< PreviousJOURNAL OF THE IAWM17 reads: “Verkündiget ihr dumpfen Glocken schon des Osterfestes erste Feyerstunde?” (“Are your dark bells already announcing the first solemn celebration of Easter?”), an excerpt from Goethe’s Faust I. Fanny’s last name was subject to multiple changes during her lifetime. Born Fanny Mendelssohn in 1805, she was baptized in the Lutheran faith at the age of eleven, and the surname Bartholdy was added to her name in her family’s attempt to downplay their Jewish origins. She stopped using Mendelssohn-Bartholdy when she mar- ried Wilhelm Hensel. Her new name, Fanny Hensel, appears in the notebook she used for Das Jahr, an artistic collab- oration with her husband who created the illustrations for each month. With the release of her work towards the end of her life, the publisher reintroduced her original name of Mendelssohn to build on her brother’s fame, changing her name yet again. Das Jahr is gaining recognition as part of the canon of established concert repertoire, and a number of recordings of the work are available by women as well as men. I believe that it is worthy of being included in more concert per- formances and not solely to represent women composers. Piano Repertoire The recognition of works by an audience is a significant and even a crucial aspect of presenting engaging programming. It is the component in a program where concert goers hear familiar works such as Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata and have the opportunity to revisit and compare their listening experiences with the interpretation of the performer on stage. Das Jahr was most likely a new work for the students in the audience, but since it uses tra- ditional compositional methods and harmonies from a familiar time period, it no doubt was an enjoyable and enriching experience for them. I am especially concerned about the marginalization of works written by women in the 20th and 21st centu- ries. How do we identify gender bias in programming? Do women performers have to lead the way towards bias- free inclusion of works by women? Will repetition and recognition of a work gradually assure that the com- positions of women will enter into the canon of the established concert stage repertoire beyond any gender consideration? These are questions we must continue to discuss, whether or not we perform women’s works on any given tour or in any concert season. From a performer’s perspective, I was delighted to be introduced to two works by women that were written in the ear- ly-20th century and were brought to my attention as part of the Women at the Piano project. Both are duets. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Women at the Piano CAROLINE OLTMANNS Earlier this year I was invited to present a masterclass and concert at King’s College School, an international boarding school for gifted middle and high school children in London. The title of the week-long project (March 8-16, 2022) was Women at the Piano. Each participant presented a work by a female composer, and my host and I performed a concert of music by or dedicated to women. In the following essay, I will present my perspective as a performer on three of the works by women composers. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Das Jahr I was excited about the opportunity to revisit King’s College to prepare a work that was unfamiliar to me and to hear repertoire that was also new to me. My solo contribution to the concert con- sisted of one movement from Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Das Jahr (1841), a cycle of twelve character pieces dedi- cated to the months of the year. I chose “March,” matching the time of the visit. The movement, entitled “Praeludium und Choral,” is a prelude and vari- ations on the subject of Easter and the Resurrection, and it culminates in the hymn tune Christ ist erstanden (Christ is risen), which gives the work import and religious grandeur and ardently expresses the devotion of the Mendelssohn family to their rel- atively recently adopted religion of Christianity. The rhythmic, plodding atmosphere reminds me of the difficul- ties that farmers had as they prepared their fields in early spring, a subject also found in German children’s songs familiar to me from my upbringing in Germany. The dark, story-telling tone invites the listener into a world of hard- ship, and of a search for consolation through religious dedication. These weighty subjects, in conjunction with the harmonic colors and dense chordal writing, provide the listener with an emotional listening experience. Each of the twelve movements in Das Jahr is prefaced with a short excerpt (or epigram) from the writings of authors such as Schiller, Uhland, Eichendorff, Tieck, and Goethe. The title of the month appears on the preface page with the epigram, while the music has its own title. The epigram for March 18VOLUME 28, NO. 3 • 2022 Germaine Tailleferre Mel Bonis Mel Bonis: Le Songe de Cléopâtre (Cleopatra’s Dream) Mélanie Hélène Bonis (1858-1937) was a prolific French composer. Due to the difficulties experienced by women composers at the time, she used an androgynous form of her first name, “Mel.” She originally composed Le Songe de Cléopâtre for orchestra as part of the cycle Femmes de légende (Women of Legend), which contained symbolist compositions about arche- typal women of mythology and history. The score is undated and was first published only recently (2018). During Bonis’ lifetime, the work was known in a piano duet version, dated 1909. The original orchestral version of the work uses striking colors drawn from standard instrumentation. The piano duet version, as expected, has a more two-dimensional sound due to the restrictions of the instrument and to the more unified color palette of the piano. When a richly orchestrated work is scored for piano, it poses a formidable challenge to the inter- preters who are faced with the task of extracting from the instrument as much color as possible to evoke the sound of the original. This process also demands a high level of collaborative skills of the partners, since four hands on one key- board typically leads to choreographic overlaps. Le Songe de Cléopâtre presents many potential interferences