JOHN CAGE at 100!
OUR 2012 FESTIVAL WILL OPEN ON SEPT.5 WITH A CONCERT HONORING THE CENTENNIAL OF
JOHN CAGE'S BIRTH!
John Cage (Zürich, 1990)
Photographer: Niklaus Strauss
Courtesy of the John Cage Trust
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In Their Own Words:
GERNOT WOLFGANG
(WORLD PREMIERE)
When
Elmira Darvarova asked me to contribute a short piano quartet for the concert
“A Tribute to Mahler” at this year’s New York Chamber Music Festival, she sent
along a copy of Mahler’s 2-page sketch for an intended second movement to his
Piano Quartet from 1876. My composition FROM VIENNA WITH LOVE is based on the
theme outlined in this sketch.
The
piece starts out with the main melody presented in two very different musical
environments: first a slow introduction, divided in half between solo piano and
strings, and harmonically foreshadowing musical developments to take place in
Vienna early in the 20th Century. Then, an upbeat section incorporating
uneven meters - a reflection on Vienna’s cultural plurality at the time (many
Eastern European nations were part of the Austrian Empire). The theme here is
carried by violin and viola in 2-octave unison and supported by a jazzy
combination of pizzicato cello and piano.
Jazz
continues to be an audible factor during the middle section of the piece.
Written out, but could-have-been-improvised soli for cello and piano build
towards a massive ensemble unison in which again the main theme is spelled out.
From there on the composition calms down. A gentle ostinato tapestry of
pizzicato cello and piano sets the mood, and a mirror version of the theme
appears in the violin, harmonized by the viola. The composition seems to end
the same way it started, with a quiet, pensive presentation of the main melody
(this time the strings go first), but an upbeat tag brings us back in the world
of uneven meters and lets the piece end on a forceful note.
Ironically,
being from Austria my first real musical love was neither Haydn, nor Mozart or
Mahler. It was the wonderful jazz coming from the instruments of guitar greats
Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall. My love for concert music emerged much later in
life. However, growing up in Austria one cannot escape the sound of
authentically performed classical and romantic music, and that sound I consider
Austria’s gift to me.
GERNOT WOLFGANG
Los
Angeles, September 2011
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WANG JIE
(WORLD PREMIERE)
On a
day that we remember Mahler, his absence often turns into a sharp sense of
loss. What would I tell him if he is sitting among us watching this concert
unfold?
Songs
for Mahler in the Absence of Words depicts that moment of mind. Words can never be sufficient
enough for what only music can bear and utter. To quote from Mahler's most
beloved song Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world):
I
live alone in my heaven,
In my
love and in my song!
-WANG JIE
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NOEL ZAHLER
LE MIROIR DE L' OMBRE
Le miroir de l'ombre was commissioned by the New York Chamber Music Festival for the New York Piano Quartet and is dedicated to the Festival's founder, the extraordinary violinist Elmira Darvarova.
The request for the work was for a short "reflection" on the Mahler Quartet (1876). As such, the composition derives its thematic material from one of the main motives of the Mahler, but treats it in an entirely personal manner. Four short sections follow the opening and explore a previously stated element.
In most of my chamber music, I am interested in the composite ensemble working as a single instrument. Le miroir de l'ombre continues this interest. I try to make each of the parts the performers play interesting and expressive, but nonetheless challenging. My hope is that both the listener and the performer will be intrigued by a glimpse into my imagination, here derived from the Mahler composition, as I work with the sounds and rhythms that comprise my sonic vocabulary.
.SEAN HICKEY
Avatar was commissioned by violinist Ilya Gringolts in 2006. The piece, in three distinct movements, explores the peculiarities of independence and ensemble among the three instruments: clarinet, violin and piano. The title refers to the embodiment of some of my explorations in the area of meter and rhythm in my work up to its time of composition.
The basic material introduced on the first page of the restless and extensive first movement is subjected to quick transformation throughout, musical fragments taken apart, reassembled and put in different places, a sort of musical cubism. A brief violin cadenza leads into a slower section that is short-lived, the dominant cell of two sixteenths and an eighth reasserting itself throughout each contrasting section. Marked “somewhat secretive”, the second movement is exactly that, marked by a dotted rhythm often stated in the lower register of the clarinet. At two points, the texture thickens dramatically, yet gives way to a short, chorale-like passage in the piano. The final movement returns to the spirit of the first yet concentrates on an elongated metrical modulation. A four-note ostinato in the piano left-hand stubbornly plows through a constantly changing meter, while the violin plays an equally insistent set of chords. The effect is of three instruments playing straightforward rhythms grafted onto an unstable background, often tossing parts to one another before returning. An occasional inserted short rest provides a hiccup in the insistent rhythm before an exuberant conclusion.
