# Ralph Shapey anyone?



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Anyone here explored his music? What are the major events and the high points?

(Started this thread after feeling (in my state of ignorance) that the 7th quartet is a sort of masterpiece!)


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

Hi Mandryka, 
I profoundly admire this maverick composer whom I have tried to collect as much as possible. However it is difficult to have access to his oeuvre.
Masterpieces are without a doubt:
-SQ nos 6 and 7
-Fromm Variations for piano
-Solo Partita for violin
I have a lot of other pieces from him but they are not as good. However I believe there is more outstanding stuff that we will never hear. I would love to hear his other quartets for example.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

The piano piece I’ve enjoyed the most is Wanda Maximilien’s 21 Variations - I need to give the Fromm Variations another go, I remember not much enjoying Robert Black’s playing, his sound.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

I agree his 6&7th SQs are masterpieces, where is the rest though?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

of Shapey's works - I'm only familiar with "Rituals for Orchestra" - composer conducting Chicago from '66....good piece, pretty wild....but I like it....[CSO archival set - <<CSO in 20th Century>>]


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Checking Discogs, I see that Shapey (1921-2002), a distinguished composition professor at the University of Chicago and a recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Award" Fellowship









is represented by about 25 discs, of which I have only a few. But one of those, CRI CD 690,









presents a good introduction to his work and includes _Rituals For Symphony Orchestra_ (1959) and the poignant _Covenant For Soprano, Sixteen Players And Two Pre-Recorded Tapes_ (1977), which is a piece I might recommend to introduce the composer to an audience.

My most recent addition of Shapey music to my collection is on a Capstone Records CD (CPS-8688)









and features five pieces for Percussion Quartet, each of which is interesting in its own ways. Along with works by Lou Harrison, Iannis Xenakis, and Frederic Rzewski -- all good company for composer Shapey -- and an improvisation by the performing Talujon Percussion Quartet, there is Shapey's 16 minute, four movement composition titled _Interchange_ (1996), which is worth the price of the album alone, I suggest.

In any case, it seems Ralph Shapey's centennial year passed by quite quietly, but I'm encouraged hearing the above posters' enthusiasm for Shapey's string quartets, none of which I am currently familiar with. But ... that will change.


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