ROGER REYNOLDS Aspiration

Irvine Arditti Paul Hembree inauthentica Mark Menzies Roger Reynolds (*1934)

CD 1 CD 2

1 Shifting/Drifting 1 Aspiration for violin and real-time algorithmic for solo violin and transformation (2015) 23:36 chamber orchestra (2004/05) 29:47 commissioned by UC San Diego ArtPower, commissioned by the California Institute of the Arts, and Oslo Sinfonietta and the Stanford University Nouvel Ensemble Moderne

2 imagE/violin 2 Kokoro imAge/violin for solo violin (1991/92) 25:07 for solo violin (2015) 18:26 commissioned by Irvine Arditti with funds from the British Arts Council

TT 42:04 TT 54:55

Irvine Arditti violin Paul Hembree computer musician inauthentica Mark Menzies conductor

2 inauthentica Irvine Arditti solo violin Sarah Wass flute Phil O’Connor Eb clarinet James Sullivan bass clarinet Jonathan Stehney bassoon Allen Fogle horn Mike Davis trumpet Matt Barbier trombone James Waterman percussion Richard Valitutto piano Andrew Tholl, Mona Tian violins Ben Hudson viola Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick cello Scott Worthington bass Mark Menzies conductor

Recording dates: CD1: 1 24 Sept 2015 2 4–5 Aug 2015, 26 Sept 2015 CD2: 1 2 Oct 2015 2 25–26 Sept 2015 Recording venues: CD1: 1 Theater of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technologies, UC San Diego 2 Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego CD2: 1 Citrus College, Los Angeles 2 Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego Recording supervisor: Roger Reynolds Recording engineer, editor: CD1: 1 Paul Hembree 2 Josef Kucera CD2: 1 Nicolas Tipp 2 Josef Kucera Producers: CD1: 1 Paul Hembree 2 Irvine Arditti CD2: 1 2 Mark Menzies, Irvine Arditti Final mastering: Josef Kucera Publisher: Edition Peters New York Graphic design: Alexander Kremmers (paladino media), cover based on Artwork by Enrique Fuentes (“Centralizaciion”, 2011)

3 Roger Reynolds

© Malcolm Crowthers © Malcolm 4 While composing the music that would become Aspiration, a title came into my mind as an inevitability. Perhaps because of Irvine’s ways, perhaps because of my creative resolve, who knows? But one day it was there. I mentioned the title to Ir- vine in an email and he responded, “That’s a strange name.” Dedicated as he is to ideal outcomes, he was perhaps not at that moment considering that they are always uncertain, a sought-for result of the peril- ous act of “reaching further”. He suggested calling this two-CD set ASPIRATION, and I immediately embraced the idea. I mean to honor, in a general way, the ideal and the practice of always doing everything one imagines one might in search of elevated outcomes. Roger Reynolds

5 Reynolds — works for violin, been: Joachim and Brahms. I don’t assert more than “prodding“, and in the effort to written for and dedicated to an exact parallel, or indeed an heroic re- be deferential, nothing but irritating. No Arditti 1992–2015 play, of a past model. Rather, I imagined doubt with much patience towards my that Brahms’ notion of what the violin preliminary literary skills, I find the result- Mark Menzies in conversation with could express was manifestly suggest- ing answers moving: mostly because it is Roger Reynolds and Irvine Arditti ed by Joachim’s (virtuoso) ability and his so rare to read about people’s motivations greatly informed musical resourcefulness in collaborative art-making, particularly in and empathy. Their interaction lasted de- view of the great success that both these cades, with the music that came out of it wondrous artists enjoy. marking an evolution of possibility. This Mark Menzies, Christchurch, As we were completing the editing of Aspi- also sums up Roger and Irvine’s collabora- New Zealand ration, a question arose: how to approach tion perfectly. creating the liner notes for this collected Mark Menzies: Reflecting on the history of release of Reynolds’ works for violin. It is certain that Brahms was inspired by a long-term collaboration, and I am think- the breadth of Joachim’s performing rep- ing of Brahms and Joachim: how did your Earlier, I had been asked to assist in the ertoire choices – everything from the then collaboration start? Were there agendas producing of the Kokoro recording. During almost completely unknown solo Bach on both of your minds, at the time? And, if that process I found myself suddenly in the repertoire, to string quartets, to the “nev- so, have these agendas developed? middle of the palpable collaborative ener- er-performed“ Beethoven concerto. Cer- gy between Roger and Irvine – an extraor- tainly I see an equivalent energy transfer Roger Reynolds: Irvine and I first encoun- dinary connection going back decades – in the case of Roger and Irvine. tered one another at the Huddersfield and it immediately occurred to me that it Festival in 1982. Graham Hayter, then was this, above all, that the liner notes had Whatever: these preliminaries are but Promotions Manager at Peters Edition in to document. whimsy to prepare for Irvine and Rog- London, had picked me up at Heathrow. er saying how it goes in their own words. Unexpectedly, he proposed that we drive Their essential commitment to a refin(d) It was not without trepidation that I pre- north from London for a weekend New ing energy, evoked what I have always pared questions for these two to get the Music Festival at which a young string imagined an “other” greatly consequential conversation rolling: one fears, in the ef- quartet was performing an all-Xenakis composer-violinist collaboration to have fort to be “probing“, that one does nothing program. Graham was eager for me to hear

