Lou
Harrison’s CANTICLE #3 was written in San Francisco in 1941, is one of a
series of canticles for percussion in the ecstatic manner…”It was written at a
time I was most interested in Indian and Mexican music. It is composed out of a very few rhythmic
and melodic germs, developed in larger sections, by continuity, overlaps, and
the usual augmentation and diminution.”
The revised version was first performed at the University of Illinois in
1952. Lou Harrison was born in Portland,
Oregon in 1917, and passed away in 2004.
He had studied with Henry Cowell, Howard Cooper, Arnold Schoenberg, and
Virgil Thomson. An All Music Guide
review explored the piece vividly: “The
ocarina, a torpedo-shaped terra cotta flute, has a pure, primeval tone that,
combined with percussion, gives this score a hauntingly primitive, ritualistic
feel. The five percussionists haul out tam-tam, xylophone, snare drums, bass
drums, wood blocks, temple blocks, tom-toms, and maracas, as well as such
exotica as teponaztli, sistrums, brake drums (both muted and suspended), metal
pipes, elephant bells, cowbells, and water-buffalo bells. Amid all this --
which Harrison exploits for timbral richness, not loudness -- the guitar
struggles to make an impact of its own, remaining absent or in the background
until taking a slightly more prominent role at the end. The work falls into
three large sections. In the first, the ocarina plays a little pentatonic
dance, then retreats for what amounts to an extended percussion cadenza arising
from the rhythm of the ocarina tune. The ocarina returns for the second part,
now playing a very slow melody of short, repeated phrases deeply indebted to
Native American music. Percussion instruments give the melody a shimmering
halo, but again the ocarina disappears during a fast-tempo, gradually expanding
percussion crescendo distantly based on the rhythm and pitches of the opening
tune. Just as this section climaxes in a series of widely spaced crashes, the
ocarina and guitar take advantage of a moment of silence to bring back the
pentatonic tune from the beginning, the quiet percussion accompaniment now more
threatening than before. Yet instead of exploding in a final percussive
outburst, the music very gradually slows and fades away, leaving nothing but a
slowly throbbing bass drum.”
Paul Price was recognized in
New York as the leading freelance percussionist. The ensemble was drawn from the Manhattan School of Music
Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Price suggested
he bring his ensemble to the AFMM for a performance of Canticle #3 on
Harry
Partch’s composition U.S. HIGHBALL was considered by its
composer to be his most creative work.
The piece grew out of Mr. Partch’s experiences during a period of
financial depression, when he was a hobo riding freight trains to travel about
the country during hard times. He was on
one occasion by a Guggenheim grant. It
was introduced as a duo for voice and guitar, although it is somewhat sketchy
in this form. The second incarnation
features the addition of a kithara, a Partch-designed instrument with 72
strings, built by its performer Skip
La Plante,
and chromelodeon, played here by Joshua Pierce on a specially-voiced Proteus
synthesizer prepared by Henry Lowengard.
The final, third version is only half the length of its precursor, but
no longer retains the dynamic
guitar. The recording was made in 1994, but with low
vocals. Paul Geluso, through using a
reverse-engineered Karaoke program, was able to improve the vocal tracks (as he
did with the Sandberg composition that follows).
Soprano Dorien
Verheijden and Mrs. Hannah Sandberg, wife of the composer.
PSALM #51, No. 2 by Mordecai Sandberg (1897-1973) was
completed while the composer was a New York resident in 1944. It was the first
of many Psalms he composed for orchestra. (In subsequent years, Sandberg set
the entire book of Psalms for orchestra, a collection titled “Symphonic
Psalms”). Originally, Psalm #51 was scored for soprano and
string quartet, hence the “No. 2” appendage. The score is broken down in the
following way, although there are no breaks between sections: Introduction,
Allegro, Andante and Elegy, Prayer Finale.
Essentially, this Psalm makes a plea for purification of the heart,
spiritual awakening, and a resolve for the future, concluding with a prayer for
the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. Sandberg’s settings of Biblical
text are based on the mood and spirit of the verses, and his musical
interpretations are philosophical rather than literal, strongly influenced by the
Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). The performance utilized two full keyboard
synthesizers, both required to play all the microtones in the work, designed
by Patrick Grant.
Mordecai Sandberg was born
in present day Moldavia and earned his lilihood as a medical doctor, all the
while composing, performing, and organizing internationally music events. He moved to Jerusalem in what was then
Palestine, only to move his family to New York City, and finally to Toronto,
Canada. Dorien Verheijden of Arnhem in
The Netherlands sings with the Dutch Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor), The Dutch
Chamber Choir, and with Ensemble Solange which specializes in modern and
unknown music.
Johnny Reinhard (b. 1956) composed QOHELETH
to Royce Dendler’s interpretation of
an Ecclesiastes period perspective. The
piece was commissioned by harpsichord builder and early music entrepreneur Bobby
Beucker, who asked several New York-based composers to create an original musical
score (including among others Skip LaPlante, Elodie Lauten, and Meredith
Borden). The one condition was that the
instrumentation include harpsichord.
The tuning is based on practicalities and suggestions using minimum
change and is regularly polymicrotonal.
