Living Composers

[pjme]

Camille Pépin :

Sleep has taken your imprint - concerto for violin and orchestra.
1. Le sommeil a pris ton empreinte
Et la colore de tes yeux I.
2. Le Temps déborde
3. Le sommeil a pris ton empreinte
Et la colore de tes yeux II.
4. Le Phénix
5.. Le sommeil a pris ton empreinte
Et la colore de tes yeux III

Inspired by Paul Eluard.

Website Camille Pépin

[pjme]

Bram Van Camp

Bram Van camp

Introduzione - Agitato
Recitativo
Allegro capriccioso

[Toni Bernet]

 There are pieces of music that can jump out at you immediately. That's what happened to me with the Violin Concerto (2015) by Andrew Waggoner. Whether it was the recognition of the world of fifths, which is fundamental to violin playing and on which everything the violin produces is built. Whether it was the symbolic depth of the world of fifths, which is always inherent in the art of violin playing and which becomes the theme of this violin concerto?

"Following an opening movement in which everything is in some way an acoustical trace of the solo violin's open A and E strings, and a second movement, itself arising from the open D and A, in which this buzzing of fifth-based resonance becomes a kaleidoscopic, at times unhinged,perpetuum mobile, the third is an elegy that wanders through a series of free variations until it explodes in a catharsis that is both excruciating and ecstatic. Theviolin and orchestra become unstuck from each other after this revelation, with the orchestra retreating into hushed echoes while the violin pushes farther outward, upward, deeper into its own anguished process of discovery. It is as if too many ghosts have been disturbed by the violence of the climax, and the orchestra wants to return them to rest, while the violin is determined to make them speak, to answer for something long neglected and denied." (Andrew Waggoner)
 

What additionally fascinates me about Andrew Waggoner is his reflection on music and his statements about what music can existentially open up and bring about:

"You see, I want in music to be seized; terrified; bathed in immersive beauty; dismembered and reborn; I want to be forcibly plunged into its political, social, and sensual dimensions; I want my relationships to memory, the passing of time, and my own mortality laid bare; I want to be in the presence of the other. This, for me is real presence. This is my call from across the Styx. Our completion as human beings, our access to the expansion of soul that music makes possible, demands this encounter with its otherness. This is true whether we are doubters, atheists, or are unshakable in our faith. The experience need not extend out there, running up the overtone series and into the music of the spheres, but simply illuminate the unseen yet essential dimensions of the here and now." (Andrew Waggoner)


And about the approach to his music, Andrew Waggoner said:


"I think the best way for people to approach me and my music is to know going into it is that the two paramount values for me in any musical exchange are strangeness and beauty.

I say "strangeness" because the most arresting, durable encounters we have with creative work are marked by a level of confusion, or of the numinous, of something that immediately strikes us as "other," but that, hopefully, the work itself gives us the tools to sort out over the course of the experience.

"Beauty" is perhaps a little more self-evident, but it can manifest in myriad ways, of course, including beauty of form, of shape or dramatic arc. Much of the music I love most (J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Duke Ellington (below), Miles Davis, Harbison (really!), Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez) moves me at the level of the big shape as much as at that of surface sensuality.

That said, sensuality is hugely important to me, and when I feel I've found a unity of shape and surface beauty that makes a listener want to stay with a piece long enough to figure out where its strangeness is coming from and what it means, I feel like I've hit the jackpot. This doesn't happen all the time, of course." (Andrew Waggoner in an interview)

You find a listening guide and more on:

https://unbekannte-violinkonzerte.jimdofree.com/e-5/waggoner/

[Scion7]

There are pieces of music that can jump out at you immediately. That's what happened to me with the Violin Concerto (2015) by Andrew Waggoner.

Well, this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQLRsAeqIYw
... doesn't grab me. Just shows how tastes can vary.

[hopefullytrusting]

So, I've been looking into pointillism, and the Wikipedia page led me to punctualism, which led to me Stockhausen, which led me his students, which led me to Clarence Barlow, which led me to Chryssie Nanou, which led me to: Matthew Burtner

Iceprints(pointillism with a sustain pedal): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lMYS2Op1eF8&pp=ygUOQ2hyeXNzaWUgTmFub3U%3D

Icefield (pointillism with a drone):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=44nsKk1u9HE&pp=ygUPTWF0dGhldyBCdXJ0bmVy

Meditative. Peace. Serene. Tranquil.

