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Home , Construction (Cage), David Starobin, Glen Velez, Imaginary Landscape, Music of Changes, Notations

The William Paterson University Department of Music

presents New Music Series Peter Jarvis, director

Featuring the Velez / Jarvis Duo, Judith Bettina & James Goldsworthy, Daniel Lippel and the William Paterson University

Monday, October 17, 2016, 7:00 PM Shea Center for the Performing Arts

Program

Mundus Canis (1997) George Crumb Five Humoresques for Guitar and Percussion 1. “Tammy” 2. “Fritzi” 3. “Heidel” 4. “Emma‐Jean” 5. “Yoda”

Phonemena (1975) Milton Babbitt For Voice and Electronics

Judith Bettina, voice

Phonemena (1969) Milton Babbitt For Voice and Judith Bettina, voice James Goldsworthy, Piano

Penance Creek (2016) * Glen Velez For Frame Drums and Drum Set Glen Velez – Frame Drums Peter Jarvis – Drum Set

Themes and Improvisations Peter Jarvis For open Ensemble Glen Velez & Peter Jarvis

Controlled Improvisation Number 4, Opus 48 (2016) * Peter Jarvis For Frame Drums and Drum Set Glen Velez – Frame Drums Peter Jarvis – Drum Set

Aria (1958) For a Voice of any Range

Judith Bettina

May Rain (1941) For Soprano, Piano and Tam‐tam Elsa Gidlow

Judith Bettina, James Goldsworthy, Peter Jarvis

Ostinato Mezzo Forte, Opus 51 (2016) * Peter Jarvis For Percussion Band

Evan Chertok, David Endean, Greg Fredric, Jesse Gerbasi Daniel Lucci, Elise Macloon Sean Dello Monaco – Drum Set

* = World Premiere Program Notes

Mundus Canis: George Crumb George Crumb’s Mundus Canis came about in 1997 when he wanted to write a solo guitar piece for his friend David Starobin that would be a musical homage to the lineage of Crumb family dogs. He explains, “It occurred to me that the feline species has been disproportionately memorialized in music and I wanted to help redress the balance.” Crumb calls the work “a suite of five canis humoresques” with a character study of each dog implied through the music. Each of the five movements is named after one of the family dogs:

Crumb Writes: 1. “Tammy, a brown, short‐haired, full‐size dachshund, and the first dog in our family, exhibited qualities ranging from nobility to capriciousness.” 2. “Fritzi’s piece, marked furioso in the score, expresses a pronounced impetuosity and irrepressibility of spirit.” 3. “The dog Heidel (acquired on a visit to Heidelberg, Germany) was our first long‐haired specimen of the breed, a rich brown in color, who exhibited a philosophical disposition and confounding depths of personality.” 4. “Emma‐Jean was a jet black miniature female dachshund of a definitely coquettish nature.” 5. “The final character in our quintet of dogs is Yoda, who was rescued from a pound by my daughter. He is a fluffy‐white animal of mixed parentage (in which the bichon frise strain predominates) and mercurial temperament…Yoda’s naughty, yet endearing, pranks necessitate an occasional scolding from master or mistress. But in an instant, all forgiven, Yoda plops in one’s lap!” ‐ Andrew Bergeron

Aria: John Cage The Score for Aria (1958) consists of 20 pages of music, each page being sufficient for 30 seconds in performance. Pages may be performed over longer or shorter time‐ranges to create a program of a determined time‐length. The Aria may be performed as a solo, or with Fontana Mix (a composition from 1958) and/or with any parts of the Concert for Piano and Orchestra. The text employs vowels and consonants and works from American, Russian, Italian, French and English. The notation consists basically of wavy lines in different colors and 16 black squares denoting “non‐musical” vocal noises. The colors denote different singing styles, to be determined by the singer. Cage used Fontana Mix as a composing means to create this Aria. ‐ From http://www.johncage.info/workscage/aria.html

Penance Creek: Glen Velez Penance Creek was completed on July 28, 2016. Dedicated to esteemed percussionist Peter Jarvis. The piece explores the interplay between hand drumming and stick drumming, giving the freedom to the performers to reconcile the dynamic and coloristic differences. The title is a result of my meditations on the power of flowing water, its bubbling sound over rocks in a creek is the sound of cleansing. ‐ Glen Velez

