PHILIP MANEVAL
PHILIP MANEVAL | |  | | | |
Philip Maneval has composed 30 works ranging from solo to orchestral compositions. He has received two Composition Fellowship Awards from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, one for his Landscapes Changing and Unchanged, and the other for his Quartet for English Horn and Strings. Mr. Maneval’s Sextet for Strings was commissioned by the eminent, late violinist Felix Galimir. It was premiered by the Galimir Quartet and guest artists in Philadelphia, and was performed also at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. In the spring of 1999, Mr. Maneval’s Poem of Triumph and Redemption for orchestra was premiered in Romania by the Filharmonica De Stat Sibiu and performed in the U.S. by Philadelphia’s Orchestra 2001. On May 16, 2004, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Series at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA will host a concert of Mr. Maneval's works, featuring the Chicago Quartet, soprano Hyunah Yu, baritone Randall Scarlata, pianist Charles Abramovic, and guest narrators.
Other works by Mr. Maneval include two string quartets performed by the Miami String Quartet; a third quartet premiered by the Chicago String Quartet; sonatas for violin and viola; two piano sonatas; Migrations - A Cycle of 30 Poems for Piano, premiered by Ignat Solzhenitsyn at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts; and mixed ensemble works premiered by Network for New Music, and the Penn Contemporary Players conducted by Richard Wernick. His music has been performed by Siegfried Palm, former Director of the Berlin Opera, by members of the Cleveland Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra, and by members of the Guarneri and Orion Quartet. Many
of Mr. Maneval’s works are available through the Theodore Presser Co.
In addition to composing, Mr. Maneval is Manager of the Marlboro Music School and Festival, the international chamber music center in Vermont; and Executive Director of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, a highly-regarded music forum with an annual program of 60 concerts and 40 educational events. Mr. Maneval is a board member of Philadelphia’s Network for New Music, and has served on the boards of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia and Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. He has been a panelist and advisor for several new music competitions, and for organizations including the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and Philadelphia Music Project.
Born in Leonia, in northern New Jersey, Mr. Maneval received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied composition with Richard Wernick, George Crumb and George Rochberg. As an undergraduate, he graduated with honors from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where his studies included composition, conducting and french horn; and philosophy and liberal arts at Oberlin College. Mr. Maneval is married, with two children, and lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. |
Sextet for Strings, Op. 8 (1989) -- 33’
2Vln., 2Vla., 2Vcl.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, for Felix Galimir
Premiere Information: Galimir String Quartet with Ida Kavafian, viola, and Wilhelmina Smith, cello; Port of History Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; May 14, 1990
Sonata, Op. 13 for Violin and Piano
Available From Composer
Sonata, Op. 16 for Viola and Piano
Available From Composer
Sonata, Op. 25 for Violin and Viola (2000) -- 13’
Not yet released (in prep: #114-41112)
String Quartet No. 1 Variations on a Theme, Op. 11 (1992) -- 26’
Published: #114-41113
Premiere Information: Miami String Quartet; Kent State University, Kent State, Ohio; October 29, 1995
• Reviews
Available Separately:Set of parts (#114-41113P)
Full Score - Large (#114-41113S)
String Quartet No. 2, Op. 19 (1997) -- 23’
Published: #114-41114
Premiere Information: Robert Waters and Baird Dodge, violins, Kirsten Johnson, viola, and Marcy Rosen, cello; Marlboro Music, VT; July 23, 1997
• Reviews
Available Separately:Set of parts (#114-41114P)
Full Score - Large (#114-41114S)
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 26 “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”
Available From Composer
Fantasy Variations, Op. 29 On the 11/4 Repeated Chord Measure From “The Rite of Spring”
Available From Composer
Migrations, Op. 23 a set of 30 Poems for Piano (1998) -- 30’
Published: #110-40744
Premiere Information: Ignat Solzhenitsyn; Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA; May 8, 2002
• Reviews
Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra, Op. 4 (1986) -- 15'
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Symphony No. 1 "Of Man and the Earth" for Full Orchestra, Op. 28 (2002) -- 27’
3(Picc.)-3(E.H.)-3(B.Cl.)-3(Cbsn.); 4-3-2(B.Tbn.)-1; Timp., 3Perc., Str.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Katie's Lullabies, Op. 18 Five Traditional Lullabies Transcribed for Soprano and Piano
Available From Composer
"Philip Maneval’s fine new work for solo piano, Migrations - A Cycle of 30 Poems, uses music and even the words in the title to convey allusions and contrasts that cohere with remarkable, if understated, strength. The use of the term “cycle” is highly significant. There is a sense, in both the small, individual poems and the overall structure, of circular language, underlying the composer’s central metaphor of the cyclical nature of life. On a purely decorative level, this is pretty music that resembles a glistening charm bracelet.
