Marga Richter (1926-2020)
Marga Richter (1926-2020)
Marga Richter lived almost every day of her 93 years completely on her own terms, composing new works until the end and passed peacefully at home June 25, 2020.
Performed world-wide. Atlanta, Milwaukee Symphonies, Minnesota, London Philharmonic Orchestras, Dusseldorf Ensemble, Western Wind, Joffrey Ballet, Jessye Norman, Menahem Pressler, Walter Trampler.
Her music is dramatic, personal, emotionally charged chromaticism (not 12-tone) combined with strong tonal centers, modal orientation, strong rhythmic drive.
Marga Richter was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin and received her early musical training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School where she studied composition with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti and piano with Rosalyn Tureck.
While she was still at Juilliard, several of her compositions were presented at a Composer’s Forum in New York, and the critics found in them many of the qualities that were to characterize all of her subsequent work. The Times called them “restless, inventive, dissonant, clean and well-realized.” The Herald Tribune reported:
“Her most valuable natural attributes are an original sense of rhythm, a sense of drama in choice of materials and, above all, an ability to make her own forms grow from the very nature of her materials and ideas.”
Her music first came to national attention in the late 1950’s through a series of recording on MGM Records by Maro Ajemian, William Masselos, Menahem Pressler, Izler Solomon and Walter Trampler. Then, in 1964, the Harkness Ballet commissioned her to write the score for the ballet, Abyss, which was performed in most of the major cities of Europe and North and South America during the next few years. It has since been added to the repertoires of the Joffrey and Boston Ballet Companies. A second ballet commissioned by Harkness, Bird of Yearning, received its world premiere in Cologne in 1969.
Beginning in 1968 and continuing throughout the next decade she wrote a series of pieces called Landscapes of the Mind. The first is a large piano concerto, directly inspired by two paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and the instrumental music of India. Landscapes II is for violin and piano and Landscapes III is for piano trio. All of these pieces, as well as three others written during the same period (Blackberry Vines and Winter Fruit, Music for Three Quintets and Orchestra and Requiem) make use of the same or related thematic material and thus provide a ten-year continuity of musical thought.
Since 1975 her music appeared with increasing frequency on orchestral and recital programs. Among the orchestras which have played her works are the Minnesota Orchestra, The Milwaukee Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Gallery orchestra and the Oklahoma, Tucson, Oakland, Madison and Maracaibo Symphonies. Soloists who have performed her music include Jessye Norman, Daniel Heifetz, William Masselos, Karen Phillips, Peter Basquin, Vivian Taylor and Leonard Raver.
Ms. Richter received grants, awards and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the National Federation of Music Clubs, Meet-the-Composer and ASCAP. As a pianist, she frequently performed her own compositions with orchestras and on recital programs.
A biography by Sharon Mirchandani is published through University of Illinois Press and available on Amazon.
Tenor Will George wrote a lovely remembrance, which includes many links to her music.
A rare archival video interview with hosted by Judith St. Croix features An Exploration of the Creative Mind
A brief interview with Marga by filmmaker Leslie Streit for the documentary An American Ballet Story
A Personal Tribute by friend and colleague, composer Rain Worthington on PARMA Recordings Blog
New York Times obituary
Washington Post obituary
Shrewsbury: Summer of 2011
Year: 2011
Duration (in minutes): 13'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Suite for Piano
Divers (Diverse) Divertimento
Year: 2005
Duration (in minutes): 20'39;
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, any string, any woodwind, English horn, flute, guitar, horn, oboe
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Comprised of 16 movements.
Sarah Do Not Mourn Me Dead
Year: 1995
Duration (in minutes): 7'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text by Major Sullivan Ballou (American Civil War letter). Tape avail.
Elegy
Year: 1994
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, any woodwind, cello, flute, guitar, piano, violin
Description: Trio-cadenza from Triple Concerto "...beside the still waters." Original melody added to Bach's Prelude No. 1, WTC, transposed to Db minor/major. SHREWSBURY PRESS
Quantum Quirks Of A Quick Quaint Quark No. 3
Year: 1993
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: (also versions for organ and for orchestra) amusing, pianistic, accessible. Quotes from Anthony Soler. Mod dif. Tape avail, Richter perf.
Prelude For Piano (In Memoriam)
Year: 1992
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Original melody added to Bach's Prelude No. 1, WTC, transposed to Db minor/major. Tape avail Richter perf.
Quantum Quirks Of A Quick Quaint Quark No. 2
Year: 1992
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: organ
Publisher: Vivace Press
Description: premiered by Amer. Guild of Organists, Atlanta, 1992, Barbara Harbach; Recorded Harbach, Gasparo GSCD 294. "What a witty and interesting piece! I loved performing it. The response to the piece has been wonderful." harbach. Tape avail.
Into My Heart (In Memoriam: Alan Skelly)
Year: 1990
Duration (in minutes): 18'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Description: chamber ensemble (ob, 2 tpt, hn, bar, tu, timp, perc, vn or pn 4-hands. Suitable high school, college or proessional chorus; 7 poems by Whitman, Frost, Housman, Martin, Schurr, Skelly; Premiered Atlanta, GA, 5/91, State Univ Georgia. Tape avail. SHEWSBURY PRESS
Obsessions
Year: 1986
Duration (in minutes): 7'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo brass instrument, solo instrument other than piano, solo woodwind instrument
Instruments: any brass, any woodwind, bassoon, trombone
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Sieben Lieder
Year: 1985
Duration (in minutes): 22'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: 7 German poems by Francisco Tanzer; emotionally charged, highly personal poetry. Tape avail.