Controlled Improvisation Number 4: Peter Jarvis Controlled Improvisation Number 4 was completed on June 13, 2012. It is respectfully dedicated to master performer Glen Velez. The 4th piece in an ongoing series of 6 “controlled improvisations” it is designed to explore the delicate combination of notated and improvised music. In some cases the improvisations are free, at other times the improvisations are pitches only with notated rhythms. Sometimes one player has notated music while the other is improvising. At times both parts are fully notated and finally there are moments when both players are improvising at the same time. It is my hope that, in performance, a listener will be hard‐pressed to tell which music is improvised and which is notated. Controlled Improvisation Number 1 is for electric guitar and drumset and was composed for Gene Pritsker. Controlled Improvisation Number 2 is for amplified or electric violin and drumset and was composed for Lynn Bechtold. Controlled Improvisation Number 3 is for accordion and drum set and was composed for William Schimmel. ‐ Peter Jarvis

Phonemena: Milton Babbitt Milton Babbitt contributed the following program note for a concert at the Juilliard School celebrating his 85th birthday on May 10, 2001: Phonemena was composed for voice and piano in 1969. The voice part was retained intact, and the “accompaniment” only slightly modified but timbrally “clarified” in the voice and synthesizer version of 1975. In the first version, by virtue of the medium, the voice is focal and central, but in the second version the voice is a component of the total timbral ensemble, to which it contributes its own “ensemble” , composed of timbral lines characterized by phonemic compounds, various concatenations of 12 vowel formants, and 24 consonant envelopes, which serve to delineate linear constituents of the polyphonic total. ‐ Milton Babbitt

May Rain: Lou Harrison May Rain was written for my friend William Weaver to sing. The beautiful poem is one from a sequence titled From Alba Hill by the wonderful Elsa Gidlow. It first appeared in the very early thirties and currently is printed in her Sapphic Songs Seventeen to Seventy (Diana Press, 1976). The music was printed in the first issue of Peter Garland's Soundings. ‐ Lou Harrison

Ostinato Mezzo Forte: Peter Jarvis Ostinato Pianissimo by Henry Cowell, composed in 1934, is one of my most beloved pieces of music. It is a classic in the percussion repertoire and is one of the earlier pieces composed for the genre. My Ostinato Mezzo Forte was completed on June 18, 2016 and is dedicated to Henry Cowell. However, it was composed specifically for Sean Dello Monaco and the William Paterson University Percussion Ensemble. In my piece, the ensemble of seven players is made up of six players each performing an individual ostinato, in different meters, while a drummer improvises a solo over the collective “ostinato.” The duration of the piece is determined by the performers, but should never be less than 3 minutes long. When the time feels appropriate, one of the ensemble members cues the rest of the ensemble to proceed to a predetermined ending. ‐ Peter Jarvis

Biographical Information

William Paterson University New Music Series: The William Paterson University New Music Series is now in its 40th season. Directed by Peter Jarvis, the series presents 8 – 10 concerts a year consisting of a wire‐range of musical genres, 15‐20 premieres a season and includes many guest and distinguished guest performers. Over the past few seasons guests have included Robert Dick, Davis Taylor, Taka Kigawa, , Kevin Norton, Michiyo Suzuki, Steve Rush, Franz Hackl, Gene Pritsker, Composers Concordance and many others. Noted for innovative and high‐quality performances, the New Music Connoisseur cited “The presentation of the Rzewski composition (Coming Together) was as grand and exciting as a Mahler symphony. The audience was left breathless by the histrionics, the virtuosity, the interpretation, the rigorous baton of maestro (Peter) Jarvis, and the dedication of the performers to bring about this epic twentieth‐century composition.” – Helmut Calabrese

