June 22, 1999, Concert of Premieres, Grouop B:

PROGRAM

Evan Gardner ................. Ricochet*

Brett Green .................. Collage*

Eric Klein .............. "1899"*

Christopher Pierce ................ Concertino*

Chris Freeman ............. Time and Place*

Chris Bassett ................ Sandwich Musings*

Scot Lasley .................. Bruises*

Michael Deall ............... Images*

Carlos Delgado ........... Sketches in Orange and Grey*

Sonia Roubeni ........... Meditation on a Persian Theme*

Sarah Snider ..................... Prelude*

Franck Picarazzi ............... Rondo for Two Keyboards*

* First Performance ** First NY or US Performance

Having long awaited the final concerts for this seminar, I was extremely pleased with the final concert for group A. The concert consisted of pieces by Gustavo Parra, Yusuke Iwasaki, eric Foquinos, Juan Raffo, Matt Vinson, Hyun Jung Shim, Jong Suh Lee, Shawn Harper Turrent, Chan Ji Kim, David Reminick, Galo Recalde, and Wendy Luck. In general terms, the concert displayed a great degree of ecclectisism and diversity. There were pieces of a straightforward tonal nature as with Yusukee's piece Pillows, pieces consisting of more of a polyphonic and freely tonal linear design like Gustavo's piece, and pieces with a modal, eastern quality like Wendy's piece and Hyun Jung Shim's piece. I was pleased to see so many pieces that were obviously crafted with care and attention to the development and realization of melodies over time. As with any student concert, there were varying levels of succes but I would think its safe to say that evey piece on the concert had some really wonderful moments and that every piece was composed with feeling that came out in the show. The performers in the ensemble faced a rather daunting task of learning quite a bit of music in a realtively short period of time with very limited and rather stressed rehearsals. In spite of all this however, I think they did a good job of presenting the material as best they could. I think it was unfortunate, however, that the music was often stopped so that mistakes might be fixed with the fictional idea that the music could be cut and spliced magically in the recording studio. This really isn't how that kind of thing works. Not to say that a recording studios can't do some very magical things, but a spliced recording will sound just like that unless there are transition points that have some kind of clear ending and beginning. (Evan Gardner)

