About Us
It’s obvious the title requires a plurality: “About Us” but let me first begin by talking about “me”. Always with this intense affinity for music and the beauty of communication through its medium, I knew from a very early age I wanted to be a pianist, and a composer. Fast forward a half century: composition studies with Joseph Schwantner at Eastman, and with Conrad Susa and Elie Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory and that love and passion persists unabated. The creative process has not been without its pitfalls. Ofttimes, the connection between creation and the disciplined ability to get the ideas on paper has handicapped much of what I have desired to accomplish. That along with a menacing “inner critic” has kept my own output restricted. Without a significant catalogue I would most likely not have self- published, considering the rather monumental work of crafting the tools to make it all available.
Fast forward to 2018 and a chance encounter with the work of Helen C. Crane. Just a fluke inquiry on IMSLP and subsequent research to learn more, led me into this amazing realm of Helen’s composer’s voice: music for the most part, heretofore unknown. Quiet, dormant, etched upon yellowed pages of manuscript, ensconced upon a library shelf, unpublished barely opened for whatever reason. Of one thing I am certain, having plied this trade for half a century: I do recognize true musical art when I encounter it: Here were pieces that contained those ingredients that I do believe are essential to an intrinsically artistic musical work…..communication, comprehensibility on many levels, so that the deeper you dig the more you discover, and memorability. Those are all attributes necessary to make a lasting impression on a listener and on the performer, to generate the required enthusiasm to make the music’s realization possible..
Here was artistic imaginative music, and a mass of it, seventy-three numbered works, some that are multi-pieces, some, whole symphonies. These I truly believe deserve to be published…to be disseminated to the world.
And that is where “Us” comes in. Once finished with a substantial portion of Helen’s music I will include a section of my own. So “we” are here together, two Cranes from opposite ends of the spectrum; the past and the present…. its kind of a sweet gift to me, myself, and I hope, to you.
Enter Grenier Hall Music Publishing, originally envisaged as a platform for my own self-publication but now with a much broader purpose. We are committed to the publication and availability of the music of Helen C. Crane. Enter in. Join us!
Bernard Crane