Seacliff Variations
Year: 1984
Duration (in minutes): 18'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument quartet, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, cello, piano, viola, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: commissioned/prem/recorded by Sea Cliff Chamber Players. Musical Heritage Soc 512563L CD. "The writing is extraordinarily powerful, building an emotional tension right from the opening notes...You listen to this music with your soul. S. Rosehaus, Musical Heritage. Tape avail.
Lament For Art O'leary
Year: 1984
Duration (in minutes): O'39;leary
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: narrative poem by Eileen O'Leary (the widow of Art O'Leary), 1773, about the death of a leading Irish patriot.
Dusseldorf Concerto
Year: 1982
Duration (in minutes): 20'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: concerto for solo fl, solo va, solo hp. Commissioned/Premiered Dusseldorf Ensemble, Salzburg, Austria, 1982. American Premiered NH Music Festival, T. Nee, cond, 1987. Uses Beethoven, Brahms, American Hymn as source material. "...A skilful handling of means that resulted in a completely finished work,...in no sense a pastiche...the endeavor of a composer to contend with." Pinto, The Montclarion, Oakland, CA. Tape avail.
Three Songs On Poems Of Emily Dickinson
Year: 1982
Duration (in minutes): 7'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Sonora
Year: 1981
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any woodwind, clarinet, piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: commissioned/prem/recorded The Drucker Trio, Leonarda LPI 122LP. Inspired by the Sonora Desert Landscape. Mod dif. "...exploits the sonority possibilities in unexpected and interesting ways." R. Croan, Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "...a dark but not somber piece...piquant...a very fine and lovely piece." DPS, American Record Guide. Tape avail.
Do Not Press My Hands
Year: 1981
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Description: text Gabriela Mistral; Premiered Western Wind, NYC. Tape available. Shrewsbury Press
Exequy
Year: 1980
Duration (in minutes): 2'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: mod. dif., highly emotional. Rec Nanette Kaplan Solomon, Leonarda LE 331 CD. Tape avail Richter perf.
To Whom?
Year: 1980
Duration (in minutes): 6'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text Virginia Wolff; commissioned/Premiered New Calliope Singers, Tully Hall, NYC. Tape avail.
Landscapes Of The Mind Iii
Year: 1979
Duration (in minutes): 25'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, piano trio (vln, vc, pno), small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, cello, piano, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: commissioned/Premiered National Fed. Music Clubs; inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. "...a haunting trio...a humdinger piece, lyrical and nostalgic but up to the minute in style." H. Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle. Tape avail.
Remembrances
Year: 1977
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Description: tape avail Richter perf; has a romantic essence, suitable advanced students to concert artists. ELKAN VOGEL"
Darkening Of The Light
Year: 1976
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano, solo string instrument
Instruments: cello
Description: Nine short interconnected pieces. Strong melodic and rhythmic motifs. Moderate to difficult. Tape avail. Fischer Facsimile Edition (FE 136). FISCHER FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 186)
Pastorale
Year: 1975
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, woodwind ensemble
Instruments: any woodwind, oboe
One For Two And Two For Three
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: brass ensemble, brass trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, trombone
Description: FISCHER FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 208
Short Prelude In Baroque Style
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 2'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: intermediate.
Landscapes Of The Mind I
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 29'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: perc, cel, hp, pn, elec guit, elec bass, elec. tamboura or sitar (or synthesizer or orch pn), strs, orch pn Premiered W. Masselos, pn, Tucson Symph, 1976; N. Hinderas, pn, Atlanta Symph, L. Lane, cond, 1986; inspired by G. O'Keeffe paintings and Indian Ragas. "...the piece challenges, compels, soothes, stimulates, and ultimately enthralls." D. Henry, Atlanta Constitution/Journal. "...undeniable triumph...It seems like a succession of craggy, smoldering mental images malignantly parading past like figures on a Hellenic frieze." L. Cheek, Tucson Daily Citizen. Tape avail.
Variations On A Theme By Neithart Von Reuenthal
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 13'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: organ
Description: The work grew into a rich development of sounds that made splendid use of the organ's tonal potentials. Byron Belt, Newhouse Newspapers (1976). FISCHER FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 84)
Landscapes Of The Mind Ii
Year: 1971
Duration (in minutes): 17'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, solo instrument with piano, solo string with piano
Instruments: any string, piano, violin
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: Commissioned by Daniel Heifetz. NY Premiered Alice Tully Hall 4/77, D. Heifetz, vn, A. Epperson, pn. Rec D. Heifetz, vn, Michael Skelly, pn, Leonarda LPI 122 LP and reissued Leonarda LE 337 CD. Repertory list Rockefeller American Music Competition. 2nd piece in the Landscape series inspired by Georgie O'Keeffe paintings. ...one of the most attractive contemporary pieces I have heard in a long time." Harris Goldsmith, Musical America. "...a compelling mysterious, brooding piece well worth adding to the standard repertory." M. Acheson, Sounthampton Press. Tape avail.