Two Concerts of Premieres June 17th and June 22nd, 1999 These two concerts reminded me of a conversation with a student majoring in fine art the other day. He and I discussed about the general tendencies of students' works in two fields, fine arts and music composition. He said that in the fine art field, students have concept, philosophy or just what to want to express clearly. However, usually they don't have enough skill to embody those themes, so their works become to look incomplete. Then, it is funny that instead of creating, they talk a lot about their themes, he said. In the music composition field, things seem in the opposite way. Most students seem to know theory and technique enough. However, it seems that they don't have what to want to express. In other words, they just write the "good" pieces that sound beautifully without any theme. Also, many students seem to lack the sense of time flowing throughout pieces while they care much enough about vertical sonority or temporally rhythm. Unfortunately, it turned out that this conversation was applicable to most pieces from these two concerts. However, some pieces have strong expressions. Hyun Jung Shim's "Beyond" reflects her national identity as a Korean composer. Although using ethnic materials always works to get the advantage to make the audience like the piece, every composer has a right to do so as far as it is true to him or her. Patrick Snyder's "Cannon's Walk" is another example to express a composer's musical identity. This classical cannon shows his attitude to write what he wants to write, without being influenced by "cool trend." Also, in his piece called "Sandwich Musings," Chris Bassett's crystallizes his unique sense of rhythm, knowledge of each instrument's color, and the sense of humor into one piece. Those young composers may achieve his or her own style with excellent quality, unless they depend too much on the technique they may learn. (Yusuke Iwasaki)
The second concert of premieres by students of the NYU Summer Composer's Seminar on June 22 proved an eclectic and intriguing evening. Collectively, the fourteen pieces reflected an amalgam of interests, influences and backgrounds as diverse as the students themselves. The feature common to the works, however, was the clear degree of effort each student put into his or her composition in a remarkably short amount of time. What seemed true for each piece was the singularity of objective: however disparate the stylistic gestures incorporated may have been, each composer managed to articulate and achieve his or her artistic goal in a clear and unique manner. The first piece of the evening, Christopher Pierce's *Concertino*, written for the septet (flute, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, piano, violin, and cello), plus bass clarinet and trombone, was a well-crafted exploration of a memorable melodic motive reminiscient of neoclassicism, yet seeminglymore centric in the harmonic and stylistic exposition that followed. The music suggested what must have been rather technically demanding passages for the instrumentalists, particularly the pianist - Professor Fabio Gardenal, who realized the virtuosic writing with force and animation. Following was *"1899"*, Eric Klein's piece for the septet, which he described as an exploration of particular musical ideas that were just on the brink of dissolution at the end of the nineteenth century. While the piece did indeed invoke an array of turn-of-the-century stylistic gestures, Eric managed to fuse them into a composition that nevertheless sounded unique, contemporary, and well-constructed, appearing to draw just as much from the composer's imagination as it did from the palette he described. The following two pieces -- Patrick Snyder's *Cannon's Walk* and Brett Green's *Collage* -- were likewise written for the septet. Patrick's *Cannon's Walk* combined imagination with an astute sense of instrumental color and a solid treatment of rhythm and motivic development; the instrumental voicings blended successfully, and the stylistic gestures were inventive and well-timed, allowing the piece to maintain its momentum smoothly throughout. Brett's *Collage* also relied upon momentum, although in this piece, it functioned as a temporal link between the various sections of the work. As a self-described pastiche of motivic ideas, the piece draws upon the composer's "eclectic" taste in music to create a medley of musical paragraphs, each of which returns at least once, usually signaled by a transitional gong or shimmer of cymbals. The paragraphs themselves -- featuring tonal melodic and harmonic structures with rock and jazz inflections -- seemed well-suited to one another, and flowed smoothly from one to the next. The next two pieces -- Evan Gardner's *Richochet* and Chris Bassett's *Sandwich Musings* -- both utilized other media in addition to the full septet. The only electro-acoustic work of the evening, Evan's *Ricochet* featured Evan himself triggering samples -- voices of seminar students speaking in languages other than English, the splash of a water droplet, doors creaking, and other sounds -- which served as a compelling complement to the textural creations of the acoustic instruments. The sample patterns were well-coordinated -- rhythmically and even harmonically -- with the phrasings and motivic development in the acoustic writing, blending into the color, texture, and affect of the piece as if they were simply another instrument. In the next piece, *Sandwich Musings*, Chris Bassett combined spoken word (the composer himself speaking) with music for the septet, and masterfully delivered a series of short verses on the topic of sandwiches. The pieces displayed a keen use of rhythm and timing; Chris managed to keep the music -- which would have been compelling even without the dialogue -- independent while it also served to illustrate and punctuate the verse. Written for sextet, Michael Deall's *Images* colorfully and energetically explored a motive which he described as reminiscient of Poulenc and other early 20th Century French composers. Indeed, the piece conjured shades of impressionism, but it was marked by a late 20th Century inventiveness that rendered it unmistakeably modern and unique. Michael managed to create sonorous instrumental colors that complemented the dynamic, animated piano writing ^÷ which often stole my attention ^÷ very well. Following Michael Deall was Scott Lasley, whose *Bruises* was a quintet written for flute, percussion, piano, violin, and cello. Scott^"s piece was quite engaging, exhibiting an imaginative, dynamic approach to both instrumental blending and motivic development. Chris Freeman^"s *Time and Place* ^÷ a quartet for clarinet, trumpet, percussion, and piano ^÷ exhibited a strong sense of pulse, as Chris highlighted the percussive, rhythmic potential of the non-percussive instruments in the ensemble; while the piece did indeed reflect the rock influence the composer describes, it did so in a rather unique and adventurous manner. The following two pieces ^÷ Carlos Delgado^"s *Sketch in Orange and Grey*, and Sonia Roubeni^"s *Meditations on a Persian Theme* ^÷ were both characterized as "investigative" pieces by their composers, but the respective explorations were, of course, quite different. As a study of instrumental timbres and their relationship to non-tempered pitch constructions, *Sketch in Orange and Grey* utilized extended performance techniques to evoke instrumental sounds which, owing usually to their registral positions and dynamic demands, blended to create textural patterns which shifted gradually ^÷ and evocatively throughout the course of the piece. Dynamics played an integral role, often drawing out the multiphonics and harmonics to rousing levels of climactic and harmonic tension. Sonia^"s *Meditations on a Persian Theme* ^÷ written for string quartet and percussion ^÷ was a beautiful, well-crafted exploration of the fusion of Eastern and Western musical elements. The instrumentation provided the perfect setting for her juxtaposition of Iranian folk melody into "classical" form and structure: the percussion added a unique and distinctly Eastern quality to the strings, which already possessed an exotic lyricism owing to the composer^"s delicate deployment of modal harmonies and subtle, graceful dissonance. Because the following piece, *Prelude* ^÷ for solo piano ^÷ was composed by the author of this review, I will leave commentary to another reviewer. The final piece of the evening, *Rondo for Two Keyboards*, written by Franck Picarazzi ^÷ a guest composer for the evening ^÷ was a fantastical exploration of the duet makings between a marimba and vibraphone, with Rina