The inner workings of these jewels is a surprising blend of simple gestures and complex elements. The harmonic language is challenging, often polytonal, but, almost paradoxically, lyrical and flowing. This may be due to Maneval’s rhythmic freedom, imparting a songlike quality... Overall, this is music whose power is expressed as a whole distillation of its parts.."-Peter Burwasser, Philadelphia City Paper"Maneval has lined 30 sections - “poems” in his subtitle - in virtuosic and atmospheric writing that evokes memories of both impressionists and expressionists. These are not like Webern’s quick breaths of music, but they carry that kind of succinct and complete form - and with much more color.
The misty sections evoke Debussy, but the atmospheres are more compressed and often juxtapose conflicting moods. The opening, which sounded harp-like, offered a five-note statement that could be heard in light and shadow through the work.
Each quick section demanded substantial technical aplomb. Repeated notes, flicks of sound at the softest dynamic, regal chords, intricate canons and brittle rhythms differentiated one section from another. Along the way, the pianist found wordless ballads, brief portraits, parts that celebrated bravura pianism, and sudden nebulous scenes of haunting delicacy…"-Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer"Maneval’s cycle of 30 instrumental poems, scored for nothing more exotic than a solo piano, remains stubbornly and vividly in mind. Maneval... was able to imbue each of his pieces, averaging around a minute in length, a musical character and sound-world of its own, while maintaining continuity and cohesion in a language of discreetly extended tonality that is at once challenging and attractive to the ear."-Bernard Jacobson, The Independent
"...a one-movement work with tremendous variety and energy... there is a good deal of original and appealing material. Each of its 10 sections beings something different - pizzicato, mutes, a fugue, cadenzas. Finally, at the end, the theme upon which the variations are based appears for the first time, in a slow and slightly weepy form."-Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer
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"Maneval’s music lives in the same worlds with Ravel’s and Barber’s, different though they may be. His Quartet references other music: There is a breath of Viennese lilt in the fourth movement, and the ironic playfulness of the second movement is a healthy critique of Prokofiev. But this is not a postmodern melange. The work glows with energy, floats on complicated but meaningful rhythmic pulses, and frequently bursts into song using brief themes.
The four movements strongly contrast mood and method, yet the piece is tightly integrated, as if each segment had taken its text from elements of the opening one. The bold first movement gave rhythmic roles to each of the instrumentalists in music that offered rich sound. The second, lightly scored, was a mocking dance full of witty turns. The slow movement celebrated songfulness, ending with all the instruments playing harmonics. The Viennese swoops in the finale may have been a bow to the birthplace of the quartet form, but its distinctive voice and vigor was Maneval’s.
The music’s energy and expressive force earned an ovation from the near-capacity crowd."-Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer"It was a delight Friday night to hear another side of Maneval’s talents - that of a composer of a very appealing string quartet. Cast in four neo-classical movements, Maneval’s Second Quartet opens with a tautly contrapuntal first movement that balances the staccato with the legato in its two contrasting thematic sections in a most engaging fashion. The second movement, marked Intermezzo: Allegretto, struck me as the finest movement of the entire score.
Its music is delightfully eccentric and catchy, with a more sustained middle section adding flavor to the quickly paced main body of the movement. The third movement is marked Larghetto e cantabile and features thickly voiced harmonies and a brooding sense of emotion. The whole work is completed by a jazzily syncopated fourth movement marked Allegro assai that bounds along to its nifty climax with panache."-Michael Caruso, Chestnut Hill Local (NJ)
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