Seek Him
Year: 1965
Duration (in minutes): 4'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text: Amos. Tape avail.
Soundings
Year: 1965
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: any string, harp, harpsichord
Description: Five short interconnected pieces embodying and leading up to a quote
Suite For Violin And Piano
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument with piano, solo string with piano
Instruments: piano, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Moderate difficulty. Tape avail.
Variations On A Theme By Latimer
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Difficult pianistic. Modal with some strange harmonies and wild dissonances. Tape avail.
Abyss
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 20'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: orchestra and chamber orchestra
Instruments: bassoon, harp, oboe, percussion, timpani, trombone, trumpet
Description: Commissioned by Harkness Ballet, Premiered Cannes, 1965. "...no doubt as to its success as a concert piece...entire work...clearly belongs in the standard orchestra repertoire." A. Wagner, Madison Capital Times. Tape avail. THEODORE PRESSER
Three Songs For Christmas
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Broude Brothers
Description: written for childrens chorus, suitable for women's chorus. Melodic, modal harmony. Tape avail.
Fragments
Year: 1963
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: rec Nanette Kaplan Solomon, Leonarda LE 331 CD. mod. dif. A set of five short interconnected pieces of varied moods. Tape avail, Marga Richter perf. FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 135)"
Psalm 91
Year: 1963
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Description: Tape avail. ELKAN VOGEL
Eight Pieces For Piano
Year: 1961
Duration (in minutes): 6'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: Advanced (in concept). Tape avail pub Fischer Facsimile Edition FE 135; tape avail. FACSIMILE EDITION
String Quartet No. 2
Year: 1958
Duration (in minutes): 16'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, string ensemble, string quartet
Instruments: any string, cello, viola, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: "...a work of stature and technical ability free of academic restraint." M. Acheson, Southhampton Press. "...an exceptionally personable work...The fugue, comprised of three contrasting subjects, is an orgy of contrapuntal playfulness." L. Sanders, The Soho News. Tape avail.
Ricarcare
Year: 1958
Duration (in minutes): 4'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: brass ensemble, brass quartet, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, horn, trombone, trumpet, tuba
Description: modal-sounding with polytonal climax. Intermediate level, suitable high school, college. Tape avail. Fischer Facsimile Edition (FE 209)
Melodrama
Year: 1958
Duration (in minutes): 16'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Originally a modern dance score. Light-hearted, pianistic, virtuosic but not extremely difficult. Tape avail.
Aria And Toccata
Year: 1957
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Description: Commissioned by MGM records for Walter Trampler. MGM E 3422. Tape avail.
Concerto For Piano And Violas, Cellos And Basses
Year: 1955
Duration (in minutes): 21'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Description: Commissioned by MGM records for W. Masselos. MGM 3547. Premiered 1957, Masselos, G. Millar, San Francisco.
Three Songs Of Madness And Death
Year: 1955
Duration (in minutes): 6'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text John Webster. Tape avail.
Sonata For Piano
Year: 1954
Duration (in minutes): 21'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
She At His Funeral
Year: 1954
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: poem by Thomas Hardy; Premiered Jessye Norman, London, England, 1978; tape avail.
Two Chinese Songs
Year: 1953
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Tape avail.
Into What Unknown Chamber
Year: 1950
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: 3 poems by Phyllis Roberts.
Transmutation
Year: 1949
Duration (in minutes): 11'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: 8 Chinese poems, trans H.H. Hart. Tape avail.
Sonata For Clarinet And Piano
Year: 1948
Duration (in minutes): 11'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, solo instrument with piano, solo woodwind with piano
Instruments: any woodwind, clarinet, piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: NY Premiered Composers Forum, 1951; Herbert Tichman, cl, Marga Richter, pn. "...restless, inventive, dissonant, clean and well-realized." NY Times. "...an original sense of rhythm,...drama in choice of materials...an ability to make her own forms grow by the very nature of her ideas." P. Glanville-Hicks. Tape avail.
Jabberwocky
Year: 1942
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: poem by Lewis Carroll. Musical setting reflects moods of poem. Tape avail.
Qhanri (Snow Mountain),
Duration (in minutes): 33'39;50'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: pn, vc - inspired by trip to Tibet, its landscapes and people. Premiered D. Wells, vc, M. Richter, pn,, 1991, Yellow Barn Music Fest., Putney, Vt. "...has the ability to touch very deep emotional and psychic areas within us and our audiences...a masterpiece." D. Wells. "Quanri contains music of quiet power,reaching an austere nobility at times." M. Anderson, Fanfare. Rec David Wells, vc, Marga Richter, pn, Leonarda LE 337 CD. "The jewel of this particular crown [Leonarda 337] is 'Quanri/Snow Mountain; Tibetan Variations' a startling ritual drama inspired by Richter's 1986 trip to Tibet. This 36-minute tour de force for cello and piano, employing 'chromatic alterations' of a Jokhang Temple chant, here receives a performance to cherish....With this recording, as with Leonarda's other CDs of Marga Richter's music, the label is doing something to remedy the concert scenes neglect of a powerful, original voice." Michael Redmond, Newark Star Ledger. Tape avail.