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JOSEPH TURRIN
SERENADE (World Premiere)
I composed Serenade for Violin and Piano in April 2008 for Anne-Sophie Mutter. I first met Ms. Mutter in 2002 when the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Kurt Masur premiered my Hemispheres at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. On that program she played the Beethoven Violin Concerto and as I listened from backstage I could only imagine that such beautiful playing would inspire any composer to want to write something for the violin. She asked me if I would be interested in composing something for her and that’s how this piece came about.
Although not a long work it is very compact in structure and thematic material. Harmonically tonal in design the piece is tied together by a series of short violin cadenzas interspersed with rhapsodic sections that develop as the piece unfolds. Thematic material is derived from the interval of the seventh along with the always-returning pitch center of C sharp giving the work its tonal character. Although at times dissonant, the piece has its roots in the romantic style both in melodic and harmonic design.
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THREE PETITE ETUDES FOR SOLO PIANO
I composed these short
etudes in March 2011 and they are dedicated to my good friends France and Rolf
Graage.
Each of the three
contrasting movements consists of short melodic ideas some no longer than three
or four notes.
The etudes are easy
going in style both harmonically and technically.
I would say that etude one was inspired by Poulenc, etude two by Chopin, and etude three by Prokofiev.
-JOSEPH TURRIN
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CRISTINA SPINEI
(WORLD PREMIERE)
The first thing that struck me about Mahler's Piano Quartet was the ambiguous opening rhythm. Listening to it for the first time without the score, I thought that the piece began in 6/8. The opening triplets sounded to me like a compound meter against which the left hand plays syncopated octaves. The polyrhythm created in the first few measures inspired me to use that kernel as a basis for a new piece. For the past few years I have been fascinated with rhythm and the different ways in which rhythm is perceived. Mahler's Piano Quartet was the perfect piece for me to explore the different relationships and interplay of those ideas.
Mahler Remixed is formed by looping actual fragments from Mahler's quartet. Each time a loop appears, it is transformed through a changing rhythmic texture. Just like the original, Mahler Remixed opens with the solo piano. It continues in a sort of polyrhythmic conversation between the strings and piano.
- Cristina Spinei
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Stylistic Variations on a Song by Mikis Theodorakis
(American Premiere)
Past, present and even a glance from the future of the piano music are combined in this piece.
One of the most beloved Greek melodies (from the song called ''Denial'' and also known as ''At the secret shore...''), written together by the two famous artists - composer Mikis Theodorakis and Nobel Prize winner poet George Seferis, is at the core of this work.
A kaleidoscopic synopsis of music history, intending to prove that a song or a melody, as much as it may be absorbed or transformed through time and technique, always remains at the heart of music of any style and epoch.
I selected this theme not only as a tutorial for my fellow Greeks but especially because of its timeless simplicity - it is so simple that anyone could have written it, no matter to which epoch or style he or she belonged.
“ Stylistic Variations for piano on a song by Mikis Theodorakis ” is a 30-part set of quite peculiar variations. Each one of them refers to the style of a certain composer or epoch, starting with Couperin and traveling back and forth through music history (Mozart, Webern, Debussy, Chopin etc.) up to our present day with even pop sounds and, of course, computer music (a variation coming out from loudspeakers at the beginning and at the end of the piece, symbolically representing “the future”).
In other words, these variations attempt an all-around musical trip following the path of piano music. They expand from Cembalo playing to the sounds of Keith Jarrett, while covering most of the prominent music styles and composers. It seems as if only for the sake of this musical argument, the composers have been resurrected exactly as they were in their own time. While keeping their distinct personalities unaltered, they interact with each other at the same time and space, taking turns at the piano trying to make us understand the essence and the common thread of them all.
It was always my ambition to gather and culminate all these styles in one piece. Although such a piece should be written by only one person, it should also maintain at the same time an objective view of all these various personalities. Therefore, I was very happy when Mr. Theodorakis mentioned that “ If someone is not aware of the primal intention and the styles involved, one might naturally perceive this piece as a work of a single composer ".
…”
-Christos Papageorgiou
NICOLÁS PRADA DIAZ
REFLECTIONS ON MAHLER
(WORLD PREMIERE)
This is a
short piece that reflects the Colombian folklore view about the first three
notes appearing in Mahler's Piano Quartet. The strong rhythms and the typical Colombian music,
accompanied by the chromatic harmony, virtuoso passages, glissando effects,
counterpoint development and even a little fugue, give their own personality to the music, always
keeping as clear as possible Mahler’s principal theme.