on the key- board, but it is quite fun to bump into each other’s hands from time to time when performing the work. The duet version of Le Songe de Cléopâtre is a true treasure, an impressionistic gem, and a spectacular concert program addition. Germaine Tailleferre: Image Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) was also a French composer; she was the only female member of the group of composers known as Les Six. Image was an early work and was originally composed for eight instruments (flute, clarinet, celesta, piano, and string quartet) in 1918. It was transcribed by the composer for piano duet on two keyboards. The pentatonic har- monies and melodies evoke an exotic mood similar to Bonis’ Le Songe de Cléopâtre. The original instrumentation features the thick sound I associate with works produced during the time of the Art Deco, a velvety sound influ- enced by Wagner. The duet version works very well because the original version already includes two keyboard instruments, and I prefer the duet version for its cleaner and more transparent soundscape. Tailleferre creates highly defined textures through frequent use of the outer areas of the piano keyboard and by avoiding a bulky middle-layer sound. The strictly-maintained 6/8 meter gives Image a compact feeling. The work can be added as a miniature highlight on any program. With its scintillating bell-tone opening, Image presents an excellent concert starter or a lovely choice for the first work after intermission. The Students The talented junior and senior pianists who participated in my six-hour workshop were incredibly motivated during the week and spent an enormous amount of time preparing the music. All of the students who participated in the project during the week played superbly, performing challenging music by women composers: Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Cécile Chaminade, Cecilia MacDowall, and Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, in addition to those discussed above. There was a moment after the faculty concert when we stood with the students and parents in the lobby taking turns talking about the pieces they had just heard and what discoveries they had made. I was pleased to learn that both the Bonis and Tailleferre duets were among the favorites. Pianist, pedagogue, and presenter Caroline Oltmanns, Professor of Piano at Youngstown State University, has recorded six solo CDs on the Filia Mundi label. Her playing has been broadcast globally, and she was featured on the documen- tary series Living the Classical Life. She serves as a jury member of national and international competitions. She is an International Steinway Artist, Steinway Spirio Recording Artist, Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of the Stipendium der Deutschen Wirtschaft. JOURNAL OF THE IAWM19 Intersecting Lines: A Collaborative Journey in Movement and Music COURTNEY MILLER with KRISTIN MARRS My Collaborative Journey An area I am especially passionate about is connecting with people and new audiences through collaboration in the fields of music, dance, and art. In this article, I will focus on one of the most meaningful interdisciplinary collaborations of my career, one that continues to evolve each year. It involves my collaboration with dancer and choreographer Kristin Marrs. Our association began in 2016 when we were introduced by a mutual friend. I am Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Iowa School of Music, and Kristin is Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Dance at the university; she is also a musician. We were both looking for new oppor- tunities to collaborate. We embarked upon what would become a long- term collaboration and friendship that resulted in performance tours from the Midwest to the East Coast of the United States. Together, we founded Con Moto (www.conmotoartists.com), a multidisciplinary performance ensemble whose work is grounded in a non-hierarchical creative research process, in which the artists have equal participation and input. We began rehearsing weekly in spring 2016 to create multiple ensemble pieces for oboe and dancer in live per- formances. Although we normally work alone in our studios, we rehearsed together in the dance studios at the University of Iowa Department of Dance, which enabled us to gain new perspectives. The laboratory atmo- sphere of the dance studio fostered exploration and experimentation and set the stage for our creative processes. As we were both working in unfamiliar ways, we cultivated an open-ended mindset that has since pervaded our interactions and creations. We soon discovered what we didn’t know about each other’s processes and art forms at every step of the creative process. We also became more self-aware of our assumptions about performance and practice as well as our biases in everything from what is worn on stage to our preferred musical styles. One of our first collective acts was selecting repertoire. As our initial duet for dancer and oboe, we selected HBHH, a short work for solo oboe com- posed by the late Elliott Carter. HBHH was initially suggested by Kristin, and we found it to be a creative stretch for both of us. The rhythmic complexity of the Carter work, along with its sweeping lines and gigantic melodic leaps, pro- vided many musical challenges for me. Adding movement, choreography, and stage locations, in addition to the oboe playing, gave me kinesthetic landmarks for memorization. We spent a considerable amount of time looking at the score together in the dance studio, experimenting with how movement in space could help us and our audience better understand the difficult score. Although the piece was performed on concert stages in music halls, Kristin encouraged viewing the performance space as a studio: I ended up performing in bare feet just like Kristin. I linked Carter’s phrases with simple walking, sitting, and standing patterns, and I moved into new spaces on the stage, which gave the audience new orientations. We thus translated the “left to right” thinking, typically associated with musical notation, to a spatial, three- dimensional embodied understanding of the score. HBHH challenged both of us rhythmically, melodically, and