Lansing McLoskey The Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble What We Do Is Secret Eric Hewitt, conductor The Madding Crowd Triton Brass Nico Muhly So to Speak Keith Kusterer of patina Justin Barish Machine Music www.albanyrecords.com TROY1442 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2013 albany records made in the usa ddd waRning: cOpyrighT subsisTs in all Recordings issued undeR This label. lansing Mcloskey (b.1964) has been described as “a major talent and a deep thinker with a great Lansing McLoskey: What We Do Is Secret (2011) ear” by the American Composers Orchestra, “an I came to the world of composition via a somewhat unorthodox route. The proverbial “Three B’s” for engaging, gifted composer writing smart, com- me were not Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but rather The Beatles, Bauhaus and Black Flag. My first pelling and fascinating music…with a bluesy experiences at writing music were not exercises in counterpoint, but as the guitarist and songwriter edge and infectious punch” by Gramophone for punk rock bands in San Francisco in the early 1980’s. It was actually through these years in the Magazine, and “a unique musical voice which is visceral world of punk that I first developed a love for classical music (but that’s another story). clear and distinctive” by the American Academy What We Do Is Secret draws its title from the seminal 1978 album by the early punk band The of Arts and Letters. McLoskey’s music has been Germs. Likewise, each movement is titled after the name of a song from an early Los Angeles punk performed to critical acclaim across the U.S. and in fourteen other countries on six continents, and has band; respectively, “Strange Notes” by The Germs, “The Unheard Music” by X, “New York’s Alright an emotional intensity that appeals to academic and amateur alike, defying traditional stylistic (…If You Like Saxophones)” by Fear, and “Rise Above” by Black Flag. The concerto is an homage to pigeonholes. He has won more than two dozen national and international awards, including the pres- these groundbreaking and influential bands and countless others like them, who despite being lost tigious Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, awarded to a in oblivion to the mainstream and having never achieved any semblance of commercial success, “composer of exceptional gifts.” Among his many commissions are those from the Barlow Endowment, nevertheless gave voice to the frustrations of a generation and ultimately changed the face of popular Meet The Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Fromm music. Rising from the ashes of the decadent, self-indulgent ’70s, this was “alternative rock” before Foundation, the soundSCAPE Festival (Italy), King’s Chapel (Boston), and many others. He has written the term was co-opted by corporate record labels, MTV, Hot Topics and Abercrombie & Fitch. for such ensembles as The Hilliard Ensemble, Triton Brass, Atlantic Brass, newEar Ensemble, Dinosaur It’s important to note, however, that the piece is in no way an attempt at a “punk concerto” and Annex, The New Millennium Ensemble, Speculum Musicæ, violist Leticia Oaks Strong of the Los Angeles does not quote any of the actual music in a cheap, postmodern pastiche, but rather uses the song titles Philharmonic, The Calyx Trio, Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble and The Crossing Choir. alone as touchstones and points of inspiration and departure. In addition to his compositional activities, McLoskey spent many years playing in punk/experimental/ What We Do Is Secret was commissioned for Triton Brass and The Boston Conservatory Wind surf/noise bands, owned a skateboard company, wrote a research book on 20th century Danish music, Ensemble by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University. I would like and spent two decades performing early music as a singer and conductor. These diverse experiences to give special thanks to Triton Brass and Eric Hewitt for their unrelenting dedication to music as a and interests from medieval and Renaissance music to Danish music, jazz and experimental/alt rock living art form. converge in McLoskey’s own work; at times in an overt fashion, but more often as influences rippling —Lansing McLoskey underneath the surface of the music, like water flowing under the ice of a frozen river. McLoskey completed a Ph.D. at Harvard University, and holds degrees with honors from UC Santa Barbara and the USC Thornton School of Music, with additional studies at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. On the faculty at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, McLoskey’s music is published by the Theodore Presser Company, American Composers Alliance Press, Mostly Marimba, Reed Music, Subito Music, and Odhecaton