SICPP Program Notes

SUNDAY , JUNE 19, 2016

Brown Centering The title of the work is also that of a book by Mary Caroline Richards, an old friend whose poetry and philosophy and example have been of great value to myself and many other artists and friends. The book concerns itself with mental and physical "centering" in the sense of balancing and the gathering and focusing of one's resources as necessary to "perform well" in any life situation. In the music I have used the center frequencies of the violin and piano and of the total ensemble as structural points of balance and imbalance around which the form moves in and out of centers of repose. Within the composed continuity there are three "open-form" areas; two are cadenzas for the solo violin and one is a kind of cadenza for the conductor, working with the three instrumental trios (woodwinds, brass, strings). The work is dedicated to Mary Caroline Richards and to the memory of Bruno Maderna who was a very close friend of mine and whose death I heard of as I was in the process of completing the work. The very last five notes (for solo violin) are quotes from Bruno's first oboe concerto. – Earle Brown Czernowin Afatsim Afatsim (Hebrew) are galls. Webster’s dictionary defines galls as a swelling or excrescence of the tissues of a plant that results from the attack of parasites, often distinguished by a characteristic shape of color. For exam- ple, alpogall is a hard brittle spherical body that is about the size of a hickory nut and is produced on the twigs of an oak by a gall wasp. Searching for an alternative to a linear dramatic temporal experience, this piece suggested a way in which time might be disfigured like an infesta- tion of galls on the surface continuity of a branch. The nonet is subdivided into four composite instruments: viola and bass flute, violin and oboe, cello and clarinet, and piano, double bass and percussion. In each section of the piece, the interrelationships of this “quartet” changes. There might be four disparate polyphonic voices of this composite quartet, or the entire ensem- ble might magnify a single line of the flute, when in fact, this line had original- ly been conceived as only a single voice of pre-composed viola/flute

material. Consequently, the perspective on the material and the ensemble zooms in and out as if the “lens” of the listener was in constant flux. Furthermore, coherent, well characterized (even eccentric), extremely gestured and physical musical behaviours are fragmented or torn off into “sentences,” “half sentences,” “words,” and “half words.” These then are recombined to create new “utterances.” This disfigurement subverts the ability for linear prediction, but does not altogether discard a resynthesized “strange” and implicit narrative continuity, on which like the branch, the disfigurement is grafted. The piece is dedicated to the Ensemble Recherché. – Chaya Czernowin & Steven Kazuo Takasugi

Liang Brush-Stroke The music of Lei Liang encapsulates the musical cultures of the East and West with a desire for deep philosophical engagement that uses musical sound as a meditative tool. It has been described as disciplined and sponta- neous at once. Brush-Stroke immerses the listener in brief whispers of sound that seem to breathe as they swell and fade away. The title “reveals the influence of Chinese calligraphy” on his music. This work introduces Liang’s newly developed idea of “One-Note-Polyphony,” in which each note functions as an “intersection” through which numeral musical dimensions can be accessed. The naturalistic expression of this piece allows sound to find new directions and forms as the boundaries of Eastern and Western musical tradition are blurred beyond definition. Brush-Stroke was commissioned by and dedicated to Steven Drury and the Callithumpian Consort in 2005. – Caroline Fresh

Epstein Mary Magdalen The traditional view of Mary Magdalen – a fallen woman who was a periph- eral part of Jesus’ circle – is very different from the portrayal of her in the Gnostic Gospels. The Gnostic Gospels are a collection of more than fifty poems and myths discovered in Egypt in the 1940s. They contain unconven- tional examples of the teachings of Jesus – teachings that reflect an elevation of the status of women as well as evidence of a more human, earthly view of Jesus than is found in the New Testament. I love tales about characters from familiar stories in which new, unimag- ined aspects of those characters are shown. This particular story about