choreographically. The deep collabo- ration that this piece demanded set the stage perfectly for us to dive into our artistic relationship and answer probing questions about perfor- mance in the preliminary stages of our work together. After our initial experimentations and learning curves in the Carter, we decided to explore the possibili- ties of Baroque music. We selected G. P. Telemann’s Concerto in F minor for oboe and strings, which we per- formed as a quartet with pianist Minji Kwon and a second dancer, Jessica Anthony. This performance was less integrated in that we only rehearsed as a full ensemble shortly before the performance. It nonetheless pro- vided us with another opportunity to get to know each other as artists and performers and propelled our interest in future collaborative work. Several months later, Kristin and I decided to continue with Baroque music for our next collaboration, and we looked for a work for solo oboe. We selected J. S. Bach’s Partita in A minor for solo flute, arranged for oboe, and we titled our duet Bach BWV 1013. In co-cre- ating the Bach, the non-hierarchical, Courtney Miller and Kristin Marrs20VOLUME 28, NO. 3 • 2022 open-ended process we had developed with the Carter continued to evolve. We were challenging ourselves with a longer piece filled with musical variety; it required endurance, choreo- graphed transitions between the four movements of the piece, and a sense of “story”—albeit non-literal and not necessarily linear—to help carry the music/dance from the beginning to the end. Given the duration of the Bach— 12 minutes—we soon learned that I could not incorporate as much gross movement as I had in the Carter, but the movement we had experimented with in the Carter also did not seem appropriate to the content and tone of the Bach. We established a more formal setting for this piece, and I only shifted spatially between movements, while still considering how subtle inter- actions, spatial relationships, and eye contact could convey our interpretation of the work. We performed first in Iowa City at the University of Iowa School of Music recital hall, where we worked with designer, dance artist, and Con Moto member Peggy Mead-Finizio (Assistant Professor of Theatre at Saginaw Valley State University) to further frame our work with lighting and a higher production value. These theatrical ele- ments added a further dimension to the Carter and the Bach. While basic production elements such as fading the lights at the end of a piece are standard in dance performance, they are uncommon in most classical con- cert music spaces; the lighting added visual and spatial elements that per- mitted audiences to “see the music” in new ways. Mead-Finizio’s lighting was crafted so as not to overwhelm the performance with visual stimuli but make subtle choices that under- scored the musical interpretation and choreography. Following this concert in spring 2017, we embarked on Extending Lines, a Con Moto national tour of perfor- mances and teaching workshops that included universities in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and the Boston Public Library. At every performance space, we learned more about each other as artists and performers. Many of these lessons naturally emerged as we witnessed our respective performance practices and customs. Our needs for warm-up spaces varied greatly; venues that were designed for musicians often had inadequate space for a dancer. While I was attuned to the acoustics of each space, Kristin brought attention to hard or slippery floors, unsightly stacks of chairs on stage, or floor outlets that needed to be covered with tape to avoid injury during performance. The stage spaces themselves varied greatly, and in one exceedingly small venue, we moved our performance to a band room rather than risk injury and compromise the integrity of our spatial relationships. One of our goals in col- laborating was to move dancing into traditional concert music venues, and as such, we learned how to be explicit with our respective needs, while also embracing adaptability as an essential component of live performance. Expanding the Collaboration to Include Film After completion of our tour, our collaboration was paused during Kristin’s pregnancy and then resumed one year after her son’s birth. We first reworked the Telemann for a 2019 recital and then considered how Bach BWV 1013 might be documented, aug- mented, and made new through film. There were many stops and starts in this process, but we ultimately found an ideal collaborator, the dance artist and filmmaker Alex Bush. Alex was familiar with Kristin’s choreographic style and was experienced in translating live dance performances into film. Although she does not consider her- self a musician, she was familiar with musical terminology and performance practices, and she appreciated the importance of fully integrating my per- formance into the filming and editing. We filmed the four movements of the Bach over four days in August 2019. Alex had not yet filmed many musicians. One of her main goals in filming and editing was to strategically frame both of us, enabling the film to offer new insights and perspectives that are not possible in live performance. At the same time, she faced a unique chal- lenge in maintaining the integrity of our performance. There were times when the choices that worked best to frame my performance was not the best solution for the choreography/dance performance, and vice versa. In every shot of my performance, aligning my breath and fingering with the sound was essential, as was conveying a rela- tionship between the two performers, whether we were near or far from one another, and whether one or both were visible in the frame. Weaving the elements together was an intricate process of finding the continuity among the aural, visual, and technical elements, while simul- taneously achieving a new level of understanding made possible through the intimacy of film. Throughout the filming, we continually responded to what was happening in the moment, making choices about camera angle, perspective, proximity, and attire based on what collectively felt right for the story that was emerging. Even in the editing