Allen Krantz
Sunday Jamuary13, 3013
Settlement Music School 3pm
www.phillyguitar.org
ALLEN KRANTZ, a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory and Stanford University, has received acclaim as a composer, solo guitarist, and chamber musician. His performances throughout the United States have included appearances at Carnegie Hall, Saratoga Performing Arts Center and the Phillips Collection in Washington, with his diverse programs often featuring original compositions.
Recent premieres have included “Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra”; “Passacaglia” for trombone, guitar and piano, premiered by Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic; and “American Document” commissioned by the Martha Graham Dance Company and premiered at the Joyce Theater in NY. Other recent pieces are "Sacred Places" for solo guitar; "A Musical Walk", a children's piece commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra; a symphony entitled "In the Air", and "Under One Roof", a trio for trumpet violin and piano in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“An American Town” for string orchestra, commissioned by the Village Bach Festival in Michigan was also presented at the Moscow Autumn festival and in Australia. Jason Vieaux performed Krantz's guitar concerto, “Innocence and Experience”, at the Darwin International Guitar Festival in Australia and with Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia. “anyone lived in a pretty how town”, commissioned by Gretna Music, has been performed by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit in Saratoga and Philadelphia. Krantz's arrangement of Copland’s Appalachian Spring sketches were presented at the Library of Congress with the Martha Graham Company.
Allen Krantz is composer in residence for the Philadelphia based chamber ensemble, 1807 & Friends, which has premiered many of his works. Allen Krantz has received support from the American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance among others.
Krantz heads the guitar program of The New School Institute at Temple University. He also gives occasional courses on music history and is a lecturer for the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a core member of the Dolce Suono Ensemble, and performs in “Duo Paganini” and the “Florian Trio” with violinist Nancy Bean and cellist Lloyd Smith. Krantz’s compositions are published by the Theodore Presser Co. and Falls House Press His solo and chamber music arrangements for the guitar are published by International Music. Allen Krantz’s recordings for the DTR label include “Summer Music” , “The Romantic Guitar”, and “The Philadelphia Connection”. He has also recorded for Albany and Crystal Records labels.
Part1
David Cohen: I remember hearing your name in Philadelphia as a classical guitarist in my early days of studying the instrument. Are you originally from Philly?
Allen Krantz: I am from Connecticut and came to Philadelphia in1979.
David: When did you pick up guitar?
Allen: I played violin and piano when I was younger but it was in my teen years that I picked up the guitar. It was mostly blues, folk and jazz. I went through the whole progression. I started to get serious about classical guitar in my first year of college.
David: When you went to college that’s when you picked up classical guitar?
Allen: That’s when I officially took my first classical guitar lesson after trying to teach myself a little bit. There was very nice teacher at Washington University where I went so it was in my freshman year that I started doing it.
David: Did you enter school for composition?
Allen No, I went to Washington University promising my parents that I would get a basic liberal arts education. After one year I changed my major to music. After my second year even my teacher suggested I go to a conservatory, he felt I had out grown him. Washington University was a very interesting place. But he felt I had out grown him and it was very good of him to suggest I go to a conservatory. Then I went to San Francisco Conservatory where I was a guitar major. When I was there I got very interested in renaissance and baroque music. It was a hot bed of activity at Berkeley and Stanford. A lot of my best teachers at the conservatory were graduate students who came up from Stanford. So I got this idea that that’s were I should go so I went there to graduate school at Stanford and studied early music performance and received my Masters there. It’s funny at the at that point everybody urged me that the best guitar programs were in California.
David: That has changes a lot.
Allen: Of course, Julliard has a guitar program Curtis was the last and now has one. In those days there were still other programs - Mannes College had one for instance. At that time Christopher Parkening and Michael Lorimer were the two best know guitarists in America and I went to San Francisco to specifically study with Lorimer.
David: What about Parkening?
Allen: Well, he is a friend of mine. I was there when Parkening was becoming famous. I think his recordings were some of the most beautiful ever made on the guitar. He told me he played differently on recording than he played in concert. He understood how recording worked which Segovia never did. He played to himself in the studio, which Segovia never did. Segovia played the same way in concert and in the studio. The recordings of the 1970’s are gorgeous. The sheer passion of his playing and the colors that he gets has been rarely done so beautifully. I got to be friends with him and spent a lot of time hanging out with him and learned a lot just sitting next to him and listening to him play or he would listen to me and he would give me advice about colors. David: We’re talking days when people were selling out the big halls. Allen: Well you know the guitar was like tennis in the 1970’s. Classical guitar had a growth spurt. Up until then it was Segovia and a handful of other people. There were a lot of people of my age who grew up with the guitar and then naturally followed to classical guitar - in my case especially since I had a classical background. So it was almost a fad in the 1970’s
David: Do you think the popularity has diminished?
Allen: No, I think it’s taken its rightful place in the great scheme of things. I think it’s continued to grow. Yesterday I was adjudicating the Astral auditions. They had four guitarists audition and they were all outstanding. The level of guitar playing continues to grow as it does in other instruments in terms of technique prowess I think the guitar is much more established as part of the musical landscape.
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