Velez / Jarvis Duo: The Velez / Jarvis Duo, formed in 2016, is a percussion duo, primarily made up of frames drums and drum set. After several collaborations on larger projects, we decided to form this duo. While exploring our mutual interest in improvisation, new pieces are being composed the ensemble. Milton Babbitt: Milton Babbitt, who died two years shy of his 95th birthday, was a towering and unique figure in music. Musicians as different as , Stephen Sondheim and James Levine have declared him one of the greatest composers of all time. Yet he was equally esteemed as a music theorist. As a , he will forever be heralded as a pioneer both in and in the techniques of twelve‐tone serialism. As a theorist, he was often thought of as perhaps the most profound musical thinker ever to have lived. Best known is his careful formulation, explication and wide extension of Schoenberg’s twelve‐tone methodology; but he also was the first to think about musical coherence and structuring in general at unprecedentedly deep levels. So as he pointed the way for composers of electronic and twelve‐tone music, he also almost singlehandedly was responsible for the emergence of music theory ‐ really a branch of philosophical inquiry ‐ as an academic discipline in the United States. What always astounded his countless colleagues and students is that this deep intellection always existed side‐by‐side with his phenomenally wide knowledge of subjects that were his cherished hobbies, which included baseball, jazz, American popular music and beer. He was deeply knowledgeable in all the arts and sciences (he did classified work in mathematics during the Second World War). He was mentor and friend to all who sought him out. He was a speaker, writer and raconteur of unbounded energy, grace, fluidity and wit. His writings about music are published by Princeton University Press as "The Collected Essays if Milton Babbitt;" and the products of his sixty years of continuous composing, in an uncompromisingly difficult style that was uniquely his own and instantly recognizable, are everywhere available. These twin achievements are what he left us. ‐ Jeffrey Kresky

Judith Bettina and James Goldsworthy: Soprano Judith Bettina and pianist James Goldsworthy have been collaborating on works that have been written for them since first meeting while on the faculty of Stanford University. Composers of these works have included Milton Babbitt, Mel Powell, Tobias Picker, Chester Biscardi, David Rakowski and Christopher Berg, among others. Their recording of Milton Babbitt’s Phonemena can be heard on the Bridge Records CD entitled Songs and Encores. Ms. Bettina, who has been a soloist with the Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The American Composers’ Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, has also performed with James Levine and the Met Chamber Ensemble. Her performance of the electronic version of Phonemena was recorded for Neuma Records. Goldsworthy is on the piano faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East. He is Director of the “New Works for Young Pianists Commissioning Project.” Ms. Bettina and Mr. Goldsworthy look forward to another residency at the Longy School of Music at Bard College in Spring, 2017 when they will premiere the song cycle The Mystery of Deep Candor, written for them by David Rakowski, a recent inductee of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

John Cage: John Cage (1912‐1992) left Pomona College early to travel in Europe (1930‐31), then studied with Cowell in New York (1933‐4) and Schönberg in Los Angeles (1934): his first published compositions, in a rigorous atonal system of his own, date from this period. In 1937 he moved to Seattle to work as a dance accompanist, and there in 1938 he founded a percussion orchestra; his music now concerned with filling units of time with ostinatos (First (in Metal), 1939). He also began to use electronic devices (variable‐speed turntables in lmaginary Landscape no.1, 1939) and invented the '', placing diverse objects between the strings of a grand piano in order to create an effective percussion orchestra under the control of two hands. He moved to San Francisco in 1939, to Chicago in 1941 and back to New York in 1942, all the time writing music for dance companies (notably for Merce Cunningham), nearly always for prepared piano or percussion ensemble. There were also major concert works for the new instrument: A Book of Music (1944) and Three Dances (1945) for two prepared , and the and Interludes (1948) for one. During this period Cage became interested in Eastern philosophies, especially in Zen, from which he gained a treasuring of non‐intention. Working to remove creative choice from composition, he used coin tosses to determine events ( for piano, 1951), wrote for 12 radios ( no.4, also 1951) and introduced other indeterminate techniques. His 4'33" (1952) has no sound added to that of the environment in which it is performed; the Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958) is an encyclopedia of indeterminate . Yet other works show his growing interest in the theatre of musical performance (Water Music, 1952, for pianist with a variety of non‐standard equipment) and in electronics (Imaginary Landscape no.5 for randomly mixed recordings, 1952; Cartridge Music for small sounds amplified in live performance, 1960), culminating in various large‐scale events staged as jamborees of haphazardness (HPSCHD for harpsichords, tapes etc, 1969). The later output is various, including indeterminate works, others fully notated within a very limited range of material, and pieces for natural resources (plants, shells). Cage also appeared widely in Europe and the USA as a lecturer and performer, having an enormous influence on younger musicians and artists; he wrote several books. ‐ Extracted with permission from The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music ‐ edited by Stanley Sadie

