 |
William Kraft (b. 1923)
Encounters XIV: Concerto a Tre
It was, indeed, a challenge to integrate these three instruments, which have such contrasting idiomatic characteristics: the piano, essentially a pitched percussion instrument, though with strings which can actually be bowed using fish line, but not in this piece; the violin, essentially a sound sustaining instrument which can become percussive primarily by plucking the strings, i.e., pizzicato, but also through other means, but not in this piece; and then the percussion, an array of instruments known mostly as “percussive,” but some of which can be bowed.
This integration is what became fascinating in the composing of Concerto a Tre, and it seems that this fascination suffers by writing about it. As Samuel Beckett once put it, “only music can penetrate the veil of its own existence.”
So, if the reader will forgive me, I prefer he/she be just
a listener.
Encounters V: In the Morning of the Winter Sea
A
Homage to Scriabin
In the morning of the winter sea
our shape presents itself
the fruit of all storms
a fragile sound
in sand
Unseen the soul dance
returns to the sea
our lover restless
again
Orpheus carries us beyond our eyes
To see these storm gifts
The etching of the sea kiss
And
in warm tears
we become
more than they say we are
- Carl A. Faber
Carl Faber was a psychotherapist who helped me through a difficult period in my life as I was working on Encounters V. Encounters V was commissioned by the Ford Foundation and written for cellist Nathaniel Rosen. It was premiered in 1976 in Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center, New York) by Mr. Rosen, with the composer performing the percussion part. In the course of the piece, which probes the relationships of violoncello and percussion, specific references are made to Scriabin’s Ninth Sonata. As it progresses, the work incorporates more of Scriabin’s “mystic chord,” which was involved in the serial formulation of the composition.
Encounters IV: Duel for Trombone & Percussion
Encounters IV was commissioned by Karen and Thomas Ervin for an album of duos
which Karen recorded for Crystal Records. Mr. Ervin was her trombone protagonist, not only on the recording, but also at the world premiere, which took place at the University of Arizona in March of 1973.
Patterned after its predecessor Encounters III: Duel for Trumpet and Percussion, Encounters IV is based on medieval warfare. The first movement, Strategy (the manner in which one engages the enemy), is made of a series of attacks and counter-attacks, the trombone being the aggressor, the percussion responding from a fixed position – as did defenders in the middle ages. The opening has the trombone approaching and spelling out in Morse code an idea rather popular during the Second World War: “Make war to make peace” – while the defending percussionist strengthens his position with a growing ostinato. Then there are 12 attacks and counterattacks, which may be performed in different ways: 1) in order, 1 through 12; 2) in an order predetermined by the performers; 3) in random order, in which the percussionist must immediately recognize the attack and respond accordingly. In this latter case, provisions must be made for those interlocked attacks and counterattacks which are simultaneous.
The second movement is the most explicit commentary in the piece. It is titled Truce of God after a medieval convention supervised by the Pope, wherein fighting was suspended from Thursday sundown to Monday sunrise. The ineffectuality of this convention against man’s evidently stronger predilection for combat is represented by a variation which distorts the conductus Beata Viscera by the 13th century composer Perotin, accompanied by interspersed bell sounds of gongs, vibraphone and stainless steel bowls, along with various comments from the percussion. Added to this is an optional tape collage made up of World War I speeches, poems and songs as well as similar material from later periods, created at the composer’s direction by William Malloch from material Mr. Malloch had gathered and recorded.
The third movement Tactics (the way in which the battle is fought) is “all out war,” with the combatants locked in virtuosic battle, climaxing in the defeat and retreat of the trombone, who spells out “peace” as he departs.
Encounters XV For Guitar & Percussion
WORLD PREMIERE
Encounters IV Encounters XV was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation to complete the Encounters project of the Southwest Chamber Music. Encounters XV is dedicated to my dear friend Charlotte Hyde. Charlotte was born in Paris 2 years before the death of Debussy and shares my intense love of the music of both Debussy and Ravel. As a child her father made her aware of the richness of French culture in all its forms --- experiences which shaped her personality.