6 this remarkable group. They performed in tive, there was no “calculation” of any kind Saram. The years pass. Karen and I wel- a dreary recital space of the music depart- about what would, or could, result from come Irvine and Hilda into our Del Mar ment of Huddersfield University, not a working with Irvine. There was, rather, an home and we enjoy our deck overlook- proper concert space at all, but a large room immediate “recognition” of a kindred soul. ing the Pacific. When I (or we) are in Lon- that featured a wall of windows looking don, either Hilda or I cook something for out onto a grey and rainy day. The concert In the following years, as a result of vari- us all, and the evenings glow. These times started at 11.15. The members of the quar- ous performances (in London, in Brussels, together, whether 2, 3, or 4 attend, are oc- tet performed Iannis’ solo and small string in the States …) we came to know one an- casions to treasure. They nourish our lives. ensemble works. Every performance had other. I was back in the UK, perhaps for the an intensely focused character; each was premiere of Coconino … a shattered land- MM: Brahms sought to comprehend the electrifying. scape at the Almeida Theater, and Irvine potential of the romantic violin through his offered a bed at his Golders Green home evolving connection with Joachim (who After the program, Graham introduced in London. I came to know him (and Jen- also led an eponymous quartet …) – did me to Irvine, and we shared a meal at an ny and their sons) in a way that could not you find a similar opportunity with Irvine, Indian restaurant. Irvine and I came to have happened in the normal “profession- in this case regarding what the “contempo- an agreement, on the spot. I would write al” contexts. As I think back on these years rary” violin could mean to you? them a new quartet, and, as the group had now, I wonder whether he invited every- no funds for commissioning, Irvine prom- one into his home or that this gesture was RR: Let me begin a response from a more ised that they would perform the new unusual. general perspective. Of course I had heard work multiple times, and eventually re- and admired great violinists such as Heifetz cord it. I agreed. They did. I was not then, and am not now, a “carous- and Oistrakh. And also, in the context of er” who cultivates late nights out, but, as their performances of contemporary rep- At that time, I had not yet developed re- the quartet’s pattern was to eat and drink ertoire: Menuhin (who played my teacher’s lationships with many performers, and it with relish after their concerts, I was drawn [Ross Lee Finney] solo sonata for violin) was immediately clear – it didn’t require into their mix, in a collegial embrace. And and Yfrah Neaman (who performed music an analytic process – that these musi- by all the members of the quartet, not only by my other mentor, Roberto Gerhard). I cians possessed the kind of dedication to Irvine. It was a heady pleasure: the gener- noticed the range of individual approaches, what they did that I felt in regard to my al banter, Irvine’s edgy dynamism, and the from, say, the Olympian objectivity of Heif- own composing. So, from my perspec- philosophical musings of cellist Rohan de etz, through the ingrained romanticism of

7 Oistrakh, to the occasional sentimentality egorized as “expressive license”. In those greater than two human hands could pos- of Menuhin. But it was less the style of times (1950s and 60s), there was an ef- sibly realize.). So virtuosity of a new sort, playing – strongly focused on the lyrical fort to organize objectively (even to serial- outside the boundaries of what had been linearity associated with the 19th-century ize) the nuances of pitch, time, dynamics, thought “idiomatic” to instruments now tonal repertoire – and more the nature of and timbre formerly a part of an individu- become an accepted musical dimension. the music that they chose to play that struck al performer’s expressivity. So string play- me. It had an almost “singular” character, ers, in particular, because of their instru- In yet another context, Cage’s music pro- as though there were only one way music ment’s “vocal character”, had, suddenly, to duced similar performative “impossibili- could respond to the world. play with improbable precision, executing ties” from the perspective of extrapolat- irrational rhythms and intricate metrical ed chance procedures (the distribution of And as the 20th century stumbled along, changes non vibrato, and with dynamic events by chance rather than by intention) the nature of music, perhaps more accu- patterns involving very rapid alternations as well as newly conceived responsibili- rately the “space” that music could inter- in forcefulness. Precision and objectivity ties that required performers to work out estingly inhabit, was changing. Not only became imperative if one were to repre- for themselves the implications of graph- during its first half with, say, the “brutal- sent a mid-20th-century musical score in ic scores and koan-like instructions such ism” of early Prokofiev and Bartok, but all its hyper-detailed specificity. as “The performance will last an agreed then much more radically after the World upon length of time.” War II. Different attitudes emerged regard- There were other forces at work as well. Af- ing what could serve as musical materials – ter his seminal intersection with Japanese For me, this meant that string instruments that is, altered attitudes regarding the pianist/composer, Yuji Takahashi (who offered the ideal medium for realizing acceptability of unconventional sounds inspired and premiered the immense- the use of a new flexibility and detail of themselves – (Cage, Nancarrow, Lachen- ly improbable solo work Herma), Xenakis specification, where pitch (through con- mann) and also about the organization proceeded to employ, increasingly, a hith- tinuous glissandi), timbre (through mod- of such new materials (Webern, Cage, Xe- ertofore unthinkable athleticism in his ifications of bow placement), extreme dis- nakis, Boulez, Feldman). The fact that “ob- scores. He presented performers with tasks continuities in linear contour (through the jectivity” was a requisite attitude in shap- that were at the least Herculean challeng- use of natural and artificial harmonics as ing post-WW II serialism caused a sharp es and at their most extreme, literally “un- well as open strings), both dynamic force- curtailment of what traditionally oriented playable” (I think of his 1973 piano work, fulness and reserve (employing extreme instrumentalists would formerly have cat- Evryali, that often prescribes densities far overpressure to wispy circular bowing),