George Crumb: George Crumb was born 24 October 1929 in Charleston, West Virginia. He received his D..A. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he studied composition with Ross Lee Finney. Crumb has received numerous awards, honors and commissions (Pulitzer Prize 1968; International Rostrum of Composers (UNESCO) Award 1971; Fromm, Guggenheim, Koussevitzky and Rockefeller Foundations) and is a member of the National Institute of Arts & Letters. Presently he is composer in residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Audience enthusiasm, critical acclaim and colleagues' praise have been extensive for Crumb's mature works (dating from approximately 1962). Among those qualities that are most frequently cited are the following: an extraordinarily sensitive ear resulting in highly refined timbral nuances; a very powerful evocative sense and a sureness and concision in realizing his musical intentions. All of these interact structurally to form a body of music which is Moving and convincing.

Elsa Gidlow: Elsa Gidlow was a prominent Bay Area poet who became an important mentor to many feminists during the 1970s. Born in 1898 in Hull, England, she emigrated with her family to Montreal while she was still a small child. Then at 19 she moved to New York City. By 1921, Elsa published On A Grey Thread, the first openly lesbian book of poetry in the United States. In addition to several books of poetry and numerous articles, Gidlow published her autobiography, Elsa: I Come with My Songs, in 1986. Her papers are now part of the collections of The Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California. Her manuscripts and writings detail her relationships and friendships with people like June Singer, Alan Watts, Lou Harrison, Frank Harris, Robinson Jeffers, Clarkston Crane and Ella Young. The collection documents Gidlow's personal life, public activity, and literary accomplishments from 1920 until her death in 1986.

Lou Harrison: Lou Harrison (May 14, 1917 ‐ February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat (Pak Cokro). Harrison is particularly noted for incorporating elements of the music of non‐Western cultures into his work, with a number of pieces featuring traditional Indonesian gamelan instruments, and several more featuring versions of them made out of tin cans and other materials. The majority of his works are written in just intonation rather than the more widespread equal temperament. Harrison is one of the most prominent composers to have worked with microtones. ‐ Extracted from Wikipedia

Peter Jarvis: Peter Jarvis (b. 1959, Hackensack, New Jersey) ("Jarvis' podium style embedded precision within flowing gestures, a philosophy of movement which clearly transferred itself to the players" ‐ Classical New Jersey) is a percussionist, drummer, conductor, composer, music copyist, print music editor and college professor. He is an Associate Director of the composer Concordance and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Over the decades, he has performed popular and unpopular music with equal enthusiasm. He has performed as a soloist, chamber player, Broadway musician and as conductor/player with chamber music ensembles, orchestras and choruses. The proliferation of percussion literature is extremely important to Jarvis and he has performed approximately 100 solo pieces for multi percussion, timpani, vibraphone, marimba, solo snare drum and drum set composed for him. Jarvis composed, orchestrated, arranged and performed music for Moonrise Kingdom, a film by Wes Anderson, which opened the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2012. Moonrise Kingdom received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Score" and an Academy Award nomination in 2013. His involvement in the film as a composer included various individual projects ranging from adding music to a score by Benjamin Britten and composing original music for several scenes. As arranger and orchestrator he worked on music composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and as performer he led a percussion section and provided several improvisations. He has also performed his own solo percussion music for the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons of the HBO Series Boardwalk Empire. During the third season, his music appeared in seven episodes. More recently Jarvis worked on Ang Lee’s movie Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which will be released in 2016. His involvement on the project included transcribing, arranging and as percussionist. As conductor, he has appeared with the Saint Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, Composers Concordance, and many other groups. Jarvis composed, orchestrated, arranged and performed music for Wes Anderson’s film Moonrise Kingdom, which received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Score. He has also performed his own solo percussion music for several episodes of the HBO Series Boardwalk Empire. He has recorded a great many pieces as soloist, chamber musician and conductor for several labels. His compositions are published by Calabrese Brothers Music LLC, Indian Paintbrush Productions and L‐T Music Publishing and he is a member of BMI. ‐ From Wikipedia