Two sopranos sing the roles of Tux and Grunge according to Royce
Dendler’s concept, who originally conceived the work as follows: “Qoheleth to be set semi-opulently, a
design with red spheres, an opera box---opera looks at you! With surprise
electronics jerks and wiggling opera glasses et al. Plus “!” money, a sculpted coin tossed to the audience and green
paper with definitions for sesquipedalians.”
Further examples follow:
[Limn-Representation]
[Clinamen-Lucretuiss’ swerve so
change happens]
The verb “to be” does not exist in Hebrew (Ecclesiastes, the
true writer was Q!)
Thus “Nothing (is) new under the sun.” becomes
“nothing. New! Under the Sun!
Value has two meanings;
1.
the
dispersal of the idea of consolidation
2.
consolidating
the idea of dispersal
Via Shechinah God’s absence Binds Immanence.
Johnny Reinhard, composer, conductor, bassoonist, director and founder of the American
Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM), is a native New Yorker specializing in all
manner of microtonal performance.
Additionally, Reinhard performs on the recorder, and is a vocalist
specializing in the works of American microtonal pioneer Harry Partch. He has given numerous full recitals
including in New York, Seattle, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Montreal, Amsterdam,
Sapporo, Moscow, and Kazan. Of
particular interest is his finishing important works of composers in exemplary
performance. These include his
realization and subsequent premiere performance of Charles Ives’s “Universe
Symphony” in 1996 in New York’s Lincoln Center, and the premiere in of Edgard
Varčse’s “Graphs and Time” in 1987 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Reinhard’s transcription of Ivan
Wyschnegradsky’s “Meditation sur deux themes” (1917) for bassoon and piano was
recorded on “Between the Keys” for Newport Classic (now Sony), and has been
re-recorded for Solyd Records (Russia), and again for the AFMM’s PITCH label. Among the world premieres he produced are
Lou Harrison’s “Simfony in Free Style,” Terry Riley’s “In C in Just
Intonation,” Percy Grainger’s “Free Music” for 4 Theremin, the original version
of Harry Partch’s “Ulysses Departs From the Edge of the World” for trumpet,
double bass and boobams, and Mordecai Sandberg’s orchestral “Psalm 51.” Johnny Reinhard’s original compositions
feature polymicrotonality – either the active mixing of microtonal tunings in a
single composition, or the invention of brand new pitch relationships (e.g.,
harmonic 17 tuning, quadratic prime just intonation, collapsed just
intonation). Among his works are a
symphony (“Middle-earth”), cello concerto (“Odysseus”), string quartet (“Cosmic
Rays”), a large number of virtuoso solo pieces for different instruments in
distinctive tunings, and numerous chamber works featuring unusual timbres and
requiring different degrees of improvisation.
Johnny Reinhard’s compositions can be heard on the “Raven” album,
available from www.stereosociety.com. He recently completed a triptych for bass
trombonist Dave Taylor. Reinhard has
performed as a soloist throughout Europe and the United States, Japan, Canada,
and Russia. He has played with such
international virtuosi as kavalist Theodossii Spassov (Bulgaria), oboist Bram
Kreeftmeijer (The Netherlands), saxophonist John Butcher (London),
percussionist Rashied Ali (NYC), and Thereminist Lydia Kavina (Russia). In 2002 he was featured on bassoon to
critical acclaim by Ornette Coleman for the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. Reinhard is professor of bassoon at New York
University. Previously, he taught music
composition and theory at C.W. Post, Long Island University, taught The
Arithmetic of Listening at Bard College, and taught Western Art Music at
Columbia University. He has guest
lectured on tuning related subjects at Columbia University, New York
University, Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College/CUNY, CalArts, San Jose
State University, Indiana University, South Dakota State University, the
Hamburg Hochschule in Germany, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, and York
University in England. Reinhard
introduced first performances of Harry Partch’s 43-tone just intonation works
in Norway (International Bergen Festival), France (M.A.N.C.A.), Switzerland
(RoteFabrik), Italy (Teatro la Fenice), Canada (Toronto, Winnipeg, and St.
John’s), and England (London’s Barbican).
In the early ‘90s he published PITCH for the International Microtonalist
as a 4-issue set for musicians working independently. Since 2004, the AFMM launched 15 different PITCH CD titles,
available at www.afmm.org. Johnny Reinhard hosts New York-based WKCR-FM
radio’s popular four-hour Christmas Day “Microtonal Bach” segment in their
annual 10-day Bach Festival. He is often
a guest on John Schaefer’s New Sounds
show on WNYC-FM, and has been featured in radio programs by radio interviewers
Anatol Vieru (Bucharest), Laurie Schwartz (Berlin/RIAS & Sender Frei),
PILOTA radio (Bergen), and John Schneider (KPFK Los Angeles).
Directed by
Johnny Reinhard
All
recordings “live” from AFMM concerts except Partch “U.S. Highball”
Mastered by
Paul Geluso
Recording
Engineer: Norman Greenspan
Cover Art
by Orlanda Brugnola
www.afmm.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PITCH P-200210 WORLD
AMERICAN
FESTIVAL OF MICROTONAL MUSIC © 2009
Support
from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Maldeb Foundation
Johnny
Reinhard, Director, AFMM
318 East 70th
Street, Suite #5-FW