process, Alex’s choices were made as a response to the archive of filmed material we had created. One of our goals in collaborating was to move dancing into traditional concert music venues, and as such, we learned how to be explicit with our respective needs, while also embracing adaptability as an essential component of live performance. —COURTNEY MILLERJOURNAL OF THE IAWM21 One of Alex’s significant creative contributions was filming us in both practice and performance clothing. In threading the rehearsal and perfor- mance versions of the Bach together, she disrupted the usual linear time- line of dance and music in space. She played with parallel performances, alternating between the more intro- spective version that emphasized preparation and process, and the more performative version that emphasized formality and presentation. Each ver- sion contains shadows and echoes of the other. This was again an idea that emerged within the filming process itself; the rehearsal version was filmed when we were wearing the clothes that we had worn to the concert hall on the first day of filming, whereas the perfor- mance version used carefully selected attire/costuming. Even these word choices—attire or costume—typically used by musicians and dancers, respectively, underscore different assumptions about the nature of performance in concert music and concert dance. The film seeks to reveal “Kristin and Courtney” in rehearsal, as well as the roles that we play in formal performance. These different facets of the film underscore the commitment of Con Moto to expand the boundaries of traditional concert settings and bring artists from myriad genres into a coop- erative process. The film grew from and points to the intersection of three artists working as individuals and as collaborators. We hope that the video, Intersecting Lines, will similarly invite our audiences to participate in the cre- ative process. Their perspectives are not only valued but essential in com- pleting a circle of artistic expression and experience. Intersecting Lines: Bach BWV 1013 was released on YouTube on June 29, 2022. This video and our other collaborations can be easily accessed at www.courtneymilleroboe.com. Professional Background In addition to collaborating with other artists, I also perform as an oboe soloist, and my repertoire consists of traditional as well as lesser-known works. I am devoted to expanding the standard repertoire by performing and promoting new compositions, including those by women composers. For example, my first album, Modern Fairy Tales (2015), was built around the composition Three Fairy Tales (based on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales) for oboe, soprano, and piano by Marcia Kraus. This album also features a world premiere recording of Marilyn Zupnik’s, Impressions, for solo oboe. My second album, Portuguese Perspectives (2019), includes the world premiere recording of Sonatina Breve by composer and violinist Anne Victorino d’Almeida. In 2021, I commissioned two new works for oboe and piano by women com- posers: Fenced in by Chelsea Loew and Naom by Grace Oforka. Recordings of these works can be found on YouTube. As a soloist and chamber musician, I have performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. In addition, I have performed in many orchestras up-and-down the East Coast of the United States, and I now per- form regularly with Orchestra Iowa, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. Kristin Marrs Conferences International Conference on Musical Theatre and Opera September 22-23, 2022 Vancouver, BC and November 10-11, 2022 Dubai, Saudi Arabia https://waset.org/musical-theatre- and-opera-conference New Music Festival 43 at Bowling Green State University October 12-15, 2022 The 43rd Annual Bowling Green New Music Festival will be held at the College of Musical Arts (BGSU) in Ohio. Featured this year are composer Stacy Garrop and the American Brass Quintet, who will premiere a new work by alumna Jennifer Higdon. The music of at least 25 additional composers will be performed by soloists and ensembles. The festival celebrates the contemporary arts through concerts, panels, exhibitions, and lectures. Since its inception in 1980, the festival has presented the works of over 500 guest composers. All events are open to the public. Concerts will be streamed live at https://youtube.com/bgsumusic. For more information check the webpage at https://www.bgsu. edu/musical-arts/maccm/new- music-festival.html. International Conference on Musicology and Ethnomusicology October 21-22, 2022 London International Conference on Computer and Electronic Music December 2-3, 2022 Amsterdam, Netherlands22VOLUME 28, NO. 3 • 2022 REVIEWS PERFORMANCE REVIEW World Premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Double Percussion Concerto Duo Duel CHRISTINA L. REITZ The first weekend in May 2022, the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Double Percussion Concerto, Duo Duel, was performed by the Houston Symphony under the baton of Robert Spano with percussionists Svet Stoyanov and Matthew Strauss at Jones Hall in Houston, Texas. For those unable to attend in person, livestream access was available by purchase for the May 7th performance that included a zoom pre-concert lecture by Musical Ambassador Carlos Andrés Botero. The work was commissioned by the Houston Symphony, the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the latter with whom Higdon has had a long association. The programming for the all-American concert opened with Christopher Theofanidis’s Rainbow Body, followed by Higdon’s premiere, and concluded with Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Theofanidis, like Higdon, is a member of the Atlanta School of Composers, a group founded by Maestro Spano resulting in numerous contemporary commissions premiered by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Higdon’s orchestral works, and in particular, her concerti are well-known. Her Percussion Concerto was awarded a Grammy and in 2020 was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. Other awards garnered for her concerti include the Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto and two additional Grammys for her Viola Concerto and Harp Concerto. Her concerti often feature a single soloist; however, Duo Duel joins the illustrious rank of some of Higdon’s most popular concerti that feature more than one soloist: Concerto for Orchestra, Concerto 4-3, Low Brass Concerto, and On a Wire. Dr. Michael Yonchak and I interviewed Higdon last summer regarding her 2005 Percussion Concerto where she also spoke of Duo Duel. Higdon explained that starting the Double Concerto presented a challenge not only because of the shadow cast from the popularity of the earlier work but also because the logistics differed in navigating a space for two solo- ists, with an endless array of possible instruments in front of a full orchestra. 