Performance blog: Seventh Annual Glenn Glasow Memorial Concert - May 18, 2009

This past Monday, May 18th, was the Seventh Annual Glenn Glasow Memorial Concert at California State University, East Bay (Hayward Campus).  The annual Glenn Glasow concert is the CSUEB faculty and alumni composers concert.  At this concert Philip Santos performed my piece Glimpses of the Moon (2001) for violin.  This was my first non-Festival of Contemporary Music performance in a few years.  This was also my first acoustic performance at a concert since the 4th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music on August 24, 2006, where Richard Lee masterfully performed my solo bass trombone piece, Incursion (2002).  My cello piece Romance (2008) was performed at my wedding last year, but that was not a concert.

I first learned about the performance on March 5, 2009 when my former instructor, now friend, Jeffery Miller emailed me to tell me about the inclusion of my piece on the concert.  Needless to say I was excited for the opportunity to have this piece performed again.  This was only the second performance of the entire piece.  The first took place on April 3, 2004 at the SCI National Student Conference.  Régine J. MontésBarrow performed my piece that day.  The performance was decent, but I felt that she did not understand the concept of the piece.  As a result the phrasing was wrong and she did not give the piece a direction.  While I was glad to have Régine's performance, I wanted to have this piece performed again to get a better quality performance.  In addition, I received my Bachelor of Arts in Music from CSU East Bay (then CSU Hayward) so this performance was a chance for me to return to my alma mater and show them what I have been up to.

This concert was an amazing experience.  There was a lot of great music and awesome performances that night.  Also on the program was Arise My Love, and Come Away by Jean McKinley, Three Rivers by John Hildago, Veni Sancte Spiritus by Frank La Rocca and String Quartet no. 3 by Giancarlo Aquilanti.

Philip Santos did a wonderful job with my piece.  It is a very difficult piece to put together and perform.  He did a masterful job doing so.  I am fortunate that he has agreed to perform this piece again on August 22 at the 7th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music.  He and I will have the opportunity to work some more on this piece together and the performance will be even better.

I have to say that I was honored to be apart of this concert.  I want to express my deepest gratitude and thanks to Jeffery Miller, Frank La Rocca and Composer's, Inc. for including me in this concert and for putting on an amazing show.  To have my music performed alongside these other works is truly a blessing.

Listening Journal: May 11-17, 2009

Toru Takemitsu - Garden Rain (1974) for nine brass instruments

Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'Oiseaux: Book 4 - VII. La Rousserolle effervatte (1956-58) for piano

Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'Oiseaux: Book 5 - VIII. L'Alouette calandrelle & IX. La Bouscarle (1956-58) for piano

Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'Oiseaux: Book 6 - X. Le Merle de roche (1956-58) for piano

Witold Lutoslawski - Chain No. 3 (1986) for orchestra

Michael Tilson Thomas - Street Song (1988) for brass quintet

The listening process

As the readers of my blog know, I like to post a listening journal. This journal is not much more than a listing of pieces I have listened to during a specific week. I recently read an interview with Mauricio Kagel in the Richard Dufallo book Trackings. Kagel made some comments about listening that has made me think about my listening process.

The first comment was about the type of listening people do (or do not do).

"I have noticed that nobody really listens to music in a very concentrated manner, not even those who think of themselves as professionals."

Basically there are two types of listening: active and passive. I realize that most of the listening I do is passive. I will put music on as I am doing chores or even while writing in my blog. However, there are pieces that I will sit down and just listen and try to absorb the music and understand it.

Some will have you believe (university professors for example) that active listening only happens when you have the score in front of you so you can see and hear the piece. I think what Kagel goes on to say helps to contradict that point of view.

"Our listening, in fact, is like the cicadic motions of our eyes, which locust-like jump around. We listen to music, but at the same time we are preoccupied with our inner world, perhaps with very trite things, the university, travel, eating."

Here Kagel is not just talking about the everyday life getting in the way of listening. He is talking about distractions taking our attention away from the music. To me, the score is a prime example of a distraction from listening to music. Often the listener will get caught up in the details of the score and they will forget that the music has progressed past the point at which they are looking. Then the listener jumps ahead to the point where the music is playing, leaving a hole in that partcular listening of the piece.

I do not condemn a person for listening to the music with a score. I believe it does more good than harm. However, I think that the first couple of times someone listens to a piece should be done without a score. Music is meant to be listened to, to be absorbed aurally. One should have some familiarity with the music before taking it to the next level.