8 felt “entirely reasonable”. [In regard to de- Irvine Arditti: I must say that I have just I had a few years sitting at the front of the tailed notational specification, I remember been getting on with the favourite hobby London Symphony orchestra. Great so- sending a score of Quick Are the Mouths of of my life … loists were within reach and I remember Earth to composer/conductor Larry Austin vividly one performance where, as con- in the 1960s, and receiving a long letter I suppose this began many years ago cert master, I was accompanying Isaac back from him. In it, I later realized, I had when I was 18 and went to Paris to dis- Stern who played three concertos. I had mis-read his “fussy” for “fuzzy”, assuming cuss and play Xenakis’ first solo violin learned well from orchestral colleagues that he thought I had not been detailed work Mikka for him. There were some un- that when accompanying a string con- enough. That was the nature of those playable parts and I wanted to clarify what certo one should play with bow slight- times.] he meant. I suppose this was my first ex- ly turned and with perhaps two or three perience of working with a composer as it hairs. A full string section playing piano Among all of the string soloists or ensem- preceded the first concert with the quar- the way a quartet member might, would bles I heard, Irvine and his quartet were tet. Xenakis never explained how I was to be a serious conflict for a solo instrument. quite simply peerless. He defined musi- tackle these sections of the piece but put cal potential, addressing challenge after the responsibility firmly on my shoulders When we beam forward to the 20th cen- challenge in a way that felt definitive. But by saying, “you will find a way“. Of course tury, (there was no 21st then) we see or- his playing also fixed in my aural imagina- I found many ways, and some years later chestral or ensemble players playing real tion exactly what a given musical gesture, Xenakis wrote his work Dox-Orkh (violin dynamics to accompany solo strings. It is notated, could sound like when realized and orchestra) for me. As well as wishing as though composers have had very lit- properly. Irvine became quite literally my to write a violin concerto for me, I think tle concept of balance and imagine that “door to plausible potential”. Dox-Orkh was Xenakis’ way of thanking a standing soloist can cut through any- me for my support as a significant string thing. Of course we can achieve this with MM: Irvine, how does (or has) your solo player, not only taking his music seriously a sound system and a re-balancing of pri- career fit into your evolution as a performer? but adoring it, and him, as we got to know orities. I took it on as my duty to inform each other. The concept of the piece was Xenakis and Roger of this when they came I don’t mean just pragmatically, but also in Dox = David and Orkh = Goliath. Myself, to write for me. Xenakis solved the prob- your gradual realization of the immense a lone string player, against the massive lem by making a large portion of the piece authority you enjoy as one of the preemi- forces of a large orchestra. a dialog between David and his oversized nent violinists of our time? partner.

9 When the quartet took full flight I consid- their part in the way we connect. Roger has changed over time. To what degree ered it as my main occupation. If I had en- would usually stay with us when he visited are you aware of altering your outlook on couraged too much of a solo career then I London. In the early days, when I was living this or other works, and why might it have would have been neglecting my responsi- with my first wife Jenny, Roger would slot happened? bilities to my three colleagues and as pri- in almost as a family member, certainly an marius to the quartet that bears my name. honorary one. He knew my three sons well IA: Kokoro is the oldest work recorded here My solo career has been the icing on top and even assisted with a science school and dates back to 1992. It was interesting of the cake. I have allowed few composers project of my eldest son Ben, by building that Roger could not attend the premiere into my private club but have now accu- with him an anemometer to take to school. in Brussels in early 1993 and we did not mulated several important works. (Ferney- Roger continues to come, and for many rehearse together prior to the premiere. hough: Terrain , Harvey: Scena, Francesconi: years now we have shared many a gourmet In a way, my interpretation became more Riti Neurali , Dillon: Vernal Showers, Pauset: evening at the hands of Roger’s culinary “open” and flexible, unlike the case with Vita Nova, Sciarrino: Le Stagioni Artificiali, talents or my present wife Hilda’s. other works written for me when I worked Paredes: Señales, and of course Reynolds: together with the composer from the Aspiration) MM: One of the realities of Joachim’s beginning. Not long after the premiere of relationship to Brahms was that the perfor- Kokoro, I recorded it at UCSD in a series of MM: Has your ongoing collaboration with mance practice of that music was largely recordings that also contained all Roger’s Roger had a place in that evolution? ”set” by that violinist’s preferences; his pref- quartets to date. This was released on Dis- erences and manner(isms) of playing later ques Montaine in the mid-90s. Roger has IA: Roger and I have had a “lifelong” rela- became synonymous with a rather opaque since worked with several violinists on the tionship over the best part of four decades. notion of what constituted the “romantic piece including yourself. Coming back to it What began as an occasional professional manner”. Many later-20th-century violinists recently, after sending Roger a recording interaction developed over the years into (and violists, cellists …) who are specialists of a concert where I had performed it, I a more wide-ranging friendship. Perhaps in contemporary music defined themselves received the following response: the reason for such a successful and fruitful in opposition to that well-established ideal. “The most distinctive quality of Kokoro relationship was because we got on so well It doesn’t seem you do that, Irvine. In fact, for a listener should be the variety of both professionally and as friends. Our when I assisted in producing your record- ways in which the music speaks. But interactions were not restricted to music, ing of Kokoro for this CD set, it was palpable this comes about not only because of as tennis and Roger’s cooking also played to me how much your view of that piece the objective differences from section

