CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
American Composers Orchestra

Zankel Hall
Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 7:30 PM

American Composers Orchestra
George Manahan, Conductor
Derek Bermel, Clarinet
Alexis Baskind, Electronics
Fang Man, Electronics
Miller Puckette, Electronics
Rand Steiger, Electronics
Kasumi, Video/Sound-Art

DAVID SCHIFF Stomp (re-lit)
RAND STEIGER Cryosphere (World Premiere)
FANG MAN Resurrection (World Premiere)

KATI AGÓCS Pearls (World Premiere)
MARGARET BROUWER/KASUMI BREAKDOWN: A sample-based hybrid opera in one act (World Premiere)

Program Notes:

DAVID SCHIFF (b. 1945)
Stomp (re-lit)

I originally composed Stomp for Marin Alsop, who commissioned it for her chamber orchestra Concordia in 1990. I was asked to write a concert opener, and at first I thought of writing something along the lines of the overture to Candide. I soon noticed, however, that I was using a rhythmic figure from the James Brown song “I Feel Good,” and I began to think of the piece as a portrait of the great performer. In the notes to the score I quoted a critic who wrote, “In James Brown’s music every instrument is treated like a drum.” Stomp soon became the most frequently performed of my orchestral works, and David Zinman recorded it with the Baltimore Symphony.

For the concert tonight, the American Composers Orchestra asked me to reduce the orchestration slightly due to the size of Zankel Hall. I took advantage of this request to do a thorough re-scoring, which adds significant new instrumental colors to the piece (two saxophones and tuba) and changes details of harmony and texture in virtually every measure. It’s the same piece in a very different light, so I think of it, now titled Stomp (re-lit) as a new composition. When I first composed Stomp I realized that it completed a trilogy begun with Scenes from Adolescence (1987) and Slow Dance (1989) that derived musically and emotionally from my teenage years. I think the new orchestration will make this connection clearer.
—David Schiff


FANG MAN (b. 1977)
Resurrection

The title “Resurrection” is adapted from the subtitle of a painting by Wassily Kandinsky, “Composition V-Resurrection,” which became the inspiration for the musical structure and expression of the piece. With the assistance of some computer analysis applications, I am able to draw closer the relationship of the structure of the painting with the pitch and time structure of the music.

There are two continuous movements. The first utilizes mainly Western techniques, which are concentrated on the dialogues between the clarinet and the orchestra with an active and mostly dense orchestration; the second part is focused on the clarinet solo accompanied by various sounds that are blended with the electronics and the orchestra. The material in the solo clarinet here comes from a Peking opera play, The Battle of Jiu Jiang Kou.

The play tells a story of ancient China. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1206–1368), leaders of the uprising army corps around the country proclaimed themselves king, one after another. They revolted against the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and competed with each other for dominance. The melodies of the clarinet imitate the conversations between the two main characters in the play, the warlord Chen Youliang (1320–1363) and his marshal, Zhang Dingbian. The latter tries to persuade Chen not to go into battle against the king, Zhu Yuanzhang, as he believes to do so would be to fall into a trap. Chen does not listen to Zhang but leads his troops into the ambush and finally is defeated by his enemy. Luckily, his loyal marshal rescues him at the mouth of the Jiu Jiang River. During the work the clarinet plays mainly on glissandos in order to reproduce the distinguished style of “speaking tunes” of the Peking opera.

Along with two other works of mine, Resurrection carries some political power as I begin to realize a new position of contemporary composers and music. These three related works aim to stimulate awareness and sympathy to our contemporaries who are suffering war or natural disasters in the world today. They are also the first set of my works that employ new technologies and multimedia. As American painter Jackson Pollock said, “Modern Art to me is nothing more than the expression of contemporary aims of the age that we’re living in ... new needs need new techniques … each age finds its own technique.” I believe this statement is also true for the creation of modern music.