Globokar Monolith Mary Magdalen is a mix of the very ancient with modern resonances; Mary Sitting at a table, the flutist alternates playing piccolo, C flute, and bass flute is portrayed as Jesus’ most trusted and beloved disciple, and she is treated while singing for the entirety of the piece. Together the voice and flute lines with great suspicion and disdain by some of her fellow disciples who can’t affect each other creating a combined timbre. The flutist must carefully accept that Jesus may have elevated a woman to a higher status than the manage the breath, making a continuous sound by ingressive singing and men in his circle. circular breathing. – Rachel Beetz I felt that this story, with its blend of the old and new, was perfect for a piece involving the cimbalom, an instrument that I hear as embodying both Globokar Voix Instrumentalisée an ancient sound and a very modern sensibility. In this solo bass clarinet piece by Vinko Globakar, extended techniques such I would like to thank Nick Tolle and Jen Ashe for asking me to write as removing the mouthpiece and singing, speaking, or blowing into the this piece. – Marti Epstein instrument while manipulating the sound by changing fingering and incorpo- rating vocal effects and the clicking of keys create a paradoxical juxtaposi- Globokar Kaleidoskop im Nebel tion between it and the voice. Vinko Globokar’s most recently released composition, Kaleidoskop im Nebel, All sung and spoken parts revolve around the phrase “L’art et la science was commissioned by Borealis for their 2013 festival and is about the mist ne peuvent exister sans la possibilité d’exprimer des idées paradoxales.” which falls despite all forecasts; a delightful kaleidoscope is also a fata (Art and science cannot exist without the possibility of expressing paradoxi- morgana. cal ideas.) This sentiment is present in the piece through the give and take The sometimes bleak, sometimes lush soundscape of the piece could be between concepts of improvisation and strictly specific instructions for heard as the diving of birds of prey or the rolling fog on a dew-drop- fingering, vocalizing, and lip pressure on the instrument. covered meadow, the disturbance that sets a herd of deer scurrying or the Voix Instrumentalisée tests the boundaries of both voice and instrument, gentle rolling of a tide. As the piece progresses, it is a true kaleidoscope of calling for manipulation of the performer’s voice both independently and in sound that unfolds, transforming over elapsed seconds and remaining just combination with the bass clarinet. – Caroline Fresh long enough to peak interest before moving on to the next musical image. Performers burst out in laughter, groan in despair, and use their voices to whoop and siren in response to the sliding musical ideas. Tangible in this piece, along with others of Globokar’s, are the sonic, theatrical, and poetic discoveries inherent in the act of performance. – Caroline Fresh

MONDAY , JUNE 20, 2016

Cage Apartment House 1776 The title of this work derives from the idea that at any given time in any apartment house, many things may happen at once. Its musical materials are derived from compositions by other composers, i.e. music from the time of the American Revolution and from the Drum Book by Benjamin Clarke. Alterations to these original works were made using I-Ching chance operations, resulting in 44 Harmonies, 14 Tunes, 4 Marches, and 2 Imita-

tions. The performers make a program of what parts to perform. The four yearning increases. Limits are dealt with, and the music reaches a “won- vocalists represent peoples living in America 200 years before: Protestants, drous melancholy” (Doina Popescu in the CD notes). Confinement obtains. Sephardim, American Indians, and Negro Slaves. They decide which songs Smith’s compositions are informed by her appreciation of the work of they will sing, the only stipulation being that the materials be authentic. writers and painters, including: Marguerite Duras, Cormac McCarthy, Cy – Note from the Publisher Twombly, Giorgio Morandi, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, and Joseph Cornell, among many others. – Louis Goldstein Apartment House 1776 was composed by John Cage in 1976 for the United States Bicentennial and was performed by six orchestras across the country. Vines In Defence of Toads The work followed Cage’s Musicircus principal, having a multitude of It seems only yesterday I was babysitting a toddler-sized Billy Drury, and centers, and featured four solo vocalists, each representing a different now here he is, a soloist on the stage of Jordan Hall! In honour of our long- religious tradition in the United States: Protestant, Sephardic, Native running connection, I wanted to write something which brought together American, and African American, the four religious traditions practiced at his interests, my context and the adventures of childhood in general. My the U.S.’s founding in 1776. search for a text led me to – of all things – the correspondence of Sir With an emphasis on borrowing and quotation, the soloists are accom- Joseph Banks, prominent naturalist and protagonist in the British ‘discovery’ panied by versions of anthems and congregational music written by com- of Australia in 1770. In Defence of Toads is the label I have given (with posers just entering adulthood at the time of the American Revolution, appropriate British spelling) to a delightful passage from Banks’s letter to which have been recomposed by means of chance operations: a popular one Reverend Samuel Hopkinson, penned nearly forty years after his voyage Cage tool. Four drum marches are also provided, and 14 tunes for melody of discovery to the Pacific. In this excerpt, Banks very earnestly, and thus instruments which are based on dance and military songs of the time. somewhat comically, attests to the harmlessness, even usefulness of toads. The combination of these representations of historical relics: religion, He evokes a youth of inquiry, where wonder and danger go hand in hand, anthem, march, and tune, creates a melting pot of sound that truly captures and the courage to make up one’s own mind is a given. It is my hope the the nationalism, exploration, and dedication that formed this nation and music communicates all this, and that Billy, musicians and audience alike find made it what it is today. – Caroline Fresh here something of their childhood. – Nicholas Vines