10 to section, but because of subjective It is interesting that, now, many years on, performers have benefited from my vision distinctions (of mood, if you will). The Roger has the wish to experiment with the of what performance could be, and from most striking – indeed breathtaking – time frame of Kokoro, making a more ex- the large repertoire that has been created shift of mood that you achieve in this pansive version. for me, and are taking up the fruits of my performance is in the final bar, when an efforts. implacable fire melts – in a moment – MM: Please comment on the performance into an affective tenderness. If that kind practice of “contemporary music”, as you’ve But, as I have said, the Reynolds-Arditti re- of change could be managed between observed it throughout your career: has lationship has born much fruit and covers the 12 sections, you would really have the practice evolved in positive ways over a lifetime of intellectual and heartfelt mu- something (and, come to think of it, so recent decades? If you feel that there has sic making. After Kokoro, being the dedi- would I). It is the many aspects of mean- been an evolution in performance prac- catee of Aspiration, and more recently the ing for the word “kokoro” that sparked tice, what are the central changes you’ve two imAgE pieces and Shifting/Drifting has me, and that’s why I used titles for each experienced? been a thoroughly rewarding experience. section.” IA: I am not sure I have changed my For the more recent pieces, I felt like I was This was the most detailed and illuminat- methods of approach to learning and really involved in the creation process. ing response I think I have received from performing music since my beginnings What happened was something new for any composer, ever. There is a clarity in the except to say I have certainly got more me even with all my years of collaboration wording that makes his wishes unmistak- efficient at it. There is a certain dedication with many composers. able. necessary in bringing to life music that was hitherto unheard. What has changed Roger first asked me which of the solo His letter then goes on to pinpoint, in de- is less me than the things around me. We pieces or concertos that had been writ- tail, his priorities for execution in every are in a very different time now 40 or so ten for me I thought were successful, and movement. I have never been the recipi- years later. Ideas, practices, that were at the why. He must have reflected on this and ent of such clear thoughts from a compos- front then have now receded. I am less a after a while would send me fragments er on how they would like their music to pioneer now. I don’t mean to open a “can or exercises of material for my comments. be played. of woims” (as Morty Feldman would have These were examples of the sort of mate- said) about where music is, now. Possibly rial he wanted to write, still at a very pre- because of what I have achieved, other liminary stage. Usually, they would be vir-

11 tuoso fragments that needed to fall under And, eventually, I did arrive at the Pacific in tronics part would sound like until this my fingers to work. I would explain what San Diego so as to have further crossing of moment. The way the piece had been register would be best and perhaps sug- ideas and interaction with Roger to make written allowed, even called for the sort of gest the inclusion of certain open strings the final versions of these pieces; to record inter-reaction that a violinist would have in fast moving passages that included a the imAgE pieces for CD; and to have re- with his duo partner in a classical work, or mixture of techniques like balzato and left hearsals with the brilliant computer musi- perhaps a duo partner in improvisation. hand pizzicato to facilitate easier access cian Paul Hembree, for Shifting/Drifting. Although all the material was completely to his proposed material. I would make notated, with quite a specific time code, comments in this way, and gradually more Roger had come to London the previous there was flexibility as to when some substantial material began arriving, and April to sample my violin sound. But these events would happen and for how long. over time grew into the work as it is now. sessions at UC San Diego also allowed Each player had to react to the other, co- I would deter the writing of anything that fine-tuning of that sampling and under ordinating events in real time. Paul proved was un-violinistic or unfriendly to a “nor- better conditions. The Pacific days were to be an ideal duo partner, a pleasure to mal” classical violinist’s way of thinking. filled with activity – moving between re- work with. Roger actually said he wanted the expe- cording, rehearsing with the electronic rience of performing it to be pleasurable sounds and visiting fine restaurants. My Following these San Diego days, there for me. Prior to this occasion, many piec- movements were not made easier by the was a short residency at the California In- es had landed in my lap, written by com- fact that I had slipped and broken my an- stitute of the Arts in Los Angeles where – posers who had no concern whatsoever kle six weeks earlier. Doctors had begged with the inauthentica ensemble that Mark as to whether I experienced any pleasure me to postpone this long journey and Menzies had organized previously – we in playing their music or suffered any in- what would be a “workout” for any man made a studio recording for this CD, with juries from their pyrotechnics or large half my age. Crutches were employed to him conducting. He was thus joined to the stretches that they felt obliged to write. In keep me mobile, but this was, in any case, project not only as producer (for Kokoro), Roger’s process, however, there came next the first solo recording I have ever made and script writer for these notes, but also the fine-tuning of ideas in larger sections sitting down. as conductor for a piece he had previously of material. There were many crossings of played as soloist. It was a pleasure to get ideas over cyberspace. And every time this Rehearsals in San Diego were my first ex- to know Mark as we had and have much occurred I felt I could smell the Pacific. I perience of how this “duo” was going to repertoire in common. must add that I love to smell the Pacific … work. I had only imagined what the elec-

12 MM: I’ve now studied, played and lived with successions and harmonies, temporal pro- ly changed. I have been fortunate in re- pretty much your entire violin repertoire, portionality, were already in place. How, ceiving three major commissions from the Roger, from that dramatic first concerto one wonders, could this be true? French musical research facility, IRCAM. Personae, to Kokoro (your first solo piece), The first, in the early 1980s, stretched over through to the image pieces and Shifting/ So I think there are aspects of one’s musi- two and a half years, most of which I spent Drifting via the second concerto, Aspiration. cal self that are simply going to be fixtures. in Paris. I took this engagement as an op- To me it seems, over that time, as one might Inescapable. Ways of thinking about and portunity to rethink everything about expect, you’ve changed as a composer, feeling music that are unlikely to change what I had been doing, compositionally, but that you’ve also found, more recently, much over the course of a life. So that up until that time. This promoted a height- “other things” suggested by the capacity of leads to the question: What do we acquire ened sense of the importance for me of the violin, things quite beyond Kokoro and as we gain experience? I would say that, considering outcomes before engaging Personae (and not to forget Aether, for violin at root, how we learn is by the feedback with a creative process, with preparing and piano). Coming to these “other things” of our own reactions to what we do, but systematically (but without suffocating is quite something, given how far-reaching also because of the response of perform- limitations) the materials I was going to the directions to which those “older” pieces ers and audiences (these are far more im- be working with, and assuring that they decisively go! portant than the opinions of [most] crit- would be suited to my larger musical pur- ics). We realize what is making an impact poses. The primary result of time spent on RR: One of the surprising aspects of the and what is not. Such realizations, howev- the 1982-83 Archipelago project was that good fortune of a long career is that one er, leave out the answer to the follow-on I tended to concentrate on larger formal can look back – listen back – to music that question, which is “What shall I do about schemes, on how careful preliminary con- one wrote, say, 40 or 50 years earlier. I had what I learn? What is it, in the patterns of sideration and planning could reasonably that opportunity when New World Records my ways, that could usefully change?” support, and to think of the “theme and issued a 5-CD set documenting the ONCE variations” paradigm as central. Festivals in Ann Arbor, in the 1960s. Lis- Most of us do not have the opportunity to tening to some of my earliest works, it was gaze into a “meta-mirror” that not only re- The third project I did at IRCAM was pro- disconcerting to realize that I was already flects surfaces – as normal mirrors do – but posed originally by perceptual and cog- “there”. In this music, created when I was also presents one with a deeper picture of nitive psychologist, Stephen McAdams, still naïve and inexperienced. My sense of why what is “seen” works as it does, and, then the head of this aspect of IRCAM’s phrase, characteristic gestures, interval hence, about how it might be productive- programs. He suggested that I compose

