red fish blue fish

ucsd san diego department of music

wednesday oct. 7, 2009, 7 p.m.

conrad prebys concert hall

special guests

susan narucki, soprano

aleck karis, william fried, and brendan nguyen, piano

william brent, ludbots

a new concert series featuringmasterworks of modern music, cutting-edge improvisation,

distinguished recitalists, and superb music from around the world

oct 7 redfishbluefishnovember 4 soprano susan narucki

november 18 pianist aleck karisdecember 2, 4 anthony davis’s lilith/premiere

january 13 international contemporary ensemblejanuary 27 harpsichordist takae ohnishi

february 10 trombonist george lewis/art of improvisationfebruary 24 tone road ramblers featuring john fonville

march 3 palimpsest/new music ensemblemarch 31 flutist james newton/art of improvisation

april 21 sitar master kartik seshadriapril 28 palimpsest/new music ensemble

may 12 bassist mark dresser/telematic musicmay 26, 27, 28 to be sung/chamber opera premiere

tickets general admission

$25

20% discount for ucsd faculty, staff, and students,friends of music, alumni association members

mini subscription $100 / 5 concertsfull subscription $200/14 concerts

super subscription $300/14 concerts + 7 camera lucida chamber concerts

ticket informationucsd box office 858.534.TIXS

http://music.ucsd.edu

wednesdays@710.07.09

red fish blue fishBrian Archinal

Dustin DonahueJustin DeHartRoss Karre

Steven SchickStephen Solook

Bonnie Whiting-Smith

Unchained Melody (2004) David LangSteven Schick, glockenspiel

William Brent, Ludbots

Chant Après Chant (1966) Jean BarraquéSusan Narucki, soprano

William Fried, piano

intermission

Music for Pieces of Wood (1973) Steve Reich

Brian ArchinalDustin DonahueJustin DeHart

Stephen SolookBonnie Whiting-Smith

Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1938) Béla Bartók

Assai Lento, Allegro MoltoLento, ma non troppoAllegro non troppo

Aleck Karis and Brendan Nguyen, pianoRoss Karre and Steven Schick, percussion

Please turn off cell phones

SONG AFTER SONG Something was almost a material image The ..... image ..... window BUT OUTSIDE (almost image) (closed and changing mouth) The window silhouetted in the moonlight- Not an instant that could become a figurative present- Impossible the moments, these moments traversed by LIGHTNING “past transmutation” But there must be a shining through in the imperfect of the countenance- But, not a changing of transparent countenances..... .... and human ones ..... of one form “Terror” “past transmutation” And the IMPERFECTgesture Ah it has to It was to the ear a Secondary Resonance -------------- BUT one must transilluminate in the unfulfilled of the face-“Beyond perception” Oh The transparency of the imperfect - Ah It could have been coupled in a strange unity yes it existed A pre-echo of the ultimate termination It listened to the inaudible Nothing floated but the image of the childlike voice

(..... SEAS OF SILENCES .....) Terrestrial resonance THE demiurge became acceptable and admitted- Have the notes resumed again? Appearance Neither days, nor nights Only the “Sea of SILENCES” ..... Song after Song ..... Thoughtless fragments, daggers of interrogation? But Transparency Sea(s) of/and Silence In the melodic invisibility where all poetry takes root. ------------------- “NOT YET AND ALREADY” the silver space ..... nocturnal solitudenot yet and already The demiurge marches, creator and demon who submerges the Dome And, across, the sparkling of the dream circles the revolt and the abstention of the word- He walks across THE DOME OF THE DREAM ..... LAUGHS ..... IN THE Dream, no one laughs when there is no exit ..... would dare ..... to laugh revolt hushed.