Vocal Music of Marga Richter, Vol. 2
Lament for Art O'Leary, Testament, Sieben Lieder. Performers include Sara Paar, Andrea Lodge, Melissa Maravell, Terry Keevil, William George & Corey Hamm.
Composers: Marga Richter
Product ID: DC2037
Landscapes of the Mind II and Sonora (vinyl)
1984 original LP vinyl record. Includes Marga Richter's Landscapes of the Mind II and Sonora. Marga Richter (Composer), Don Freund (Composer), Thomas Christian David (Composer), Daniel Heifetz (Performer), Michael Skelly (Performer), The Drucker Trio (Performer), The Verdehr Trio (Performer)
Composers: Marga Richter, and others
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LP1 122
Playing on the Edge
PLAYING ON THE EDGE brings inspiration and experience from all walks of life into one string quartet collection, which Includes music by NYWC composers: Jennifer Castellano Images by Paul Klee, and Marga Richter String Quartet No. 3.
(Also available on Spotify & AppleMusic.)
Composers: Marga Richter, Jennifer Castellano, & others
Label: Navona Records, LLC
Product ID: NV6249
Buy URL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VFQNWPJ
Buy URL 2: https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2291487
Set No Limits
The works for clarinet/piano duo on this recording were composed by five distinguished women working in the United States. The five pieces were chosen because each conveys something intimate and important to the performers, Jessica Lindsey, clarinet and Christian Bohnenstengel, piano.
Composers: Marga Richter, Katherine Hoover, Ruth Schonthal, & others
Label: Albany Records
Product ID: B07896QSF8
Vanguards Volume 2
Marga Richter's "Out of Shadows and Solitude", (from her Ravello CD "Poetic Images Beyond Poetry" Selected Works for Orchestra)
Mary Ann Joyce-Walter’s "Cantata for the Children of Terezin", (from her Ravello CD "Cantata for the Children of Terezin”)
Composers: Marga Richter, Mary Ann Joyce-Walter
Label: Ravello Records
Product ID: RR7902
Buy URL 2: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vanguards2/id949590125
Dew-drops On A Lotus Leaf
The first recording devoted to Marga Richter's vocal music. Performed by William George, tenor, and Andrea Lodge, pianist.
Composers: Marga Richter
Buy URL: https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/dew-drops-on-a-lotus-leaf
Buy URL 2: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/williamgeorgetenorandrea
Riders To The Sea
Riders to the Sea, a chamber opera in one act, and Kyrie for string quartet and double bass.
Composers: Marga Richter
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE358
Buy URL: http://www.leonarda.com/le358.html
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=757472
Poetic Images Beyond Poetry
Includes orchestral worksSpectral Chimes/Enshrouded Hills, Quantum Quirks of a Quick Quaint Quark, and Out of Shadows and Solitude, conducted by Gerard Schwarz, with the Czech Radio Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony.
Composers: Marga Richter
Label: Ravello Records
Product ID: RAV7867
Buy URL: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=859450
Orchestral Excursions
Variations and Interludes on Themes from Monteverdi and Bach, a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano. The Polish Radio National Symphony; Joel Suben, conductor; Renata Knific, violin; Pamela Frame, cello; Robert Weirich, piano.
Composers: Marga Richter, Howard Harris.
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE351
Buy URL: http://www.leonarda.com/le351.html
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=92972
Snow Mountain: A Spiritual Trilogy
Music for cello and piano, violin and piano, and solo piano. Qhanri (snow mountain)
Tibetan Variations for Cello and Piano, Requiem, Landscapes of the Mind II. David Wells, cello; Marga Richter, piano; Daniel Heifetz, violin; Michael Skelly, piano.
Composers: Marga Richter
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE337
Buy URL: http://www.leonarda.com/le337.html
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=64616
Journeys, Orchestral Works by American Women
Includes Lament for string orchestra by Marga Richter; and Summer Night by Katherine Hoover.
Composers: Marga Richter, Katherine Hoover, others.
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE327
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=50053
London Philharmonic Celebrates American Composers
Includes Blackberry Vines and Winter Fruit for string orchestra, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Composers: Marga Richter, and others.
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE331
Buy URL: http://www.leonarda.com/le331.html
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=50218
Shrewsbury: Summer of 2011
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Performed by Marga Richter, November 20, 2011, at a Long Island Composers Alliance (LICA) concert.
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ocf3N6eu-I
Divers (Diverse) Divertimento
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Comprised of 16 Movements. Performed by the Erato Ensemble (Jeff Pelletier, flute; Lauris Davis, oboe/english horn; Adrian Verdejo, guitar)
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq5_sytRavw
Summer Reverie on a Mountainside for Clarinet Duo
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Performed by Guido Arbonelli & Natalia Benedetti of The Namaste Ensemble from Perugia, Italy for the Long Island Composers Alliance.
Video URL: https://youtu.be/YONh8F4rsYI
Aria & Toccata for Viola and String Orchestra
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Marga Richter composed Aria & Toccata for Viola and String Orchestra for Walter Trampler at the request of MGM Records in the fall months of 1956. The work exists in an alternate version for viola and piano and it is in this form that it has been played most widely by Mr. Trampler since its successful recital introduction at the Library of Congress.
