72Star

Hello Ed,

I am in the process of choosing rep for 3 DMA recitals which are supposed to have a common thread linking them together thematically. I'm thinking of doing something like pieces which use text in some way. For example, pieces for trumpet based on a text (The Mysteries Remain/Sampson, etc.), pieces which actually use text (narrator or singing voice). Any works that spring to mind? I'm especially interested in very new or obscure pieces. Thanks!

ML

ecarroll

ML,

Welcome to TM. Where are you doing your DMA?

Off the top of my head:

1) the oft discussed here Ligeti "Mysteries of the Macabre" would qualify. Read that thread for info.

2) Bruce Adolphe wrote a nice piece (sop, 2 tpts, bsn, positif organ) for Lucy Shelton and I years ago called "Madrigali"

3) Persichetti's "The Hollow Men" is based on the T. S. Eliot poem, but I don't think much of the piece.

4) Robert Erickson (of "Kryl" fame) wrote a piece with text by Wallace Stevens called "The Idea of Order at Key West (sop, fl, cl, tpt, viola, vc) that's interesting.

5) Tisne's "Emotion" is a terrific piece. You should play this. It's based on poetry by David Neimann

6) Ditto Michael Blake Watkins' "Death of an Eagle", from a poem by Jose-Maria de Heredia.

7) "Alle Menchen Mussen Sterben" pops to mind (which is in free association now, obviously)

8) Mark O'Keefe has just finished a spectacular project in Scotland called "Apocolypse" (biblical text). He'd never give it up though.

9) Paul Moravec (2004 Pulitzer Prize winner) wrote a wonderful piece for me called "Songs of Love and War" for solo trumpet, percussion, and SATB chorus (might be too big to mount?)

10) David Bithell, a good San Francisco based trumpeter/composer has a bunch of pieces using text. Google him?

11) Harry Partch has a theater piece called Ulysses (something-or-other). He's brilliant and you can probably find it.

12) Mendelssohn's "Song Without Words"? (a stretch, I know)

13) Takemitsu's "Paths" is a dialogue between Toru and Witold Lutoslawski (who had just passed) (as did Takemitsu after writing Paths)

14 - 200) All of the little Baroque pieces, Tony Plog, etc. I doubt that this is what you're looking for (see Persichetti).

Again, this is just free association. I'll keep thinking.

Best and let's keep this thread alive! It's an interesting topic.
EC

72Star

Ed,

Thanks so much for your thoughtful and very quick response. I am doing my DMA at UMD with Chris Gekker. The two of us will be brainstorming this next week or two and I'll post anything interesting we come up with. I look forward to researching all of the pieces below. And yes, agreed about #14-200; I'm trying to stay away from all the typical Baroque stuff, Animal Ditties, etc. Thanks again!

ML

mahaberio

If you wanted to do a bit of chamber music, Walton's Façade and Façade II are neat pieces and the chamber version has a pretty easy ensemble to get together (Narrator, flute, clarinet, sax, trumpet, cello, percussion). Each of the Berio Sequenzi coincide with a short poem by Eduardo Sanguineti. The poem that goes with Sequenza X (if you know Italian) goes as follows:

descrivi i miei confini, e stringimi in echi, in riflessi
a lungo, e disinvoltamente, deventami me, tu, per me

and in English:

describe my limitations and clasp me in echoes, in reflections
at length, and casually, become me for me, you for me

Interesting when you consider the piece.

-Matthew

P.S. Ed, where is the Michael Blake Watkins piece available (if it is)? It doesn't even show up in his catalog on chesternovello.com.

mahaberio

Sorry, I just thought of another one. It's a bit of a stretch, but "Icarus Wept" by James Mobberley is based on the story of Icarus and coinciding text for each movement describing certain aspects of the story. This description does a much better job than I would:

"Icarus Wept is a five-movement work commissioned by Keith Benjamin for his trumpet and organ duo Clarion, with organist Melody Turnquist-Steed. This version of the work is for trumpet and tape only, with organ sounds on tape. It was funded by a Composers Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, "a federal agency"; therefore the original concept, involving full frontal nudity, had to be abandoned. The tape sounds are drawn from an impromptu recording session and brain fry in which we came up not only with trumpet sounds of all kinds but also with the formula for a partially androgynacious anodized serial copolymer (patent pending). We also recorded a wide variety of other sounds (e.g. Keith's trumpet stand, swirling coins, laughter/vocal sounds, and various expletives). The title, Icarus Wept, was loosely inspired by the legendary flight of Icarus toward the sun and the sudden realization of the fatal mistake. Three movement titles reflect themes of Icarus or of the sky. Getting Waxed, Climbing the Blue Staircase (from a Native American Peyote Song), and Eleven Feet from the Sun. However, Somebody Else's Face and the newly completed first movement, Strap on Your Lobster, have nothing to do with Icarus at all, or with weeping either, pretty much."

I have a live recording, feel free to PM me if you'd like to hear it.

-Matthew

ecarroll

ML,

Chris will guide you well. No worries. Please say hi to him for me?

You can e-mail Jim Mobberley (MobberleyJ@umkc.edu) for Icarus Wept. Good idea, Matthew. Also the Sequenza reference.

Peter Eotvos' "Snatches of a Conversation" (solo tpt, narr, ens) popped to mind.

More?
EC

72Star

Ed,

I'll be sure to say hi to Chris. I'm tracking down as many of these pieces as possible, even if I don't end up performing all of them. Thanks for all the suggestions, and same to you, Matthew (I might be in touch with you about the Icarus Wept recording- I've just emailed Dr. Mobberley for more information). Please feel free to throw in any other ideas!

Jimi Michiel

Icarus Wept is a pheonominal piece. A masters student at NEC did it a few years ago and it was a hit.

__________________

dambly

Consider also "Five Poems of Emily Dickinson" for Trumpet and Narrator by Jay Rizzetto:

http://www.pasquina.com/#poems

-TD

ecarroll

Tom,

Thanks for your addition to our list. I didn't know that Jay was a performer/composer. Terrific.

Best to the new Mrs. D,
EC