The strength of her personality is indicated by her becoming a member of the French Resistance during the World War II --- smuggling weapons and helping to hide those facing extermination by the Nazis. For this, Charlotte was awarded the National Order of Merit (L’Ordre du Merite
National) by the French government.
This dedication is but a small recompense for bringing an awareness of her life’s experience into my world --- and all without intention or pretension but only by my determined inquiry.
I have said, more or less facetiously, that each of the pieces in the Encounters series is fixed so that the percussion wins. In XII, for harp and percussion and now XV, considering the delicacy of the harp and the guitar that seems quite unfair. However since the guitar can be amplified it is therefore possible to create a state of equality.
During the composition of Soliloquy: Encounters I, I found that combining the interval of a 6th on the vibraphone with a Chinese Tam-tam (or “gong” as commonly used) simulates the sound of a large bell. Encounters XV carries this a bit further, incorporating 4 note combinations, 2 on the guitar and 2 on the vibraphone coupled with tuned Asian Gongs. This allows for the enhancement and enrichment of the expressive qualities of the bell sound.
The second section is an active duet built on a repetitive figure while the third section acts as an interlude. The fourth section requires some explanation: the percussionist plays on a chromatic set of Thai gongs. To blend with the diffused pitches of these gongs, the guitarist switches to a guitar that has small alligator clips attached to all strings; this causes a diffusion of the guitar pitches. The
percussionist moves to a collection of drums while the guitarist returns to the first unaltered guitar.
For this fifth section, the guitarist plays lyrically while the percussionist plays an extended solo, beginning very quietly, but then deciding to make a cadenza out of it, rather virtuosic, and, at times, reminiscent of the great drummers of my mid-teens, Chick Webb (his own band with the young vocalist Ella Fitzgerald), “Big Sid” Catlett (with Art Tatum), Jo Jones (with Basie), Gene Krupa (with Benny Goodman) and Buddy Rich (with Tommy Dorsey – but mostly in his own world).
Encounter XV was written particularly for John Schneider, guitar and Lynn Vartan, percussion.
-William Kraft
|
|
|
 |
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)
Tierkreis (The Zodiac)
“Music is more and more related to the most recent knowledge of Astronomy, in the state of Mathematics, of Biology, of Chemistry, Physics, where Nature is studied in a completely new way. And we discover new things every day, in particular in Astronomy.
Every musician should look at the new Hubble Telescope photos, which shows the most extraordinary photographs of the galaxies, star constellations and supernovas. This is the best dictionary for musicians to compose by. Because finally, what we do is organize sounds as we learn from nature and from the universe how elements are to be balanced and put into relationship, and how such systems might sound and function well. They have their own beauty and perfection and polyphony.
Music is very much oriented to represent, in musical compositions, translations of what we know and learn from the universe, from the macrocosm and microcosm.”
The Zodiac – 12 Melodies on the Constellations
The order of the 12 signs of the zodiac – from AQUARIUS to CAPRICORN – is identical to that of the months of the year. It is possible to begin with any sign of the zodiac and continue in the printed order. AQUARIUS then follows CAPRICORN.
Tempo Scale
56.5 – 71 – 75.5 – 80 – 85 – 90 (180) – 95 – 101 – 107 – 120 – 127 – 134
The connections and pauses between the signs of the zodiac must be rehearsed just as carefully as the music. They should be quite long and of different lengths.
Pitches may be omitted from chords if children, for instance, cannot reach them all. However, pitches may not be omitted from the melody.
The melodies may be transposed. If several or all melodies are to be played one after another, then all must be transposed by the same interval (for example, one octave lower).
The chordal instrument arrangement corresponds to the original composition for music boxes that appeared in MUSIK IM BAUCH (MUSIC IN THE BELLY). The 12 music boxes – one for each sign of the zodiac – were developed by the composer in collaboration with the Reuge Music Box Company, St. Croix, (Switzerland), from whom they can be ordered.
