7ThirtyThursdays

New Music Ensemble Composition Students

Thursday, May 20, 2021 Virtual Venue - https://music.utah.edu/libby-live/index.php 7:30 p.m. Program

Wasatch (2019) Ammon Helms Ammon Helms, trombone Lawrence Gee, piano

Piano Variations (2021) Sebastian Bate Jingjing Shao, piano

Waves (2021) Anna Madison I. The Calm II. Interruption III. The Storm Anna Wright Madison and Laura Strobell, piano

Five Songs (1957) Witold Lutoslawski after poems by Kazimiera Iłłakowicz, sung in Polish (1913-1994) I. Morze (The Sea) II. Wiatr (The Wind) III. Zima (Winter) IV. Rycerze (Knights) V. Dzwony cerkiewne (Church Bells) New Music Ensemble Vanessa Wijaya, soprano Joshua Marchant, piano

Notemarks Chris Newman Amelia Van Howe, oboe Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass Andrea Clearfield after poems by Pablo Neruda (b. 1960) I. Body of a Woman II. The Light Wraps You III. Every Day You Play New Music Ensemble Katherine McLaughlin, oboe Maeve Barnum, bass guitar

Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor Joshua Goodell (“Tempest”)(2020-2021) Jacob Lobrot, piano

Variations on an Original Theme Alexandra Ryan Janice Bunker, flute Katherine McLaughlin, oboe Christian Manley, Bb clarinet Caroline Esparza, bassoon

Little Voices (2021) Kent Loutensock Natalie Amano, violin Kent Loutensock, live electronics

Latin Rhythms for Tuba and Percussion William Schmidt I. Tangoletto (1926-2009) II. Bossalina Nova New Music Ensemble Brian Abel, tuba Aidan Smith, percussion

Symphonic Fantasy No. 1 in F# Minor, Joshua Goodell Op. 44 (“Inferno”) Orchestral MIDI mockup realization by Joshua Goodell Apparition: Elegiac Songs and Vocalises George Crumb for Soprano and Amplified Piano (b. 1929) I. The Night in Silence Under Many a Star IV. Approach Strong Deliveress New Music Ensemble Vanessa Wijaya, soprano Jingjing Shao, piano

Infinity for Trumpet and Percussion Daniel McCarthy I. Entangled (b. 1955) IV. Captain’s Heart New Music Ensemble Mariah Turner, trumpet Michael Marsden, percussion

A Step at a Time Kent Loutensock Laura Strobell, piano David Halliday, soprano sax Dr. Denson Angulo, double bass

Sonata for Clarinet and Percussion (1979) Donald Erb (1927-2008) New Music Ensemble Christian Manley, clarinet Christopher Ogle, percussion Program Notes Helms, Wasatch This piece was inspired by the Wasatch Mountains. In the work, I capture both the majesty of the mountains with snowcapped peaks and the ridged silhouette of the mountain range. The opening of the piece begins with a lyrical melody that sounds hollow and cold like the cold frozen peaks during the winter. It then transitions into a faster section with more leaps in the melody that represents the jagged outline of the mountains. The piece then moves to a more lyrical part that expresses the majesty of the mountains before returning to the material from the faster section to end the piece. Overall, the piece embodies the character of the Wasatch Mountain Range.

Madison, Waves When I was eleven years old my Aunt Anelia invited me to come stay at her beach house in Malibu, California. She introduced me to the ocean. She taught me about the ever-changing tides. She showed me how to get out to the sweet spot by diving under a wave if it was too big and how to body surf and boogie board. Sometimes I could catch a wave and ride it all the way into the beach. To this day, I love the ocean! And like Moana says, “It calls me.” This piece is an extended piano duet for four hands: Player I playing the strings inside the piano, and Player II playing at the keyboard. The first movement is called “The Calm.” Like the waves, the tempo varies and, at some points, almost stops. The tempo increases as the waves spread up over the sand and then decreases as the waves retreat. The second movement is called “Interruption” representing a sudden change in the tide and weather. And finally, the third movement, “The Storm,” featuring rattling thunder and lightning strikes achieved by extended techniques inside the piano.