[hopefullytrusting]

Rafael de Abreu Ribeiro (if Wikipedia is correct, he is a member of Rachmaninoff's pedagogical tree)
https://www.instagram.com/rafaeldeabreuribeiro/

Here's his most substantial piece I could find - Dies Solis, a programmatic piece for solo piano (it's also his YouTube channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiR4nG4Xou8

The music is airy and bright, tonal and crisp - has wonderful movement and will most definitely having you tap your foot rhythmically.

And here is an etude, included amongst many other etudes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3xR59SF27k

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Trevor Weston
https://www.trevorweston.com/about

Piece: The People Could Fly (for violin solo, narrator and strings plus dancers)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fxNlwZi2qZE&pp=ygUOVHJldm9yIHdlc3RvbiA%3D

A truly revolutionary piece from a radical black theoretical perspective as it traverses the bounds starting with Du Bois passing through counterstorytelling and catapulting to the realms of Afrofuturism and Afrobubblegum.

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Cathy Milliken
https://www.cathymilliken.com/

Program:

00:00 Octopus Cuts 1-5 for string quartet and voices, 2023 | Cathy Milliken

06:30 CRIE for Violin and Voice, 2018 | Cathy Milliken

13:16 OBJECTS for Voice and String Quartet with text by Gertrude Stein, 2001/2023 | Cathy Milliken

27:11 STRING QUARTET NO. 2 | Arnold Schoenberg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ieQ5rW7Dlng&pp=ygUQIkNhdGh5IE1pbGxpa2VuIg%3D%3D

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Xavier Muzik
https://www.xaviermuzik.com/

Pieces:
Three Irreverent Vignettes (2022) for Solo Saxophone (Lily Kaufman):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SKS4O7HTFo

Three Lullabies (2022) for Solo Piano (Victor Xie):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPPmFrYJQXM

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Fernando Escalona
https://www.instagram.com/f.escalona_countertenor/

Piece: Symphony No. 3, "Credo"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izt5ghst5F0

This piece is mind-blowing. Came across this because I love the conductor (Christian Vasquez) and the Orchestra (Simon Bolivar).

[foxandpeng]

Would this thread be better if it were retitled? 'Timbral texturalism', maybe?

I keep seeing it and thinking, 'Cool. A thread on 21st century composers!', and then realising it is about something far narrower.

Just a thought, not a criticism 🙂

[pjme]

In 2013, Monumenta I, an orchestral work with 95 real parts by Yann Robin, was created. Today, the composer offers us the second part of what now forms a diptych, the composition of which has been significantly enriched, since the orchestra is joined by two solo pianos, an organ, a vocal ensemble and a choir : a monumental, almost Berliozian workforce. If the presence of two solo pianos leans the work towards the concerto side, that of the organ and choirs leans it towards the mass. This orchestral experience was combined with vocal work which gave rise to Five Sacred Studies (2021) for six mixed voices on texts from the Requiem which constitute the matrix of Requiem Æternam. Monumenta I. From Ockeghem to Ligeti via Verdi or Berlioz, composers have made choices among the different parts of the text of the Mass for the Dead. Yann Robin kept seven: Introitus – Kyrie – Dies irae – Tuba mirum – Rex tremendae - Confutatis and Lux aeterna, abandoning Sanctus and Agnus dei which would undoubtedly have too much reinforced the religious dimension of the work. The notion of solo writing is added to this fusion between the secular writing of Monumenta I and that of the Five Sacred Studies. According to Yann Robin, "the orchestra can be seen [here] as a monument in itself. [...] The immense 'sound jaws' of this fabulous and phenomenal 'sound factory' are for the imagination both fertile sources and sometimes inevitable traps. »
Yann Robin does not avoid this clash between concerto and requiem, this quest for the sacred in a profane world, "access to transcendence through art, here music. »
https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/yann-robin

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Meira M. Warshauer
https://meirawarshauer.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@meira1949/videos

Pieces:
A haunting, little ditty for the solo piano: Mariupol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBoEgA_XaLo

An ethereal, spectral extension for two pianos: Ocean Calling II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L57EmLRhIoU

Reminds me of the music from Zork Nemesis: In Memoriam for Solo Cello
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY_jUUo28Fk

[pjme]

More world premieres at Radio France.
Versnaeyen is a very Flemish/Belgian name...which isn't unusual as she was born in Arras (Atrecht - Comté des Flandres).
Anyway a rather lovely work .

