The Alec Wilder Project

The instrumental music of Alec Wilder has been deemed unclassifiable since he began writing it in the late 1930s. His unique and always interesting Octets began a musical odyssey that lasted until his death from lung cancer in 1980.

Born in 1907 to a wealthy Rochester family, Wilder grew up a musical dilettante, never really studying either musical instruments or composition. He picked up the banjo-as well as the piano (a very useful skill for someone interested in composition). Eventually, he sought out advice from composers and theorists teaching at the famed Eastman School of Music. While not an actual student at Eastman, Wilder spent a lot of time there and got to know many of the instrumental music students. While there he met and befriended John Barrows (horn), Mitchell Miller (oboe/English horn), James Caruana (who changed his name to Jimmy Carroll to avoid being teased about the rhyme with Marajuana), and many other musicians who went on to play leading roles in big bands, orchestras, commercial music, and the recording industry.

Wilder's early success came as a composer of 'pop' tunes. Some of his songs were made hits by Frank Sinatra and remain standards. Songs like I'll Be Around and Moon and Sand. The composition of the aforementioned Octets arose out of Wilder's friendship with oboist Mitch Miller. Miller's association with harpsichordist Yella Pessl finally led to Wilder, who turned some baroque harpsichord works into little jazzy numbers for her. Later, during an audition in a hung over state, Wilder was asked if he could write instrumental works-and thus the Octets were born.

These snappy little pieces, just the right length for one side of a 78rpm recording, featured the totally oddball ensemble of oboe, flute, bassoon, clarinet, bass clarinet, harpsichord, bass and drums. Solidifying their status as 'off the wall' were the titles Wilder gave to his works: Neurotic Goldfish, Dance Man Buys A Farm, Jack, This Is My Husband, and so many more.

The greatest turn in Wilder's career came when the young and upcoming Frank Sinatra heard airchecks of a few of Wilder's octets while relaxing between performances in New York City. He immediately perked up, asking who wrote the music he was hearing. Sinatra was so taken with the octets, he called Columbia Records and fairly insisted they issue an all instrumental, all Alec Wilder, long playing record. Columbia executives felt a sure fire 'bomb' being proposed by their hottest new star, so in order to keep Sinatra happy they agreed, but with on condition: that Sinatra conduct the ensemble. It was Sinatra's first and only performance with the baton. But it helped to bring Wilder's instrumental music to thousands of people who would otherwise not have gotten to hear it.

Jump ahead some fifteen years to the beginnings of the Rock and Roll revolution. The record companies, smelling millions of new dollars, began dropping their cultured song composers as fast as they could. Revenue for serious composers of song fell dramatically as new young musicians like Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley began to reap all the rewards. In that climate, Wilder began to heed the call of his instrumental friends and turn his talents toward instrumental works. Though he'd written some in his younger days, and of course the world famous Octets, the composition of serious works for winds and strings was a frightening new tact for the self doubting composer. But with the steadfast encouragement from his great friend, the French hornist John Barrows, Wilder wrote-and wrote, and wrote some more.

Due to the influence of one of his composition teachers in Rochester, Herbert Inch, Wilder had a great love of counterpoint, a technique he would use extensively in many of his instrumental works, including nearly all of the works on this disk. The six works heard here (most in their first recorded performance!), range in composition dates from 1947 (Clarinet Suite), to 1968 (Suite No. 2 for Tenor Sax and Strings).

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