1 The compositional process occurred during the American COVID-19 shut- down in March 2020. With the composer in lockdown and isolated, the style of music was impacted in not only this work but also her Mandolin Concerto. Higdon’s writing during this time is highly melodic, and although expres- sive lyricism is not foreign to her style, she explains its significance here as her “reaching out to humanity…. 1Jennifer Higdon, zoom interview by Christina L. Reitz and Michael Yonchak, August 5, 2021. That’s not something I thought about before COVID but I noticed it was per- meating everything I was writing….It is interesting how the circumstances will alter the way you perceive things.” 2 In Higdon’s earlier Percussion Concerto, she utilizes both pitched and unpitched instruments; however, her focus on melody in Duo Duel informed her deci- sion to use only pitched instruments for the solo instrumentation: vibraphones, marimbas, crotales, and timpani. 3 Higdon recalled that some composers struggled during the lockdown but for her, composing gave her days a sense of purpose. She forced herself to com- pose every day, although she found it hard to concentrate during the first few weeks. 4 In the pre-concert lecture, Carlos Andrés Botero quoted Higdon on the influence of the lockdown on her style, “I found that my choices were colored by the fact that we were being closed off from the actual physical pres- ence of people. I felt my soul yearning for the personal interactions.” 5 2Ibid. 3Jennifer Higdon, Interview by Stephanie Ann Boyd, I Care if You Listen, April 27, 2022. https:// icareifyoulisten.com/2022/04/5-questions-to- jennifer-higdon-about-duo-duel/. Accessed May 23, 2022. 4Jennifer Higdon, zoom interview by Christina L. Reitz and Michael Yonchak, August 5, 2021. 5Carlos Andres Botéro, “Prelude,” Pre-concert Lecture for Houston Symphony, May 7, 2022. Jennifer Higdon | Photo Credit: J.D. Scott Higdon’s writing during this time is highly melodic, and although expressive lyricism is not foreign to her style, she explains its significance here as her “reaching out to humanity….That’s not something I thought about before COVID but I noticed it was permeating everything I was writing…. It is interesting how the circumstances will alter the way you perceive things.” — CHRISTINA L. REITZJOURNAL OF THE IAWM23 Like the Percussion Concerto, Duo Duel is comprised of a sectional, single movement; likewise, both works open with soft mallet playing from the solo- ists with soft accompaniment in the orchestral percussion, harp, and sev- eral violin soloists. Many of Higdon’s works open with one or more solo- ists. 6 The unorthodox scoring for three violin soli in the opening of Duo Duel is, however, a Higdon style trait. She is well-known for providing opportunities for all members of the ensemble, rather than simply the principal players. As the opening continued, the two solo- ists played on one vibraphone paired with different soli from the orchestra: first oboe, then flute, followed by violin. Next, the duo moved to a single marimba joined by the brass section for a change in orchestral color. The work gradually increased in tempo as the full ensemble entered before 6In addition to the Percussion Concerto, examples include the Concerto 4-3 and the Violin Concerto; the opera Cold Mountain also begins with a soloist a singing a cappella. the two soloists went to their separate stations. Of particular interest was a highly rhythmic clarinet and bas- soon solo paired with the mallet percussion soloists for even more timbral contrasts. The slower, middle section featured the soloists on keyboard percussion: one on marimba, the other on vibraphone using both mallets and string bows, a technique Higdon has used in other orchestral works to which she has long credited to her studies with the late George Crumb. As the full ensemble again returned, the complex texture combined with increasing dynamic and tempo set a mood of excitement that led to the cadenza performed on marimba and eventually vibes. The cadenza was a tour-de-force demon- strating a virtuosity that was incredibly enjoyable to witness. Percussionists Stoyanov and Strauss were flaw- less and absolutely mesmerizing. As the ensemble returned, the solo- ists moved to timpani stations for an exciting and exhilarating conclusion. The filming and audio engineering were superb; close-ups were provided of the conductor, soloists, and orchestral musicians that gave an outstanding angle to observe the virtuosity on dis- play. The livestream was conducted through YouTube, which showed the number of viewers currently watching; during the Higdon, it peaked at approxi- mately 200. Duo Duel was also recorded live during the weekend of concerts for a future commercial release. Although the concert was entitled “Fanfare for the Common Man” due to the Copland Symphony, there was nothing common about this concert; it was another successful premiere for Higdon. The audience erupted with great applause, and the composer was wel- comed on stage for numerous bows in recognition of the superb performance. Christina L. Reitz is a Full Professor of Music at the Western Carolina University, where she teaches undergraduate courses in music history and American music. Her first monograph, Jennifer Higdon: Composing in Color, was published in 2018 and was the recipient of the 2020 Pauline Alderman Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Music. CD REVIEWS Seven Pillars of Wisdom Philippa Duke Schuyler: Seven Pillars of