Reich Music for 18 Musicians "I have, from my childhood, in conformity to the precepts of a mother, Music for 18 Musicians is approximately 55 minutes long. The first sketches void of all imaginary fear, been in constant habits of taking Toads in my were made for it in May 1974 and it was completed in March 1976. Alt- hand, holding them there some time, and applying them to my face or nose, hough its steady pulse and rhythmic energy relate to many of my earlier as it may happen. My motive for doing this very frequently, is to inculcate works, its instrumentation, structure and harmony are new. the opinion I have held since I was taught by my mother, that the Toad is As to instrumentation, Music for 18 Musicians is new in the number and actually a harmless animal, and to whose manner of life man is certainly distribution of instruments: violin, cello, 2 clarinets doubling bass clarinet, 4 under some obligation, as his food is chiefly those insects which devour his women's voices, 4 pianos, 3 marimbas, 2 xylophones and metallophone crops, and annoy him in various ways. To treat such an animal with cruelty, (vibraphone with no motor). All instruments are acoustical. The use of and to regard it with disgust, I have always considered as a vulgar error... electronics is limited to microphones for voices and some of the instru- ments. – Sir Joseph Banks, in a letter to the Reverend Samuel Hopkinson, There is more harmonic movement in the first 5 minutes of Music for 18 June 18 1808, published in The Gentleman's Magazine , Volume 93, Part 2; Musicians than in any other complete work of mine to date. Though the Volume 134

much of the musical decisions to the performers, but offers a skeletal movement from chord to chord is often just a re-voicing, inversion or framework that designates form and progression. Performers are then relative minor or major of a previous chord, usually staying within the key instructed to “fill the sound” with only basic guidelines determining aspects signature of three shapes at all times, nevertheless, within these limits like pitch and rhythm. harmonic movement plays a more important role in this piece than in any The sixteen musicians are divided into four groups and are able to other I have written. choose instruments from the following categories: archaic instruments Rhythmically, there are two basically different kinds of time occurring (Tibetan trumpet, tromba marina, alphorns etc.); melodic instruments simultaneously in Music for 18 Musicians . The first is that of a regular (trumpet, saxophone, violin…), polyphonic instruments (accordion, synthe- rhythmic pulse in the pianos and mallet instruments that continues through- tizer, guitar…); and percussive instruments. Instead of traditional notation, a out the piece. The second is the rhythm of the human breath in the voices graphic one is used where descriptive, instructive words such as “cascades, and wind instruments. The entire opening and closing sections plus part of wind, crumbling, mooing, growl, drunk, misty, etc…” are meant to stimulate all sections in between contain pulses by the voice and winds. They take a the imagination of the performers take the place of notes and staves. The full breath and sing or play pulses of particular notes for as long as their result is an astonishing soundscape that is both natural and industrial. breath will comfortably sustain them. The breath is the measure of the – Caroline Fresh duration of their pulsing. This combination of one breath after another gradually washing up like waves against the constant rhythm of the pianos and mallet instruments is something I have not heard before and would like FRIDAY , JUNE 24, 2016 to investigate further. The structure of Music for 18 Musicians is based on a cycle of eleven Globokar Prestop II chords played at the very beginning of the piece and repeated at the end. All “Prestop” in Slovenian means ‘passage’, in this case passage from real world the instruments and voices play or sing the pulsating notes with each chord. (outside) into the world of fiction (the concert hall). In this piece for Instruments like the strings which to not have to breath nevertheless follow trombone and electronic sound, Globokar calls for the trombonist to bark the rise and fall of the breath by following the breathing patterns of the bass and growl into his instrument as a collection of evolving, jazz-inspired clarinet. Each chord is held for the duration of two breaths, and the next sonorities that call back to the composer’s musical start. chord is gradually introduced, and so on, until all eleven are played and the Electronic amplification and effect adds reverberation to final notes of ensemble returns to the first chord. The first pulsing chord is then main- passages, giving a punch and echo, as if the performer were playing into a tained by two pianos and two marimbas. While this pulsing chord is held for cave. A delayed loop muddles ostinati and carries notes away on a wind. about five minutes a small piece is constructed on it. When this piece is Composed in 1991, this work captures emotions and sounds both new completed there is a sudden change to the second chord, and a second and well known to the music world. Disjointed improvisations combine small piece or section is constructed. This means that each chord that might fragmentation and jazz: two of Globokar’s most recognizable composition have taken fifteen or twenty seconds to play in the opening section is then tools. – Caroline Fresh stretched out as the basic pulsing melody for a five minute piece very much as a single note in a cantus firmus, or chant melody of a 12th century Smith Nocturnes and Chorales Organum by Perotin might be stretched out for several minutes as the Linda Caitlin Smith’s music is marked by beautiful, sensuous sonorities, but harmonic centre for a section of the Organum. The opening eleven chord these are never easily achieved, rather, they occur through a restless, cycle of Music for 18 Musicians is a kind of pulsing cantus for the entire sometimes troubled, searching ambiguity of harmony and narrative. Noc- piece. turnes and Chorales is calm, yet yearning. Some things repeat, and the