The ZODIAC for melody and/or chordal instrument can be played as a solo piece, by any melody or chordal instrument, and also performed as a duet by any two instruments. Versions for any kind of ensemble are possible. The most extensive “working-out” of the ZODIAC is the composition SIRIUS (1975-77).
- Karlheinz Stockhausen
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Octet in F Major, D.803
Schubert composed his Octet in F from February-March 1824 at the behest of Count Ferdinand Troyer, a clarinetist and member of the Archduke Ferdinand’s musical establishment. Troyer specified that Schubert write a companion piece for Beethoven’s Septet in Eb, Op. 20, a piece in six movements scored for violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn. Schubert responded by composing a piece nearly identical in structure and instrumentation, with the small addition of a second violin, making it an octet. The six movements of the Schubert closely parallel the six movements of the Beethoven, and the harmonic and formal innovations of the elder composer are readily apparent in Schubert’s music.
The first movement begins with a slow and contemplative introduction, leading to a bright, rollicking Allegro. The ascending theme in F-major – reminiscent of the “Mannheim Rocket” – is followed by a lovely interplay between the clarinet and first violin. The gaiety of the music soon gives way to a melancholy section in D minor, with the clarinet incessantly intoning a minor 6th. The remainder of the movement toggles between these two moods, ending with a strong and joyous restatement of the F-major “rocket” theme.
The second movement is Schubert the melodist at his best. It opens with a beautiful melody in the clarinet, which is soon joined by the first violin. This melody appears continuously throughout the movement, surrounded by various episodes of new material. A transcendent moment occurs towards the end of the movement, when the solo first violin, devoid of any harmonic accompaniment, states the opening melody pianissimo, soon joined in quasi-canon by the second violin, viola, and cello.
The third movement, marked “Allegro vivace,” is a quick and quirky scherzo in triple-time. The strong rhythmic momentum of the opening is undeniable, with an insistent dotted rhythm pushing the music forward. The trio section is lighter fare, giving a brief respite before the return of the opening Allegro.
The fourth movement, a theme and variations, is based on the duet “Gelagert unter’m hellen Dach der Bäume” from Schubert’s earlier opera Die Freunde von Salamanka. An interesting side-note is now warranted:
It is well known that Schubert was not in high spirits during the completion of his Octet. He contracted syphilis in 1822 and from then on experienced chronic fits of bad health until his death from the infection in 1828. In addition, his group of close friends disbanded around the same time. This all prompted Schubert to write to a friend, on March 31, 1824: “In a word, I feel myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who, in sheer despair over this, ever makes things worse and worse, instead of better; imagine a man, I say, whose most brilliant hopes have perished, to whom the felicity of love and friendship have nothing to offer but pain…Thus joyless and friendless I should pass my days...”
All three of Schubert’s chamber works from 1824 include quotations from past melodies; “rays of sunlight from past sweet days,” as Schubert called them in a letter to his friend Leopold Kupelweiser. One can assume that these self-quotations symbolize a longing in Schubert for the time in his life before his chronic illness and subsequent loneliness.
The fifth movement is a stately minuet, much more relaxed in mood than the scherzo of the third movement. The trio is in the style of an Austrian ländler, or peasant dance, and is as light and smooth as Viennese whipped cream.
The sixth and final movement begins with a slow and dramatic introduction, leading to a lighthearted Allegro. The music soon becomes a fast-paced rush to the finish line, with virtuosic passagework in the first violin. Schubert restates the dramatic opening of the movement one last time before bringing the work to its celebratory conclusion.