The particular stamp in this work is based on the rusticity of rhythm and the use of "bambuco", which is one of my favorite traditional Colombian rhythms.
- Nicolás Prada Diaz
ALFRED SCHNITTKE
(Portrait by Reginald Gray)
PIANO QUARTET AFTER MAHLER
Schnittke's music is known for it powerful impact, attracting some, alienating others, but rarely leaving the listener neutral. It is marked by intense expressiveness, an unpredictable flow of ideas, an innate sense of drama, and a natural lyricism. His abandonment of the reigning dogma of post-war Europe was an inspiration to a whole generation that has sought freedom of action. Most of his music is characterized by polystylistic construction: radically different compositional styles, drawn from centuries of music history, coexist in the same composition. (It can be argued that the extraordinary dramatic power of his music, and its appeal to audiences, made polystylistic music something of a world-wide fad.) Schnittke based his Piano Quartet upon a scherzo fragment from the incomplete piano quartet (1876) by Gustav Mahler. Schnittke's piece is not, however, imitation Mahler, but an embodiment of the great Austrian's aesthetic, using his thematic material. (The original finally appears intact at the end of the Schnittke's piece.)
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PATRICIA LEONARD:
STRANGELY CLOSE, YET DISTANT
In 1912, Alma Mahler met the young Viennese painter Oskar Kokoschka. They began a passionate love affair that soon evolved into an intensively obsessive relationship. When Oskar wasn’t loving Alma, he was painting her. Oskar’s already jealous temperament escalated in his constant fear of losing Alma. Although she had many suitors, the one man always standing between them was Alma’s late husband and composer, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). To Oskar, Gustav’s memories surrounded Alma and lived inside her with his music, preventing the kind of emotional intimacy Kokoschka longed for with her. Although their love affair ultimately could not endure, Kokoschka´s most famous painting, The Bride of the Wind, is a testament to his true, yet tormented, love for Alma.
Written in 2003, Strangely Close, Yet Distant, was inspired by Kokoschka’s painting The Bride of the Wind. Like the painting, I wanted this composition to portray the passion, the longing and the madness of the relationship between these two extraordinary people. The piece is composed for piano, viola and cello. The opening themes for Alma and Oskar invoke the possibilities of new found love. These themes continuously transform and ultimately break down, as their relationship began to disintegrate. The opening four bars of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (last movement – Adagio) are used throughout the piece as bridging material between Alma and Oskar’s themes, initially in soft, distant fragments, then clearly and completely as the piece concludes. This bridging theme symbolizes how Mahler’s music always came between these ill-fated lovers prohibiting Alma and Oskar’s themes from ever touching. The title of this composition comes from Alma’s diary entry of 1922, when she met Kokoschka by chance in Venice. "strangely close, yet distant" is how she referred to their meeting.
- Patricia Leonard
Oskar Kokoschka: The Bride of the Wind
Alma Mahler, listening to Mahler's Symphony #2 ("Resurrection")
DREW HEMENGER:
Union Square, September 14, 2001
from "Four Places in New York"
September 14, 2001 is a day I, and many others, will not forget. At 7 p.m. on the Friday following the day no American will ever forget, millions of New Yorkers lit candles in commemoration of those who had died on September 11, and thousands of them converged on Union Square, which had already become a focal-point and makeshift memorial. Following a long period of silence, a lone trumpeter began to play the The Star-Spangled Banner, followed by When the Saints Go Marching In and America. The effect of hearing this music emerging out of the communal silence, which inspired everyone to join in singing, was mesmerizing. This is evoked in music by a fugue-like crab cannon, in which the outer sections of the movement are melodic mirror images of each other, based on the National Anthem. The middle section is an ethereal variation on Saints, juxtaposed with America, which gradually emerges from the haze. The lone trumpeter is heard again at the very end.
Originally for solo piano, Pascal Rogé requested a four-hand version that he and his wonderful wife, the pianist Ami Hakuno, can play together. In creating the arrangement, I discovered that many sections unfolded in new ways and had to be re-written. Thus, the four-hand version has become a separate work of its own.
-Drew Hemenger
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PAUL CHIHARA:
ARABESQUES
for flute, violin, cello and piano
Commissioned by the New York Chamber Music Festival
Arabesque has two meanings:
1 ) an artistic design motif in art and architecture (with many animal and floral geometric patterns), associated with the Eastern or Arabic world;
2 ) the well-known and beautiful ballet position, often en pointe, which creates and extends the line in the body in a lovely continuous flow.
But another meaning of Arabesque for me is the spirit of a youthful and lyric Debussy, whose music (as taught to me by my master Nadia Boulanger) has always been my muse.
All three meanings of Arabesque are in my piece, which was composed on commission by the New York Chamber Music Festival, especially for Elmira Darvarova, her talented friends and the great pianist Pascal Rogé.
Paul Chihara, July 2010
AMI SUITE for FOUR HANDS:
Four-hand piano music is the most intimate and personal of musical combinations, and has inspired some of the most loving pieces from Mozart, Schubert, Faure, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, and others. It is not an instrumentation that inspires grand concertos (there are none, to speak of!) or public statements, but rather intensely personal, almost confessional, utterances that often reflect the relationships of the two performers. It was originally a teaching format, and this pedagogical tradition is felt in the interaction of the four hands sharing a single keyboard, often suggesting teacher and student, or husband and wife, or more recently -- the marriage of two great artists. My AMI was written in loving tribute to my friends Pascal Roge and Ami Hakuno on the occasion of their marriage in Japan. It suggests the tradition of Faure and Debussy, with an occasional nod to Ellington and Gershwin. These are my musical mentors. And of course there is a Japanese children’s song included: Aka Tombo (“Red Dragon Fly”).
Paul Chihara July, 2010
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JOSEPH TURRIN:
SUITE FOR PIANO (New York premiere):
Six short movements varied in style, composed in 1987 for the Swedish pianist Kabi Laretel once married to the Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman. I met her in Washington, DC when she was on tour playing the seldom heard Ludus Tonalis by Hindemith.
FOUR MINIATURES:
GARETH FARR:
KEMBANG SULING:
Three musical snapshots of Asia:
I On the magical island of Bali, flowing gamelan melodies
intertwine with the sound of the suling (Balinese bamboo flute) to form rich colorful
tapestries. The marimba and flute start out as one, their sounds indistinguishable.
Bit by bit the flute asserts its independence, straying further and further
from the marimba melody. An argument ensues – but all is resolved at the
climax.
II The haunting sounds of the Japanese shakuhachi flute float out over the warm
echoes of the rolling landscape.
III Complex rhythms and South Indian scales set the two
instruments off in a race to see who can outplay the other. The marimba is set
in a three bar cycle of 5/4+5/8+5/16 but the flute plays a different cross
rhythm each time, returning to the marimba’s pattern at the end of every cycle.
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GERNOT WOLFGANG:
ROLLING HILLS AND JAGGED RIDGES
(NEW YORK PREMIERE)
The composition starts out with the flowing, somewhat folksy “Hills” theme played by the violin ... the piano joins in the development of this theme ...subsequently, a more percussive one note motive enters, building up to the
throughout the piece, either as the melody, a rhythmic component or the bass line. Even in the Bach-inspired violin cadenza the top line of the arpeggios closely follows the pitches of the “Hills” theme. After an energetic ensemble unison climax, the piece briefly calms down to an airy section built on violin harmonics and a piano ostinato before making its final forceful statement.
Gernot Wolfgang
Los Angeles, April 2009
ALEJANDRO VIÑAO:
FORMAS DEL VIENTO:
In the first movement of this piece I tried to achieve an effect of outward simplicity. A tune or melodic cell with a certain ‘groove’ repeats itself, time after time, subjected only to what appears to be just minor variations. I imagine my audience listening to the Dance of the Nigh Wind with a certain abandon. And as the structure and rhythms get more complex the listener might just sink into them without expecting great tension or drama to unfold. In this sense this movement is unlike most of my music where the complexity of the form and local syntax is apparent.
I was not seeking simplicity, which is not much, but what Jorge Luis Borges has described as ‘secret complexity’, a feeling that there are more layers to a discourse than it appears to be and that we are happy to let that underlying complexity remain in the background.
In the second movement I return to one of my favorite themes: the preoccupation with polyrhythms and their ability to give the impression or create the illusion that more than one time is going on at the same time. Here the influence of Nancarrow and Ligeti is never far.
The subtitles of the two movements – Dance of the Night Wind, and Los Pies del Viento (The Feet of Wind) were taken from the poem “The Night Wind “ by Rudyard Kipling.
At two o'clock in the morning, if you open your window and listen,
You would hear the feet of wind racing towards the sun.
Trees in the darkness whisper, and trees in the moonlight glisten,
And though it is still dark, you know that the night is done.
- Alejandro Viñao
WILLIAM SUSMAN:
