C4 The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective presents
C4
c4ensemble.org Thursday, 19 November 2009 8:00 pm Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 3 W 65th Street Saturday, 21 November 2009 8:00 pm The Church of St. Luke in the Fields 487 Hudson Street
C4: THE CHORAL COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR COLLECTIVE Sopranos Franny Geller Karen Siegel
Altos Jamie Klenetsky Erica Lowe † Elizabeth Marker
Tenors Christopher Baum Jonathan David ‡ David Rentz Joseph Rubinstein
Basses Daniel Andor James Bilodeau Timothy Brown Phillip Cheah † David Harris Christian Smythe ‡
Acknowledgements
BENEFACTORS The activities of C4 are funded, in large part, by grants and generous contributions. We wish to thank and acknowledge:
C4 C4 † Also sings Soprano
‡ Also sings Alto
C4, the world’s first Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, is a unique vocal ensemble in New York City dedicated to performing music written in the last twenty-five years. A collaborative project of its singing members, it functions not only as a presenting ensemble in its own right, with a three-program, six-concert season, but also as an ongoing workshop and recital chorus for the emerging composers and conductors who form the core of the group. It is, as far as we know, the first ensemble of its kind, and one of the largest choral groups in the nation to focus entirely on the music of our time.
For their major support: The Berk Foundation Michael David and Lauren Mitchell Dodger Properties Nan Bases And for their contributions: Zachary Cummings Elizabeth Marker Larry and Pat Siegel Deborah Teplow
We hope to see you at our next concert:
Songs, Sonnets & Soliloquies
SPECIAL THANKS
Join us for an exciting evening of brand-new Shakespeare settings! This program will feature seven world premieres, including works by Martha Sullivan, Jocelyn Hagen, and C4 members Jonathan David, Franny Geller, David Harris, Jamie Klenetsky and Karen Siegel. Rounding out the program will be Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s brilliant and neglected More Shakespeare Songs.
We also wish to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the following organizations and individuals for their support and assistance:
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Thursday, 25 February 2010, 8:00 p.m. Church for All Nations, Midtown (417 W. 57th Street) Saturday, 27 February 2010, 8:00 p.m. St Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, Upper West Side (552 West End Avenue) Please also mark your calendar for our Spring Concert! Thursday, 13 May 2010, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, 15 May 2010, 8:00 p.m. Caspary Auditorium, Rockefeller University (1230 York Avenue)
c 4 eHolynTrinity s e Lutheran m b Church le.org Rick Erickson Tobin Schmuck The Church of St Luke in the Fields David Shuler Annabel Gordon
Joseph Rubinstein sings with C4 and the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus. He is a passionate supporter of contemporary music and has been involved in many premieres of pieces by young and emerging composers. A composer himself, his works have been featured at festivals such as the Bowdoin International Music Festival and The Yale Summer Festival at Norfolk, and by groups including the Columbia University Bach Society, the International Vocal Arts Workshop, and WorldMuse. He graduated with a BA in Music from Columbia University in 2008, and currently works on composer and new music promotion for a major music publisher.
Corps, and Cerddorion. He has worked at Talent Unlimited High School since 2001, directing choirs and solo repertoire classes, teaching music theory and keyboarding, and being an all-around accompanist. His choirs have premiered several of his choral arrangements and he has twice had the honor of being included in Who’s Who Among American Teachers. Christian holds a BS in Music Ed from NYU and a MFA in Vocal Performance from Hunter College. He also enjoys trying to live a little greener every day.
C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective
“Greatest and Latest”
Thursday, 19 November 2009, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York, NY Saturday, 21 November 2009, Church of St Luke in the Fields, New York, NY How She Went to Ireland (2009)† Timothy Brown, conductor
Joseph Rubinstein (b. 1986)
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Karen Siegel grew up harmonizing doowop tunes with her family, and went on to study voice, piano, cello, and eventually composition. She holds a Master’s degree in Composition from NYU, where she studied with Marc Antonio Consoli, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Yale. Additional studies include coursework with Conrad Cummings at the Juilliard Evening Division and vocal instruction with Lavinia Bertotti and Claudine Ansermet at the Fondazione Italiana di Musica Antica in Urbino, Italy. Her works have been commissioned by the Manhattan Choral Ensemble, Trio Eos, and the Matrix Music Collaborators, and performed by the new music ensemble Cygnus. Currently, Karen is a PhD candidate in composition at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she studies with Tania León. She is also Adjunct Lecturer in Music at City College.
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Christian Smythe hails from Danbury, Connecticut. Since high school, Christian has been active in the Connecticut and New York areas as singer, actor, and oboist, appearing with local groups like the New York Metro Vocal Arts Ensemble, Chelsea Opera, The Lesbian and Gay Big Apple
Two Songs (2000) A Song Törnfallet Daniel Andor, conductor
Alexander Dmitriev (b. 1961)
Obsessions from the Twittersphere (2009)† Confessions from the Blogosphere (2006) David Rentz, conductor
Two Miniatures (2006) Birdcage Walk A White Blossom David Rentz, conductor
Karen Siegel (b. 1980)
Christopher Baum (b. 1974)
From Canti d’Amor (1991) Bernard Rands (b. 1934) II. The twlight turns from amethyst III. Lean out of the window VI. Welladay! Welladay! VII. My dove, my beautiful one VIII. O cool is the valley now X. This heart that flutters near my heart XI. Silently she’s combing XIV. Sleep now, O sleep now XV. All day I hear the noise of waters Franny Geller, Erica Lowe, Joseph Rubinstein, Phillip Cheah, soloists Christopher Baum, conductor
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TEN-MINUTE INTERMISSION
† World premiere
Pseudo-Yoik (1999) Jonathan David, conductor
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (b. 1963)
From Metaphors of Women (1994) Moon and Flowering Plum Intimation Franny Geller and Karen Siegel, soloists
Elliot Z. Levine (b. 1948)
Jamie Klenetsky is an award-winning composer and singer who resides in Morristown, NJ. She has sung in multiple college choirs while obtaining her BA in Music/Composition at Rutgers University, including the Kirkpatrick Choir. While in college, she performed at the Festival 500 Choral Festival in Newfoundland, Canada, and toured Taiwan, performing at various sites throughout the country. Jamie was the second-place winner of the San Fransisco Choral Artists’ 2007 “New Voices” competition, and a finalist in the Karen Sokolof Javitch 2008 “Emerging Jewish Composer” competition. Currently, Jamie sings professionally with the Seton Hall Chapel Choir. Her “other career” is web design; she currently works as the web designer of the government of Morris County, NJ.
Elizabeth Marker is an accomplished musician who has devoted the major portion of her career to the advancement of choral music. She holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Boston University where she studied with Mary Davenport and coached with Alan Rodgers. In New York she studies with Maria Farnworth. She has sung with many notable choral groups including Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Russian Chamber Chorus and Cantori New York. In 1987, Elizabeth was invited to sing with the Oregon Repertory Singers representing the United States at the 26th Choral Singing Festival in Kärnten, Austria where the group won both the Folk and Classical Repertoire competitions. Elizabeth performed in many Robert Shaw Choral Workshops at Carnegie Hall and was a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. She has served as section leader at The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) and been a member of the professional choir at St. Ignatius of Antioch (Episcopal). As a soloist, Elizabeth can be heard on two recordings: My Heart is Ready, music of Yuri Yukechev (Russian Chamber Chorus), and, as the Mother of Iseut, in Le vin herbé by Frank Martin (I Cantori di New York).
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Non avrà ma’ pietà/Quando con gran tempesta/ Non vivam ultra (1991) § Phillip Cheah, conductor
Lansing D. McLoskey (b. 1964)
Jonathan David (b. 1965) Slow Learning (2009) † Franny Geller, Phillip Cheah, David Rentz, Christian Smythe, soloists David Harris, conductor
Love in C(ummings) (rev. 2007) if i love You be of love(a little) Phillip Cheah, conductor
David Rentz (b. 1976)
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How Sweet I Roamed (2004) Karen Siegel, conductor
† World premiere
Jonathan David
§ New York premiere
Erica Lowe started singing in choirs when she was six and has been a singer and conductor of various groups in New York, Wisconsin and Hong Kong, her hometown. She is the founder of a six-voice ensemble, I Cantanti, which gave its debut performance in Hong Kong in September 2007. While attending college in Madison, Wisconsin, she co-founded/co-directed Museko, a 20voice multicultural group that performs choral music from all over the world, and sang with the University of Wisconsin Concert Choir and Choral Union, both directed by Beverly Taylor. She was also a professional chorister at the eight-voice Choir of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in New York City. She studied voice with Ho-Do Yung and Bruce Gladstone and presently studies with Kristine Kalina. She also studied choral conducting with Bruce Gladstone. Professionally, she manages an English as a Second Language program for adult immigrants at LaGuardia Community College.
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In addition to his work with C4, David Rentz directs Guildsingers, an early music ensemble. He also directs the choruses at the Brearley School and has served as assistant conductor for the New Amsterdam Singers. He has earned graduate degrees in choral conducting from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and, most recently, Yale University, where he was co-director of the University Chapel Choir. David is also an active composer whose works have been performed by, among others, the Madison (WI) Youth Choirs, the Washington University Chamber Chorus, the Milwaukee Young Artists Festival Ensemble, and the Yale Camerata.
University Opera Theatre, and the Amato Opera, where he was also a répétiteur. As an accompanist, he has given recitals with the Aguavã New Music Studio, the Millennium Wagner Opera Company, and the Opera Collective of New York. He has recorded on the Pro Organo and Tzadik labels. Phillip teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and Barnard College, and has taught previously at the Putney School (Vermont) and Cathedral High School (NYC) where he was the Director of Music. He has worked for the Music Department at Oxford University Press and has also been the personal assistant to Peter Schickele, discoverer and perpetrator of that infamous mini-meister, P.D.Q. Bach.
studied with John Bavicchi and Don McDonnell at the Berklee College of Music. He is published by Oxford University Press. Franny Geller is a boy soprano in a dress and an aspiring ornithologist. A choral addict since childhood, Franny has passed through such New York City ensembles as Trinity Wall Street Choir, St. Bartholomew’s Choir, the Pharos Music Project, Canticum Novum Singers, and Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble, with whom she appears on two recent releases: Lisa Bielawa’s A Handful of World and Yumiko Matsuoka’s To Every Thing There is a Season. She is currently a member of the Bach Vespers Choir at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, and of Guildsingers, a quartet devoted to Medieval music. Franny has also pulled a couple of musical all-nighters, once for the New York premiere of John Tavener’s Veil of the Temple, and again to close the 2008 Bang On a Can Summer Marathon with Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Stimmung, as a member of Toby Twining Music.
Program Notes & Texts Tonight’s program is something of a departure for C4. For the first time in our history, we are delving into the “back catalog” to present some of our favorite pieces from previous concerts. We hope you enjoy these “old favorites” along with the newer works on the program!
Hence she’s gone to Ireland, Since she meant to go, Through the drift and darkness Onward labouring, though That she’s gone to Ireland Dora does not know. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
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Composer and tenor Jonathan David is active in the worlds of choral music, musictheatre, and art song. He has served as Composer-in-Residence for The Greenwich Village Singers, and Music Director for the chamber chorus, Howl! Jonathan has been recognized as a “major new composer who must be regarded as one of the important emerging musical voices of the future.” (East Hampton Star, 12/11/07) 200910 performances include commissioned works by Glass Menagerie and the Packer Collegiate Institute Concert Chorus; and the premiere of the expanded version of Hopkins Songs by soprano Amy Bartram. David’s choral music has been performed by Princeton Singers, the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble, and the Western Illinois University Singers, among others. Stage works include Bronx Express, which ran to critical acclaim at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival. He is currently completing a song cycle, Winter Birds, for countertenor Phillip Cheah, to texts by the North Carolina poet David Brendan Hopes. His music has received awards from ASCAP, the Americas Vocal Ensemble, and the Global Network of Conservatories, among others. Jonathan
David Harris, BSE, MM, DMA, is a freelance musician living in Manhattan. He is the director for the Columbia Glee Club, a member of C4, assistant director for Canticum Novum and teaches for the Opus 118 Harlem School of Music. In addition to conducting, singing and teaching, David composes in a variety of musical styles. This year he released three choral CDs, each one available on iTunes and CDBaby, the most recent, the first full-length album dedicated to his compositions. David moved to New York from Colorado where he began and directed Jubilate, a 55-voice a cappella choir, for eight years in addition to working with Denver-area professional ensembles. He holds degrees from the Universities of Alabama, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
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How She Went to Ireland
Thomas Hardy’s mysterious poem is a short and rhythmic piece about a woman named Dora, who may or may not have boarded a ship for a wintry sea-voyage to Ireland. Hardy does not explain whether the trip actually happened, or whether it was an internal psychological voyage, but the poem implies that either way, the journey was misguided. To illustrate the vague and possibly meaningless nature of Dora’s trip, I used musical material that seems to change and evolve on its surface, but which remains rooted in the same fixed harmonies for the majority of the piece. I also made use of thick and heavy voicings to evoke the “drift and darkness” that Hardy so vividly describes. Finally, I worked the “Irish” element of the poem into the music by setting the text in a very slow compound meter that I imagined sounding like a glacial Irish jig. Overall, “How She Went to Ireland” is very much about the rhythm, atmosphere, and imagery of the poem itself. — Joseph Rubinstein
Two Songs
(First C4 performance: 9 June 2006) In Two Songs, Alexander Dmitriev sets two poems by Joseph Brodsky, winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize for Literature. Brodsky, a native of Russia, became a U.S. citizen in 1977, and, though he wrote most of his poetry in Russian, wrote these two poems in English. Dmitriev sets the texts – which deal with love and loss – in a gently rolling, mostly homophonic style that captures the nuances of the text without obscuring the words themselves. His use of the Dies irae chant in Törnfallet underscores the preoccupation with death underlying Brodsky’s elegiac poems. — David Rentz ALEXANDER DMITRIEV is an accomplished composer of vocal and instrumental music. He is published by Oxford University Press, and has been recorded on the Gall (formerly Gallo) label. Originally a native of Ukraine, he has lived in the United States for ten years, and now resides in New York State. He is married to the composer Alla Borzova.
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Dora’s gone to Ireland Through the sleet and snow; Promptly she has gone there In a ship, although Why she’s gone to Ireland Dora does not know. That was where, yea, Ireland, Dora wished to be: When she felt, in lone times, Shoots of misery, Often there, in Ireland, Dora wished to be.
A Song I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish you sat on the sofa and I sat near. the handkerchief could be yours, the tear could be mine, chin-bound. Though it could be, of course, the other way around.
I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish we were in my car, and you’d shift the gear. We’d find ourselves elsewhere, on an unknown shore. Or else we’d repair To where we’ve been before. I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish I knew no astronomy when stars appear, when the moon skims the water that sighs and shifts in its slumber. I wish it were still a quarter to dial your number. I wish you were here, dear, in this hemisphere, as I sit on the porch sipping a beer. It’s evening, the sun is setting; boys shout and gulls are crying. What’s the point of forgetting If it’s followed by dying?
Now in the distance I hear her descant. She sings “Blue Swallow”, but I can’t follow. The evening shadow robs the meadow of width and color. It’s getting colder. As I lie dying here, I’m eyeing stars. Here’s Venus; no one between us. Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996)
C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective Daniel Andor started playing piano at four and studied composition and piano at The Purcell School of Music, London. His compositions won a number of awards and have been performed internationally, and he was featured by the Society for the Promotion of New Music during 2000–2002. As he felt drawn to making music with others, he took up trombone and conducting. Orchestral conducting kept him busy during his years at the University of Cambridge, where he lingered vigorously until he received his PhD in physics in 2005. Daniel now finds himself in New York, contemplating the receiving end of music: researching hearing and its neuro-physiology.
Professionally, he works as a Talk Radio Imaging Producer for Sirius XM Radio. Timothy Brown completed his BA at the University of North Texas and has been a choral professional for over 20 years, directing and singing with high school, community, and chamber choirs. As a composer, Tim focused for a time on music for the theatre. His Curious George toured nationally for over ten years and his songs were showcased at the West Bank Theatre, the BMI Workshop, and in the Donnell Library ‘Songbook’ . Tim later studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Nils Vigeland. His Incidental Dance Suite was premiered at Merkin Concert Hall, and Epitaph (Songs on Poems of Dorothy Parker) was recorded by Metropolitan Opera mezzo, Theadora Hanslowe. Tim’s church music includes Christ Our Passover and Eloi, Lama Sabbachtani, both commissioned by and premiered at The Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York.
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Törnfallet There is a meadow in Sweden where I lie smitten, eyes stained with clouds’ white ins and outs. And about that meadow roams my widow plaiting a clover wreath for her lover. I took her in marriage in a granite parish. The snow lent her whiteness, a pine was a witness. She’d swim in the oval lake whose opal mirror, framed by bracken, felt happy broken. And at night the stubborn sun of her auburn hair shone from my pillow at post and pillar.
Obsessions from the Twittersphere Confessions from the Blogosphere
(First C4 performance [Confessions from the Blogosphere]: 26 January 2007) In the few years since the premiere of Confessions from the Blogosphere, online communication has blossomed and diversified. The arrival of Twitter was both powerful and ridiculous. The same tool is used to spread political movements and to inform the world what one had for breakfast, in brief spurts of 140 characters or less. Focusing on the ridiculous, Obsessions from the Twittersphere mocks the mass-distribution of the meaningless. Tweets about obsessions from strange to harmless are patched together in an unfolding dialogue between strangers. Confessions from the Blogosphere is inspired by the comparatively old-fashioned realm of the on-line blog. Like a tweet, a blog post is inherently public. Unlike the twittersphere, however, the blogosphere often has an association with intimacy. Created in an intimate, comfortable space (at home, alone with one’s computer), it frequently contains highly personal thoughts once relegated to the old-fashioned diary. As I started reading blog entries that ranged from the banal to the bizarre, I was captivated by a unique kind of confession motivated more by humor than by guilt. The text to Confessions
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Christopher Baum received his BA in Classical Guitar from San Jose State University and his MM in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Denver. In addition to conducting, singing and occasionally composing for C4, Chris is also the Music Director of the Manhattan Wind Ensemble, and is active as freelance conductor and classical guitarist. In May, he performed with the F.R.E.D. Chamber Players in a program featuring music for guitar and voice by Tippett, Henze and Britten.
Phillip Cheah is a member of the New York Choral Artists, the Concert Chorale of New York, and the renowned Bach Choir at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. He has sung under the batons of Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and performed with Olympia Dukakis, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Quasthoff, Angela Brown, members of Anonymous 4, NY Polyphony, and Alarm Will Sound. A tireless champion of contemporary music, he has performed works by Ralph Shapey, Joe Manieri, John Eaton, and David Lang, as well as the US premières of Paul McCartney’s Ecce Cor Meum and John Tavener’s monumental all-night vigil The Veil of the Temple. Phillip has conducted the Pocket Opera Players of Chicago, the Handel Society of Dartmouth, Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble, the Indiana
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James Bilodeau grew up in the Adirondacks. He spent his youth singing in church choirs, school choruses and several musicals. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Production and Technology from the Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, CT. At Hartt he also studied choral arts and conducting with Dr. Edward Bolkovac and voice with Janine Hawley and Janet Alcorn. Since moving to New York, James has sung with the Empire City Men’s Chorus under Dr. Jonathan Babcock and with C4.
High School Concert Choir. “be of love(a little)” was written in the summer of 1998 for the Washington University Chamber Choir. Both were significantly revised for their performance by C4 in 2007.— David Rentz I if I love You (thickness means worlds inhabited by roamingly stern bright faeries if you love me(distance is mind carefully luminous with innumerable gnomes Of complete dream if we love each(shyly) other,what clouds do or Silently Flowers resembles beauty less than our breathing
How Sweet I Roamed
(First C4 performance: 23 February 2008) I’ve emphasized the tinge of nostalgia in this pastoral text by the 14-year-old William Blake by, among other things, repeating its opening line. Still, there is little here of the mysticism of later Blake, and my little part-song from 2004 doesn’t take things too, too seriously. I’ve allowed myself a bit more leeway with text painting than I might normally, and there’s nothing too dark even in its melancholy moments. – Jonathan David
from the Blogosphere is composed entirely of quotes from these blogs. The quotes overlap and compete for attention, reflecting the context of fast-paced internet surfing in which they are read. — Karen Siegel Obsessions from the Twittersphere I have a slight obsession with my iPhone. I have a very weird obsession with fat pigeons, they’s so... interesting. My obession has probably turned unhealthy. Yes, I do think your obsession with Samantha is a bit unhealthy. Holy crap, dude. My child has developed an obsession with buckles. Like, on her booster seat, All she wants to do is snap and unsnap them. I have an obsession with strollers. We’ve got like eight! Thank God I can’t afford my obsession with cars. A new obession is building. I want a new obsession. Developing a small obsession for sesame snacks. Europe’s obsession with corporate remuneration has little to do with preventing excessive risk-taking. I know, We need to find a place that makes good leechee martinis, They are my new obsession! Lately I developed an obsession with Art Nouveau and Art Deco architecture of Bucharest. Twitter is an obsession. My obsession has probably turned unhealthy. Compiled by Karen Siegel from tweets by “Squeakees,” “jkamazingkris,” “tripleXmas,” “j9gem,” “samarapostuma,” “thody,” “Angians,” “trishaO_o,” “YasTwit,”
“mister_Sam,” “KraseyBeauty,” “viapontica” and “MissBeeyawnkuh” Confessions from the Blogosphere I like Paris Hilton for real. Should I be ashamed? I’ve never been a fan of Tom Cruise. There! That’s off my chest. I occasionally watch a couple soap operas My cousin got me hooked on The Young and the Restless when I was fourteen. In junior high I joined the chess club because I liked the nerdy boys. Yes, in the most worrying OCD episode of late I pulled out all of my shoes, I wiped them down, treated the leather. I took my post-it notes and wrote in black sharpie a short description of the shoe Which would then be visible when stuck on the inside of the clear, stackable boxes in which my shoes reside. So there you have it people. I have issues. I have admitted, shared, and am feeling positively at ease with my madness. My weakness isn’t pairs of shoes, gadgets, or collecting DVDs. I’m continually tempted to buy new notebooks, The paper variety. You can never have too many notebooks And I love looking through old journals full of old sketches from over the years. While digital is such a powerful medium and my wacom pen is lovely Nothing beats the satisfaction of doodling on a piece of paper. There, that’s off my chest! Compiled by Karen Siegel from blogs by “Misty,” “Mulligan,” “Kim’s Suitcase,” “Style Editor,” Rachel Cunliffe, and “a gay, partnered guy from South Louisiana”
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II be of love(a little) More careful Than of everything guard her perhaps only A trifle less (merely beyond how very) closely than Nothing,remember love by frequent anguish(imagine Her least never with most memory)give entirely each Forever its freedom (Dare until a flower, understanding sizelessly sunlight Open what thousandth why and discover laughing) E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)
How sweet I roam’d from field to field And tasted all the summer’s pride, Till I the Prince of Love beheld Who in the sunny beams did glide! He show’d me lilies for my hair, And blushing roses for my brow; He led me through his gardens fair Where all his golden pleasures grow. With sweet May dews my wings were wet, And Phoebus fir’d my vocal rage; He caught me in his silken net, And shut me in his golden cage. He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty. William Blake (1757-1827)
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Two Miniatures
A White Blossom
(First C4 performance: 26 January 2007) These D.H. Lawrence settings were written in August 2006, for C4’s then-upcoming Confessions program. Although superficially very different, the two pieces are unified by a common tonality (G-sharp/A-flat) and by the general theme of love that is not or cannot be reciprocated. The first piece, “Birdcage Walk,” derives nearly all its musical material from the opening motif, a turning, unstable figure that seems to me to reflect both “the wind blow[ing] her veil” and the speaker’s distress as he describes the scene. The text’s peculiar pattern of repetition suggested to me a speaker who can’t quite pull himself together, an idea reflected in the piece’s frequent starts and stops. (The poem’s title, incidentally, indicates where the “action” takes place. Birdcage Walk is a street that marks the southern border of St James’s Park in Westminster; it was named for the aviary built there during the reign of Charles II.) I was recently startled to find in a poetry anthology a version of “A White Blossom” in which the last line was very different: “She shines, the one white love of my youth, which all sin cannot stain.” Thankfully I was spared having to re-think the closing bars of my setting, as it appears the text I used is Lawrence’s final version. Still, it’s a curious change to make; I wonder why he did it... —Christopher Baum
A tiny moon as small and white as a single jasmine flower Leans all alone above my window, on night’s wintry bower, Liquid as lime-tree blossom, soft as brilliant water or rain She shines, the first white love of my youth, passionless and in vain. D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
She will never have mercy, this lady of mine. You must see to it, love, That she is certain of my great ardor. If she knew how much pain I bear – For honor’s sake concealed in my mind – Only for her beauty, other than which Nothing gives comfort to a grieving soul, Perhaps by her would be extinguished in me The flames which seem to arouse in there From day to day more pain. Bindo d’Alessio Donati (fl. 1270) Translated by Lansing D. McLoskey
mercy. Concluding my work with an outsize and formally Bachian fugue is, on the one hand, of course patently ridiculous. And yet, viewed as a kind of “Miserere mei” (“Have mercy”) re-directed to the third person (“Forgive him”), it is perhaps less absurd and even a bit spiritual.— Jonathan David On Slow Learning If you have ever owned a tortoise, you already know how terribly difficult paper training can be for some pets. Even if you get so far as to instill in your tortoise the value of achieving the paper, there remains one obstacle – your tortoise’s intrinsic sloth. Even a well-intentioned tortoise may find himself, in his journeys, to be painfully far from the mark. Failing, your tortoise may shy away for weeks within his shell, utterly ashamed, or looking up with tiny, wet eyes might offer an honest shrug. Forgive him. Scott Cairns (b. 1954) Text reprinted courtesy of Paraclete Press
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(First C4 performance [movements I, V and VI]: 15 June 2007) Canti d’Amor is a collection of fifteen brief love madrigals for a cappella chorus using poems from James Joyce’s Chamber Music. The madrigals are grouped in three sets of five and, in keeping with Joyce’s penchant for weaving threads of musical allusion into his literary fabrics, each group is subtly informed by an Irish song. The first five have the lilt of “Danny Boy”; the second set a fragrance of “Eamonn an Chunic” ( a precursor of “’Tis the last rose of summer”) and the final five breath the Air “The Maids of Mourne Shore” – better known by Yeats’ poem “Down by the Sally Gardens”. In as much as these settings qualify as madrigals, they are indebted to Monteverdi’s Canti d’Amor and my love of them.They were composed as gifts to my wife, Augusta Read Thomas, to whom they are dedicated. — Bernard Rands Born in England in 1934, BERNARD RANDS emigrated to the U.S. in 1975 and became a U.S. citizen in 1983. Through more than a hundred published works, he is established as a major figure in contemporary music. He has received commissions from many of the world’s leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists and his music is performed, recorded and broadcast in many countries. His Canti del Sole for Tenor and Orchestra, premiered by Paul Sperry and the New York
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Birdcage Walk When the wind blows her veil And uncovers her laughter I cease, I turn pale. When the wind blows her veil From the woes I bewail Of love and hereafter: When the wind blows her veil I cease, I turn pale.
Quando gran tempesta un’aqua venne, Quand’io recoverai choi mio falcone, Dove una pasturella il cor mi punse. Sola era li onde fra me dicea, “Eccho la pioggia, “Eccho Dido et Enea.” When suddenly a storm broke and rain pelted down, I found shelter with my falcon [In a place] where a shepherdess pierced my heart. She was alone there, and I said to myself, “There is the rain; Here are Dido and Aeneas.” “Con brachi assai”, 14th-century caccia Translated by Lansing D. McLoskey
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Non vivam ultra, Sed descendam in infernum plorans. May I live no longer, But descend into hell weeping. “Absalon, fili mi” (Josquin Desprez) Translated by Lansing D. McLoskey
Slow Learning One can only be so serious setting a text on paper training, and there is certainly a disconnect between the earthy text and the gravitas of some of the solo vocal lines. But Scott Cairns’ poem is ultimately about
Love in C(ummings)
(First C4 performance: 15 June 2007) Both of Cummings’s poems deal with his understanding of and response to “love.” The poems move from awe to tenderness to ironic ambivalence to exultation, all within the span of a few words. The materials of musical construction are similarly pithy – the pieces are based on a single four-note motive: c-e-c-d. Cummings’s language, both in its visual symbolism and its sonority, is extremely rich; in this set, I have tried to give musical expression to his masterful poetry. “if I love You” was originally written in July of 1995, for the Whitefish Bay (Wisconsin)
Non avrà ma’ pietà/Quando con gran tempesta/Non vivam ultra This piece is based on the ballata “Non avrà ma’ pietà” by the Italian composer Francesco Landini (1325-97). Though the text of the Landini piece is found solely in the upper two voices, the music itself acts as a source for melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic material in varying degrees throughout the entire texture, similar to the parody technique used by Renaissance composers. The work is a triple texted motet, a genre which flourished in various forms from roughly 1250 through 1400. In the original double and triple texted motets, the upper texts were French or Italian secular poems - usually of a romantic nature - that related to or commented on the lower text, which was often the opening line or excerpt from a sacred text from the Latin liturgy. Such is the case here, though instead of each text being sung by a single voice, each poem is found in two paired voice parts. — Lansing D. McLoskey Described as “a major talent and a deep thinker with a great ear” by the American Composers Orchestra and “an engaging, gifted composer…writing smart, compelling and fascinating music that gives strong hints of his punk-band past, with a bluesy edge and infectious punch” by Gramophone Magazine, LANSING MCLOSKEY has had his music performed to critical acclaim across the U.S. and in twelve other countries on six continents. Among his numerous awards are the 2009 Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition (First Prize), Omaha Symphony International New Music Competition (First Prize), the Kenneth Davenport National Competition for Orchestral Works (First Prize), the Lee Ettelson Composers Award, the Paris New Music Review Int’l Composition Competition (First Prize), the SCI/ASCAP 2000 National Student Composition Competition (First Prize), and an Astral Career Grant from The National Foundation
for Advancement in the Arts. McLoskey has received dozens of commissions and grants, including from Meet The Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Fromm Foundation, ASCAP, the Barlow Endowment, Music At The Anthology, and many others. He has written for such ensembles as the New Millennium Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, and The Hilliard Ensemble. Recent performances include premieres in Melbourne (Australia), Boston, Chicago, Miami, and New York, and performances in Rome, Mexico, and the 18th International Jazz Festival in Lima, Peru. Recent commissions include those from Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, the Melbourne Chamber Choir, and a Pew Charitable Trust Commission for The Crossing Choir (Philadelphia). Upcoming performances include concerts in Germany, Italy, Australia, Argentina, and New York. McLoskey completed a Ph.D. at Harvard University, with additional studies at UC Santa Barbara, USC, and The Royal Danish Academy of Music. Currently faculty at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, he is also Co-President of Composers in Red Sneakers and from 20042009 was on the Board of Advisors of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. His music is released on Albany, Wergo Schallplatten, Capstone, Tantara, LogX, and Beauport Classics. A monograph CD of his music - Sixth Species - was released to critical praise in 2008.
Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He was Composer in Residence for seven years with the Philadelphia Orchestra (198996.) His current commissions include an opera based on the life, letters and work of Vincent van Gogh with a libretto by J.D. McClatchy; an orchestral work for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a solo piano work for Jonathan Biss for his Carnegie Hall debut recital in 2011.
VI Winds of May, that dance on the sea, Dancing a ring-around in glee From furrow to furrow, while overhead The foam flies up to be garlanded, In silvery arches spanning the air, Saw you my true love anywhere? Welladay! Welladay! For the winds of May! Love is unhappy when love is away!
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Non avrà ma’ pietà questa mie donna. Se tu non faj, amore Ch’ella sia certa del mio grande ardore. S’ella sapesse quanta pena i’ porto Per onestá celata nella mente Sol per la sua bellecça, che conforto D’altro non prende l’anima dolente, Forse da lej sarebbonó in me spente Le fiamme che la pare Di giorno in giorno acrescono’l dolore.
II The twilight turns from amethyst To deep and deeper blue, The lamp fills with a pale green glow The trees of the avenue. The old piano plays an air, Sedate and slow and gay; She bends upon the yellow keys, Her head inclines this way. Shy thought and grave wide eyes and hands That wander as they list — The twilight turns to darker blue With lights of amethyst. III Lean out of the window, Goldenhair, I hear you singing A merry air. My book was closed, I read no more, Watching the fire dance On the floor. I have left my book, I have left my room, For I heard you singing Through the gloom. Singing and singing A merry air, Lean out of the window, Goldenhair.
VII My dove, my beautiful one, Arise, arise! The night-dew lies Upon my lips and eyes. The odorous winds are weaving A music of sighs: Arise, arise, My dove, my beautiful one! I wait by the cedar tree, My sister, my love, White breast of the dove, My breast shall be your bed. The pale dew lies Like a veil on my head. My fair one, my fair dove, Arise, arise!
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VIII O cool is the valley now And there, love, will we go For many a choir is singing now Where Love did sometime go. And hear you not the thrushes calling, Calling us away? O cool and pleasant is the valley And there, love, will we stay.
X This heart that flutters near my heart My hope and all my riches is, Unhappy when we draw apart And happy between kiss and kiss: My hope and all my riches — yes! — And all my happiness. For there, as in some mossy nest The wrens will divers treasures keep, I laid those treasures I possessed Ere that mine eyes had learned to weep. Shall we not be as wise as they Though love live but a day?
My kiss will give peace now And quiet to your heart — Sleep on in peace now, O you unquiet heart! XV All day I hear the noise of waters Making moan, Sad as the sea-bird is when, going Forth alone, He hears the winds cry to the water’s Monotone. The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing Where I go. I hear the noise of many waters Far below. All day, all night, I hear them flowing To and fro. James Joyce (1882-1941)
traditionalist in that his musical language is based on a traditional approach and uses the resources of modern music only sparingly. He has been active as an amateur and semi-professional musician, mainly as a choral singer with a number of Finnish choirs, including the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir, the professional Sibelius Academy Vocal Ensemble and the Tapiola Chamber Choir. He conducted the Savolaisen Osakunnan Laulajat student choir from 1988 to 1993. He was also deputy conductor of the Tapiola Chamber Choir from 1998 to 2004, and composer-inresidence of that group from 2000 to 2005.
Levine is published by Shadow Press, Harold Flammer Inc., E. Henry David, Plymouth, Colla Voce, and Willis Music. Moon and Flowering Plum A huge moon rises behind the branches stippled with white plum flowers, cold and frail, like snow in early spring. Suddenly it is that moment you have longed for. You overflow like a cup. Like the moon overflowing with whiteness. Could you live like that, moving from incandescence to incandescence as courtly viewers of plum flowers proceed from one white orchard to the next? Or would you find their formal robes too stiff, the moon too slow, the orchards when you reached them muddy and full of frogs?
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XI Silently she’s combing, Combing her long hair Silently and graciously, With many a pretty air. The sun is in the willow leaves And on the dapplled grass, And still she’s combing her long hair Before the looking-glass. I pray you, cease to comb out, Comb out your long hair, For I have heard of witchery Under a pretty air, That makes as one thing to the lover Staying and going hence, All fair, with many a pretty air And many a negligence.
Pseudo-Yoik
This Pseudo-Yoik has nothing to do with the genuine traditional Lappish or Sámi yoik, and should thus be considered to have the same degree of authenticity as local color in bel canto opera. If a connection must be sought, I would prefer to describe this piece as an impression of a stereotype — the stereotype that most Finns associate with Lapland and its people. The text exists merely to give form to the music and is meaningless, although the laws of probability dictate that there must exist an obscure South American Indian language in which it makes perfectly good sense. – Jaakko Mäntyjärvi JAAKKO MÄNTYJÄRVI studied English and Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, and music theory and choral conducting at the Sibelius Academy. As a composer, Mäntyjärvi describes himself as an eclectic traditionalist: eclectic in that he adopts influences from a number of styles and periods, fusing them into his own idiom;
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XIV Sleep now, O sleep now, O you unquiet heart! A voice crying “Sleep now” Is heard in my heart. The voice of the winter Is heard at the door. O sleep, for the winter Is crying “Sleep no more.”
Metaphors of Women
(First C4 performance: 15 June 2007) My Metaphors of Women – four settings of poems of Katha Pollitt – were commissioned by Michèlle Eaton and Marion Beckenstein for a recital in 1994. I am always browsing through books of poetry and had this one as a gift from a friend. It suddenly spoke to me as the perfect thing for these two singers. The pieces have been done on many recitals and are recorded by Shauna Holiman on Albany Records. — Elliot Z. Levine ELLIOT Z. LEVINE has been the baritone for the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble since its inception in 1969. He has appeared as a soloist with such groups as Musica Sacra, the Rome Opera, La Fenice, the Mannes Camerata, Music at Ascension, the Ensemble for Early Music, the Folger Consort and the Kalamazoo Bach Festival. Since 1980, he has been a conductor and coach at Western Wind Workshops at such institutions as Dartmouth and Smith Colleges, University of Massachusetts, and ACDA choral conferences around the country. He has taught at CCNY and Upsala College. Levine is the cantor at Temple Emanuel of Great Neck, N.Y. and sings at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in New York City. Mr.
Intimation It says what you’ve always known even as a child when your grandmother sat on your bed in the dark and sang that tuneless song about a white goat and raisins and almonds and you felt suddenly strange: as though you had waked in the night and snow was falling. Katha Pollitt (b. 1949)
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