-Gregory Charette |
|
|
 |
Gabriela Ortiz (b.1964)
El Trompo
A child playing in the street takes his hand to his pocket, and from it brings out a little "trompo" (spinning top), with a string that carefully winds around the toy. With great force, he throws it to the air, and with a skillful motion of his arm, the "trompo" softly lands on the palm of his open hand and starts dancing on its own centre. As the toy spins, it seems that all perception of time disappears. This piece is also a game which is inspired on the toy here described: a playful and simple melodic line thrown to the air; it does not have beginning or end, and requires a great deal of dexterity and sense of lightness. The music spins, and the sense of time
is lost.
Another aspect, the piece is open to some musical influences that I always heard in an everyday context, such as Latin jazz, salsa, mambo etc., the piece however, does not pretend to emulate any specific musical genre. The tape part functions as a conditioned reflex generated by the vibraphone solo. It explores the colouristic spectrum of metal sounds. The audience will have to listen to the tape part as a sort of musical kaleidoscope in which different variations on harmonic sound images provided by the electronics should be perceived, as the solo part is inclined to explore diverse melodic capabilities of the vibraphone through expressive gestures of the soloist's performance. The tape part of El Trompo was composed at The City University's electronic studios; its main components are metallic sound sources transformed and electronically manipulated such as: gamelan sounds, diverse bell sounds, flute multiphonics, various metal objects, plus some other metal percussion instruments.
-Gabriela Ortiz
Joan Huang (b.1957)
The Legend of Chang-e
The Legend of Chang-e is based on an ancient Chinese story which tells about the goddess of the moon named Chang-e. She was the wife of the archer Hou Yi, who had received the elixir of immortality from Xi-wang-mu who was the “Queen Mother” and lived in the legendary Kunlun Mountains. When Hou Yi was away, his wife swallowed the elixir and became immortal. Then she flew to the moon, where she resided in a place called today the “Palace of the Far-reaching Cold.” Hou Yi tried to follow Chang-e, but he failed. Then he took residence in the sun. Until today, every family in China holds reunions on the night of Mid-autumn Festival each year, tasting moon cakes, watching the bright full moon and thinking of Chang-e.
In this duet, I try to translate the quality and the sense of Chinese music by applying great variety in articulation and dynamics, constant change of instrumental colors, diverse kinds of tone inflections, asymmetrical rhythmic patters and other imitations of characteristics of Chinese traditional music. In order to describe the dramatic features of the legend, my effort is to make two instruments cast two contrasting images, - the beautiful and delicate Chang-e (represented by the violin) and the heroic and robust Hou Yi (represented by the marimba). For example, a turmoil with clamorous sounds in section A are suddenly thrust into a peaceful pentatonic melody with an oriental atmosphere in section B. The harmonic language of the piece is based on the vertical collections of the horizontal pentatonic modes. Bi-modality between two instruments is used to create rich textures and complex sonorities. Therefore the simplicity of the horizontal lines contrasts with the complexity of the vertical combinations. The Legend of Chang-e won the first prize of The International Marimolin Composition Contest
in 1994.
-Joan Huang
Thea Musgrave (b.1928)
From Spring to Spring
These four short pieces are closely based on Journey through a Japanese Landscape, a concerto for marimba and wind orchestra.
As in the concerto, From Spring to Spring is based on a series of haiku which represent an emotional journey through the four seasons. Each season is announced by a “peal” on wind chimes – bamboo for spring, wood for summer, metal for autumn and glass for winter.
The Haiku chosen for each of the seasons provide a setting and an “event.” Thus the gently undulating spring sea is the background for the free improvisatory character of the skylark. The summer grasses (fast rhythmic figurations) have buried the glorious dreams of ancient warriors (a slow dotted march theme played in octaves). An autumnal fog envelopes a colossal Buddha (hovering tremolo chords) and a highquivering theme represents the lonely watcher. Finally in the frozen winter landscape the slow march reappears only to be buried in a big snow storm (a rushing passage from lowest to highest register). Out of the silence that follows, echoes of the first movement suggest the return of spring and so rebirth.