13 an extended musical work that could be erate changes, Irvine said casually at one ect and the follow-up experiments), I be- used as an “experimental object/opportu- point, “Oh, this is another work by the came increasingly open to aspects of the nity” by two teams of psychologists, one ‘new Reynolds’.” At first, I didn’t know what tradition that could be re-integrated with at IRCAM, the other in Dijon, at the Univer- he meant, but then I understood that he newer ways. I remember Irvine saying af- sity of Bourgogne. Our resulting collabo- had grasped and characterized in his own ter premiering Aspiration at the Ultima ration on The Angel of Death allowed me way what was happening in my music. So, Festival in Oslo, “Why Roger, you’ve writ- to assess – as with the aforementioned while I don’t think that a composer (or art- ten a piece that asks me to play as I was “meta-mirror” – whether the assump- ist in general) can easily alter the essen- taught to!” He didn’t say it ironically, and it tions about listener experience that I had tial nature of his/her work, it is possible to seemed that he meant it. evolved unconsciously over the preced- increase and re-direct the ways in which ing decades, were valid or were not. The one pays attention to the composition- MM: Specifically, in regard to your “model” results of the scientists’ experiments con- al process, and to balance materials with of how you relate to the violin, how did you firmed some of my assumptions (especial- purposes and techniques that optimize achieve this “other” violin (writing, expres- ly about how large form works) but chal- the ways in which personal predilections sion). Of course, it might be that what I lenged others. I realized that listeners did speak in what one does. Certainly Elliott hear in that new approach is a synthesis: a not register the identity of musical events Carter’s career offers a prime example of focus of intentions with an intricate means as reliably as I had expected, and, as a re- how such a gradual realignment of ways to deliver them through an empathy with sult, they also did not experience trans- and purposes can alter a composer’s work, the violin/violinist that was not so obvious formations over time as securely as I had while, not, at root, displacing that individ- before. In what ways did working with imagined. I thought about these results, ual’s “center”. Irvine on the more recent imAgE/violin and decided that I would do two things in pieces and Shifting/Drifting feel different? response: reduce the number of material In my earlier violin music, I was, so to elements in play and thereby simplify the speak, in a direct and immediate conver- RR: During our recent, intensive collabo- harmonic and temporal design, and also sation with such an intersection between rations, I did notice some interesting ele- work to clarify the rhetoric of my musical compositional aims, materials, and the ments in a book that Irvine had done with forms by introducing more “sign-posts”, violin medium. I was also in a more en- Robert Platz (more from the performer as it were, and, in general, allowing more grossed and perhaps slightly “myopic” re- and little from the composer), particularly repetition, even of the literal sort. lationship with my composing. As time bariolage and spazzarole. The former As an intriguing aftermath of these delib- passed (particularly after the Angel proj- designates the rich integration of open

14 strings with stopped notes in order to tive as possible. In the former, for example, initial intervallic structure in the process maximize the resonant force of the instru- I was seeking the fastest possible pizzica- so that the contour was retained, but ren- ment. And, as to the latter, a very rapid to speeds. Irvine gave me a metronome dering it gradually narrower or more am- “windshield-wiper” motion converts any mark and I sent him exercises. I heard that ple. I asked that he maintain, at the same left hand activity and string selection into I was not getting the effect I wanted by time, a drone pitch on an open string. This a fine-grained and sparkling evanescence. combining right and left hand pizzicatos turned out to be very challenging, and, as These two approaches are, of course, only (and still don’t fully understand why my well, the gradual shifting of a patterned activation strategies, and may not speak strategy failed) and so he proposed a col contour produced a disturbingly sour har- directly to the idea of an “other” approach legno battuto approach involving directly monicity. We opted instead, at his sugges- to the instrument. striking the strings with the wood of a re- tion, for writing out the shifting patterns versed bow. on the basis of specific (and thereby al- Without, perhaps, fully understanding The two solos mentioned above were in- ready learned) tempered pitches. The idea what you are getting at with your ques- tended to be as strongly contrasted as remained but the approach was more ex- tion, I can ask myself if I am conscious of possible. I thought about how I hear what plicitly quantified. a change in the way I think about the vi- Irvine does and settled on two fundamen- olin in recent works. Probably the stron- tal characteristics: the rapid movement The above are just two instances of many. gest factors have been the continuous, of a double-stop involving the two upper What I guess would be fair to say is that I and quite direct (sometimes many emails strings to the two lower ones, or vice ver- moved the center of my violin writing from and illustrative examples in a single day) sa. I wrote out exercises that showed var- a place very near, if not confined to, my interaction with Irvine during the compo- ious double-stop successions and Irvine own sense of viable normatives (though sitional process, and also a sense of free- gave me feedback. So imAge was centered sometimes pressed to extremes) towards dom and confidence, a willingness to let upon rapid position shifting, that is, on a position that was further from my pro- my impulses play out as they needed to, sudden displacement. Its complement was clivities and more in line with Irvine’s ap- even if the result overflowed the bound- centered on the precision Irvine was capa- proach to his instrument. Perhaps this – aries of a pre-existent structure. From the ble of in passage work. This I labeled drift- the customization of musical intention to start, I made clear to Irvine that I really ing. I had the idea of continuously shifting violinistic character – is the source of the wanted the conception and forming of the finger patterns that would begin on a spe- change you identified. two complementary solo works (imagE/vi- cific set of, say three pitches, and then mi- olin and imAge/violin) to be as collabora- grate upwards or downwards, altering the