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6ztjNVG_Q
Performed world-wide. Atlanta, Milwaukee Symphonies, Minnesota, London Philharmonic Orchestras, Dusseldorf Ensemble, Western Wind, Joffrey Ballet, Jessye Norman, Menahem Pressler, Walter Trampler.
Her music is dramatic, personal, emotionally charged chromaticism (not 12-tone) combined with strong tonal centers, modal orientation, strong rhythmic drive.
Marga Richter was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin and received her early musical training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Juilliard School where she studied composition with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti and piano with Rosalyn Tureck.
While she was still at Juilliard, several of her compositions were presented at a Composer's Forum in New York, and the critics found in them many of the qualities that were to characterize all of her subsequent work. The Times called them "restless, inventive, dissonant, clean and well-realized." The Herald Tribune reported:
"Her most valuable natural attributes are an original sense of rhythm, a sense of drama in choice of materials and, above all, an ability to make her own forms grow from the very nature of her materials and ideas."
Her music first came to national attention in the late 1950's through a series of recording on MGM Records by Maro Ajemian, William Masselos, Menahem Pressler, Izler Solomon and Walter Trampler. Then, in 1964, the Harkness Ballet commissioned her to write the score for the ballet, Abyss, which was performed in most of the major cities of Europe and North and South America during the next few years. It has since been added to the repertoires of the Joffrey and Boston Ballet Companies. A second ballet commissioned by Harkness, Bird of Yearning, received its world premiere in Cologne in 1969.
Beginning in 1968 and continuing throughout the next decade she wrote a series of pieces called Landscapes of the Mind. The first is a large piano concerto, directly inspired by two paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe and the instrumental music of India. Landscapes II is for violin and piano and Landscapes III is for piano trio. All of these pieces, as well as three others written during the same period (Blackberry Vines and Winter Fruit, Music for Three Quintets and Orchestra and Requiem) make use of the same or related thematic material and thus provide a ten-year continuity of musical thought.
Since 1975 her music appeared with increasing frequency on orchestral and recital programs. Among the orchestras which have played her works are the Minnesota Orchestra, The Milwaukee Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Gallery orchestra and the Oklahoma, Tucson, Oakland, Madison and Maracaibo Symphonies. Soloists who have performed her music include Jessye Norman, Daniel Heifetz, William Masselos, Karen Phillips, Peter Basquin, Vivian Taylor and Leonard Raver.
Ms. Richter received grants, awards and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the National Federation of Music Clubs, Meet-the-Composer and ASCAP. As a pianist, she frequently performed her own compositions with orchestras and on recital programs.
A biography by Sharon Mirchandani is published through University of Illinois Press and available on Amazon.
Tenor Will George wrote a lovely remembrance, which includes many links to her music.
A rare archival video interview with hosted by Judith St. Croix features An Exploration of the Creative Mind
A brief interview with Marga by filmmaker Leslie Streit for the documentary An American Ballet Story
A Personal Tribute by friend and colleague, composer Rain Worthington on PARMA Recordings Blog
New York Times obituary
Washington Post obituary
Shrewsbury: Summer of 2011
Year: 2011
Duration (in minutes): 13'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Suite for Piano
Divers (Diverse) Divertimento
Year: 2005
Duration (in minutes): 20'39;
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, any string, any woodwind, English horn, flute, guitar, horn, oboe
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Comprised of 16 movements.
Sarah Do Not Mourn Me Dead
Year: 1995
Duration (in minutes): 7'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text by Major Sullivan Ballou (American Civil War letter). Tape avail.
Elegy
Year: 1994
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, any woodwind, cello, flute, guitar, piano, violin
Description: Trio-cadenza from Triple Concerto "...beside the still waters." Original melody added to Bach's Prelude No. 1, WTC, transposed to Db minor/major. SHREWSBURY PRESS
Quantum Quirks Of A Quick Quaint Quark No. 3
Year: 1993
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: (also versions for organ and for orchestra) amusing, pianistic, accessible. Quotes from Anthony Soler. Mod dif. Tape avail, Richter perf.
Prelude For Piano (In Memoriam)
Year: 1992
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Original melody added to Bach's Prelude No. 1, WTC, transposed to Db minor/major. Tape avail Richter perf.
Quantum Quirks Of A Quick Quaint Quark No. 2
Year: 1992
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: organ
Publisher: Vivace Press
Description: premiered by Amer. Guild of Organists, Atlanta, 1992, Barbara Harbach; Recorded Harbach, Gasparo GSCD 294. "What a witty and interesting piece! I loved performing it. The response to the piece has been wonderful." harbach. Tape avail.
Into My Heart (In Memoriam: Alan Skelly)
Year: 1990
Duration (in minutes): 18'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Description: chamber ensemble (ob, 2 tpt, hn, bar, tu, timp, perc, vn or pn 4-hands. Suitable high school, college or proessional chorus; 7 poems by Whitman, Frost, Housman, Martin, Schurr, Skelly; Premiered Atlanta, GA, 5/91, State Univ Georgia. Tape avail. SHEWSBURY PRESS
Obsessions
Year: 1986
Duration (in minutes): 7'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo brass instrument, solo instrument other than piano, solo woodwind instrument
Instruments: any brass, any woodwind, bassoon, trombone
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Sieben Lieder
Year: 1985
Duration (in minutes): 22'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: 7 German poems by Francisco Tanzer; emotionally charged, highly personal poetry. Tape avail.