This work is dedicated to my friend and teacher, Derek Bermel, soloist on this premiere, for his invaluable advice through the progress of the project, and to the American Composers Orchestra for their generous support on the creation and performance of this piece. Finally, I feel extremely thankful to Mr. Underwood, who commissioned the work.
—Fang Man


MARGARET BROUWER / KASUMI
BREAKDOWN

The goal in the creation of this hybrid opera was to write music and video/sound simultaneously, allowing each to inspire and propel the other. From the very first moment, the music and the video are completely interrelated. Most of the musical motives were created by imitating a rhythm or a group of intervals existing in the speeches or sounds on the screen. Many are exact replications. Spoken phrases were chosen that are not only emphatic but also have vibrant rhythms and definitely pitched intervals. For instance, in the sentence, “The machines give you the power to control the universe,” the speaker’s voice rises steadily in pitch, and the rhythm of his speech is definite and emphatic. The first time this musical motive appears, it begins in the brass, and, as the pitch rises and intensity of the speaker increases, the entire orchestra joins in. This motive is used in different ways throughout the opera. Other phrases that are literally copied and then used as musical motivic material are: “that’s extra fine,” “perpetual profit,” breakdown,” a short phrase from an operatic-type singer, and the rhythm of a repeated laugh. In Scene 3 the forward motion slows down and a dreamlike sequence begins. Near the end of this scene, the speech of the person who says the line, “There are some things we do just because we believe in them,” has been slowed down considerably. The phrase has been set to a melody that follows the pitch shape of the voice and is timed to the rhythm of the speaker. In the style of a Gesamptkunstwerk, sometimes the musical motives appear or are elaborated upon even when the particular character or idea is not on the screen, deepening the drama or showing a hidden message.

History could be rewritten as an account of significant gestures, both physical and aural. The essence of evil can be embedded in a salute, the energies of freedom rallied by a defiant word. Thumbs up or down, heads lowered or eyes upraised—are all central to our perception of certain crucial realities. BREAKDOWN is an attempt at using these brief, fragmentary gestures to weave a larger tapestry, both narrative and musical. The cultural and historical context of the clips is set off against its purely formal qualities: the movement of a hand, a color, a shadow, a percussive sound. These opposing qualities are continually in play with each other, creating a tension that is central to the work. As much as it could be said that BREAKDOWN is a narrative construction using found footage, it is equally true to say that it is the clips themselves, in their musical tone, their symbolic meaning and their latent transgressive energy that drives BREAKDOWN.
—Margaret Brouwer


KATI AGÓCS (b. 1975)
Pearls

Pearls, composed for the American Composers Orchestra in fall 2008, is designed to make use of the exquisite (jeweled) sonorities possible in the chamber orchestra with single winds and brass. It is a diminutive piece, meant to be intimate, almost like an orchestral “blog.” As such, the work is conceived as an 11-minute unity that “strings together” six intertwined miniatures, alternating chorales with peregrinations. (The fourth and fifth movements are continuous.) The title comes from a passage from the Gospel of Matthew (13:45–46):

Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the Kindgom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

In the time of the parable’s origin, pearls were the most valuable attainable thing. For me, pearls can also represent tears. Are they our own tears, or divine tears? Perhaps we find ourselves too far from the message of the parable, or unable to make the earthly sacrifices for which it calls, and consequently we feel a certain distance from God. The number six (the number of movements in the work) is an incomplete number, identified with human frailty. Seven—if a seventh movement were possible—would be the complete (or divine) number.
—Kati Agócs

RAND STEIGER (b. 1957)
Cryosphere

The Earth’s cryosphere—encompassing all surfaces in which water is frozen—plays a critical role in the global climate system. Global warming is now reducing these surfaces precipitously, and we face great peril in the future if this process is allowed to continue. This piece draws inspiration from the cryosphere, particularly the way glaciers and icebergs form and dissolve. It embraces the beauty and mystery of these structures, while also lamenting their increasingly rapid and unnatural loss.

In Cryosphere, real-time audio signal processing is deployed on all of the instruments, enriching the natural sound of the orchestra with various transformations including spatialization, resonance, delay, and just intonation harmonizing.

Cryosphere was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University and the American Composers Orchestra, to whom I express my deep gratitude for this opportunity. I would also like to express my gratitude to Jody Steiger and Carlos Bonilla, and to Bill and Allene Plant, for their hospitality during crucial stages of my work on this piece.
—Rand Steiger