-Thea Musgrave
Lonely Suite (Ballet for a Lonely Violinist), OP.72
One of the most widely performed composers of the new generation, Lera Auerbach is the youngest author on the roster of Hamburg’s prestigious international music publishing company Hans Sikorski, home to Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Gubaidulina and Kancheli. A virtuoso performer, Lera Auerbach continues the great tradition of pianist-composers of the 19th and
20th centuries.
Auerbach's compositions have been commissioned and performed by a wide array of artists, orchestras, opera and ballet companies, including Gidon Kremer, the Kremerata Baltica, David Finckel, Wu Han, Vadim Gluzman, Tokyo String Quartet, Kuss String Quartet, Parker String Quartet, Petersen String Quartet, the SWR and NDR (Hannover) Symphony Orchestras, Düsseldorf Symphony, Royal Danish Ballet and Hamburg State Ballet and Vienna’s historic Theater and der Wien. Lera Auerbach’s music has also been commissioned and performed by leading festivals throughout the world including Verbier, Caramoor, Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein.
Lonely Suite is written for violin solo and was first performed in San Francisco in 2004. It has six movements: Dancing with oneself; Boredome; No Escape; Imaginary Dialogue; Worrisome Thought; and Question.
Photo credit: F. Reinhold
Gabriela Ortiz (b.1964)
Atlas Pumas
Atlas-Pumas was commissioned by The Music Department of The Mexican Institute of Fine Arts and is dedicated to Ricardo Gallardo and Aron Bitran. Two soccer teams (Guadalajara's Atlas and UNAM's Pumas), play against each other in this musical dialogue represented by the violin and the marimba. In the first half the two instruments confirm their spirit in a blunt and energetic manner; each one gives their all and neither yields. There are few soloing passages, and the integration of both instruments constructs a momentum of one continuous musical flow. At half time the pressure is imminent; timing is of an essence and it is not about strength but rather of agility and cunningness. Each second tells the dramatic pulse of the tension and distension, and the slow moments invite us to internal reflection. The second half resumes with the strength of the opening, and no instrument rises above the other. The players demonstrate their talent through the ability to stand out with their own part while playing in unison. Even though the musicians compete well in the game, the conclusion ends clear and definitively as a tie. Atlas-Pumas is dedicated to violinist Aron Bitran, an unconditional fan of Guadalajara's Atlas, and to percussionist Ricardo Gallardo, a fan of UNAM's Pumas.
-Gabriela Ortiz
|
|
|
 |
Charles Wuorinen (b.1938)
Eleven Short Pieces for Violin and Vibraphone and Ave Maria
Eleven Short Pieces for Violin and Vibraphone, written 25 July – 31 August 2006; commissioned by the New York Miniaturist Ensemble and premiered by Erik Carlson, violin and Michael Caterisano, vibraphone. The composition uses 101 notes.
The arrangement of Ave maria was made in 2007 for the reunion concerts of Tashi and is dedicated to Peter Serkin.
Iridule(West Coast Premiere)
Iridule is scored for oboe with six players (flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone and marimba, piano). The work is roughly 14 and ½ minutes and dedicated to Jacqueline Leclair and the New Millennium Ensemble. The title comes from Nabokov:
…and that rare phenomenon
The iridule—when, beautiful and strange,
In a bright sky above a mountain range
One opal cloudlet in an oval form
Reflects the rainbow of a thunderstorm
Which in a distant valley has been staged…
--Vladimir Nabokov (as John Shade?) in Pale Fire
Iridule was made possible with the support of the Argosy Foundation, the Evelyn Sharp Foundation, the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, the Amphion Foundation, and private individuals. Grateful acknowledgement is made to Marianne Gythfeldt for her role in coordinating the commission.
The Haroun Songbook (West Coast Premiere)
The Haroun Songbook is a collection of excerpts from my opera Haroun and the Sea of Stories, rearranged for four singers and piano part. This latter is neither mere accompaniment nor a simple reduction of the original orchestral score, but rather a newly conceived virtuoso solo part. The selections are arranged so as to make the Songbook a complete independent piece.