Lutoslawski, Five Songs Five Songs marks a crucial turning point in Lutosławski’s musical development. While similarities with earlier works such as Dance Preludes may be heard in the rhythmic vivacity of the fast music (as in the second song, ‘Wiatr’), the change is more apparent in the harmonic language. In each song, Lutosławski explores different configurations of chords, building harmonic washes using all twelve chromatic notes. In the first song, ‘Morze’, he creates a gentle arch of thirds and fifths, while ‘Wiatr’ is a storm of tight clusters. In ‘Zima’, on the other hand, the warmth of being inside is suggested by the major thirds and minor sixths of augmented triads. Sometimes, as in the first song, the vocal line arises from the harmonic basis. Elsewhere, as in the next two songs, the vocal line may be independent of the accompaniment. The texts of Five Songs are taken from Iłłakowicz’s early poems. In ‘Morze’, the poet evokes the rise and fall of the sky- blue Mediterranean, down to which bird feathers float like little boats. In ‘Wiatr’, the Wind is all set to blow down the garden fence and then to have fun and games with everything inside, including the house, until nothing is left standing. Tucked safely indoors, the child in ‘Zima’ marvels at the gentleness and warmth of the snowflakes which, though white now, will glow violet after sunset. The two parts of ‘Rycerze’ contrast the spirited glory of knights setting off for battle with the dejection with which the wounded soldiers and, silently behind them, their fine horses return home. In ‘Dzwone cerkiewne’, the young poet celebrates firstly the joyful peal of church bells and then also the angry thundering of the bells at night.

Newman, Notemarks In Notemarks, I attempt to highlight the ways that the oboe can articulate sounds. There are melodic ways of playing, as well as noise- based ways. These different types of playing come together at points to form a blend, and stand opposed to each other at other points.

Clearfield, Three Songs Inspired by three sensual love poems of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, this set of three musical tableaux was composed for Philadelphia Orchestra bassist, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns in 1996. The movements are loosely based on the images and energy emanating from Neruda’s passionate and evocative texts. The double bass and oboe represent not only two different instrumental families and musical registers, but also contrasting instrumental shapes, colors and sizes. These complementary opposites resonate with elements of Neruda’s love poetry, which plays on images of dark and light, night and day, masculine and feminine. Poems can be found in 20 Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda.

Goodell, Sonata This sonata is my first ever large-scale piece for solo piano. For most of my “first” pieces of any particular ensemble as a running gag, I always have it written in C minor. As the case in most of my music, I like putting subjects with extreme contrast together. That concept is present in all three movements of the piece. I gave the title “Tempest” retrospectively because I noticed that all three movements shared an innate stormy feeling in them. The first and third movements are tied together through a single motif. That motif is the ending passage from the first movement. It may seem like an unimportant dramatic figure, but it is the very foundation and identity of the finale—the piece as a whole ends in a triumphant thunderous moment.

Ryan, Variations This piece aimed to understand and apply the techniques of counterpoint and modal harmony. Counterpoint was a serious study in the creation of this piece, with various exercises and adjustments being made so no rules of music theory were broken. Following the same harmonic structure throughout this work, the character of each variation is dependent on the differing rhythm, articulation, and ornamentation of the theme’s melody. Within each character, you will find influences of dance culture from different regions, tempos of different speeds, and a harmonic palette that expressed itself in a multitude of ways.

Loutensock, Little Voices Little Voices is a composition featuring violin as soloist and live electronics as accompaniment. The name of the work comes from the sounds generated by various audio effects in Ableton Live, which resonate in my ears like little voices that permeate the surrounding texture. Changes in the audio effects that occur between different sections of the piece were triggered on a cellphone using a simple controller I designed in TouchOSC. The overall form of the work is ABA. The A section oscillates between C Major and A minor, and includes three subsections featuring smaller verse, pre-chorus, and chorus segments. The B Section then modulates between G Major and E minor, and develops the previous material within a contrasting texture that soars into the higher registers before falling below and returning to the previous A material. The piece then concludes with a saturation of different audio effects that accentuate the “Little Voices” before the violin, at long last, resolves on tonic.

Schmidt, Latin Rhythms Latin Rhythms was commissioned by Gary Brattin for his concert of May 10, 1989, at the Monfort Auditorium, Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley, Colorado. The work consists of an Introduction and three movements. Only first two movements are performed in this concert. The rhythms and percussion instruments are drawn from Afro-Cuban sources common to Latin American cultures.

Goodell, Symphonic Fantasy For the most part my larger scale pieces have followed some sort of traditional form (except for the Grand Sinfonia Fantasia, which is four separate fantasies structured in the standard four movement symphony form). This piece is my first large scale fantasia that follows no form; in addition to that, it’s also my first piece to feature a choir. I gave this piece the name “Inferno” because the text is from “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri. Throughout the piece I use the text “Nessun Maggiore dolor che ricordarsi del tempo felice nella miseria” which roughly translates to: "there is no greater sorrow than to recall our times of joy in wretchedness." The main challenge of writing this piece was making a cohesive and compelling piece with nothing to fall back on. The way I decided to attempt to solve this problem was to have a few motifs that will be constantly developed throughout the entirety of the piece. The first of these motifs is what I call the “inferno” motif, and it’s essentially a minor rendition of the motif in the last movement of Mozart’s "Jupiter" symphony. The next motif I use is a dark and intimidating triplet figure that highlights a diminished chord. The final of the main motifs I use is a calm and lyrical melody that goes all the way from comforting to foreboding.