Seacliff Variations
Year: 1984
Duration (in minutes): 18'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument quartet, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, cello, piano, viola, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: commissioned/prem/recorded by Sea Cliff Chamber Players. Musical Heritage Soc 512563L CD. "The writing is extraordinarily powerful, building an emotional tension right from the opening notes...You listen to this music with your soul. S. Rosehaus, Musical Heritage. Tape avail.
Lament For Art O'leary
Year: 1984
Duration (in minutes): O'39;leary
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: narrative poem by Eileen O'Leary (the widow of Art O'Leary), 1773, about the death of a leading Irish patriot.
Dusseldorf Concerto
Year: 1982
Duration (in minutes): 20'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: concerto for solo fl, solo va, solo hp. Commissioned/Premiered Dusseldorf Ensemble, Salzburg, Austria, 1982. American Premiered NH Music Festival, T. Nee, cond, 1987. Uses Beethoven, Brahms, American Hymn as source material. "...A skilful handling of means that resulted in a completely finished work,...in no sense a pastiche...the endeavor of a composer to contend with." Pinto, The Montclarion, Oakland, CA. Tape avail.
Three Songs On Poems Of Emily Dickinson
Year: 1982
Duration (in minutes): 7'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Sonora
Year: 1981
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any woodwind, clarinet, piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: commissioned/prem/recorded The Drucker Trio, Leonarda LPI 122LP. Inspired by the Sonora Desert Landscape. Mod dif. "...exploits the sonority possibilities in unexpected and interesting ways." R. Croan, Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "...a dark but not somber piece...piquant...a very fine and lovely piece." DPS, American Record Guide. Tape avail.
Do Not Press My Hands
Year: 1981
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Description: text Gabriela Mistral; Premiered Western Wind, NYC. Tape available. Shrewsbury Press
Exequy
Year: 1980
Duration (in minutes): 2'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: mod. dif., highly emotional. Rec Nanette Kaplan Solomon, Leonarda LE 331 CD. Tape avail Richter perf.
To Whom?
Year: 1980
Duration (in minutes): 6'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text Virginia Wolff; commissioned/Premiered New Calliope Singers, Tully Hall, NYC. Tape avail.
Landscapes Of The Mind Iii
Year: 1979
Duration (in minutes): 25'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, piano trio (vln, vc, pno), small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, cello, piano, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: commissioned/Premiered National Fed. Music Clubs; inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. "...a haunting trio...a humdinger piece, lyrical and nostalgic but up to the minute in style." H. Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle. Tape avail.
Remembrances
Year: 1977
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Description: tape avail Richter perf; has a romantic essence, suitable advanced students to concert artists. ELKAN VOGEL"
Darkening Of The Light
Year: 1976
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano, solo string instrument
Instruments: cello
Description: Nine short interconnected pieces. Strong melodic and rhythmic motifs. Moderate to difficult. Tape avail. Fischer Facsimile Edition (FE 136). FISCHER FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 186)
Pastorale
Year: 1975
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, woodwind ensemble
Instruments: any woodwind, oboe
One For Two And Two For Three
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: brass ensemble, brass trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, trombone
Description: FISCHER FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 208
Short Prelude In Baroque Style
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 2'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: intermediate.
Landscapes Of The Mind I
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 29'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: perc, cel, hp, pn, elec guit, elec bass, elec. tamboura or sitar (or synthesizer or orch pn), strs, orch pn Premiered W. Masselos, pn, Tucson Symph, 1976; N. Hinderas, pn, Atlanta Symph, L. Lane, cond, 1986; inspired by G. O'Keeffe paintings and Indian Ragas. "...the piece challenges, compels, soothes, stimulates, and ultimately enthralls." D. Henry, Atlanta Constitution/Journal. "...undeniable triumph...It seems like a succession of craggy, smoldering mental images malignantly parading past like figures on a Hellenic frieze." L. Cheek, Tucson Daily Citizen. Tape avail.
Variations On A Theme By Neithart Von Reuenthal
Year: 1974
Duration (in minutes): 13'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: organ
Description: The work grew into a rich development of sounds that made splendid use of the organ's tonal potentials. Byron Belt, Newhouse Newspapers (1976). FISCHER FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 84)
Landscapes Of The Mind Ii
Year: 1971
Duration (in minutes): 17'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, solo instrument with piano, solo string with piano
Instruments: any string, piano, violin
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: Commissioned by Daniel Heifetz. NY Premiered Alice Tully Hall 4/77, D. Heifetz, vn, A. Epperson, pn. Rec D. Heifetz, vn, Michael Skelly, pn, Leonarda LPI 122 LP and reissued Leonarda LE 337 CD. Repertory list Rockefeller American Music Competition. 2nd piece in the Landscape series inspired by Georgie O'Keeffe paintings. ...one of the most attractive contemporary pieces I have heard in a long time." Harris Goldsmith, Musical America. "...a compelling mysterious, brooding piece well worth adding to the standard repertory." M. Acheson, Sounthampton Press. Tape avail.