Developing the introduction

I focused my composition time yesterday on developing the introductory material I sketched out last week. Right now I have the quintet divided into two groups:

Group A: Trumpet 1 & Trombone
Group B: Trumpet 2, Horn & Tuba

This is for no other reason than the figuration I am developing is two-voiced (Group A). I am offsetting this with complementing figuration in Group B.

This figuration is fanfare-like, using dotted rhythms and oscillating between a couple of notes, however I do not intend to write a fanfare to open this piece. This to me would be cliche and uninspired. (Keep in mind this is in regards to my piece.) While working on this figuration today I began to realize that it has some Messiaen-like qualities. In particular I am thinking about some of his works that utilize bird calls and bird songs like Catalogue d'Oiseaux.

I am going to go back and listen to some of the pieces in Catalogue d'Oiseaux. (As a matter of fact I am listening to the 4th book as I type this post.) I want to pay particular attention to how he develops the bird-like figuration. While I am not trying to imitate Messiaen in this piece, I think learning how he develops, transitions into and out of, and handles the material would be a benefit.

Listening Journal: May 4-10, 2009

Since I have started work on a brass quintet, much of the listening I have done has been of brass music.  This is done to immerse me back into brass music.

Eugene Bozza - Sonatine (1951) for brass quintet

Leos Janacek - Allegretto from Sinfonietta (1926) arranged for brass sextet and percussion

Fleeting Visions - CD 

Arthur Gottschalk - Sonatina Casada (2001) for flute and clarinet

John A. Carollo - Romantica Passione: from Suite for guitar and violin (2005)

James Scully - Hop, Skip and Jump (2001) for clarinet

Allen Strange - Another Fine Mess (2007) for soprano saxophone and electronics

John Bilotta - Gen'ei no Mai (2002) for flute and clarinet

Jamie Leigh Sampson - Frozen Landscape (2004) for bassoon

John Bilotta - Fire in Spring (2005) for flute and oboe

Jay C. Batzner - Pioneer X (2003) for trumpet

Malcolm Arnold - Quintet (1960) for brass quintet

Victor Ewald - Quintet No. 1 (1890) for brass quintet

Ingolf Dahl - Music for Brass Instruments (1944) for brass sextet

Ludwig Maurer - Three Pieces (1870) for brass quintet

Morley Calvert - Suite from the Montregian Hills (1961) for brass quintet

Quotes from Stravinsky

When I first learned about Igor Stravinsky as an undergrad, I learned about his three compositional periods, about his masterworks and about his musical philosophies.  I was taught that Stravinsky was against serial music.  He did not believe in twelve tone rows as a basis for creating music.  As I furthered my musical studies, I learned that people's beliefs are not always black and white.  In undergrad music history they try to distill the information and compartmentalize it so that there are clear distinctions.  Theoretically it makes for easier learning.

As I read different texts on music I am always amazed to see some of the quotes by composers or to read bits of information that sheds light on the compositional process of composers.  Currently, I am reading Trackings: Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo, compiled by Richard Dufallo.  In his second narrative, before the interview with Ned Rorem, Dufallo talks about his encounters with Stravinsky.  There are a couple of quotes, from Stravinsky, that I wanted to share.  I find them interesting and true, to an extent.  These quotes also contrast a bit to what I previously knew about Stravinsky.  Both of these quotes date from the late-1950s.

"The rules and restrictions of serial writing differ little from the rigidity of the great contrapuntal schools of old."

"Masterworks aside, it seems to me the new music will be serial."

Return to an old friend

Today I was finally afforded the opportunity to sit down and begin work on my brass quintet.  I have started to look at a page of sketches for brass that I created in early 2007.  After about 15-20 minutes I realized that I am stumbling out of the gate.

This is the first piece that I have tried to compose for brass since my Fanfare for Progress in 2001.  This piece is actually dates 2005 in my catalog because I did a quick revision for my doctoral recital.  Even then, that piece was only two and a half to three minutes long.  So this piece will actually be my first substantial work for a brass group since 2000 when I composed Three Miniatures for 5 tubas.

I think I need to remind myself what brass instruments are like.  I cannot treat them the same way I would string or woodwind instruments.  While I have written for brass in either a mixed ensemble or solo context, I believe that composing for a brass group is different.

I am going to listen to different brass quintet pieces and other brass music to get the sound back into my head.  This will not be too difficult as I am a former (and future?) brass player, so I do have familiarity with the instruments.  It is just going to take some time and all will be well.