On each pulsing chord one or, on the third chord, two small pieces are Globokar Par une forêt de symbols built. These pieces or sections are basically either in form of an arch Par une forêt de symbols is a true exploration of the boundaries of sound. (ABCDCBA), or in the form of a musical process, like that of substituting This work, for chamber ensemble, features a variety of odd instruments beats for rests, working itself out from beginning to end. Elements appearing such as slide whistle, cowbell, aerosol can, balloon, alarm clock, and nail-in- in one section will appear in another but surrounded by different harmony wood. Performers may be asked to scream, cry, chant, and moan as part of and instrumentation. For instance the pulse in pianos and marimbas in the piece. sections 1 and 2 changes to marimbas and xylophones in section 3A, and to In fitting with its title, “By a Forest of Symbols”, even mundane items xylophones and maracas in sections 6 and 7. The low piano pulsing harmo- like telephones and hammers become musical instruments. The simplest nies of section 3A reappear in section 6 supporting a different melody phonemes and syllables - fractions of words instead of the words them- played by different instruments. The process of building up a canon, or selves - carry profound meaning. Juxtaposed against this seemingly nonsen- phase relation, between two xylophones and two pianos which first occurs sical arrangement is operatic singing and the occasional use of traditional in section 2, occurs again in section 9 but building up to another overall orchestral or chamber instruments. It is as if to say that all sound has pattern in a different harmonic context. The relationship between the musical qualities, and anyone can make music if their heart is dedicated to different sections is thus best understood in terms of resemblances be- the combined rigor and spontaneity of the craft. – Caroline Fresh tween members of a family. Certain characteristics will be shared, but others will be unique. Globokar ?Corporel Changes from one section to the next, as well as changes within each ?Corporel (which means “having to do with the body”) strips down the section are cued by the metallophone (vibraphone with no motor) whose familiar idea of the suffering artist to fresh extremes. Globokar has the patterns are played once only to call for movements to the next bar, much percussionist use their own body as an instrument, slapping, beating while as in Balinese Gamelan a drummer will audibly call for changes of pattern in wordlessly vocalizing in clicks, tongue trills, hissing, and clacking of teeth. West African Music. This is in contrast to the visual nods of the head used The collection of sounds call to mind the primitivism of our human nature: in earlier pieces of mine to call for changes and in contrast also to the without words, the sounds we have at our disposal are still plentiful, and the general Western practice of having a non-performing conductor for large necessary connection between performer, body and piece, speak to a ensembles. Audible cures become part of the music and allow the musicians deeply internalized sense of musicality. But there is a sense of brutality in to keep listening. – Steve Reich the self-inflicted pain for the sake of creating these sounds. The dramatic, raw humanism calls back to Luciano Berio’s dedication to musical explora- tion. The performer becomes more connected to their own physicality and TUESDAY , JUNE 21, 2016 the potential of their vessel to make compelling, authentic sounds. The primal unconsciousness and trance-like state of this piece requires true Vines The Butcher of Brisbane artistry, dedication, and a measure of self-flagellation. Here, Globokar once The Butcher of Brisbane draws its inspiration from 'The Talons of Weng- again juxtaposes two of the most contrasting yet coinciding ideas: art and Chiang', a 1977 series of episodes from the long-running BBC television pain. – Caroline Fresh series, Doctor Who . In this scenario, a cornucopia of material and intellectual artifacts from all sorts of real and imaginary times and places are made to Globokar Eisenberg work together to form a (more-or-less) coherent narrative. This carnival- Eisenberg for sixteen musicians, composed by Globokar in 1990, incorpo- esque quality provides the basic rationale for The Butcher of Brisbane , rates the improvisational world of jazz and extended technique listeners through both abstract concepts of syntax, and the musical, linguistic, aural have come to expect from this pioneer of new music. Globokar leaves

