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Wednesday February 24, 2010 7:30 pm Brooklyn Rider Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 FREE PARKING *Pre-concert lecture, 6:45 pm Pre-concert lectures are given by Lisa Brooks, Ph.D., Butler University Program Achilles' Heel Colin Jacobsen Lydia's Reflection Second Bounce Loveland Shur Landing String Quartet No. 5 Philip Glass --INTERMISSION-- In a Landscape John Cage, arranged Justin Messina String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 Claude Debussy The Musicians Born out of a desire to use the rich medium of the string quartet as a vehicle for communication across a large cross section of history and geography, Brooklyn Rider is equally devoted to the interpretation of existing quartet literature and to the creation of new works. They have worked with numerous composers such as Derek Bermel, Lisa Bielawa, Ljova, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Jenny Scheinman, Dimitry Yanov-Yanovsky, and a frequent part of Brooklyn Rider's programming also involves works written or arranged by members of the group. Exploring new creative possibilities through collaborative programs is also an integral part of their work. Some recent special guests include Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, Syrian/Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad, traditional and technology-based Japanese shakuhachi player Kojiro Umezaki, Irish fiddle player Martin Hayes, and singer/songwriter Christina Courtin, whose widely released debut album on the Nonesuch label features several tracks with the quartet. A long-standing relationship between Brooklyn Rider and Persian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor resulted in the critically acclaimed 2008 recording, Silent City, on the World Village/Harmonia Mundi label. The quartet's name is inspired in part by the cross disciplinary vision of Der Blau Reiter (The Blue Rider); a pre World War I Munich-based artistic collective comprised of Vassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Arnold Schoenberg and Alexander Scriabin, to name a few. In this spirit, Brooklyn Rider has created an online art gallery showcasing the work of friends of the quartet in which the proceeds are used to support new commission projects (http://www.brooklynrider.com/ ). The quartet also draws inspiration from the exploding array of cultures and artistic energy found in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, a place they also call home. Colin Jacobsen Achille’s Heel For years, I found it difficult to imagine the act of “composing”. With the weight of the entire classical music canon looming large, I couldn't see myself coming up with anything new worth anything to anybody. Largely through my work within the Silk Road Ensemble, the patient support of my friends in Brooklyn Rider, and the example of composers like Claude-Achille Debussy, I realized that it was possible to put notes together as a child plays: with serious intent, joy when something works, and with the idea, as Debussy put it, that “pleasure is the law”. So Achille’s Heel is above all a celebration of Play; childlike and un-inhibited, yet filled with rules and boundaries. This was well exhibited in the interplay of gods and mortals in ancient Greek mythology and, as Bill Shakespeare put it, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women mere players.” With that in mind: Lydia’s Reflection: Two instruments, two brothers, tell the tale of Lydia, whose two clear and liquid eyes were so beautiful they turned anyone who had the misfortune to peer into their endless depths into stone. This was a sad family trait she shared with her sister Medusa and made it hard for either of them to go out on dates as they were growing up (except maybe the “blind” kind)… Second Bounce: One of those crazy Bouncy Balls, (available at highway rest-stop dispensers or a toy store near you) always makes a stroll down the street more interesting and is definitely one of the better uses of plastic. Throw ‘em up in the air! When they land, enjoy how they seem to jump off the ground harder than you threw them. But watch out for the Second Bounce- all the spin accumulates and then you never know where they will land - you might run after them and break your heel and have to write a piece about it… Loveland: If you were missing Johnny, don’t worry. He lives here and will demonstrate it with his sweet sound. I think Lydia probably lives here too. And Achille. And all children under the age of 115 carry Bouncy Balls. Shur Landing: Maybe if you the threw the Bouncy Ball hard enough, it would land in ancient Persia… Philip Glass String Quartet No. 5 In five movements Philip Glass is perhaps most widely known for his dramatic scores to such iconic films as The Hours, Kundun, Mishima, and Koyaanisqatsi, as well as for his operatic works, namely Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and The Voyage. Currently in the middle of learning the composer's complete works for string quartet, we have found that the broad and pervasive appeal of his musical language coupled with our desire to expand the traditional boundaries of string quartet programming helped to foster a deep sense of connection to this project. From the very first notes of our rehearsal process, we felt an affinity to the glowing sonorities and the way the music coaxed us towards a truly collective spirit as a quartet. The openness of the music and the ability of these quartets to be both of their time and curiously “unstuck” from time caused us to draw connections to other familiar sounds such as the urban mechanization of Brooklyn to the drone infused textures of Persian music; all of this made the music more deeply rooted in our collective experience. The expansive 5th string quartet (1991) begins an epic journey from the very opening bars which serve as the connective tissue for the rest of the quartet. This work is full of dramatic contrasts and all of the composer’s trademark stylistic devices: self-propelling rhythms, elemental harmonic progressions, and restless arpeggiated figures. But these raw elements become nearly invisible within the soaring and operatic structure of this quartet; from the bell-like introduction to the swaying syncopation of the second movement to the quirky figures of the scherzo-esque movement to the sustained transition which gives way to a rapid explosion of scales, finally yielding to a refrain of the introduction and a floating resolution. Reflecting on his approach to the composition of the 5th quartet, Glass commented: “I was thinking that I had really gone beyond the need to write a serious string quartet and that I could write a quartet that is about musicality, which in a certain way is the most serious subject.” John Cage In a Landscape The iconic and prophetic American composer John Cage composed In A Landscape in 1948, much before