Paul Schoenfeld: Pining for Betsy (Country Fiddle Pieces, No. 2): Chamber Ensemble

Paul Schoenfield is best known as a pianist, and his performing credentials are certainly evident here in the highly idiomatic writing for all instruments. This 1980 piece for amplified Violin and Piano with optional Percussiondraws on the styles of Jazz, blues, and country diddling, blending them and surrounding them with Ivesian dissonances in the Piano. Schoenfield notates the freedoms of the popular style with scrupulous accuracy - occasionalmarkings include 'out of tune' and '1/6-tone flat'. Such rousing music is a sure indication that the accompanied violin genre is not losing its vitality in America. Any (or all!) of these Three Country Fiddle Pieces would make astunning encore.