Liana Alexandra
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Liana Alexandra (born Liana Moraru, 27 May 1947 – 10 January 2011) was a Romanian composer, pianist and music educator.
Contents
Biography
Alexandra was born in Bucharest, Romania. From 1965 to 1971, she studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory (now the National University of Music Bucharest) under Tudor Ciortea and Tiberiu Olah and took composition courses in 1974, 1978, 1980 and 1984 in Darmstadt, Germany.[1][2] She had a doctorate in musicology and taught composition, orchestration, and music analysis at the Conservatory from 1971 until her death in 2011. A prolific composer in the neoromantic style, Alexandra had over 100 of her works performed and published in Romania.[3] According to musicologist Octavian Cosma, she was "in her element with orchestral and chamber music, employing repetitive and evolving techniques, with melodic lines which suggest lyricism and meditation" and an instrumentation that used "a palette of delicate, pastel colours."[1] Alexandra married the Romanian cellist and composer Şerban Nichifor in 1978. They performed together as Duo Intermedia from 1990 and were co-directors of the Nuova Musica Consonante - Living Music Foundation Festival.[2][3]
Liana Alexandra died at her home in Bucharest of a cerebral hemorrage at the age of 63.[4] On 12 January 2011, two days after her death, the broadcast Univers muzical românesc on Radio România Muzical was dedicated to her.[5] In May of that year, Liana Alexandra: Marturii despre muzica ei (Liana Alexandra: Confessions about her Music) was published by Editura Stephanus in a bilingual Romanian and English edition. Edited by Şerban Nichifor, the book is an anthology of writings on Alexandra's music by composers, critics and musicologists including Viorel Cosma, Grete Tartler, Robert Voisey, and Jacques Leduc. Later that month, her 1987 opera În labirint (The Maze) was performed in her memory by the Banatul Philharmonic of Timișoara as the closing concert of the Timișoara International Music Festival (31 May 2011).[6][7]
Prizes and honors
Alexandra's compositions have won numerous prizes and honors, including:
- 1975, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1988 - Prize of the Union of Romanian Composers[2]
- 1979, 1980 - Gaudeamus Prize[2]
- 1980 - Prize of the Romanian Academy[2]
- 1993 - International Society for Contemporary Music Prize[2]
- 1997 - ACMEOR Prize of Israel[2]
Selected works
Symphonic, vocal-symphonic and concert music[8]
- Symphony I (1971)
- Cantata for women's choir and orchestra, verses by Lucian Blaga (1971)
- "Valences", symphonic movement (1973)
- Concerto for clarinet and orchestra (1974)
- Cantata II for soprano, baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra, verses by Lucian Blaga (1977)
- Cantata III "Country-land, country-idea" for women's chorus and orchestra, verses by Nichita Stanescu (1977)
- Symphony II "Hymns" (1978)
- Concerto for flute, viola and chamber orchestra (1980)
- Symphony V (1985-1986)
- Symphony VI (1988-1989)
- Symphonic poem "Jerusalem" (1990)
- Concerto for string orchestra (1991)
- Concerto for piano for four hands and orchestra (1993)
- Symphony VIII (1995-1996)
- Symphony IX, "Jerusalem" (1970)
- Concerto for saxophone and orchestra (1997)
- "Pastorale" for wind orchestra (1999)
- Concerto for organ and orchestra (2002). Premiered at the Mihail Jora Concert Hall, Bucharest, 13 November 2002, with Radio Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Cristian Brancusi and Ilse Maria Reich as organist.