- Charles Wuorinen
In a make-believe world, based loosely on Bombay and Kashmir, the story of Haroun is a tale of a fight between the free imagination and the powers that oppose it. Haroun’s father, Rashid, the Shah of Blah, is a professional and gifted story-teller, a popular figure much in demand at public events. Feeling neglected, his wife is persuaded to leave him and run away with a neighbor. After this, Rashid loses confidence in his powers of story-telling, haunted by his son’s question: “What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” Rashid is due to speak at a political rally to be held by the sinister politician, Snooty Buttoo. He is told that if he does not come up with his usual fund of tales, his tongue will be cut out. As Rashid despairs, Haroun determines to rescue his father’s talent – a project which takes him into an exotic world of water genies, mechanical birds, fantastical creatures, Guppees and Chupwalas. He learns that the Ocean of the Sea of Stories, the source of all stories, is being polluted by the enemy of all stories, the sinister Khatam-Shud. In a series of brilliantly imagined adventures, Haroun succeeds in defeating the powers of darkness, and restoring happiness to his family and to the city where he lives.
Salman Rushdie’s children’s book written in the aftermath of the fatwa, has an effervescent style which is full of rhymes and wordplay. The libretto stays very close to the spirit of the original, conjuring up a fantasy world in which, nonetheless, one never entirely loses sight of harsh political reality and the great issues of freedom of speech and imagination.
-James Fenton
|
|
|
 |
Charles Ives (1874-1954)
String Quartet No. 1, "From the Salvation Army"
The String Quartet No. 1 of Charles Ives was written in 1896, while Ives was a student at Yale University studying under Horatio Parker. Often subtitled “From the Salvation Army” (or even “A Revival Meeting”) this early work demonstrates many characteristics associated with the works of Ives’ maturity. The reliance on American hymn tunes throughout the quartet mirrors an irony that permeates Ives’ output while he extrapolates “Germanic” academic devise (in this case chorale melodies from New England’s hymn books) with a decidedly Yankee inflection. Ives is often “hogging all the keys” in this youthful work that genuinely anticipates the heart and soul of his entire compositional career.
---Jeff von der Schmidt
Wadada Leo Smith (b. 1941)
String Quartet No. 3 "Black Church"
String Quartet No. 3 “Black Church” is a lyrical blues-spiritual composition seeking to convey a similar psychological message as we find in the early blues master’s performance. The blues form I am inferring to is the psychological and symbolic element in the core of a musical work. Although one can not see or touch this part of the musical form – the realms of the heart can. String Quartet No. 3 “Black Church” is constructed as a purely ensemble work in the tradition of the West African drumming ensemble. The reference to drumming is in the gestural strokes of the instrumentalist’s bow and the contact with the strings and body of the instrument, and it does as much to illustrate the musical meaning and activity. There are differences in the sonic melodic units of blues, and the micro-sonic for the ensemble (bars 10 and 11). The only improvisational moment in the composition occurs in bar 6 in the first violin part. String Quartet No. 3 “Black Church” was given its world premiere by Southwest Chamber Music in 1998.
---Wadada Leo Smith
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Quintet in A Major for Piano & Strings
It would take a rather extraordinary Google earth search to locate Nelahozeves, near Krapuly in what is now the Czech Republic. This small village was the birthplace of Antonín Dvořák. His father, František, played the zither and taught his son traditional Czech dances. Antonín would reluctantly apprentice to become a butcher, as his father and grandfather had done, but eventually moved to Zlonice, where he was tutored in keyboard and string instruments by a German organist, providing him with the necessary language skills in German to further his career. He would sooner or later move to Prague, securing positions as a professional violist, and played under one Richard Wagner in 1863, which proved a powerful memory.
