowaczewski / Paul Fetler / Carleton Macy – New Music From Minnesota (1984, Vinyl) - Discogs".
  15. ^ "Robert Davidovici, Steven De Groote, Paul Schoenfield - Works By: Hugh Aitken, Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, Paul Schoenfield, Gunther Schuller | Releases | Discogs".
  16. ^ "Dominick Argento - Peter Quince At The Clavier / I Hate And I Love | Releases | Discogs".
  17. ^ "Open Boundaries (1989, CD) - Discogs".
  18. ^ "You searched for paulus". Albany Records.
  19. ^ "Chamber Music of Paul Schoenfield". Albany Records.
  20. ^ "Cafe Music | Innova Recordings". www.innova.mu.
  21. ^ "SCHOENFIELD, P.: Camp Songs / Ghetto Songs / SCHWA.. - 8.559641 | Discover more releases from Naxos". www.naxos.com.
  22. ^ "Cherished Moments: Songs of the Jewish Spirit". Sono Luminus | Recording Studio & Record Label.

External links[edit]

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