15 imAge/violin (2015), overall formal plan (© Roger Reynolds, Edition Peters New York)

16 material for imagE/violin and imAge/violin (2015) (© Roger Reynolds, Edition Peters New York)

17 Additional comments on the included works by the composer:

Kokoro 1991/92 Aspiration 2004/05 [commissioned by Arditti with funds from [commissioned by the Nouvel Ensemble the British Arts Council] Moderne and the Oslo Sinfonietta]

As I came to know Irvine, I heard that the Irvine and I had talked on different occa- nature of his playing (or was it the nature sions about the fact that, when he was the of the music he played?) emphasized as- young leader of the London Symphony, sertive and evidently virtuosic shiftings. In the orchestra had to play at an extreme- Kokoro, I wanted to seek, to elicit, the more ly hushed level to ensure that the soloist tender and ruminative side that I knew was be heard. I vowed that, should I have the there. Reading D. Suzuki’s Zen and Japa- opportunity to write a concerto for him, I nese Culture, I came upon a footnote in would find a way around that issue. I did so which he elaborated the many separable in two ways. Firstly, there is a formal alter- meanings in that Japanese word. It proved nation between sections for the orchestra the perfect catalyst for my purposes. And, alone (or with Irvine) and a set of five ex- as well, my effort to address the whole of tended cadenzas that have their own for- what Irvine was/is explains why his per- mal evolution. So the formal interplay be- formance has evolved as he has over the tween soloist and ensemble, from a larger years. perspective, interweaves two different musical arcs: one for the soloist, one for the ensemble. Secondly, when Irvine is su- perimposed on the ensemble, he has fre- quent, impassioned, rhythmically improvi- sational, figurative outbursts that serve to bring a listener’s attention back to his role in whatever is happening.

18 imagE/violin 2015 and Shifting/Drifting 2015 imAge/violin 2015 [commissioned by ArtPower at UC San Diego, California Institute of the Arts, and Stanford University]

In 2007, in response to a request from cel- I had come to know well and easily “heard” Twice earlier I had taken the step of moving list Alexis Descharmes, I wrote the first in imagination. During the months in which from two contrasted solos, to an interplay pair of complementary solo works in what I was working on these pieces, we would of their materials in dialog within a larger became a continuing series. imagE/cel- sometimes exchange numerous emails in form for the solo instrument and a com- lo stressed the “evocative and expressive” a single day. It was a deeply textured and puter musician. The latter performed as a side, while imAge/cello focused on the “ar- enjoyable, a productive process. I can hear partner in a duo where real time comput- ticulate and assertive”. In composing the in Irvine’s performances the sort of natu- er algorithms allowed him to manipulate violin pair, I adopted a strategy that would ral investment that I had hoped would re- “seeds” (phrase, gestures, passages) from involve a continuously collaborative in- sult. Our friendship provided a kind of halo the soloist’s materials interactively during teraction with Irvine so that the resulting around a process (itself featuring occasion- performance. These two works (Dream Mir- works were crafted closely to his ways. I al driftings into worries over or admiration ror for guitar and computer and MARKed would propose, he would counter (a serve for what Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic MUSIC for contrabass and computer) had and return model with occasional rush- were accomplishing in various internation- placed firmly in my mind the plan of cre- ings to the net and overhead smashes, al tennis tournaments). ating something of the sort with Irvine. In even the occasional lob). Shifting/Drifting, however, the process became much more interwoven than had As was the case earlier with Kokoro, I had been the case previously: Irvine with me, in mind strongly contrasted materials and the two solo works with one another, the interpretative attitudes that were aroused solo works with newly composed materi- by my thoughts, not only about Irvine’s vi- als for the larger composite, and computer olinistic capabilities, but also by the person musician (and programmer) Paul Hembree

19 with us both, in the development phase and in concert presentations. It is important to recognize here how invaluable col- laborating with technically expert, and musically informed younger persons has been for me. It is, in a general sense, be- coming increasingly more difficult to ac- complish by oneself high quality work in the many distinct disciplinary fields that are implicated as ones’s imagination trav- els aloft. Paul continues to be a valued col- laborator for his perceptiveness, skills, and the thoroughness with which he prepares.

