Bermel - Thracian Sketches

DEREK BERMEL

Thracian Sketches for Clarinet in Bb

Grammy-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel has been widely hailed for his creativity, theatricality, and virtuosity. An "eclectic with wide open ears" (Toronto Star), Bermel is acclaimed for music that is “intricate, witty, clear-spoken, tender, and extraordinarily beautiful [and] covers an amazing amount of ground, from the West African rhythms of Dust Dances to the Bulgarian folk strains of Thracian Echoes, to the shimmering harmonic splendor of Elixir. In the hands of a composer less assured, all that globe-trotting would seem like affectation; Bermel makes it an artistic imperative." (San Francisco Chronicle) Bermel’s studies of ethnomusicology and orchestration with Andre Hajdu in Jerusalem introduced him to the music of the world, and since then he has traveled to Bulgaria to study the Thracian folk style; to Dublin, to study uillean pipes; to Ghana, to study the Lobi xylophone; and to Brazil, to learn caxixi – while studying Dutch, Portuguese, French and Italian along the way. Inevitably, Bermel’s deep immersion in music of cultures around the world has become part of the fabric and force of his compositional language, in which the human voice and its myriad inflections play a critical role.

Bermel has brought his “staggering eclecticism” (Gramophone Magazine) to an array of collaborations, residencies, and groundbreaking educational roles. His passion for collaboration has led to his work with a diverse range of artists, such as playwright Will Eno, choreographer Sheron Wray, and poets Wendy S. Walters, Nicole Krauss, and Naomi Shihab Nye. His collaboration with hip-hop legend Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) for the Brooklyn Philharmonic received raves.

As Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra and Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study, Bermel has become recognized as a dynamic and unconventional curator of concert series that offer a new take on an old tradition: the composer as performer.

An innovative educator, Derek Bermel was the Founding Director of the New York Youth Symphony’s Making Score program, an intensive seminar exploring composition and orchestration. Currently he is Institute Director of Copland House’s new CULTIVATE program for emerging composers, as well as mentoring young composers in the ACO’s Underwood Readings, Playing it UNsafe and CoLABoratory programs.

Bermel’s commissioners have included the Pittsburgh, National, Boston, Saint Louis, New Jersey, and Pacific Symphonies, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, WNYC Radio, eighth blackbird, the Guarneri and JACK String Quartets, Music from China, Copland House, and Midori. His many awards include the Alpert Award in the Arts, Rome Prize, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; commissions from the Koussevitzky and Fromm Foundations; and residencies at Yaddo, Tanglewood, Aspen, Banff, Bellagio, Copland House, Sacatar, and Civitella Ranieri. Bermel holds B.A. and D.M.A. degrees from Yale University and the University of Michigan. His composition teachers include William Albright, Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, Henri Dutilleux, André Hajdu, and Michael Tenzer.

In August 2001, I traveled to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to study the Thracian folk style with clarinetist Nikola Iliev.

Thracia is a region in Bulgaria which stretches over the Rodopi mountains and extends into Modern Greece. I spent several hours each day transcribing and memorizing the songs, Nikola's nephews Emil and Misha assisting by translating from Bulgarian to French or English. I used this material as the basis for an orchestra piece for the Westchester Philharmonic, Thracian Echoes. In this piece I bent the original Bulgarian modes into a whole tone melodic context while retaining much of the original rhythm and contour, especially the tendency to sustain tied mordents over the barline in odd meters.

In 2003 I was asked to perform a recital as part of a residency during the Seminarios of the Universidade Federal da Bahia in Salvador, Brazil. I revisited the material upon which I had based the orchestra piece, and began experimenting with phrases from several faster, instrumental songs – Paydushko Xhoro (5/8), Mizhka Richenitza (7/8), Daychovo Xhoro (9/8), and Krivo Pazardzhishko Xhoro (11/16) – once again, altering the modes. The piece begins in the lower register of the clarinet, and moves through the songs, increasing in velocity, range, and the complexity of rhythmic groupings as it progresses. I thought of Thracian Sketches as a minimalist form, and I dedicated it to John Adams, who had conducted my clarinet concerto the previous year in Los Angeles. — Derek Bermel

PERFORMANCE NOTE All mordants, reverse-mordants, and grupetti are whole-tone unless otherwise noted. Embellishments should be played toward the end of a note. The performer may choose to circular-breathe, or may omit short, selected notes.

for John Adams

THRACIAN SKETCHES for solo clarinet in B b

Molto legato e growloso {q = 92}

5 &8 œ œ ∏

accel. sempre al fine

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m j œ œ œ œ œ bœ

m & bœ bœ œ

4

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m œ

m j bœ bœ bœ œ

m & œ bœ œ

9

m & bœ bœ œ

m

14

j œ bœ bœ bœ

m j œ bœ bœ œ

m & œ bœ bœ

19

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bœ

m œ bœ œ

m

j œ bœ bœ bœ

& œ bœ

m j bœ p

m œ bœ bœ

  m m & j nœ nœ œ œ œ œ bœ p

33

m &œ

38

m

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m œ bœ bœ

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m j œ bœ bœ œ

m j œ œ œ œ œ bœ

m m ‰ j & j j œ œ b œ b œ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ œ bœ m œ

m j bœ

m j bœ

bœ

 m j œ œ

j œ

m œ bœ œ

m j bœ œ bœ œ

m j bœ

m

j œ bœ bœ bœ m

bœ bœ bœ  m œ

j œ

m bœ

j œ bœ bœ œ

m j œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ œ bœ œ π

24

29

m œ

Derek Bermel (2003)

j œ (

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j bœ ‰

œ œ bœ œ bœ bœ œ œ œ bœ πeco  m m m œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ P

Copyright 2007 by X Pyre Music All Rights for the World Exclusively Administered by Songs of Peer, Ltd.

2

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44

bœ bœ œ bœ œ p 49 m m m m &œ œ œ j œ œ œ bœ œ bœ œ bœ bœ m

55

&

bœ bœ bœ

60

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bœ bœ œ

 m &œ œ œ peco

65

m &œ

70

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m & œ œ œ

75

80

&œ œ P

m œ

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m œ bœ bœ

m j œ bœ bœ œ bœ œ

m m j j œ b œ b œ œ bœ œ bœ œ

m j œ bœ bœ œ

j bœ

m m m j j œ bœ œ bœ œ bœ bœ œ

m m m j j j bœ œ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ œ P q = 108   m m m m j ‰ b œ œ œ œ b œj n œ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ œ p P m m m œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ bœ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ P m m m m j j  œ œ œ bœ bœ œ bœ œ bœ œ œ œ œ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ p più intenso m m m m j j j j œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ p P m j œ bœ p

start trill slowly and get faster

bœ bœ bœ

bœ bœ bœ œ œ

Ÿ~~~~~~~ œ œ œ œ œ œ > œ œ œ

m m m m æ æ  œ œ  œ j j & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ œ F p 90 m m m m m j j j j & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ  œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ P p 85

(growl)