Wisdom Sarah Masterson, piano. Centaur Records, CRC 3944 (2022) JASMIN ARAKAWA In her latest CD, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Sara Masterson accomplishes an extraordinary artistic and schol- arly endeavor in reviving the music of Philippa Duke Schuyler (1931-1967). Schuyler was born in Harlem, New York to an African American journalist father and a white heiress mother from Texas. A child prodigy, as both a pianist and composer, she per- formed in thirty-five countries on five continents by age twenty-three. Beginning in 1955, Schuyler spent a significant amount of time in Africa, performing and researching local culture and politics. She incorporated the musical styles and traditions of African countries and regions in her later piano works. While traveling around the world and performing, Schuyler also worked as a freelance journalist and novelist. Her mixed- race heritage, however, prevented her from establishing the kind of fame in the United States that she had achieved overseas. Schuyler wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom (ca. 1964-1965) during the Vietnam War, when she was working as a freelance journalist in Vietnam while maintaining her musical career. (This work became one of Schuyler’s last compositions, as she was killed in a helicopter crash in 1967.) Seven Pillars of Wisdom was inspired by the same-titled memoir by T.E. Lawrence, 24VOLUME 28, NO. 3 • 2022 who may be familiar to many as Lawrence of Arabia, and with whom Schuyler identified as someone who felt unaccepted in his/her own country of birth. The piece is highly program- matic: many of the musical themes are tied to specific characters, places, and ideas, and the Prologue, seven move- ments, and Epilogue all include relevant quotes from Lawrence’s memoir. (In the discussion of individual move- ments below, all material in quotation marks appears in Schuyler’s prefaces to each movement, where she quotes Lawrence directly.) Sarah Masterson, Associate Professor of Piano and Music Theory at Newberry College in South Carolina, reconstructed this masterpiece from scattered manuscripts, an admirable project that surely demanded a signif- icant amount of effort and patience. Aided by her own solid technique and lyrical sensitivity as a pianist, Masterson succeeded in bringing this forgotten work back to life. Listeners are referred to Masterson’s article “Lawrence in America, Philippa Duke Schuyler’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom” in Journal of the IAWM (Vol. 28, no.1, 2022) for an in-depth understanding of this work. The opening movement, “Prologue: The Foundations of the Arab Revolt,” fea- tures two distinctive voices throughout, punctuated by striking chords that suggest the “clashing jealousies.” Masterson’s crisp articulations and varied touches give this movement both melodic and rhythmic clarity. The second-longest movement in the set, Part I: “The Decay of the Ottoman Empire,” depicts a “dying empire with diminished resources.” The movement begins with a modal and introspec- tive melodic line over accompaniment patterns that progress gradually with a rising bass line. Masterson treats lyrical melodic lines with impressive legato. In contrast, Part II: “Fire and Reason,” features steady rhythmical gestures that indicate the momentous meeting between Lawrence and Feisal of Arabia. Except for a short arpeggio section, the entire movement is dom- inated by the chordal accompaniment. Part III: “Blood” explores a wide variety of dissonances, which, combined with rhythmical intensity, create an overall sense of brutality. Masterson’s impec- cable technique shines, especially in this movement. Part IV: “The Evil of My Tale” depicts the “beating wind” through interlocking chordal gestures, and the movement fades away “like dead leaves in the wind.” The longest movement in the set, Part V: “The Agonies, the Terrors, and the Mistakes,” subtitled “The Torture at Deraa,” contains contrasting sections, each featuring repeated material. The opening theme from the Prologue (spelled A-R-A-B-R-E) returns at the end. With a scherzo-like opening, Part VI: “Fortune Favored the Bold Player” por- trays the rebellion that led to the Arab Revolt. The intensity builds, with the help of alternating motives and rhyth- mical gestures, and concludes with a burst of chords. Part VII: “The Final Stroke–Red Victory!” displays an array of virtuosic techniques, including octave leaps that are transformed throughout the movement. Epilogue: “Disillusion, Death, and the Final Liberty of the Afro-Asian Peoples” begins with dream-like arpeggios that evolve into rhythmical and melodic explora- tions, including chordal alteration and dissonances that hint at impressionism. Masterson’s interpretation of this extended work is convincing and displays her technical mastery. The recording of Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a monu- mental achievement in reviving a work of historical significance, and I sincerely hope this will inspire others to explore the works of Schuyler as well as hidden gems of others. A Terrible Beauty A Terrible Beauty Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble, Diatribe Records DIACD034, a double CD (2021) DEON PRICE A Terrible Beauty features new music by Irish composers Jane O’Leary, Amy Rooney, John Buckley, Frank Corcoran, Greg Caffrey, Iain McCurdy, Grainne Mulvey, Kevin O’Connell, Simon Mawhinney, Ryan Molloy, and Rhona Clarke. This review covers the works by the women composers. The discs were recorded between May 2018 and December 2020 at Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) in Belfast, Ireland. The first-rate players of the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble and conductor Sinead Hayes are com- mitted to bringing new music to life with technical prowess and attention to detail. Funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, they are Ensemble in Residence at Queen’s University in Belfast. The handsome two-disc packet includes a most informative program booklet with dates and notes about the music plus brief biographies of both the composers and the per- forming artists. (Quotes below are from the liner notes.) Jane O’Leary’s beneath the dark