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P e r u s a l October‘ poem for dayes end for alto flute Donald Steven ISMN: 979-0-706080-74-1 CP094 Program Note by the Composer October is the first work in the central part of the triptych Floating Verses1, a set of pieces written for four woodwind players (alto flute, clarinet, bassoon and shakuhatchi), harp, percussion, viola, cello, piano, and recorded material. Traditional music comes to us through the generations primarily via the oral tradition. While some of this music undoubtedly remains remarkably true to its origins, due to its important cultural role and the rigor of the transmission process from one generation to the next, much traditional music has mutated countless times. A significant aspect of this repetitive/regenerative process, particularly in improvised blues, is the adoption or transmigration of lyrics from one song to another, a process sometimes referred to as floating verses, floating lyrics, or maverick stanzas. In this triptych, a similar process unfolds, as specific moments, mostly of limited scope, reappear from one piece to another, in different contexts though not in dissimilar spirit. The seed for this reflective unfolding is the use, in the opening and closing of October, of the Epitaph of Seikilos, which is generally acknowledged as the oldest surviving complete musical composition. The inscription on the epitaph is taken from Plato’s Meno, quoting Socrates and inviting us to wonder about the possibility that the soul may be reborn and to take from that sense how we ought to strive to live our time on earth ‘in perfect holiness.’ October is written for alto flute, though I can see no reason beyond practical considerations, why it could not be beautifully realized on other instruments — including traditional instruments — that have the range and ability to speak to the intimacy of the work. 1. The other works are souvenirs d’autrefois and Dusk. Composer Biography Donald Steven is an award-winning composer whose works have been performed on four continents. Born in Montréal, Mr. Steven has won a number of important awards including the Jules-Léger Prize for Chamber Music and the JUNO Award for “Best Classical Composition” from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, deemed by many to be the highest honors for composers in Canada. Mr. Steven has also been nominated for the “Composer of the Year” Award from the Canadian Music Council and has won the Golden Jubilee Creative Arts Award from the Canadian Federation of University Women. His music has been played throughout the world, including the World Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music and the World Cello Congress, and has been performed by major artists and orchestras, including Maureen Forrester, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Bertram Turetzky, the Pierrot Ensemble, l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, the ensemble Newband, the Harry Partch Instrumentarium, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In addition to classical music, Mr. Steven has a background as a performer and arranger in folk and rock music playing 12-string guitar and five-string banjo, and has worked as an arranger for, among others, the McGarrigle Sisters, Stan Rogers, and Graham Townsend. He has held fellowships from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Québec, and Princeton University, and received grants from the McGill Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Mr. Steven received his M.F.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University (where he studied with, among others, Milton Babbitt and Steven Mackey) and his Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University. He taught composition, electronic and computer music, and orchestration at the University of Western Ontario and McGill before becoming dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, SUNY and, subsequently, Dean of Roosevelt University’s School of the Performing Arts and the Chicago Musical College where he championed the development of its Orchestral Training Program and developed a faculty comprised of many of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal players. At McGill he was successively Head of the Composition Area and Chair of the Department of Performance and was involved in the modernization of the Electronic Music Studio and the evolution of computer music studies. Mr. Steven has served as a member of the Educational Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Artistic Director of the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts, Composer-in-Residence at the Courtenay Youth Music Festival, and on many juries, including the Shanghai International Radio Festival and as Chairman of the International Jury for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Competition for Young Composers. In addition to his professional work in music, Mr. Steven has served in a number of senior academic administrative positions. He has retired from his post as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rider University, where he was also professor of composition at Westminster Choir College. Music cover graphic design: Jean-Marie Barker Image design is of the Epitaph of Seikilos They say that the soul of man is immortal, and at one time has an end, which is termed dying, and at another time is born again, but is never destroyed. And the moral is, that a man ought to live always in perfect holiness... The soul then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or the world below, has knowledge of them all... Socrates, in Plato’s Meno October epitaph: We are but turn’d aside to sleep meditation: Golden fields lie before me ...segue... epitaph (reprise): Souls from their graves remov’d... 4 October‘ poem for dayes end P e r u s a l * Donald Steven 2017 We are but turn’d aside to sleep non vibrato, without effect * As long as you live, shine Grieve you not at all Life is of brief duration 1 Time demands its ends. 1. Anthology for Music in Western Civilization, Volume I: Media Update By Timothy J. Roden, Craig Wright, Bryan R. Simms © Copyright 2017 Donald Steven © Copyright Assigned 2018 to Counterpoint Music Library Services © Copyright 2020 Counterpoint Music Library Services 5 P e r u s a l Golden fields lie before me 6 P e r u s a l 7 P e r u s a l ...segue... 8 P e r u s a l Souls from their graves remov’d... non vibrato, without effect Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 2017.

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