Okubo and Mr. Picarazzi, respectively, turning out dynamic performances in the process. The piece made wonderfully idiomatic use of the two instruments, exploring their ranges and sonorous potential through rapid, virtuosic runs and rhythmic counterpoint. Though previously unfamiliar to Seminar students, Mr. Picarazzi^"s piece provided an invigorating and rather apropos conclusion to what had been a truly diverse, enlightening, and engaging evening of premieres. (Sarah Snyder) June 22nd, 1999. By Juan Raffo The 1999 NYU Summer Composers Seminar - Second Concert of Premieres Program: Concertino (Christopher Pierce), Ricochet (Evan Gardner), Collage (Brett Green), "1899" (Eric Klein), Cannon's Walk (Patrick Snyder), Time and Place (Chris Freeman), Sandwich Musings (Chris Basset), Bruises (Scott Lasley), Images (Michael Deall), Sketch in Orange and Grey (Carlos Delgado), Meditation on a Persian Theme (Sonia Roubeni), Prelude (Sarah Snider), Rondo for Two Keyboards (Franck Picarazzi). Performers: NYU Contemporary Players: Cindy Ying Shiung (Flutes), Michael Caputo (Clarinet), Kenneth Caputo (Bass and Piccolo Clarinet), David Reminick (Saxophones), Matt Hildenberg (Trumpet), Fabio Gardenal (Piano), Ju-Ping Song (Piano), Rina Okubo (Percussion), Pauline Kim (Violin), Davis Gotay (Cello). Conductors: Roger Mahadeen, Gustavo Parra, Patrick Snyder, Carlos Delgado and Sonia Roubeni. Guest Performers: Steven Masi (Piano), Kuo-Hsuan Wu & Franck Picarazzi (Percussion), Shahab Ebrahimi-Zarb & Maxim Moston (Violin), David Cieswell (Viola), Evan Gardner (Samples), Chris Basset (Narration). As well as the First Concert of Premieres of the Composers Seminar, this second venue displayed a wide range of compositional styles and a very rich quality of musical material. On top of that, the overall performance of the ensemble showed a noticeable improvement in relation to the first concert, making this evening a smoother and more enjoyable experience. "Concertino", by Christopher Pierce, opened the concert. The piece -remarkably well orchestrated- is based on a march-type of melodic motif that is constantly transformed but always present, and somehow modeled after a concerto structure that featured pianist Fabio Gardenal. "Ricochet", by Evan Gardner, followed. This composition skillfully exploits the sound of sampled spoken texts in combination with a very well crafted mixing of electronic and acoustic sound textures. The next piece, "Collage", by Brett Green, successfully fulfilled the composer's intention in creating an admixture of contrasting styles and ideas in order to reflect his eclectic musical taste. "1899", by Eric Klein was next. This is a very strong work in terms of form and orchestration and with a very clear sense of compositional development and musical continuity. After that, "Cannon's Walk", by Patrick Snyder, brought another good example of composition and orchestration skills, along with a very good conducting performance by the author himself. The following work, "Time and Place", by Chris Freeman was a very fresh opus based on a rhythmic groove related to rock music. However, the combination of clarinet and trumpet carrying all the melodic material gave the music an early jazz flavor as well. "Sandwich Musings", by Chris Basset, reminded us that humor can be a very effective compositional tool (Frank Zappa is the best example of that). The piece, according to the author, "it's about sandwiches" and featured the composer himself as a narrator. "Bruises", by Scott Lasley, happened to be one of the peaks of the evening. It is a colorful piece that exploits a wide range of instrumental hues with a strong sense of "drama" and forward motion. "Images", by Michael Deall, followed. The work is, according to the composer, based on a loose sonata form structure and its principal theme is in the style of Poulenc and the early French composers of the 20th century. Once again, we heard the result of a very balanced blending of inspiration and craftsmanship. The next composition, "Sketch in Orange and Grey", by Carlos Delgado, was another highlight of the concert. The piece -written for clarinet, percussion, piano, and cello- is "a preliminary study of interlaced instrumental timbres and superimposed textures, and their relationship to non-tempered pitch constructions" (Delgado's words) and clearly demonstrated the author's talent and compositional control throughout its entire length. "Meditation on a Persian Theme", by Sonia Roubeni, was introduced as a first attempt of the composer at incorporating elements of her cultural heritage (Iranian folk music, in this case) within a classical framework. The piece -written for string quartet and ethnic percussion- thoroughly fulfilled that proposition, exhibiting a very well balanced eastern-western flavor. The next piece, "Prelude", by Sarah Snider, Was a solo piano work beautifully performed by Steven Masi. The composition uses a modal (Lydian) melodic motif as a departure point and develops it in a very sensitive manner. Finally, "Rondo for Two Keyboards", by Franck Picarazzi, closed the concert. The piece was performed by the author on vibraphone and by guest performer Kuo-Hsuan Wu on marimba, and acted as a great vehicle for a very virtuosistic duo performance. In sum: A successful combination of outstanding composers and performers that made a remarkable and very gratifying musical evening (Juan Raffo). On the evening of June 22nd, at 8 PM, the 1999 Summer Composers Seminar and the Tonmeister Program impressively directed by Drs. Dinu D. Ghezzo, Bernard Fritsch, Kenneth Peacock, and Paul Geluso, premiered new and exciting works of 13 student and professional composers from all over the world. The 13 unique pieces, beautifully performed by the NYU Contemporary Players, were enthusiastically received. Composers scored for 1-10 instrumentalists as well as for computer and synthesized sounds. Inside the Frederick Loewe Theater on the NYU campus all kinds of sparkling music influences resounded - traditional with a twist, theatrical, ethnic, jazz, contemporary/classical, film, pop - to name a few. Evan Gardner's piece 'Ricochet' seemed to do this very thing as computer sounds, samples, fragments of different languages, and live instruments interrelated and bounced off the walls of the theatre space. The slowly shifting layers of sound were futuristic, eerie, anticipatory, and seemed to suspend time. Roger Mahadeen's clear and concise conducting beautifully brought the piece together. 'Collage', by composer Brett Green, lyrically conducted by Mr. Mahadeen, was madcap, slightly sinister, fanciful yet ominous. Broad sweeps of juxtapositions of many different styles of music established this interesting work. Eric Klein's '1899', conducted by Gustavo Parra of Columbia, almost had an epic film score quality, evoking images of open fields; an earlier time in this country. Parra graced us with his ease, command, style, and lyricism - a heartfelt conductor. Chris Bassett's work 'Sandwich Musings' was both theatrical and interestingly scored. With a jazz-like tone established, Bassett entertained us with quirky, fun twists of wordplay about sandwiches. 'Bruises', by Scot Lasley, was dark and rolling, with blasts of the dramatic. From flowing to jagged and edgy, the piece was rich in contrasts. Michael Deall's work, 'Images', was interesting and complex. A plaintive cello captures the ear. Parra, conducting, flowed through many different time changes with enthusiasm and boundless energy. 'Sketches in Orange and Grey', by Carlos Delgado, composed 'other worldly' textures and harmonies, creating sensitive, haunting, and surreal landscapes. Unusual effects were created by combining clarinet multiphonics and humming, cello, and strings of the piano in certain sections. Sonia Roubeni composed 'Meditation on a Persian Theme'. The juxtaposition of Western and Eastern cultures proved to be quite beautiful. With strings and ethnic drum, she creates a refreshing dip into both cultures. Sara Snider's 'Prelude' for solo piano was masterfully composed. Flowing and impressionistic, rolling waves of sound inspired poetic musings. Chris Pierce's work, 'Concertino', was rather traditional in structure yet clearly his own original creation. The work of Pat Snyder tells a story. Aspects are lovely, rich, then delicate. Chris Freeman composed a work entitled 'Time and Place'. The piece has interesting elements of rock-type chords with scored 'improvisations'. 'Rondo for Two Keyboards', by Franck Picarazzi, is a complex work; refreshing, insistent, swingy, and sparkling. Congratulations to all the composers, conductors, performers, professors, and participants- to an inspired job well done! Wendy Luck