Dvořák’s years as a violist gave him great experience from the “inside” of various ensembles, and his prodigious and successful chamber music output holds quite a few highpoints, of which the Quintet in A major, Op. 81 is a crown jewel. It also highlights an essential aspect of Dvořák’s music, his Czech nationalism. The four movements follow a classical model, but with an energetic Czech accent. The first movement revels in major/minor key changes with a variety of moods and elaborate counter-melody. The second movement is a Czech dumka, or slow dance, whilst the third movement is a fast Czech furiant, though it bears little relationship to the dance form. The last movement is an unabashed polka
---Jeff von der Schmidt
|
|
|
 |
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonatas BWV 1038 & 1023
The Sonata BWV 1038 was composed at the Court of Cöthen between 1717 and 1721 – a period which Bach himself described as the happiest years of his life. Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen had already spent three years (1710-13) doing the Grand Tour of Europe, through Germany to Italy where he studied Italian secular music with great interest. He had well-developed musical tastes, and he returned from his Grand Tour determined to raise the standard of German secular music to an equally high level, to which end he stretched the limited budget of his miniature Court to provide an orchestra of eighteen players, all chosen for their high musical standards from all over the country. In fact it was during the Prince's Grand Tour in 1713 that news came to him of a golden opportunity: when Wilhelm I of Prussia came to power, he dismissed his father's Court Capelle, and Prince Leopold was able to tempt many of the best musicians from Berlin to Cöthen. Life at Cöthen was informal and easy-going; in this happy atmosphere Bach's days were completely devoted to music. During this period he wrote much of his chamber music; violin concertos, flute, violin, and trio sonatas, keyboard music, the sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, the suites for unaccompanied violoncello, the six Brandenburg Concertos, and probably the orchestral suites. During his later years, too, Bach returned to the joys of secular music-making, now in Leipzig and performing at public concerts in Zimmerman's Coffee House and Garden together with the Collegium Musicum. Here therefore we hear music which gave its composer double enjoyment, both at Cöthen and later at Leipzig.
Most of Bach's accompanied violin sonatas- distinct from the six great solo sonatas and partitas- pair the instrument with harpsichord alone, and cast the violin in a supporting role. Two, however, put the violin front and center, supported by a continuo of keyboard and viola da gamba. Of those two, this E minor work is the second, longer, and more emotionally complex of the two (the other being BWC 1021). BWV 1023, unlike any of Bach's other accompanied violin works, falls into only three movements, not four. The first, however, breaks into two sections, both slow. The prelude seems to cry out for organ accompaniment, with its expressive, toccata-like violin line spinning out over a pedal note. This music evokes the earlier violin sonatas of Biber, but also has hints of the famous Prelude from the Partita (BWV 1006). This soon gives way to the more conventional Adagio ma non tanto, which gives the impression of a chorale from one of Bach's cantatas spun out into a somewhat more ornate violin line. The Allemanda is the first of the work's two dance movements- another feature this sonata has in common with the partitas; dances are excluded from all of Bach's other accompanied violin sonatas, which follow the more abstract slow-fast-slow-fast church sonata format. It is followed by a more intricate, but structurally more compact, Gigue. The challenge in each of these two movements is for the violinist to provide a sense of strong rhythmic movement while maintaining an essentially lyrical line.
-James Reel
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)
Rain Dreaming, Air, & Rocking Mirror Daybreak
“I probably belong to a type of composer of songs who keeps thinking about melody. I am old fashioned. What I desire to reach through the continuation of melody is beyond the pleasure and the sorrow experienced during this continuation. Yet I cannot simply call that for which I reach eternity.”
Dedicated to Elisabeth Chojnacka, Rain Dreaming for harpsichord was commissioned by the Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Awards, Augusta Georgia, U.S.A. and was first performed by George Lucktenberg on June 12, 1986 in Washington, D.C.
Air was composed for Aurèle Nicolet’s approaching 70th birthday, and is, sadly, the last completed piece by Takemitsu. It was projected to be part of a work for flute, harp and orchestra that was never finished. Composed at the end of 1995, the work is a haunting testimonial, distilling the natural breath into the melodic world of Takemitsu’s eternity.