Daniel Lippel: Guitarist Daniel Lippel, called an “exciting soloist” (New York Times), “precise and sensitive” (Boston Globe), and a "modern guitar polymath" (Guitar Review) enjoys a diverse career that ranges through solo and chamber music performances, innovative commissioning and recording projects, and performances in diverse contexts. He has premiered more than fifty new solo and chamber works, recording several on the independent label he owns and directs, New Focus Recordings. Lippel has been the guitarist for the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) since 2005, and new music quartet Flexible Music since 2003. As a chamber musician, Lippel has performed at the Macau Music Festival (China), Teatro Amazonas (Manaus, Brasil), Sibelius Academy (Finland), Acht Brücken Festival (Cologne, Germany), and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, and has been a guest with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York New Music Ensemble, Either/Or Ensemble, Argento Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, counter(induction, Red Light New Music, and the Monadnock, Alpenglow, Cooperstown, and Manchester Music Festivals. In addition to New Focus, he has recorded for several labels including Kairos, Tzadik, Bridge, Albany, Centaur, Starkland, Temporary Residence, and Fat Cat. Recent recital highlights include the Sinus Ton Festival (Germany), Sydney Conservatorium of Music (as one of two finalists in their international search for Full‐time Lecturer in guitar), University of Texas at San Antonio, Tangents Guitar Series at the Center for New Music in San Francisco, and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland. Lippel has worked with many eminent composers including , Magnus Lindberg, Ursula Mamlok, and Nils Vigeland, and also collaborated on new works with several of contemporary music’s most active younger composers, including Dai Fujikura, Ken Ueno, Nico Muhly, and Reiko Fueting. Lippel has given masterclasses and lecture presentations at Curtis Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin, Peabody Conservatory of Music, among many others. He received his DMA from the Manhattan School of Music, under the guidance of David Starobin, studying previously with Jason Vieaux, John Holmquist, Stephen Aron, David Leisner, and Nicholas Goluses.

Glen Velez: Four‐time Grammy Award‐winner Glen Velez is an internationally‐acclaimed soloist and seminal figure in the modern history of the . In 2014 Glen was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society “Hall of Fame.” For over three decades, Velez has brought a new genre of drumming to the Western world by creating his own performance style, inspired by years of studying frame drumming techniques from various cultures. Regarded as a legendary figure among musicians and audiences world‐wide, twentieth century composer John Cage acknowledged Velez' mastery of the instrument by writing a piece especially for him in 1989. After many years performing and recording with the Ensemble and the Consort, Velez maintains an international touring schedule as a soloist while teaching at Mannes College of Music. His Handance Method uses simple movements and vocal rhythms to teach frame drumming and mind body synchronization.

Many Thanks to the Tech Crew under the Direction of Al Schaefer.

New Music Series – 2016 ‐ 2017 All Concerts are at 7:00 PM unless otherwise stated. All performances are in Shea Auditorium unless otherwise stated. All programs are subject to change without notice.

September 19, 2016 – Bill Schimmel at 70: New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, B3+ Brass Trio, CompCord Ensemble & William Schimmel. October 17, 2016 – Velez/Jarvis Duo, other TBA November 7, 2016 – WPU New Music and Percussion Ensembles. Music of George Crumb, Peter Jarvis, Gene Pritsker, others TBA November 28, 2015 – WPU Percussion Ensemble & New Jersey Percussion Ensemble February 6, 2017 – TBA February 27, 2017 ‐ TBA March 9, 2017: This concert is on a Thursday and it begins at 12:30PM. Composer in Residence Day featuring our 5th annual WPU Composer concert. Music by WPU students, alumni and faculty. March 20, 2017 – WPU New Music and Percussion Ensembles. April 24, 2017 ‐ WPU New Music and Percussion Ensembles.