Anne-Sophie Versnaeyen is a French film music composer and songwriter based in Paris.
From her classical background studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris - Formation Supérieur aux Métiers du Son, she has developed a successful career as a film composer notably writing the music for Nicolas Bedos' La Belle Epoque which was nominated for 11 César Awards and presented at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
"It was in a village in Pas-de-Calais, Rivière, that I had the chance to spend part of my childhood. Childhood, this ephemeral but profoundly significant period of our lives, is a web of memories woven from moments of innocence, discoveries, suffering and pure emotions. Rivière is a sound exploration that immerses the listener in the introspective journey at the intersection between childhood, the evocative misty and mysterious landscapes of Pas-de Calais and the universal theme of death.

The work opens with a soft and melancholy atmosphere evoking the first emotions, innocent games and crystalline laughter. The melodies evoke the wild beauty of this region, capturing the gentle melancholy of infinite horizons and the quiet power of nature. However, as the work progresses, a darker and more contemplative dimension emerges, addressing the themes of drama, death and transcendence. Through elaborate sound textures and recurring motifs, the music explores the duality between the last breath and the eternity of the soul."

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Ephraim Champion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UFLPkUtLyU
https://www.instagram.com/ephraimchampion.creative/
https://www.youtube.com/@ephraimchampion.creative/videos

Pieces:
Hero for Solo Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmrPzFml5zs (hypnotically aggressive, dynamics ranging from minimalism to maximalism; Stravinsky/Messiaen-vibes)

A Stone of Hope (Martin's Song) for Soprano, Cello, and Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhRMA1-J_eI
(the voice atonal; the instruments tonal - a very cool mixture; rhythmical complex - the ability to have three different stories going at the same time and have them not clash astounds me, always)

All Things Sublime and Colossal for Women Chorus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CttkmR7mqYQ
The composer on the piece:
"It's about how the world is much more colossal than us (as we tend to think of ourselves as the 'main character' in our own stories); how nature will always win despite how much we humans may try to conquer it; how we are but a mere spec in a vast universe; and how life feels when we take the time to appreciate the beauty of the unknown, the powerful, the sublime, the colossal."

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Justin Messina
https://justinmessina.com/

Piece: Music for Solitude for Violin
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s88iunNS75Q

Composer on this work: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jPl8DD1JTvA&t=0s

Is there a difference between music meant to be played alone versus public?

An interesting thought experiment.

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Leticia Sonami
https://sonami.net/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b6RqZ74rzug

Piece:
A historical moment on a line between A and B for Lady's Glove
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua3PDDWwOcs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4EiQBYkoc

Transhumanist classical music. Music is merely an extension of the body. Righteous. True experimentalism. Pure.

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Connor Chee
https://www.connorchee.com/

Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz23xmn_OqU

Piece: Weaving
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0oS3zM1puI

"For me, I have always been fascinated by the relationship between music and #weaving. Crafting a well-balanced work while keeping an overall vision of a piece of art are things that I can certainly relate to as a pianist and composer. Not to mention the meticulous counting involved in weaving intricate patterns, which reminds me of the care musicians must take with counting and executing complex rhythms in music. I have no doubt that the time I spent watching my grandmother (nali) weave rugs had a strong influence on my musical studies and the discipline I would later put into my own music."

Impressioninistic, reminiscent of a Debussy Prelude or Ravel's Miroirs - delicate, flutterly, light, lovely. :-)

[Karl Henning]

My friend David Bohn lives in Wisconsin, and our mutual friend Carson Cooman is here in Massachusetts.

[hopefullytrusting]

Composer: Molly Joyce
https://www.mollyjoyce.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@mollysjoyce/videos

Piece: Lean Back and Release for Violin and Electronics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs43sq_uPZc

A haunting conversation - a beck, a call - folkish-religious fiddlin' and a feeling of erotic exoticism.

Pieces: Molly Joyce at Strange Beautiful Music 16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbiBFw86mYw

A whole set, so difficult to nail down the exact mood, but the voice is haunting, along with the music - I suppose ethereal is a good word - highly meditative - a fantastic discovery for me, at the very least.