Rocking Mirror Daybreak was commissioned by and dedicated to Ani and Ida Kavafian for their first duo recital at Carnegie Hall on November 17, 1983. The piece is based on the linked verse entitled Rocking Mirror Daybreak by Makoto Ooka and Thomas Fitzsimmons. It consists of four parts, with the title of each part taken from the verse, with the permission of the poets: Autumn (verse by Fitzsimmons); Passing Bird (verse by Ooka); In the Shadow (verse by Ooka); and Rocking Mirror (verse by Fitzsimmons).
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Suite in A Minor, TV 55
Though contradictory accounts abound, Telemann is a rather interesting author of not one but three autobiographies. Though perhaps he functioned in a novel way as his own press agent, he was naturally precocious. It seems that at age 12 he embarked on his first opera, Sigismundus, and his mother is said to have taken away all of his musical instruments and forbade any further involvement in music, as Telemann was supposed to become a lawyer. But these early excursions were part of his biography, for Telemann was an early populist composer. Amateur music making in the home was spreading like wild fire throughout the German city states, and he accelerated the craze by founding his own publishing company, tailoring his music with a great amount of instrumental works for the new market. His works abound in spirited music that at the same time is not technically demanding. An autodidactic composer, he was committed to making performance and composition accessible to the amateur, and hence his continued popularity. The Suite in A minor is a repertory standard for the ever popular flute, and its collections of movements represents the free-wheeling, open air poly-world of Telemann, wandering from France to Italy to Poland in one piece.
---Jeff von der Schmidt
|
|
|
 |
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)
Toward the Sea III
Toward the Sea III was written in 1981 as a contribution to the Greenpeace Foundation’s Save the Whales program. The titles of the movements were suggested by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Takemitsu quoted Melville in the score: “Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries…and he will infallibly lead you to water….Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded together.” Toward the Sea III was transcribed from the original version for alto flute and guitar (Towards the Sea II is for flute, harp and strings). Takemitsu quotes the S-E-A in the German notation E flat – E natural – A.
---Toru Takemitsu
And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind
And Then I Knew ‘Twas Wind was composed in 1992 for Aurèle Nicolet. The title, however,is not an elegant Zen motto but a quotation from a poem of Emily Dickinson. Takemitsu explained that the work “has as its subject the signs of the wind in the natural world and of the soul, or unconscious mind (or we would even call it ‘dream’) which continues to blow, like the wind, invisibly, through human consciousness.” It should come as no surprise that Takemitsu quotes from Debussy’s 1915 Sonata for the exact same instrumentation.
Bryce
Bryce was composed for Bryce Engelman, a flutist whose father Robin is a member of the Canadian percussion ensemble Nexus, which commissioned Takemitsu for From Me Flows What You Call Time. As with Toward the Sea, Takemitsu creates a generating motive from the German nomenclature of B flat, C and E, with quarter-tone neighbors, invoking the name Bryce. The music is always slow and meditative, with the music delineated by long pauses.
Quatrain II
Composed for the Tashi ensemble of Peter Serkin, Quatrain II is a version of Quatrain, a work for violin, cello, clarinet, piano and orchestra. It is an overt homage to Olivier Messiaen, and uses the exact same instrumentation as Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Messiaen had spent over two hours discussing his Quartet with Takemitsu in New York City in 1975. Quatrain is an essential step in Takemitsu’s development as he moved towards the “sea of tonality” after the prevailing modernism of the post-war era.
--- Jeff von der Schmidt
Water-ways
This composition, as the title suggests, shows the way various streams follow different water-ways. Finally all of them get together to become one high stream, and all those streams go towards the sea of tonality. Water-ways is dedicated to Peter Serkin and was first performed by him with his ensemble Tashi in Tokyo in 1978.
---Toru Takemitsu
|
|
|
|
 |
Listen to Southwest
Join our Email List
share this page:
|