The first nine measures with changing tempi comprise a moment for and visceral content of the original drama. Similarly, the story's anti-hero, at one voice. During the next eleven measures, a two-part moment with one time or other a ghost, a god and a megalomaniac, dictates the character mirrored voices is elucidated by the vibraphone using different registers and of the solo part. The relationship between saxophone and ensemble, echoes—and is slightly dramatized through the insertion of a short solo. A furthermore, reflects this villain's vain struggle to impose his own 'pure' conclusion of nine measures follows for a single voice, with short interjec- agenda on the aesthetic, scientific and ethical menagerie of his surroundings. tions. This piece is dedicated to Eliot Gattegno, Steve Drury and the On the vibraphone, the microtonal glissandi originally played by the Callithumpian Consort; profuse and profound thanks to Philipp Stäudlin for woodwind instruments become bands of sound with distinct timbres tonight's performance. – Nicholas Vines through blending notes with the pedal and the richly varied mallet tech- nique. This verticalization of horizontal lines renders a unique poetic Harvey Bhakti fascination to the piece. – Karlheinz Stockhausen English composer Jonathan Harvey incorporates a level of Buddhist-inspired spirituality in his music that leads listeners into the beyond. Emphasis on the Lillios After Long Drought slowly evolving, bloom-like drone that gains confidence and volume as the After Long Drought (2016) for vibraphone and live, interactive electroacous- first movement progresses mirrors the lulling ohm of meditation, while tics takes its inspiration from a poem with the same title by Wally Swist: introducing high-pitched electronic sonorities and amplified sounds, and pulls the listener to and fro. – Caroline Fresh The sky rips open after days of grinding heat, Bhakti was written in 1982, to a commission from IRCAM, Paris. It is in waves of meadow grass twelve short movements totalling about fifty minutes. There are thirty-six subsections, each one defined by a certain number of instruments playing a shift in the blowing rain, certain pitch cell. As there are only twelve types of subsection, each one and floating on the breadth occurs (with variation) three times, thus making for repetitions over the of its extended wings, course of the work. The musical syntax is symmetrical around a central axis. The ear is unconsciously attracted to hear the harmony not as dissonant as bright as a vision, over a fundamental bass but as floating free from bass functions and yet the great blue heron rigorously controlled. The tape is composed largely of sounds drawn from strokes through the storm. the instrumental ensemble transformed and mixed by computer. It has many functions: of dialogue, transformation, memory, anticipation, ‘simulta- The percussionist’s virtuosic foray through Swist’s evocative work conjures neous translation’ and of reaching beyond the instrumental scale to a more images of an aggressive summer squall, with its torrential driving rain and universal dimension. A quotation from the Rig Veda is appended at the end gusting wind reflecting life’s unpredictability and tumult. As the piece of each movement. These Sanskrit hymns were written some four thousand progresses, the storm fades into the background as our focus is directed to years ago. They are keys to a transcendent consciousness.' a peaceful calm discovered amidst the storm – a heron majestically gliding – Jonathan Harvey through the gale. After Long Drought was commissioned by Scott Deal. “After Long Drought” appears with the author’s permission and is published in Winding Paths Worn through Grass (Chicago, IL: Virtual Artists Collective, 2012). – Elainie Lillios