blue waves (2019), quintet for flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, is a somewhat meditative soundscape inspired by the turbulent and effer- vescent seascapes of Irish artist Gwen O’Dowd. O’Leary requests that, where possible, the performance be accom- panied by a projection of images Hailed by Gramophone for her “characterful sparkle,” pianist Jasmin Arakawa has performed widely in North America, Central and South America, Europe, China, and Japan. A prizewinner of the Jean Françaix International Music Competition, she has been heard at Carnegie Hall and Salle Gaveau in Paris, as well as in broadcasts of the BBC and Radio France. She is Associate Professor of Piano and Area Coordinator at the University of Florida, and she is Director of the UF International Piano Festival. (www.jasminarakawa.com)JOURNAL OF THE IAWM25 of O’Dowd’s abstract sea paintings. The title is an excerpt from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1825 poem “The Ocean,” with its contemplation of quiet- ness in the depths below the “fury on the waves.” Marked “Mysterious,” the waves of sound in the first move- ment suggest a calm sea sparkling with color. The second movement is livelier and paints powerful breaking waves. In both movements, the piano catches the energetic activity with bright, incisive gestures. The music is almost magical in awakening one’s sense of the ocean’s waves. Amy Rooney’s Phosphenes (2109) is an aural interpretation of the phe- nomenon of a visual experience called phosphenes. A ring or spot of light is produced by pressure on the eye- ball. Once the eyes relax, the visual field lights up, and moving specs of light appear in the dark background. This is an impression of light that occurs without light actually entering the eye. Reading about Rooney’s works in the program booklet, I learn that she has a particular interest in micro- rhythms, which involves investigating whether the pursuit of such minute inflections is best achieved through mathematically exact scores or a more improvisational approach. Her scores often employ the use of aleatoric procedures as a means of generating dense rhythmic textures. Rooney makes clever and innovative use of the instruments to represent the visual phenomenon without using extended instrumental techniques. The initial strong tones in the high register of the piano clearly suggest pressure on the eyeball. The clarinet then gradually introduces the other instruments. Utilizing quiet tremolos and trills together creates the impres- sion of an effervescent visual field. Pizzicato strings, random accented flashes in the piano, and brief melodic motifs flit across the field to represent moving specs of light. The program booklet informs us that Gráinne Mulvey’s LUCA (2017) is the acronym for Last Universal Common Ancestor: a single cell organism con- jectured to have lived some 3.5 billion years ago from which all earthly life descends. In this piece, this funda- mental interconnectedness is reflected by deriving all material from a single harmonic series. At first, the music is amorphous and chaotic, then individual pitches appear, gradually coalescing until they encompass the ensemble’s entire range. Recognizable the- matic gestures emerge and reach a peak of complexity before once more dissolving into silence. Mulvey writes: “My music is increasingly con- cerned with a sense of place—with the natural world and mankind’s relationship with that world. I don’t look for the easy way out—I enjoy solving musical problems and relish a challenge.” The single cell is clearly introduced by minor seconds in the extreme high register of the piano with high micro- tonal overtones in the flute and violin. The instruments begin a sliding explo- ration of surrounding pitch levels. The work develops with increasing turbulence, intricate polyrhythms, and extended instrumental timbres, and it gradually expands its range to exploit the extreme registers of all the instruments. The composer’s extensive work in the electroacoustic field is well evident in the complexity of this music. The resolution, when eventually reached, is hard-won. In this combination of instruments, the microtonally-inflected language, derived ultimately from the natural harmonic series, is dramatically effec- tive in the extreme registers, both high and low. Rhone Clarke’s Non-Stop (2020) is fast-paced in an irregular meter com- bined with an unchanging tempo that gives it a persistent, energetic, and almost mechanical quality. The com- poser tells us that the main idea, heard at the start and repeated elsewhere, comes from an earlier piece, A Different Game, Piano Trio No. 4. Here, it is expanded using extended techniques and occasional scalar or melodic lines which burst into the texture. Clarke’s piano trios have been described as eclectic, brilliant, and varied—from relatively “tough” constructs to quite tonal works with influences of jazz. I hear all of that in Non-Stop. The piece commands my attention with its con- trasts, humor, and surprises and its appealing free diatonic idiom. Deon Nielsen Price, composer, pianist, conductor and author, is a former president of IAWM and the National Association of ComposersUSA (NACUSA). Currently, she curates the Presidio Chapel Sunday Concert Series in San Francisco. Her most recent recording, Rendezvous (Cambria CD, 2022) includes chamber and orchestral music: If Life Were to Sing (strings), Ludwig’s Letter to Eternal Beloved (countertenor, chamber ensemble), Chamber Symphony Inspired by Hildebrando de Melo’s Nzambi Paintings, and Behind Barbed Wire (saxophone, piano). (http://culvercrest.com) Orchestral Commissions Program The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras, has established a partner- ship with the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) to introduce new works into the orchestral repertoire. They have commissioned works from six women and non-binary composers and have formed a consortium of thirty U.S. orchestras to perform the works across the country; five orchestras will be paired with each composer. The recipients, who were selected from com- posers who participated in EarShot residencies and the orchestra that will premiere each composer’s work, include Anna Clyne (Philadelphia Orchestra), Sarah Gibson (Sarasota Orchestra), Angel Lam (Kansas City Symphony), Gity Razaz (San Diego Symphony), Arlene Sierra (Detroit Symphony Orchestra), and Wang Lu (New York Philharmonic). The commissioned works will be premiered in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons with repeat performances by the remaining 24 orchestras in future seasons. 