ROGER REYNOLDS Aspiration
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ROGER REYNOLDS Aspiration Irvine Arditti Paul Hembree inauthentica Mark Menzies 1 © Malcolm Crowthers © Malcolm 3 ROGER REYNOLDS (*1934) inauthentica Irvine Arditti solo violin Sarah Wass flute Phil O’Connor Eb clarinet James Sullivan bass clarinet CD 1 CD 2 Jonathan Stehney bassoon Allen Fogle horn 1 Shifting/Drifting 1 Aspiration Mike Davis trumpet for violin and real-time algorithmic for solo violin and Matt Barbier trombone transformation (2015) 23:36 chamber orchestra (2004/05) 29:47 James Waterman percussion Richard Valitutto piano commissioned by UC San Diego ArtPower, commissioned by the Andrew Tholl, Mona Tian violins California Institute of the Arts, and Oslo Sinfonietta and the Ben Hudson viola Stanford University Nouvel Ensemble Moderne Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick cello Scott Worthington bass 2 imagE/violin 2 Kokoro Mark Menzies conductor imAge/violin for solo violin (1991/92) 25:07 for solo violin (2015) 18:26 commissioned by Irvine Arditti with funds from the British Arts Council Recording dates: CD1: 1 24 Sept 2015 2 4–5 Aug 2015, 26 Sept 2015 CD2: 1 2 Oct 2015 2 25–26 Sept 2015 Recording venues: CD1: 1 Theater of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technologies, TT 42:04 TT 54:55 UC San Diego 2 Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego CD2: 1 Citrus College, Los Angeles 2 Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego Recording supervisor: Roger Reynolds Recording engineer, editor: CD1: 1 Paul Hembree 2 Josef Kucera CD2: 1 Nicolas Tipp 2 Josef Kucera Producers: CD1: 1 Paul Hembree 2 Irvine Arditti CD2: 1 2 Mark Menzies, Irvine Arditti Irvine Arditti violin Final mastering: Josef Kucera Paul Hembree computer musician Publisher: Edition Peters New York inauthentica Graphic design: Alexander Kremmers (paladino media), cover based on Mark Menzies conductor Artwork by Enrique Fuentes (“Centralizaciion”, 2011) 4 5 While composing the music that would become Aspiration, a title came into my mind as an inevitability. Perhaps because of Irvine’s ways, perhaps because of my creative resolve, who knows? But one day it was there. I men- tioned the title to Irvine in an email and he re- sponded, “That’s a strange name.” Dedicated as he is to ideal outcomes, he was perhaps not at that moment considering that they are al- ways uncertain, a sought-for result of the per- ilous act of “reaching further”. He suggested calling this two-CD set ASPIRATION, and I im- mediately embraced the idea. I mean to hon- or, in a general way, the ideal and the practice of always doing everything one imagines one might in search of elevated outcomes. Roger Reynolds 7 Reynolds — works for violin, It is certain that Brahms was inspired by the breadth string quartet was performing an all-Xenakis program. him (and Jenny and their sons) in a way that could not written for and dedicated to of Joachim’s performing repertoire choices – every- Graham was eager for me to hear this remarkable have happened in the normal “professional” contexts. Arditti 1992–2015 thing from the then almost completely unknown group. They performed in a dreary recital space of As I think back on these years now, I wonder whether solo Bach repertoire, to string quartets, to the “nev- the music department of Huddersfield University, not he invited everyone into his home or that this gesture Mark Menzies in conversation with er-performed“ Beethoven concerto. Certainly I see an a proper concert space at all, but a large room that was unusual. Roger Reynolds and Irvine Arditti equivalent energy transfer in the case of Roger and featured a wall of windows looking out onto a grey and Irvine. rainy day. The concert started at 11.15. The members I was not then, and am not now, a “carouser” who cul- of the quartet performed Iannis’ solo and small string tivates late nights out, but, as the quartet’s pattern Whatever: these preliminaries are but whimsy to pre- ensemble works. Every performance had an intensely was to eat and drink with relish after their concerts, pare for Irvine and Roger saying how it goes in their focused character; each was electrifying. I was drawn into their mix, in a collegial embrace. As we were completing the editing of Aspiration, a own words. It was not without trepidation that I pre- And by all the members of the quartet, not only Ir- question arose: how to approach creating the liner pared questions for these two to get the conversa- After the program, Graham introduced me to Irvine, vine. It was a heady pleasure: the general banter, Ir- notes for this collected release of Reynolds’ works for tion rolling: one fears, in the effort to be “probing“, and we shared a meal at an Indian restaurant. Irvine vine’s edgy dynamism, and the philosophical