20 Roger Reynolds

21 Photo by Kyle Johnson, © Reynolds Trust Johnson, © Reynolds Kyle by Photo Roger Reynolds: composer, writer, pro- puter processing with Steven Schick. about and researching psychoacoustics. ducer, mentor and pioneer in sound Gramophone wrote: “Here’s the most His long-standing friendships with Cage, spatialization, using intermedia and al- outstandingly original view of percus- Nancarrow, Takemitsu and Xenakis also in- gorithmic concepts, and an inveterate sion since Varèse’s Ionisation.” Diapason form his views in procedural and personal synthesizer of diverse capacities and per- wrote “fresh-minted but also thrillingly ways. Reynolds conceives composition as spectives. His notorious (1961) composi- open-ended … “, about a Mode 2-disc set “a process of illumination”, a path toward tion, The Emperor of Ice Cream, which uses of Reynolds’ complete cello music featur- (occasional) clarity in turbulent times. He graphic notation to depict performer loca- ing Alexis Descharmes. seeks the satisfaction of proposing and tion on stage, was widely imitated. In fact, experiencing unexpected connections, of Reynolds’s work often arises out of text. Reynolds’ music is published exclusively bringing the elevating capacity of music One of his IRCAM commissions, Odyssey by C.F. Peters Corporation and his manu- into public spaces, of engaging with oth- (1989–93) sets a bilingual Beckett text; scripts are housed in a Special Collection er arts and artists to discover new amal- his Pulitzer prize-winning composition, at the Library of Congress and at the Sa- gamations of sensation and of insight that Whispers Out of Time, for string orches- cher Foundation in Basel. He has been can “improve the human experience.” tra, muses over a poem by John Ashbery. commissioned by the Philadelphia, San The FLiGHT project arose out of a collec- Francisco, Los Angeles, BBC, and Nation- tion of texts that stretches from Plato to al Symphony orchestras, as well as the astronaut, Michael Collins. These works British Arts Council, the French Ministry demonstrate how seamlessly text, electro- of Culture, Ircam, the Fromm, Rockefeller, acoustic resources and novel presentation Suntory, and Koussevitzky foundations. strategies can be melded with live instru- Dozens of CD recordings are produced by mental and vocal performance. Mode, Neuma, New World, Lovely, Auvidis, Wergo, and now Kairos. Collaborations with individual performers and ensembles, theater directors, cho- Reynolds envisions his own path as en- reographers, and scientists have been tailing the principle of weaving together important for Reynolds. Such influenc- threads from tradition with novel provo- es have provoked Sanctuary (2003–2007) cations originating outside of music. His for percussion quartet and real-time com- outlook has been affected by reading

22 © Heikki Tuuli Irvine Arditti Irvine Irvine Arditti studied at the Royal Acade- semble Modern, Bayerische Rundfunk, music. The quartet was the first group and my of Music where the Arditti Quartet was BBC Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, remain to this day the only group to have formed in 1974. He has performed in both Royal Concertgebouw, Ensemble Contre- receive this lifetime achievement prize. the quartet and as soloist throughout the champs, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, The complete archive of both the Quartet world in most leading concert halls and London Sinfonietta, Orchestre National de and Irvine Arditti are housed in the Sacher festivals, promoting the most challenging Paris, Het Residentie den Hague, Rotter- Foundation in Basel, Switzerland. new music and has given world premieres dam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmon- of hundreds of works. His name is synony- ic, Nieuw Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble mous with the highest level of quality and Modern, Oslo Sinfonietta, Philharmonia dedication in the performance of new mu- orchestra, Schoenberg Ensemble and En- sic. semble Signal. His many concerto performances have won acclaim by their com- The composers he has worked with read posers, in particular Dutilleux, Ligeti and like a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-centu- Xenakis. ry music, and there are also hundreds of lesser names, younger composers with He has recorded more than 200 CD releas- whom he has performed. Many compos- es, both with the quartet and as soloist. ers have written solo works or concertos His recording of Berio’s violin Sequenza for for him and they include, Cage, Dillon, Fer- Mode records, contained within the com- neyhough, Francesconi, Harvey, Hosoka- plete set of Sequenzas, won the Deutsche wa, Kurtag, Paredes, Pauset, Sciarrino and Schallplattenpreis in 2007 and was award- Xenakis and, of course, Roger Reynolds, ed best contemporary music release by the majority of whose solo works were the Italian music magazine, Amadeus in written for Arditti and are contained in 2008. this Kairos set. As leader of the quartet, in 1999 he accept- Arditti has appeared with many distin- ed the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. This guished orchestras and ensembles, in- prestigious prize begun in 1974 had only cluding the Asko Ensemble, Avanti, En- been awarded to individuals in classical

24 Paul Hembree is an active computer mu- abstract animations and sound. Some of sician, composer, and educator working these tools are Apocryphal Chrysopoeia with experimental music and interactive (2016), featured at National Sawdust in the media. As a computer musician, he has 2016 New York City Electroacoustic Music worked with prominent performers of Festival, and Audiovisual Alchemy (2017), new music, including Irvine Arditti, the Ar- for HTC Vive virtual reality. His article, “A ditti Quartet, Pablo Gómez Cano, the In- Spatial Interpretation of Edgard Varèse’s ternational Contemporary Ensemble, En- Ionisation Using Binaural Audio”, co-au- semble Signal, Southwest Chamber Music, thored with percussionist Dustin Dona- and JACK Quartet, as well as in composi- hue, appeared in Perspectives of New Mu- tions by Pauline Oliveros, Brian Ferney- sic (Vol. 51, No. 1, 2013). hough, Kaija Saariaho, and Roger Reyn- olds, among others. As a performer, his In 2015, he received his PhD in music from festival appearances incorporate June in UC San Diego, specializing in composition Buffalo (2015), the Miller Theatre Compos- and computer music. Hembree is current- er Portrait Series, and the Darmstadt Inter- ly a visiting assistant professor of electron- national Summer Course for New Music ic music at Bard College. (2016).