Crumb, Apparition This work is based on text from Walt Whitman’s poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” The approach taken is twofold: the musical integrity of Crumb’s work is disclosed through a study of its motivic relations, and its semantic content is examined through the relations it sets up between music and text.

I. The Night in Silence Under Many a Star: The text for the opening movement is taken from the penultimate stanza of the death carol. It introduces the principal subjects of the song cycle: man and the cosmos. In each of the four lines of the first movement a specific image is introduced. Two refer to elements in the natural realm –“the night” and “the ocean shore” –while the other two refer to those in the human realm –“the soul” and “the body”. Musically the movement is in strophic variant form, comprising three verses and coda-like ending. The central musical image that Crumb has chosen for the movement, described in his opening directive as a “welling, pulsating sound of nature,” is realized through an “Aeolian harp” strum on the strings of the piano.

IV. Approach Strong Deliveress: This movement is structurally a hybrid, combining strophic variation with rondo form to yield ABA’B’A”B”A”’. The series of first inversion minor chords derive from the first movement, where they provided a disturbing and disquiet- ing element against the strummed pedal tones. Combination of two minor triads results in a hexachord, which serves as basic harmonic and melodic ideas for the entire movement. McCarthy, Infinity Infinity is a mesmerizing mixture of styles demonstrating a perfect union between the two players. Masterfully embracing the most in- triguing technical challenges of the trumpet and marimba, resulting in a new plateau in duet literature. It is set in five contrasting move- ments, and 4-mallet technique is required. Infinity was written for and dedicated to the composer's trumpet teacher from his student days at the Interlochen Arts Academy, John R. Lindenau. McCarthy was always inspired by Lindenau's rugged individualism and self-de- termination. The movements depict many of Lindenau's venues in Michigan for hunting and fishing. This piece pays homage to those that work with their hands, their hearts, and live on the resources of God’s good earth.

Loutensock, A Step at a Time A Step at a Time is an original work featuring some jazz-style harmony, swing rhythm, and a simple ABC form. The inspiration behind this piece was the small, everyday efforts we make in the pursuit of our dreams and goals. Though not intentionally programmatic, composing this piece gave voice to many of my own feelings as an aspiring musician and composer. The marching rhythm and chordal placement in the A and B sections of C Major and C minor for example, suggests to my mind the importance of methodical practice. The rising transition between the B and C section in Eb Major mimics those small snatches of progress in our art that we glimpse every now and then that lifts our spirits. The following C section in Eb I hear as a rising sense of reward that follows consistent work. The final section then punctuates these sensations with a bouncy march in the piano that I have labeled in the score as "longing, learning to let go," and finally, in the last four measures of the piece, the feeling of complete triumph as the piece closes soundly in Eb. Erb, Sonata for Clarinet and Percussion Donald Erb is well-known for his craft in instrumentation, a skill acquired through a long practice of working closely with professional performers. The Sonata for Clarinet and Percussion was first performed in 1980 in Cleveland by members of the Boston Musica Viva: William Wrzesien, clarinet, and Dean Anderson, percussion, and continues a series of fine chamber music works, often featuring percussion with other instruments. The composer uses the newest extended instrumental techniques pushing his performers to the extreme limits of their technical abilities. But at no moment in the piece is this predilection for advanced virtuosity indulged in at the expense of optimum conditions for instrumental balance. The idiomatic sound qualities of the instruments seem to be the primary concern of the composer at all times. The piece is certainly very difficult to play; it requires a percussionist prepared to display the utmost virtuosity in multiple keyboard playing, bowing techniques on the vibraphone, and jazz trap set techniques. The clarinetist has to be very efficient in extended high range and in multiphonics. Although the piece is technically demanding, it never (apart for two measures!) oversteps the limits of reasonable possibilities. The musical intentions are clear so that the performer can grasp them immediately and set precise goals; this in turn will help in solving the technical problems and in articulating the piece properly.

The piece is in four related parts separated by cadential points. Jazz influences are manifested in free flowing beautiful melodic shapes, and, in the fourth part, in the use of the drum set in typical jazz idiom. (The choice of the combination of clarinet and percussion is in itself reminiscent of traditional New Orleans music.) The harmonic contour, based on a series of perfect fifths, is slowly built up by the sustaining power of two harmonicas (in C and in D) in the second part and an organ (recorded or live) in the third. The hollow quality of successive parallel perfect fifths simultaneously heard in the clarinet and the vibraphone or marimba is a particularly seductive feature of the piece. Erb's sonata is a beautiful contribution to a fast expanding repertoire for clarinet and percussion. It is full of life and fun, and will please the numerous groups of this combination that have recently sprung up everywhere: clarinetists and percussionists get along well together.

Notes by Jean-Charles Francois, University of California, San Diego