"Keep in mind that these are works in progress," our teacher Dinu Ghezzo said before the first work premiered on last Tuesday^"s concert by the students of the NYU Summer Composers Seminar. Although this was indeed the case, the creativity and originality of the composers was evident. The concert began with "Concertino" by Christopher Pierce which featured the piano in a grueling set of variations on a jig-like melody. With its constantly shifting meters and tempo modulations Michael Deall^"s "Images" was similarly difficult for the performers, although strikingly different in its. The only piece of the evening using electronics was Evan Gardner^"s "Ricochet", which in addition to the electronics, used extended techniques to further expand the possibilities of the ensemble. Eric Klein^"s "1899" was a bit more conservative, with tonality and more traditional harmonies pervading the music. Chris Freeman^"s "Time and Place" showed strong influence from rock music, using characteristic riffs and form, while Brett Green^"s "Collage" showed similar influence in its harmonies and melodic development. Both Scot Lasley^"s "Bruises" and Carlos Delgado^"s "Sketches in Orange and Grey" used controlled improvisation to create specific sounds that were unobtainable through traditional notation. Although humorous in nature, Chris Bassett^"s "Sandwich Musings" was tightly constructed piece blending spoken word with related musical phrases. Patrick Snyder^"s "Cannon^"s Walk" was a concise two movement work whose themes were very well developed in a short amount of time. The string quartet format was augmented with a percussionist in Sonia Roubeni^"s "Meditation on a Persian Theme", an exploration of a folk melody in a contemporary medium. The concert concluded with Sarah Snider^"s "Prelude" for solo piano, a very well written virtuostic piece that never seemed unnecessarily so ...... (David Reminick)