26VOLUME 28, NO. 3 • 2022 glissandos, which also appear in other tracks, sound gimmicky and perhaps a little trite. The Two Marian Anthems (2007), Regina Caeli and Salve Regina, contrast well in style and texture. The former is jaunty, full of energy, and exhilarating, while the latter is more reflective with slow, sustained dissonances in keeping with the mournful, sighing, weeping text. The unexpected foot stamping at the start of Ave Atque Vale (2018) and repeated thereafter, sets the scene for Catullus’ poignant elegy to his brother. This beautifully haunting funereal ode captivates the listener from the moment the male voices make their entry chanting ave atque vale (hail and fare- well) followed by the female voices in fugal style. The abundant use of drones, chanting, dissonant voices, and theatrically spoken words are used to great effect to create an overwhelming expression of grief and sorrow. The Three Carols (2014) are delightful and, in line with medieval texts, Clarke makes use of monophony, drones, open fifths, and simple counterpoint, especially in the first two carols. Glad and Blythe, which is bright and lively, contrasts well with the slow and sorrowful Lullay my Liking. Make we Merry is upbeat and very much in the Christmas spirit with its staccato-like syncopated rhythms and mixed meters. Clarke’s fondness for open fifth intervals in the opening bars, especially between the tenors and basses, is also reflected in Do not Stand at my Grave and Weep and The Old Woman. The Requiem, in four movements, shows Clarke at her finest. The Introit begins with a very effective tenor and bass ostinato, which sets the tone for this magnificent piece. Over a very low bass singing requiem, the tenors enter singing requiem aeternam (eternal rest). The upper voices then join in over the ostinato, culminating in all voices singing an emotionally charged exaudi orationem meam (hear my prayer) before the ostinato is restated. In the second movement, Lux Aeterna (eternal light), Clarke cleverly includes musical ornaments in the upper voices, an interval of a second apart “to create a shimmering texture.” 1 In contrast, Pie Jesu is slow, soft, and gentle with a cho- rale like theme, repeated throughout by the sopranos and then performed by impressive solo soprano Anete Viluma. Such purity of sound and simplistic beauty embodies the essential char- acteristic of this movement. The last movement, In Paradisum, the Gregorian chant antiphon is exquisitely performed by two solo sopranos, Viluma and Marika Austruma, with the choir adding harmonies and accompaniment. The common thread between the five songs on the second half of the disc is Clarke’s skilful ability to ensure that the text plays an integral part of the compo- sition. The Kiss (2008) is upbeat and lively, while A Song for St Cecilia’s Day (1991) reflects the power of music, referring to its healing qualities. Do not Stand at my Grave and Weep (2006), dedicated to Clarke’s sister-in-law who was terminally ill at the time of writing, arouses emo- tions of tenderness as the sopranos, and later solo soprano, maintain the melodic line, accompanied by the choir’s swirling “ahs.” Set to an anonymous children’s rhyme, The Old Woman (2016) retains a humorous mood. After an initial bar of foot stamping, the tenors and basses enter a fifth apart and repeatedly sing “skin and bone,” while the upper voices sing the melody. Rorate Caeli (1994) (Drop down ye Heavens) starts in a lively manner, after which the mood becomes subdued before finishing in unison with a defiant flourish on the word rorate. As exhibited throughout the entire recording, the Latvia State Choir is outstanding. The quality of their per- formance is first rate, not only in establishing an inspirational interpre- tation of Clarke’s music but also in ensuring clarity of words under the excellent directorship of Māris Sirmais. 1Liner notes for Rhona Clarke, Sempiternam, Métier MSV 28614 CD [9] (2022). Rhona Clarke: Sempiternam Choral music of Rhona Clarke; State Choir of Latvia, directed by Māris Sirmais. Métier MSV 28614 (2022) LYDIA KAKABADSE This impressive CD by talented Irish composer Rhona Clarke consists of ten choral works—seven of which are com- missions—composed over a period spanning thirty years (1991 to 2021). The disc demonstrates her diverse choral style and how she compellingly combines early style music with con- temporary tonality. Clarke has a strong choral background. She joined a female voice choir in Dublin at the age of fifteen and continued to sing with var- ious university college choirs during her undergraduate and postgraduate studies. The first half of the CD is made up of a setting of a responsory text by twelfth-century composer Hildegard von Bingen: Two Marian Anthems, a setting of Roman poet Catullus’ fare- well lament to his brother, and Three Carols on Medieval Texts. The second half consists of five songs, which are more secular in character. Sandwiched in the middle is Requiem, a gem that Clarke composed in 2020. The SATB State Choir of Latvia, directed by Māris Sirmais, are the performers. The opening track, O Vis Aeternitatis (2020), is set to Hildegard’s text. Dramatic in nature, it is peppered to good effect with open intervals, full harmonies, dissonant sounds, and chanting. However, Clarke’s repeated use of upward and downward Sempiternam Lydia Kakabadse, a British composer of choral, vocal, and chamber works, studied music at Royal Holloway University of London. Her works have been released on CD under the Naxos and Divine Art record labels and have been widely performed, commissioned, and broadcast as well as included in music festivals both in the UK and abroad. Greatly inspired by medieval music, she has written original texts in Latin for her vocal works. www.lydiakakabadse.com Next >