musings violin. that one does nothing more than “prodding“, and in and I came to an agreement, on the spot. I would of cellist Rohan de Saram. The years pass. Karen and I the effort to be deferential, nothing but irritating. No write them a new quartet, and, as the group had no welcome Irvine and Hilda into our Del Mar home and Earlier, I had been asked to assist in the producing doubt with much patience towards my preliminary funds for commissioning, Irvine promised that they we enjoy our deck overlooking the Pacific. When I (or of the Kokoro recording. During that process I found literary skills, I find the resulting answers moving: would perform the new work multiple times, and we) are in London, either Hilda or I cook something myself suddenly in the middle of the palpable col- mostly because it is so rare to read about people’s eventually record it. I agreed. They did. for us all, and the evenings glow. These times togeth- laborative energy between Roger and Irvine – an ex- motivations in collaborative art-making, particularly er, whether 2, 3, or 4 attend, are occasions to treasure. traordinary connection going back decades – and it in view of the great success that both these wondrous At that time, I had not yet developed relationships They nourish our lives. immediately occurred to me that it was this, above all, artists enjoy. with many performers, and it was immediately clear – that the liner notes had to document. Mark Menzies, Christchurch, New Zealand it didn’t require an analytic process – that these mu- MM: Brahms sought to comprehend the potential of sicians possessed the kind of dedication to what they the romantic violin through his evolving connection Their essential commitment to a refin(d)ing energy, Mark Menzies: Reflecting on the history of a long- did that I felt in regard to my own composing. So, with Joachim (who also led an eponymous quartet …) evoked what I have always imagined an “other” great- term collaboration, and I am thinking of Brahms and from my perspective, there was no “calculation” of any – did you find a similar opportunity with Irvine, in this ly consequential composer-violinist collaboration Joachim: how did your collaboration start? Were there kind about what would, or could, result from working case regarding what the “contemporary” violin could to have been: Joachim and Brahms. I don’t assert an agendas on both of your minds, at the time? And, if so, with Irvine. There was, rather, an immediate “recogni- mean to you? exact parallel, or indeed an heroic replay, of a past have these agendas developed? tion” of a kindred soul. model. Rather, I imagined that Brahms’ notion of what RR: Let me begin a response from a more general the violin could express was manifestly suggested by Roger Reynolds: Irvine and I first encountered one In the following years, as a result of various perfor- perspective. Of course I had heard and admired great Joachim’s (virtuoso) ability and his greatly informed another at the Huddersfield Festival in 1982. Graham mances (in London, in Brussels, in the States …) we violinists such as Heifetz and Oistrakh. And also, in musical resourcefulness and empathy. Their interac- Hayter, then Promotions Manager at Peters Edition in came to know one another. I was back in the UK, per- the context of their performances of contemporary tion lasted decades, with the music that came out of it London, had picked me up at Heathrow. Unexpect- haps for the premiere of Coconino … a shattered land- repertoire: Menuhin (who played my teacher’s [Ross marking an evolution of possibility. This also sums up edly, he proposed that we drive north from London scape at the Almeida Theater, and Irvine offered a bed Lee Finney] solo sonata for violin) and Yfrah Neaman Roger and Irvine’s collaboration perfectly. for a weekend New Music Festival at which a young at his Golders Green home in London. I came to know (who performed music by my other mentor, Roberto 8 9 Gerhard). I noticed the range of individual approaches, very rapid alternations in forcefulness. Precision and linear contour (through the use of natural and arti- I suppose this was my first experience of working with from, say, the Olympian objectivity of Heifetz, objectivity became imperative if one were to repre- ficial harmonics as well as open strings), both dy- a composer as it preceded the first concert with the through the ingrained romanticism of Oistrakh, to sent a mid-20th-century musical score in all its hy- namic forcefulness and reserve (employing extreme quartet. Xenakis never explained how I was to tackle the occasional sentimentality of Menuhin. But it was per-detailed specificity. overpressure to wispy circular bowing), felt “entirely these sections of the piece but put the responsibility less the style of playing – strongly focused on the reasonable”.