Having long awaited the final concerts for this seminar, I was extremely pleased with the final concert for group A. The concert consisted of pieces by Gustavo Parra, Yusuke Iwasaki, eric Foquinos, Juan Raffo, Matt Vinson, Hyun Jung Shim, Jong Suh Lee, Shawn Harper Turrent, Chan Ji Kim, David Reminick, Galo Recalde, and Wendy Luck. In general terms, the concert displayed a great degree of ecclectisism and diversity. There were pieces of a straightforward tonal nature as with Yusukee's piece Pillows, pieces consisting of more of a polyphonic and freely tonal linear design like Gustavo's piece, and pieces with a modal, eastern quality like Wendy's piece and Hyun Jung Shim's piece. I was pleased to see so many pieces that were obviously crafted with care and attention to the development and realization of melodies over time. As with any student concert, there were varying levels of succes but I would think its safe to say that evey piece on the concert had some really wonderful moments and that every piece was composed with feeling that came out in the show. The performers in the ensemble faced a rather daunting task of learning quite a bit of music in a realtively short period of time with very limited and rather stressed rehearsals. In spite of all this however, I think they did a good job of presenting the material as best they could. I think it was unfortunate, however, that the music was often stopped so that mistakes might be fixed with the fictional idea that the music could be cut and spliced magically in the recording studio. This really isn't how that kind of thing works. Not to say that a recording studios can't do some very magical things, but a spliced recording will sound just like that unless there are transition points that have some kind of clear ending and beginning. (Evan Gardner)

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