THE TREATY OF BELGRADE in the mid-18th century initiated a period of peace between the Ottoman (Turkey) and Habsburg (Austria) empires. Peace allowed a cultural exchange between the two empires in the form of exotic gifts from Turkey to Vienna and vice-versa. Among these gifts andexchanges were the percussion instruments and performances of the Mehter and Jan-nisary military bands. The introduction of these new sounds and a vogue for Turkish culture in Vienna lead to numerous roles for percussion in Western Art Music. Most commonly found in operas and orchestras, percussion instruments were capable of making explicit reference to Turkey and the far east, evoking a vague exoticism, punctuating an orchestration, and coloring a sonority. The period of two hundred years between this time of peace and Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Two Percussion (written just before WWII) saw cumulative changes to the western percussion catalog via (mis)appropriation of eastern sounds, inventive uses of industrial noises, and a refinement of percussion’s mchanical technology. The sounds of percussion instru-ments became commonplace at the back of the orchestra. Composers then codified the method of writing for these instruments in treatises and orchestration texts. With these writings, one starts to understand the history of the attitude towards percussion and percussionists.

One of the first examples of a composer’s remarks about the percussionist is from Hector Berlioz.

Only one member of the orchestra allows himself no sort of diversion. Engrossed in his task, active, tireless, his eyes fixed on the notes, his arm in perpetual motion, he would deem himself dishonored if he were to miss a quavre or attract censure for the quality of his tone. The close of each act finds him flush and perspiring, exhausted and breathless and yet he does not dare take advantage of the few mo-ments afforded him by the lull in musical hostilities to drink a glass of beer in the nearest bar. The dread of lingering there and missing the first bars of the next act is enough to rivet him to his post. Touched by his zeal, the manager of the opera-house to which he is attached once sent him six bottles of wine “by the way of encouragement.” The artist, conscious of his worth, far from accepting this gift gratefully, returned it to the manager with the haughty message, “I do not need encouragement!” It is easy to guess that I am referring to the bass drum player.i

This anecdote suggests that, as early as the 19th century, composers were keenly aware of the value of percussionists and their attention to the craft. But not all composers felt this way. In fact, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a composer known for his creative orchestration and use of percus-sion, wrote that “percussion instruments are purely ornamental and have no intrinsic musical meaning”ii in the late 19th century. Even Béla Bartók, in the performance notes to the Sonata’s

score, instructs that “one of the pianists should lead the whole ensemble. He should supervise the percussion players during rehearsal and see that the requirements of the score are strictly ob-served.” Bartók assumed that, in some situations, the percussionists’ skill and dedication were not to be trusted. In the first two hundred years of inclusion, the diversity of respect for percussion instruments and trust in the instrumentalists seems just as vast as the catalog of instruments itself.

Composers in the French, American, and German traditions of experimentalism stemming from the 1910s, 20s, and 30s have a clear understanding for the value of percussionists in the evolu-tion of their craft and art. From Edgard Varèse and John Cage, no written evidence is needed. Both composers are responsible for the percussion explosion of the 1930s. In Varèse’s Ionisa-tion, thirteen percussionists are called upon to play dozens of instruments from distinct cultural and industrial origins. Cage’s output in the 1930s is dominated by experiments in small chamber percussion configurations including his earliest Constructions. Soon after Varèse and Cage’s early experiments, Olivier Messiaen’s orchestral scores became infused with percussion sounds. Mes-siaen was enamored with percussion, stating that

these instruments offer us power, poetry, and an unreal quality: the vibraphones with their quivering resonance, the gongs, the tam tams, bells, with their halo of harmonics and false harmonics, and other very complex sound phenomena that actually bring us close to some of the enormous and strange noises in nature like waterfalls and mountain streams.iii

And Messiaen’s influence didn’t end with his progressive orchestration techniques. He was also a famous pedagogue and in his class of students was Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and the composer of tonight’s Chant après Chant, Jean Barraqué. All three students confessed their love for these sounds either by writing for percussion and percussionists with great frequency or mak-ing declarations in books and articles. Pierre Boulez declared that “percussion in the orchestra, like that of chamber music, has completely changed. Once percussion played an episodic part in music, now it is often an essential force.”iv

