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Fischer Duo at work

Norman Fischer, cello and Jeanne Kierman, piano

Celebrating their 26th anniversary during this season, the FISCHER DUO continues to explore the rich repertoire for cello and piano. The Washington Post has described the FISCHER DUO 's all-French programming as "intense and totally committed, with a solid understanding of the subtleties of the French style"; the New York Times has commented on "a real sense of dialogue in this duo's ensemble" as well as "a salon-like intimacy and warmth"; and the Boston Globe has heralded Norman Fischer's "boldly imaginative and technically assured skills" and Jeanne Kierman as "equally impressive." In addition to featuring works by the masters, the FISCHER DUO has become known for their thematic approach to programing, have performed neglected pieces by composers such as Franz Liszt, Victor Herbert, Nadia Boulanger and Feruccio Busoni, and have commissioned new works by American composers George Rochberg, Augusta Read Thomas, Robert Sirota, David Stock, Samuel Jones, and Richard Lavenda among others. Their CD of French masters on the Northeastern label (NR 238-CD) has received rave reviews. The members of Fischer Duo were selected as an Artistic Ambassadors for the United States Information Agency and toured South America in the Fall of 1996; in October of 1997, the Fischer Duo has been asked to tour in South Africa.


REPERTOIRE

Georges Auric

Imaginées II (1969)***

J.S. Bach

Viola da Gamba Sonatas; various transcriptions

Samuel Barber

Sonata, Op. 6 (1932)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Complete Sonatas and Variations

Arthur Berger

Duo (1951)

Ernest Bloch

"From a Jewish Life" (Prayer, Supplication, Song)

Luigi Boccherini

Sonatas

William Bolcom

Capriccio (1985); Sonata (1988)

Nadia Boulanger

Trois Pièces (1915)***

Johannes Brahms

Complete Sonatas

Benjamin Britten

Sonata in C (1963)

Max Bruch

Kol Nidrei; Adagio on Celtic Melodies

Ferruccio Busoni

Kultaselle; Serenade; Kleine Suite; Chromatic Fantasy and Fuge

Elliott Carter

Sonata (1948)

Pablo Casals

Song of the Birds

Gaspar Cassadò

Requiebros; Toccata (after Frescabaldi)

George Chadwick

Romanza

Carlos Chavez

Madrigal

Fréderic Chopin

Sonata in G Minor;Polonaise, Op. 3;Grand Duo

Paul Cooper

Elegies (1991)***

John Corigliano

Phantasmagoria (1993)

Henry Cowell

Sonata; Hymn and Fuging Tune #9

François Couperin

Pièces en Concert (edition by Norman Fischer)

Claude Debussy

Sonata (1915)***

Marcel Dupré

Sonata in A Major, Op. 60 (cello and organ)

Antonín Dvorak

Rondo; Waldesruhe

Manuel de Falla

Suite Popular Espanole; Ritual Fire Dance

Louise Farrenc

Sonata in B-Flat, Op. 46

Gabriel Fauré

Elegy; Sonata #2 in G Minor

Arthur Foote

Three Pieces (1882)

César Franck

Sonata in A Major

Gabriella Frank

Manhattan Serenades (1995)

François Francoeur

Sonata in A Major

George Gershwin

Promenade (transcription by Norman Fischer)**

Alberto Ginastera

Pampeana #2 (1951); Sonata (1979)

Victor Herbert

Suite Op. 3 (1883)

Paul Hindemith

Trauermusik

Jacques Ibert

Histoires

Samuel Jones

Sonata (1996)*

Jonathan Kramer

A Game (1992-3)**

Richard Lavenda

Memory's Motion (1990)*

Franz Liszt

Elegies IⅈRomance oubliée; La lugubre gondola; Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth

Witold Lutoslawski

Grave

Leos Janácek

Pohadka; Presto

Felix Mendelssohn

Sonata in D Major; Song without Words

Olivier Messiaen

"Louange á l'Éternité de Jésus"***

Ellsworth Milburn

Character Pieces (1980)

Paul Moravec

Walk Away Slowly (1989)

Wolfgang Mozart

Adagio

John Knowles Paine

Romance and Scherzo

Vincent Persichetti

Vocalise (1945)

Astor Piazzolla

Le Grand Tango (1982)

David Popper

Hungarian Rhapsody; various pieces

Francis Poulenc

Sonata (1948)***

Sergei Prokofiev

Sonata (1948)

Maurice Ravel

Don Quichotte Songs (Trans. Norman Fischer)***

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sonata in G Minor; Vocalize

George Rochberg

Ricordanza (1972)***; Sonata-Aria (1992)*

Camile Saint-Saëns

Allegro Appasionato; Swan; Sonata #2

Hermann Schroeder

Sonata for Cello and Organ

Franz Schubert

Sonata in A Minor "Arpeggione"

Robert Schumann

Adagio&Allegro; Pieces in Folk Style; Fantasy Pieces

Adrien-François Servais

Grand Fantasy on "Daughter of the Regiment"

Robert Sirota

Sonata (1988)* ; Fantasy (1975); Sonata (1968) Easter Canticles (1991)(cello and organ)

David Stock

Partners (1988)*

Richard Strauss

Sonata in F Major; Song transcriptions

Igor Stravinsky

Suite Italienne

Augusta Read Thomas

Chant (1991)*

Antonio Vivaldi

Complete Sonatas

George Walker

Sonata (1957)

Anton Webern

Complete Pieces

Richard Wernick

Sonata "Portraits of Antiquity" (1982)

Christian Wolff

Stardust Pieces (1983)*

Marilyn Ziffrin

Sono (1981)

* = a Fischer Duo commission

** = premiered by the Fischer Duo

*** = recorded by the Fischer Duo


DISCOGRAPHY

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