Seek Him
Year: 1965
Duration (in minutes): 4'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text: Amos. Tape avail.
Soundings
Year: 1965
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: any string, harp, harpsichord
Description: Five short interconnected pieces embodying and leading up to a quote
Suite For Violin And Piano
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument with piano, solo string with piano
Instruments: piano, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Moderate difficulty. Tape avail.
Variations On A Theme By Latimer
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 9'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Difficult pianistic. Modal with some strange harmonies and wild dissonances. Tape avail.
Abyss
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 20'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: orchestra and chamber orchestra
Instruments: bassoon, harp, oboe, percussion, timpani, trombone, trumpet
Description: Commissioned by Harkness Ballet, Premiered Cannes, 1965. "...no doubt as to its success as a concert piece...entire work...clearly belongs in the standard orchestra repertoire." A. Wagner, Madison Capital Times. Tape avail. THEODORE PRESSER
Three Songs For Christmas
Year: 1964
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Broude Brothers
Description: written for childrens chorus, suitable for women's chorus. Melodic, modal harmony. Tape avail.
Fragments
Year: 1963
Duration (in minutes): 5'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: rec Nanette Kaplan Solomon, Leonarda LE 331 CD. mod. dif. A set of five short interconnected pieces of varied moods. Tape avail, Marga Richter perf. FACSIMILE EDITION (FE 135)"
Psalm 91
Year: 1963
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;30'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Description: Tape avail. ELKAN VOGEL
Eight Pieces For Piano
Year: 1961
Duration (in minutes): 6'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Carl Fischer, Inc.
Description: Advanced (in concept). Tape avail pub Fischer Facsimile Edition FE 135; tape avail. FACSIMILE EDITION
String Quartet No. 2
Year: 1958
Duration (in minutes): 16'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, string ensemble, string quartet
Instruments: any string, cello, viola, violin
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: "...a work of stature and technical ability free of academic restraint." M. Acheson, Southhampton Press. "...an exceptionally personable work...The fugue, comprised of three contrasting subjects, is an orgy of contrapuntal playfulness." L. Sanders, The Soho News. Tape avail.
Ricarcare
Year: 1958
Duration (in minutes): 4'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: brass ensemble, brass quartet, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, horn, trombone, trumpet, tuba
Description: modal-sounding with polytonal climax. Intermediate level, suitable high school, college. Tape avail. Fischer Facsimile Edition (FE 209)
Melodrama
Year: 1958
Duration (in minutes): 16'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Originally a modern dance score. Light-hearted, pianistic, virtuosic but not extremely difficult. Tape avail.
Aria And Toccata
Year: 1957
Duration (in minutes): 10'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Description: Commissioned by MGM records for Walter Trampler. MGM E 3422. Tape avail.
Concerto For Piano And Violas, Cellos And Basses
Year: 1955
Duration (in minutes): 21'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: concertos
Description: Commissioned by MGM records for W. Masselos. MGM 3547. Premiered 1957, Masselos, G. Millar, San Francisco.
Three Songs Of Madness And Death
Year: 1955
Duration (in minutes): 6'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: text John Webster. Tape avail.
Sonata For Piano
Year: 1954
Duration (in minutes): 21'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: piano
She At His Funeral
Year: 1954
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: poem by Thomas Hardy; Premiered Jessye Norman, London, England, 1978; tape avail.
Two Chinese Songs
Year: 1953
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: Tape avail.
Into What Unknown Chamber
Year: 1950
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: 3 poems by Phyllis Roberts.
Transmutation
Year: 1949
Duration (in minutes): 11'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: 8 Chinese poems, trans H.H. Hart. Tape avail.
Sonata For Clarinet And Piano
Year: 1948
Duration (in minutes): 11'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, solo instrument with piano, solo woodwind with piano
Instruments: any woodwind, clarinet, piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: NY Premiered Composers Forum, 1951; Herbert Tichman, cl, Marga Richter, pn. "...restless, inventive, dissonant, clean and well-realized." NY Times. "...an original sense of rhythm,...drama in choice of materials...an ability to make her own forms grow by the very nature of her ideas." P. Glanville-Hicks. Tape avail.
Jabberwocky
Year: 1942
Duration (in minutes): 3'39;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: poem by Lewis Carroll. Musical setting reflects moods of poem. Tape avail.
Qhanri (Snow Mountain),
Duration (in minutes): 33'39;50'34;
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Publisher: Shrewsbury Press
Description: pn, vc - inspired by trip to Tibet, its landscapes and people. Premiered D. Wells, vc, M. Richter, pn,, 1991, Yellow Barn Music Fest., Putney, Vt. "...has the ability to touch very deep emotional and psychic areas within us and our audiences...a masterpiece." D. Wells. "Quanri contains music of quiet power,reaching an austere nobility at times." M. Anderson, Fanfare. Rec David Wells, vc, Marga Richter, pn, Leonarda LE 337 CD. "The jewel of this particular crown [Leonarda 337] is 'Quanri/Snow Mountain; Tibetan Variations' a startling ritual drama inspired by Richter's 1986 trip to Tibet. This 36-minute tour de force for cello and piano, employing 'chromatic alterations' of a Jokhang Temple chant, here receives a performance to cherish....With this recording, as with Leonarda's other CDs of Marga Richter's music, the label is doing something to remedy the concert scenes neglect of a powerful, original voice." Michael Redmond, Newark Star Ledger. Tape avail.