WEDNESDAY , JUNE 22, 2016 Columbia (he was junior faculty), I've had the pleasure to work him on commissions and recordings, performances of solo and chamber music, and Dominique Troncin studied composition with Ivo Malec and Tristan the Piano Concerto No. 1 (for piano and toy piano), which we premiered Murail, and piano with Dominique Merlet and Claude Helffer. He completed here at Jordan Hall in 2007 with BMOP. David Rakowski, studied at New a master’s degree in musicology and had attained the status of a successful England Conservatory, Princeton, and Tanglewood with Milton Babbitt, Paul and dedicated composer and teacher, at the time of his early death from Lansky, and Luciano Berio (among others), and now teaches at Brandeis. AIDS. In response to his passing, many members of his community (includ- ing Murail, Gérard Grisey, Joshua Fineberg, Gérard Pesson, and Philippe Dufourt Erlkönig Manoury) composed works in his memory, which were performed at a With Murail and Grisey, Dufourt is one of the first-generation spectral memorial concert and recorded as Hommage a Dominique Troncin . I discov- composers. Although some characterize him as a "faux spectralist" due to ered Troncin through this recording and include Ciel ouvert , as well as two his harmonic language and compositional techniques, he is a composer tributes (Fineberg's Til human voices wake us and Pesson's La lumière n'a pas fascinated with timbre, process, and time, and worked with Grisey and de bras pour nous porter ) in my repertoire. Murail as Director of the pioneering Ensemble L'Itineraire. Having studied music and philosophy in Geneva, Dufourt has worked as a composer, Murail Les travaux et les jours musicologist-theorist, and philosopher. I commissioned Les travaux et les jours from Tristan Murail, with the support Erlkönig is one of four works by Dufourt for solo piano based on of the Fromm Foundation, after working with him on solo and chamber Schubert's settings of Goethe. Like Schubert, he leads his listeners and music in 2000 and 2001. Les travaux is what one might call a "high spectral" performers to approach states of raptus – the transformation of those exploration of color and harmony, engaging in an almost classical manner overwhelmed by love, awe and terror – and melancholy. The resultant the evolution of sounds in time. The work builds upon the raw materials work is stark and black, exhilarating in its celebration of virtuosity but found in Murail's 1979 masterpiece for piano, Territoire de l'Oubli ; the sobering in its revelation of the frailty of the performer and the instrument, composer writes: “Les Travaux et les jours is connected in a certain way to as well as that of the empathetic listener. Sonorous states and processes Territoires de l'Oubli , but listens to the resonances of the piano in a different parallel an intricate choreography of fundamental physical gestures. The manner. The work also looks to resolve a formal problem: nine independ- composer writes: “For my part, I wanted to reduce my piano writing to ent pieces, minutely intertwined. The music revolves around a B-C tremolo primordial ideas of technique: breaking, cutting, assembling. From this point and is supported on the resonance of a low F which is only unveiled right at one can move on to imagine representations of more complicated gestures, the end of the cycle - as in Territoires de l'Oubli , allowing the loop to be like elastic deformations, flexing, twisting. These actions are all tied to closed... for now.” Tristan Murail was a student of Olivier Messiaen at the configurations of the attack. I therefore attempted a comprehensive Paris Conservatoire and has taught in Europe, Asia, and America (at exploration of the dynamic procedure of writing for the piano.” Columbia University, and as a featured composer at SICPP). – Marilyn Nonken

Rakowski Solid Goldie, Sizzle Solid Goldie and Sizzle were written for my daughters, Goldie Celeste Hunka THURSDAY , JUNE 23, 2016 (b. 2008) and Billie Swift Hunka (b. 2010). Both these small works demon- strate the notorious wit, virtuosity and flair of one of today's most prolific Stockhausen Vibra-Elufa American contributors to the piano repertoire. Vibra-Elufa is a version for vibraphone of the final scene of Freitag aus Licht Since meeting David Rakowski when I was a graduate student at (Friday from Light), Elufa for basset-horn and flute (1991).