the fame that was achieved later in his life. Cage’s beautifully meditative and gently melissmatic work suggests a much wider world than it would seem from a cursory glance at the score. Writing about the String Quartet in Four Parts from 1949, Cage expresses a sentiment which could easily apply to In A Landscape: “This piece is like the opening of another door; the possibilities implied are unlimited.” Indeed, the natural world would seem to suggest limitless sonic and metaphoric possibilities, especially in Cage’s open-ended approach. The original version of In A Landscape is scored for solo piano or harp; the string quartet arrangement was created by our friend and New York-based composer Justin Messina in 2009. Reflecting on his treatment of this work, Justin writes: "When I play In A Landscape at the piano, the thing that strikes me most is how different it is from other piano music. Cage specifies that the pedal is to remain depressed throughout, resulting in a rich, almost atmospheric quality. The ensuing musical language is one where the focus shifts away from the notes and phrases and centers on the resonance that emerges beneath them. In this arrangement I endeavored to accentuate and animate that resonance.” One of Cage’s concerns of this early period was to find a viable way to free himself from the confines of Western harmony. In this regard, we see a shared vision between Cage and Debussy, who was grappling with the same issue in the last decade of the 19th century. Our latest recording entitled Dominant Curve, which features the Debussy String Quartet, also includes an alternate version of Justin’s arrangement of In A Landscape for string quartet and electronics. Claude Debussy String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 Animé et tres décidé Assez vif et bien rythmé Andantino, doucement expressif Tres modéré Claude Debussy’s life straddled the extraordinary era of fin-de-siècle Paris and his life intersected with a veritable who’s who of culture: he played for Franz Liszt, he had a summer job in his conservatory days entertaining Nadezhda von Meck (beloved friend of Tchaikovsky), he counted amongst his musical friends Erik Satie, Ernest Chausson and Igor Stravinsky, he was in similar circles as artists Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon, he befriended leading poets of the day including Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine, and he collaborated with the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev and the great dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. He even had occasion to meet Charlie Chaplin! Debussy was truly one of the great modernists, achieving in his works an elevated sense of human emotion and a deeply nuanced reflection of the world he assiduously observed through his acutely developed senses. Impressionist and the Pre-Raphaelite painters had achieved similar breakthroughs the previous generation and poets were boldly embodying new artistic credos like this one set forth by Baudelaire in 1859; ‘The imagination decomposes all creation and with the wealth of materials amassed and ordered according to rules whose origins can be found only in the deepest recesses of the soul, it creates a new world.’ The Paris Conservatoire training that the young Debussy received was rigid and mired in outdated formalist ideas according to his burgeoning musical sensibilities. Debussy was to later admit that he found ‘the actual pieces, whether they are old or modern…so poverty-stricken, manifesting an inability to see beyond the worktable. They smell of the lamp, not of the sun.’ The stories of how he confounded his teachers with his betrayal of the conventional laws of voice leading and harmony practice are now famous. In the organ class of the towering figure of César Franck, ‘Modulate, modulate!’ was the master’s frequent charge to which Debussy’s contrary response was ‘But why should I modulate when I’m quite happy with the key I’m in?’ At the beginning of the 1890’s, Debussy was finally back in the familiar surroundings of Paris after an obligatory two-year residency at the Villa Medici following his first place prize in the Prix de Rome. As he was struggling with the cost of daily living, a constant problem throughout his life, he still managed to make frequent visits his favorite places which included various cafes, antique stores (Debussy loved Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints- the cover illustration of the first printing of La Mer was taken from Debussy’s own copy of Hokusai’s The Wave Off Kanagawa), the Librarie de l’Art Indépendant (a tiny bookstore focused on Symbolist literature and the occult), and the church of Saint-Gervais, where music from Renaissance contrapuntal masters such as Lassus and Palestrina was being performed regularly. Achieving mastery of his compositional voice was perhaps foremost on the young composer’s mind. Debussy was perhaps better acquainted with the revolutionary music of Wagner than any other composer in Paris at the time, but he was singularly intent on refining his own unique compositional voice and finding original solutions to the problems (as he had earlier identified) of formal music. The myriad possibilities of setting poetry to tones were a feature of this period of Debussy’s music. In the years between 1893 and 1895 he worked obsessively on his operatic masterpiece Pelléas and Mélisande, based on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, as well as numerous other vocal works. Seldom during this time was he to compose either pure instrumental works or compositions based on an established historical template. This four -movement string quartet, composed in 1893, is an exception. While Debussy may have been paying musical homage to the motivic machinations of his predecessors Wagner and Franck, many of the hallmarks of his distinct musical language had taken firm root: modal writing, gamelan influences (heard by Debussy in the 1889 Paris Exposition, he wrote in 1895 that the gamelan was able to express ‘every shade of meaning, even the unnamable’), and even a nod back to some of the musical influences of the distant past, freshly resonating in his ears from the church of Saint-Gervais, during the middle section of the slow movement. Notes by Nicholas Cords (except Achille’s Heel by Colin Jacobsen) |
New 2009-2010 Season Wednesday October 7, 2009 7:30 The Ying Quartet with Christopher Taylor, piano Wednesday November 18, 2009 7:30 The St. Lawrence String Quartet Wednesday January 27, 2010 7:30 Fauré Piano Quartet Wednesday February 24, 2010 7:30 Brooklyn Rider Wednesday March 17, 2010 7:30 Sérgio and Odair Assad, guitar Wednesday April 21, 2010 7:30 Takács Quartet All concerts are presented in: Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center Frank and Katrina Basile Theatre 450 West Ohio Street Free Parking |
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