Stefan Wolpe: Four Portraits of a Visionary

The works of this fascinating composer aren't heard as often as they should be here in town. Even so, Wolpe's polystylistic intelligence—which touched on everything from Second Viennese atonality to early American jazz—has affected the contemporary music world in subtle ways. After his escape from the Nazis, who had banned his music (just as they had with other composers of Jewish descent), Wolpe left a robust legacy in America, in part as a teacher. (His students included Gil Evans and David Tudor.) On Thu 23, our local Wolpe Society mounts the first program in a four-concert series. The Momenta Quartet will perform Wolpe's striking String Quartet; David Holzman will play the barrel-house chromaticism of the composer's Passacaglia for piano. Pieces by the composer's intimates, like Ralph Shapey, fill out the vital bill.