After two hundred and fifty years, what attitude does the modern day composerhave towards percussionists? The days of Bartók’s lack of trust and Rimsky-Korsakov’s failure to see the “intrinsic value” of percussion are over. Percussionists are modern music’s most vocal advocates and often its most active representative. Music festivals no longer think twice about featuring an all-percussion group. Music education all over the world includes percussion as a primary com-ponent of orchestral, solo, and ensemble training. In rehearsal, percussionists are on equal foot-

ing with the other instrumentalists. The work that went into preparing tonight’s Bartók Sonata performance was a distinct departure from the older traditional norms of a pianist-led rehearsal process. Preparing the Sonata was a true collaboration where ideas from all parties were voiced and respected. Evidence of these discussions can be seen in the unorthodox configuration of the instruments on stage, a suggestion from Aleck Karis (piano). A more traditional setup would have the pianos on the front of the stage, potentially with the lids removed, covering the percussionists’ visually engaging actions. In the pristine acoustic of the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, the pianos sound clearest and most brilliant when they are slightly upstage with lids directing the sound towards the audience. By placing the percussionists in the center, Prof. Karis noted that they were more visible to the audience and the stereophonic phenomena of the two piano parts is more pro-nounced. Thus, the inclusive collaborative environment and respectful exchange of ideas results in higher fidelity sound and a more intense visceral experience.

What would these pieces be without percussion? Percussion and percussionists define the very character of each of these pieces. Whether it’s the sonic phenomena inherent to the material (such as in Steve Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood) or the incredible attention to rhythmic precision for which percussionists are known (as in Steven Schick’s robot-synchedv performance of David Lang’s Unchained Melody), the percussion and percussionists on tonight’s program define the experience of each piece. As an unaccompanied piano duo, the Sonata would be a great work like so much of Bartók’s prolific piano repertoire. With the two percussion parts, the piece’s char-acter takes on a new dimension. The percussion expands the exotic evocation of Bartók’s tonal language with instruments capable of a more explicit referential quality. The xylophone (a near relative of the Hungarian Strohfidel), not only colors the piano’s timbre with its bright wooden sound but also refers to the folk instruments and instrumentalists that influenced Bartók’s work and research. The techniques that Bartók employs on snare drum, bass drum, and cymbals place the third movement in an ironic (almost toy-like) military march which, considering that Europe was on the cusp of battle, some have called an anti-war gesture. Barraqué acts in opposition to Bartók’s use of percussion as an enhancement of the pianos. Instead, he uses percussion as the origin of sound for the piece’s featured piano and voice solos.

The six percussionists surrounding Susan Narucki (voice) and William Fried (piano) establish the context in which their music-making is born. A quick glance at the score reveals that Barraqué imparted the same serial control over as many of the details in the percussion sounds as the piano and voice parts. Barraqué carefully calibrated the resonance of the instruments (via dampening instructions) so that the voice and piano could emerge from or be veiled by the halo of noise from over one hundred instruments behind them. The purity of the pitch content from the six percus-

sionists also plays a crucial role. The vibraphones, glockenspiels, and crotales lay a pitch founda-tion on which the voice and piano may elaborate. Xylophones, marimbas, drums, gongs, wood blocks, claves, timpani, and even three octaves of tuned cowbells fill in the rest of the pitch/noise spectrum with intricately hocketing rhythms; a sonic tribute to Messiaen and a rhythmic homage to Varèse. The pieces on tonight’s program do not simply use percussion as an orchestration tool. These pieces (and arguably a majority of the 20th century’s musical experimentation) are defined by percussion and percussionists.

-- Ross Karre, member of Red Fish Blue Fish; UCSD Department of Music Alumnus

i Blades, James. Percussion Instruments and Their History. Faber and Faber Limited: London, 1975. p301 1975. p301 ii Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay. Principles of Orchestration. Dover Publications, Inc: NY, 1966. p32 iii Messiaen, Olivier. Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel. Amadeus Press: Portland, OR. p57 iv Boulez, Pierre. Forward from James Holland’s Orchestration. Schirmer Books: NY, 1978. pIX v William Brent’s Ludbots are simple percussion mechanisms than can be precisely controlled with a computer via a PIC micro-controller. www.williambrent.com

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