- Computer music (2003) - Bassoon Quartet, Barcarola, Pastorale, Dancing Visions (12 variations), 1 CD
- Computer music (2004) - Rhythms (8 Studies), 1 CD
Opera
- The Snow Queen, children's opera after the story by Hans Christian Andersen (1978)
- În labirint, chamber opera (1987)
- Chant d'amour de la Dame à la Licorne, chamber opera set to verses by Etienne de Sadeleer (1995)
Chamber music
- Sonata for solo flute (1973)
- Music for clarinet, harp and percussion (1972)
- Lyric Sequence for clarinet, trumpet and piano (1974)
- Two sequences for soprano and chamber orchestra (1976)
- "Collages" for brass quintet (1977)
- "Incantations" II for violin, viola, cello and piano (1978)
- "Consonances" I for trombone quartet (1978)
- "Consonances" II for clarinet and piano (1979)
- "Consonances" III for solo organ (1979)
- "Consonances" V for solo organ (1980)
- "Images interrupted" for woodwind quintet (1983)
- "Cadenza" for violin (1983)
- "Pastorale" for bass clarinet and piano (1984)
- "Allegro veloce e caratteristico" for organ (1985)
- Sonata for six horns (1986)
- "Larghetto" for string chamber orchestra (1988)
- "Intersections" - sonata for horn and piano (1989)
- Music for Het Trio (1990)
- "A tre" for flute, clarinet, and bassoon (1991)
- "Cadenza" III for piano (1992)
- Sonata for piano (1993)
- "Fantasy" for cello and piano (1994)
- "Poem for Romania", "Poem for Madona from Neamt" for soprano and piano, texts by Eugen Van Itterbeek (1994)
- "Consonances" VI for recorder quartet (1997)
- "Five movements" for violoncello and piano (1997)
- "Consonances" VII for solo harp (1998)
- "Parallel musics" for saxophone, cello and piano (2001)
- "Incantations" III for cello and tape (2002)
Books
- Componistica muzicală: Un inefabil demers între fantezie şi rigoare (Musical composition: An ineffable act between fantasy and mathematical rigor). Editura Universității Naționale de Muzică, 2005
Discography
Alexandra was a member of the Vox Novus consortium. Several of her compositions for the consortium's 60x60 project appear on:
- 60x60 (2004–2005). Vox Novus VN-001
- 60x60 (2006–2007). Vox Novus VN-002[9]
Her 1981 choral work Soarele Si Luna appears on:
- Contemporary Music IV - music by Paul Constantinescu, Pascal Bentoiu, Liana Alexandra, Laurentiu Profeta, et al. Conducted by Marin Constantin, 1998, re-released 2005. Electrecord 260
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cosma, Octavian. "Alexandra, Liana (Moraru)".Grove Music Online. Retrieved 23 April 2013 (subscription required).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (2005). "Alexandra, Liana". Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Retrieved online via HighBeam Research 23 April 2013 (subscription required).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Realitatea Evreiasca (January 2011). "Liana Alexandra (Z.L.)", p. 20. Retrieved 24 April 2013 (Romanian).
- ↑ Bojin, Maria Monica (10 January 2011). "In memoriam Liana Alexandra". Radio România Muzical. Retrieved 24 April 2013 (Romanian).
- ↑ Banatul Philharmonic of Timișoara (May 2011). "În labirint, omagiu Lianei Alexandra". Retrieved 24 April 2013 (Romanian).
- ↑ Radio România (24 May 2011). "Volum de mărturii dedicat compozitoarei Liana Alexandra". Retrieved 24 April 2013 (Romanian).
- ↑ Lists of works sourced from Liana Alexandra on Vox Novus, New York. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ↑ Eddins, Stephen. Review: 60x60 2006–2007. AllMusic. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
Further reading
- Tartler, Grete (1984). Melopoetica. Editura Eminescu (Romanian)
External links
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- Nichifor, Şerban (ed.) (2011). Liana Alexandra: Marturii despre muzica ei (Liana Alexandra: Confessions about her Music). Editura Stephanus (bilingual version in Romanian and English on archive.org)
- Liana Alexandra's official YouTube channel
- Works by and about Liana Alexandra on WorldCat
- Pages containing links to subscription-only content
- Articles with Romanian-language external links
- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- 1947 births
- 2011 deaths
- 20th-century classical composers
- Romanian music educators
- Female classical composers
- Romanian classical composers
- People from Bucharest
- National University of Music Bucharest alumni
- National University of Music Bucharest faculty
- Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen