Crossroads of Traditions Concert
| Wings | David Vayo (born 1957, USA) |
| Turkina Suite | Jon Appleton (born 1939, USA) |
| Gateway | Neil Leonard (born 1959, USA) |
| She stoops to conquer | Marjorie Rusche (born 1949, USA) |
| Encuadres | Igor de Gandarias (born 1953, Guatemala) |
| Rumba Phase | Timothy Olsen (born 1961, USA) |
Presented by The Latin American Music Center with the support of the School of Music and the Office of Creative Arts Exchange Program of the United States Information Agency. | |
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| Recital Hall Saturday Afternoon July 13 Two O'clock | |
Program Notes
Wings (1993)
David Vayo
Like so many composers of my generation, I am equally indebted to the worlds of popular and concert music. I hope that this composition, born at the confluence of these two musical streams, is the stronger for combining both of their currents. Wings arises out of the lyricism and sensual harmonies of Brazilian popular music, mingled through my intuition with other styles which have captivated me; jazz, rock, tango, contemporary concert music. The soaring joyfulness of the works's climatic sections suggested its title.
Wings was premiered at the 1993 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival by Hugh Livingstone, cello, and Sandra Brown, piano. (Note by the composer)
Turkina Suite (1995)
Jon Appleton
Galina and Julia Turkina, the best known piano duo in Russia, have played together for fifty-six years. They worked with composers Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Aram Katchaturian and others. In 1994 I met them at the Moscow Conservatory of Music where I was teaching at the Theremin Center for Electro-Acoustic Music. Nearly eighty, the sisters Turkina play like young women and I was delighted at their request that I compose a work for them.
But what kind of music to compose for them in this post-modern era? Among the rather meagre contemporary repertory for two pianos, the Rachmaninoff Suites seem to me to stand out. And they are Russian. And so was my own father and the musical tradition in which I was raised. Thus I wrote a piece in the romantic Russian tradition (tainted by contemporary use of harmony at times). The first movement flows like the Volga in big sweeping gestures. The second movement is a plaintive duet between an American and Russian thematic consciousness. The third movement is a spirited waltz cum scherzo. The fourth movement is an energetic finale with a nod toward minimalism if the performers decide to repeat measure fifty-eight more than four times.
Not having composed much piano music in my life, the success of the Turkina Suite led to the composition of "Quatre regards sur le Parc du Roy d'Espagne," a four movement work for piano four hands which is dedicated to Jean-Claude Risset (he has only two hands but plays the Disclavier). Now I am composing a new piece for two pianos, eight hands at the request of four, crazy Japanese pianists in Tokyo. The literature for two pianos, eight hands hardly exists I think because the percussive nature of the piano is so overwhelming with that many fingers (40). That is the challenge! (Note by the composer)
The Repose of Motion (1996)
Jeeyoung Kim
1. When a Leaf Sways
2. Rain
3. Low Hanging Clouds
4. Quake
This music was inspired by a Korean poem entitled, "When a leaf sways in the wind." In one section of the poem the author states: "While I blink my eyes, the light goes around the earth seven and a half times. Falling leaves ripple through the quiet repose of space, and the universe sways in their wake." As movement meets repose, the union produces a swaying that is neither the unbridled freedom of motion nor the unflappable inactivity of repose. The reaction of each state to the other is discordant, though only slightly in the case of the falling leaf. Through this piece, I sought to capture a tranquility that could only be found in motion, and a motion that could only be found in gentle repose. Perhaps such a state cannot be grasped even for a fleeting moment. Here, beauty may lie in pursuit of the unattainable.
In the first movement, each instrument plays long line melodies which try to express swaying and falling leaves metaphorically in a spacious mood. The second movement is a hocket, producing sounds like dripping rain drops, and the third is immersed in air sounds and chords produced by string harmonics and woodwind multiphonics. The last movement has a strong rhythmic and polyphonic aspect. (Note by the composer)
She Stoops to Conquer (July 1996)
(Libretto by Andrew Joffe)
Marjorie Rusche
My musical traditions are European and American. What I am interested in exploring compositionally in the Crossroads of Tradition Workshop is the interrelationship between European opera and American musical theater. Because of the historical inclusion of the aesthethic tendencies of "art music" and "entertainment" in opera, opera/music theater is currently a very natural and significant genre for the exploration of a variety of musical styles.
She Stoops to Conquer is a one-act comic chamber opera adapted from Oliver Goldsmith's Restoration Period comedy with the same title. This opera is commissioned by the American Chamber Opera Company, New York City, Andrew Joffe, Artistic Director. The estimated duration is 50 minutes. The music is and will be eclectic, with a blending of operatic and musical theater stylistic elements. The orchestration will be chamber-sized. Today you will hear the piano-vocal version of Scenes 1-3.
She Stoops to Conquer will have several scenes with six characters: Kate Hardcastle, soprano, a clever and fashionable young lady; Mr. Hardcastle, baritone, an old-fashioned English country gentleman and Kate's father; Young Marlow, tenor, a young gentleman sent from London by his father to be Kate's suitor, who initially has a terror of ladies but a great fondness for serving girls and barmaids; Constance Neville, mezzo, the practical friend and cousin of Kate who is living with the Hardcastle family and is in love with a close friend of Marlow; Mrs. Hardcastle, alto, the second wife of Mr. Hardcastle who wants Constance to marry Tony Lumpkin, her son from her first marriage, in order to keep Constance and thus Constance's jewels in the family; and Tony Lumpkin, baritone, son of Mrs. Hardcastle, a buffoon who is most interested in keeping his freedom to carouse in country clubs.
Full of comic intrigue and disguise, She Stoops to Conquer also explores the effects of social conditioning on sex roles and relationships. After a series of revelations and transformations, a lieto fine is finally achieved with Kate Hardcastle and Young Marlow deciding to marry, Constance Neville gaining her dowry and her London lover, Tony Lumpkin retaining his freedom, Mr. Hardcastle pleased at the outcome and Mrs. Hardcastle finally accepting the new relationships and events leading thereto.
I would like to dedicate this performance of Scenes 1-3 to three wonderful women: Elaine Amerson, who suggested the original play by Goldsmith; Alice Maxine Collins Rusche, my mother, for her financial assistance; and Carmen Téllez, for her many words of encouragement and ability to help make things happen.
This project is supported in part by an 1996-1997 Individual Artist Grant for Marjorie M. Rusche from the Indiana Arts Comission with funds appropriated by the Indiana General Assembly and U.S. Congress through the National Endowment for the Arts. (Note by the composer)
She Stoops to Conquer (July 1996)
Place: The Main Hall in Mr. Hardcastle's House, and old, solidly built yet plain mansion.
Scene 1: Mr. Hardcastle crosses the second floor hallway, calling instructions to servants to prepare for the arrival of a special guest. Mrs. Hardcastle enters with her son, Tony Lumpkin, and instructs him how to court his distant cousin, Constance Neville, praised for the dowry of jewels that Mrs. Hardcastle wants to keep in the family. Constance enters, Tony escapes and his mother chases after him. Constance sings of her plight: she wants to marry her lover in London, but her dowry is controlled by Mrs. Hardcastle. If only she were free! Tony enters and Constance leaves. He sings of his hard life: his mother smothers him, his stepfather hates him, he doesn't want to marry Constance-but once he comes of age, he'll get £15,000 a year, and then he'll be free. Mrs. Hardcastle sneaks up and grabs Tony. Mr. Hardcastle appears and enjoins his wife and stepson to give his guest a hospitable welcome. Tony sneaks off and Mrs. Hardcastle runs off after him.
Scene 2: Kate and Constance enter and Mr. Hardcastle tells his daughter that his choice for her husband is coming to visit that very night, Young Marlow, son of Sir Charles Marlow. Of course, he will not force her choice, but he describes the young man so glowingly that Kate immediately falls in love. After her father leaves, Constance tells Kate that indeed Marlow is proper and modest among young ladies-but that around servant girls, barmaids and the like, he is a merry dog, indeed!
Scene 3: Tony enters and Constance makes him a proposition: If he helps her get the jewels that are her dowry so that she can elope with her lover, this will have the effect of freeing him from his mother's wishes also. Tony agrees. They sing a duet to the joys of their mutual dislike and Kate and Constance exit. A knock at the door reveals Young Marlow, who lost his way to Mr. Hardcastles's house. Tony tells Marlow that he is a long way off, that this is an inn, and he might as well stay for the night. Marlow is much obliged, and as Tony exits, Marlow sings of his dilemma: he has been taught that women are angels-how therefore can he court such a refined lady? On the other hand, he has been taught that women are temptresses and loose, so how can he be expected to respect them? Mr. Hardcastle enters and welcomes Marlow to his house. Marlow, taking him for an inkeeper, is taken aback by his forwardness and answers him rudely. Mr. Hardcastle, shocked by Marlow's rudeness, the exact opposite of what he has been led to expect, storms off coldly. (Outline by the librettist)
Encuadres (1995)
Igor de Gandarias
The search to understand the common identity and cultural ties within the Latin-American diversity has been my main concern during the past 20 years as a composer. In this direction, popular culture has played a key role. The popular culture from the past and the present has been the source from which I have taken motifs, themes, atmospheres, sonorities, and motivations for important works. Besides a daily and informal contact with the oral culture of Guatemala, especially that of the indigenous populations, I have studied systematically its manifestations in different contexts with a marked interest for the musical aspect.
Encuadres uses instruments derived from the oral tradition. This piece, designed to be performed by four players, uses a mixture of eleven standard percussion instruments (marimba, temple blocks, timbales, bass drum, timpani, conga, crotales, chimes, glockenspiel, vibraphone, suspended cymbal) and three of the instruments used in the work Tropic (water drums, turtle shell, marimba, and jícaras). The pitches, duration, and entrances of the last three instruments are fixed and completely defined, hence the title of the composition, and play significant roles within the work. Water drums open and close the composition, presenting the motive from which the first half of the piece is built. The turtle shell marimba is elevated to the range of solo instrument and is given a cadenza-like passage displaying virtuoso mallet playing. The jícaras provide the closing gesture that introduces the coda immediately after the climax of the composition.
There are two main sections. Section A is based on a single rhythmic motive developed in three successive stages of increasing complexity played by indefinite pitched woods and skins. Section B presents new melodic material and procedures played by definite pitched metals. A short coda closes the piece with a remembrance of the water drums motives. (Note by the composer)
Rhumba Phase (1985)
Timothy Olsen
My work involves a mixture of widely disparate traditions. My musical sensibilities were forged through the television shows, films, and Broadway musicals I watched, and in the concert, polka, and jazz bands in which I participated on trumpet. Exposure to these popular genres has given me a keen understanding of "music with a job to do"-for sheer entertainment, to underscore dramatic action, for dancing, to convey a particular message.
Rhumba Phase is scored for five percussionists who perform on cowbells and found objects. In the words of musicologist Susan McClary:
"The piece is made up of three fairly simple rhythmic patterns that are designed to pass out of phase and gradually to circle back to coincide. One may get strongly conflicting impressions of the piece-on the one hand, it seems highly mechanical. It demands absolute precision. But on the other, it is very physical-it makes you want to get up and dance. Ironically, the piece can only achieve its infectious, seemingly uninhibited "swing" when all the performers submit entirely to the demands of its exact rhythmic phrasing and the group organism. Freedom and spontaneity through freedom and rigor."
Rhumba Phase uses melodies, rhythms, and instrumental configurations common to twentieth-century pop music. In addition, it demands a high level of improvisational skill, a necessity in many popular and jazz idioms. While challenging to both performer and listener, at the same time this work is also extremely fun. (Note by the composer)
Notes prepared by Luiz Fernando Lopes
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