Hembree’s recent compositions consist of a series of audiovisual duos for solo performers with video doppelgängers, com- prised of Cerebral Hyphomycosis (2016), premiered by cellist Tyler J. Borden, and Pulmonary Zygomycosis (2017), premiered by trumpeter Sam Wells. Hembree also created tools that blur the line between “instrument” and “composition”, using techniques for procedurally generating

25 Mark Menzies has established an import- LeBaron’s dance/opera Pope John and mu- ant, world-wide reputation as a violist and sic by Mark Applebaum on the Innova la- violinist, and more recently, as a conduc- bel. Both featured inauthentica, an en- tor. He has been described as an “extraor- semble Menzies founded in 2003. dinary musician” and a “riveting violinist” in the Los Angeles Times. His career as a viola and violin virtuoso, chamber musician, conductor and advocate of contemporary music, has allowed him to perform in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and across the United States, including a series of appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Currently Professor of Music at the Univer- sity of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he teaches conducting, Mark Menzies has previously designed and curated the California Institute of the Arts concerts at REDCAT, a part of the Dis- ney Hall complex in Los Angeles, from 2003 to 2016. A highlight of this series was a 5-concert festival of Sophia Gubaid- ulina’s music performed in her presence (2011); an additionally significant event was the US premiere of Gérard Grisey’s Les espaces acoustiques, which Menzies con- ducted. He has appeared on a number of recordings as conductor, including Anne

26 inauthentica began as an initiative by An early success for inauthentica was its Mark Menzies and highly talented musi- debut at REDCAT/Disney Hall in 2005, cians from the Los Angeles-based Califor- with a performance of music by Stephen nia Institute of the Arts community, with “Lucky” Mosko, Wolfgang Rihm, and Roger their first concert being in 2003 at the San Reynolds. Resident ensemble at the San- Francisco Art Institute, focused on John ta Cecilia Orchestra’s Chamber Series, Los Cage’s music. The idea, reflected in the en- Angeles, from 2007–2011, its eclectic rep- semble name, was to explore a spirit of ertoire offering explored “commentary” performance that dares to find itself alive on contemporary notions of period per- and relevant – even if it, by chance, ap- formance practice, offsetting that by high- pears to be inauthentic to (pre)conceived lighting contemporary music – particular- notions of “correctness”. The LA Times ly from Latin America. In a similar spirit, the wrote, in 2005, “Classical musicians’ vaunt- ensemble had previously performed, and ed claims of authentic performance prac- released a recording of, Schönberg’s Pier- tice have become almost a mantra. So it’s rot lunaire, rarely presented unconducted, a relief to hear of a new group that calls during the 2005/2006 concert season. itself inauthentica”.

A particular focus of the ensemble has been on contemporary music: from 2003, a close working relationship with Stanford University led to a series of recordings released on Innova Recordings, with a highlight being the premiere recording of Mark Applebaum’s 56 1/2 ft. Chapman Universi- ty in Orange, California, another partner with the ensemble, hosted, amongst other concerts and workshops, an extraordi- nary 8-hour marathon concert with the ensemble in 2008.

Gratitude Recording Engineer, Josef Kucera, was the Senior Recording Engineer of the Music If one is fortunate, a creative life can be Department at UC San Diego, for several filled with a significant number of those decades. His dedication to getting it right whose expertise, friendship, and nourish- – his listening, understanding, and techni- ing presence enhances and enables the cal skills – allowed the recorded dissemi- best of one’s capability. These dependen- nation of my creative glow that could not cies are always a factor that I do not doubt. otherwise have been achieved. His work In the case of the ASPIRATION CD project, has been fundamental for me. they are easily identified. Irvine Arditti, friend and colleague for more than three decades is, simply said, The New Zealand-born conductor, violin- the most valued (and also enjoyed) collab- ist, violist, and pianist, Mark Menzies first orator that I have had the privilege to work came into my life as a graduate student with throughout my career. His energies, at the UC San Diego Department of Mu- the sharpness of his ear, his irrepressible sic. That was long ago and since then, his searching for that which is (at least a bit) friendship and varied ministrations have beyond what one imagines possible – as been of enduring, and often decisive, im- well as his dry wit and appetite(s) shared – portance to me. remain continually, precious components of my days.

Roger Reynolds

29 ROGER REYNOLDS (*1934)

CD 1 CD 2 0015051KAI D D D Recording dates: 1 Shifting/Drifting 1 Aspiration CD1: 1 24 Sept 2015 2 4–5 Aug 2015, for violin and real-time algorithmic for solo violin and 26 Sept 2015 1 2 transformation (2015) 23:36 chamber orchestra (2004/05) 29:47 CD2: 2 Oct 2015 25–26 Sept 2015 Recording venues: CD1: 1 Theater of the California Institute 2 imagE/violin 2 Kokoro for Telecommunications and Information imAge/violin for solo violin (1991/92) 25:07 Technologies, UC San Diego for solo violin (2015) 18:26 2 Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego CD2: 1 Citrus College, Los Angeles 2 Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, TT 42:04 TT 54:55 UC San Diego Recording supervisor: Roger Reynolds Recording engineer, editor: CD1: 1 Paul Hembree 2 Josef Kucera CD2: 1 Nicolas Tipp 2 Josef Kucera Irvine Arditti violin Producers: Paul Hembree computer musician CD1: 1 Paul Hembree 2 Irvine Arditti inauthentica CD2: 1 2 Mark Menzies, Irvine Arditti Mark Menzies conductor Final mastering: Josef Kucera Publisher: Edition Peters New York Graphic design: paladino media, cover based on Artwork by Enrique Fuentes

ISRC: ATK941855101 to 04. Made in Germany 10488