Vocal Music of Marga Richter, Vol. 2
Lament for Art O'Leary, Testament, Sieben Lieder. Performers include Sara Paar, Andrea Lodge, Melissa Maravell, Terry Keevil, William George & Corey Hamm.
Composers: Marga Richter
Product ID: DC2037
Landscapes of the Mind II and Sonora (vinyl)
1984 original LP vinyl record. Includes Marga Richter's Landscapes of the Mind II and Sonora. Marga Richter (Composer), Don Freund (Composer), Thomas Christian David (Composer), Daniel Heifetz (Performer), Michael Skelly (Performer), The Drucker Trio (Performer), The Verdehr Trio (Performer)
Composers: Marga Richter, and others
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LP1 122
Playing on the Edge
PLAYING ON THE EDGE brings inspiration and experience from all walks of life into one string quartet collection, which Includes music by NYWC composers: Jennifer Castellano Images by Paul Klee, and Marga Richter String Quartet No. 3.
(Also available on Spotify & AppleMusic.)
Composers: Marga Richter, Jennifer Castellano, & others
Label: Navona Records, LLC
Product ID: NV6249
Buy URL 2: https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2291487
Set No Limits
The works for clarinet/piano duo on this recording were composed by five distinguished women working in the United States. The five pieces were chosen because each conveys something intimate and important to the performers, Jessica Lindsey, clarinet and Christian Bohnenstengel, piano.
Composers: Marga Richter, Katherine Hoover, Ruth Schonthal, & others
Label: Albany Records
Product ID: B07896QSF8
Vanguards Volume 2
Marga Richter's "Out of Shadows and Solitude", (from her Ravello CD "Poetic Images Beyond Poetry" Selected Works for Orchestra)
Mary Ann Joyce-Walter’s "Cantata for the Children of Terezin", (from her Ravello CD "Cantata for the Children of Terezin”)
Composers: Marga Richter, Mary Ann Joyce-Walter
Label: Ravello Records
Product ID: RR7902
Buy URL 2: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vanguards2/id949590125
Dew-drops On A Lotus Leaf
The first recording devoted to Marga Richter's vocal music. Performed by William George, tenor, and Andrea Lodge, pianist.
Composers: Marga Richter
Buy URL 2: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/williamgeorgetenorandrea
Riders To The Sea
Riders to the Sea, a chamber opera in one act, and Kyrie for string quartet and double bass.
Composers: Marga Richter
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE358
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=757472
Poetic Images Beyond Poetry
Includes orchestral worksSpectral Chimes/Enshrouded Hills, Quantum Quirks of a Quick Quaint Quark, and Out of Shadows and Solitude, conducted by Gerard Schwarz, with the Czech Radio Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony.
Composers: Marga Richter
Label: Ravello Records
Product ID: RAV7867
Orchestral Excursions
Variations and Interludes on Themes from Monteverdi and Bach, a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano. The Polish Radio National Symphony; Joel Suben, conductor; Renata Knific, violin; Pamela Frame, cello; Robert Weirich, piano.
Composers: Marga Richter, Howard Harris.
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE351
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=92972
Snow Mountain: A Spiritual Trilogy
Music for cello and piano, violin and piano, and solo piano. Qhanri (snow mountain)
Tibetan Variations for Cello and Piano, Requiem, Landscapes of the Mind II. David Wells, cello; Marga Richter, piano; Daniel Heifetz, violin; Michael Skelly, piano.
Composers: Marga Richter
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE337
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=64616
Journeys, Orchestral Works by American Women
Includes Lament for string orchestra by Marga Richter; and Summer Night by Katherine Hoover.
Composers: Marga Richter, Katherine Hoover, others.
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE327
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=50053
London Philharmonic Celebrates American Composers
Includes Blackberry Vines and Winter Fruit for string orchestra, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Composers: Marga Richter, and others.
Label: Leonarda Productions, Inc.
Product ID: LE331
Buy URL 2: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=50218
Shrewsbury: Summer of 2011
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Performed by Marga Richter, November 20, 2011, at a Long Island Composers Alliance (LICA) concert.
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ocf3N6eu-I
Divers (Diverse) Divertimento
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Comprised of 16 Movements. Performed by the Erato Ensemble (Jeff Pelletier, flute; Lauris Davis, oboe/english horn; Adrian Verdejo, guitar)
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq5_sytRavw
Summer Reverie on a Mountainside for Clarinet Duo
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Performed by Guido Arbonelli & Natalia Benedetti of The Namaste Ensemble from Perugia, Italy for the Long Island Composers Alliance.
Video URL: https://youtu.be/YONh8F4rsYI
Aria & Toccata for Viola and String Orchestra
Composer: Marga Richter
Description: Marga Richter composed Aria & Toccata for Viola and String Orchestra for Walter Trampler at the request of MGM Records in the fall months of 1956. The work exists in an alternate version for viola and piano and it is in this form that it has been played most widely by Mr. Trampler since its successful recital introduction at the Library of Congress.
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6ztjNVG_Q