Z Music. www.lansingmcloskey.com Nico Muhly: So to Speak (After Thomas Tallis) (2004) Born in Vermont and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Muhly graduated from Columbia University So to Speak (After Thomas Tallis) is an extended meditation on an anthem for Pentecost by Thomas Tallis with a degree in English Literature. In 2004, he received a Masters in Music from the Juilliard School, entitled Loquebantur Variis Linguis (“they spoke in many tongues”). After organizing the material for where he studied under Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano. From his sophomore year of college, the piece, I wrote a melody that works against, underneath, and above Tallis’s lines to create counterpoint Muhly worked for Philip Glass as a MIDI programmer and editor for six years. www.nicomuhly.com made of old and new elements. Patterns of aggressive woodwind scales and ornaments evoke some of the hysteria inherent in glossolalia (ecstatic speaking in tongues). The central section of the piece gestures Keith Kusterer: of patina (2013) towards an insect-like musical and religious fervor. So to Speak is dedicated to Amiel Melnick. The The word ‘patina’ refers to any fading, darkening or other signs of age (often concerning metals transcription for wind ensemble was done for Eric Hewitt and the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble. such as copper or bronze), which are felt to be natural and unavoidable. Ironically, the unavoidable —Nico Muhly weathering is viewed as special and aesthetically appealing; soft, hidden beauty lies beneath the most vibrant and booming of matters. Similarly, the compositional process with this work for wind ensemble nico Muhly (b.1981) is one of the most successful composers of his generation. embodied a ‘wearing down’ from a meaty original conception, the actual scored remnants simplified He first drew broad notice for his collaboration with singer Björk on her 2004 and an orchestration left seemingly skeletal. An element of slow, accumulated change in surface and DVD Oceania, and was soon on a meteoric ascent. Muhly’s orchestral works color (like oxidation/other chemical reactions) is often activated by the combined metallic timbres of have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston harps and percussion with the growing ‘gusts’ of the ensemble. Pops, American Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, —Keith Kusterer the Seattle Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and Aurora Orchestra. He has composed a wide scope of work for ensembles, soloists and Keith Kusterer (b.1981) is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, organizations including the American Ballet Theater, Carnegie Hall, violinist conductor, producer and arranger of various forms of sonic Hilary Hahn, Gotham Chamber Opera, choreographer Benjamin Millepied, art. He writes music for both the concert stage and interdis- New York City Ballet, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Paris Opéra Ballet, ciplinary performance projects, collaborating with artists in soprano Jessica Rivera, The Royal Ballet, Saint Thomas Church in New York the fields of theater, film and dance. As a younger musician, City, Nederlands Ballet, and the Five Browns. Muhly has also lent his skills as he received an award from the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting performer, arranger and conductor to Antony and the Johnsons, Bonnie “Prince” Competition, several years later became the recipient of the Billy, Doveman, Grizzly Bear, Jónsi of the band Sigur Rós, and Usher. 2008 Allen-Turner Award in Composition and was selected as Muhly’s first full-scale opera, Two Boys, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln the Winner of the 2012 Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble Center Theater and the English National Opera. Among Muhly’s most frequent collaborators are his Competition. Keith holds degrees in composition from the colleagues at Bedroom Community, an artist-run label headed by Icelandic musician Valgeir Boston Conservatory (M.M 2013) and Columbia College Chicago (Valedictorian, B.M 2011), studying Sigurðsson. Muhly’s film credits include scores for Joshua (2007), Margaret (2009) and Best Picture with celebrated composers such as Marcos Balter, Ilya Levinson, Marti Epstein and Curtis Hughes. In nominee The Reader (2008); all have been recorded and released commercially. collaboration with Columbia College-Chicago and Fujitsu Ten’s ‘Eclipse Master-Class,’ he served as assistant to Stephen Burns, the Artistic Director of Fulcrum Point New Music Project (2010-2011) and also conducted an original film score recording with the studio orchestra at Capitol Records. Keith has well as participating in masterclasses with Simon Bainbridge and