Other Minds Festivals ➔ Other Minds Festival: OM 14: Concert 2

Digital Moving Image

Event Type

Music

Origin

Other Minds

Identifier

OMF.2009.03.06.c2.02

Program Series

Other Minds Festival

Program Length

121 min

Dates

| broadcast
| 2009-03-06 | created

Description

The second concert of OM 14 was held on March 6, 2009, and it included:

Hannah

Hannah, or to be precise Ophiphagus Hannah, is a royal variety of the cobra. This composition presents several images of her: from sounds that replicate hissing and biting, and further analogies, to slithery rippling and connotations of submissiveness, to sounds of singing instruments. The cobra is the main character, creating her own images, as if surrounded by fun house mirrors, which deform and at times obscure the limits of reality. -Dobromiła Jaskot, trans. Anna Perzanowska

Dilations

For three tenors, three bass clarinetists, and three ‘cellists, the piece is a trio split in three. At moments, the three like instruments enmesh into one sounding body, and in other moments an instrument shares qualities of another. The clarinet timbre, for instance, changes by the syllabic vocalization, much like the voice: “na” is an open, round sound, whereas “ni” is more focused, and “nn” a contained sound. The cellos each have their own (ratios forming a crystal) scordatura which together form resonating timbres within which the other instruments/voices sit. “Dilations” is a series of openings in the sky, the clouds, etc. Sometimes in the process of timbral and harmonic openings/shifts the weight becomes released into a lightness, and similarly in this process a lightness might become heavy. The commissioning and production of this world premiere was made possible by the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation Emerging Composers 2007 initiative. -Catherine Lamb

Das Árvores

Is written for 6 instrumentalists and their gestures and explores my interest in rule temperance and its relationship to duality. In 20–25 second time intervals, the full group plays quiet chords that gradually grow or shrink in duration over the course of the entire piece. In between, a variety of material is played in different groupings of the 6 instruments, dependent or independently from one another: 1 to 6 soloing at a time (with fragments out of some of my earlier solo pieces), 3 duos, 2 trios or the full sextet. -Chico Mello, trans. Other Minds

Through the Low Hills

“Through the Low Hills” for cello and piano was written for my brother, cellist Andrew Smith. the title is from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, "The Crossing." -Linda Catlin Smith

String Quartet No. 4, "Gondola"

In “Gondola” I was drawn to the not-quite-unison melody, the slightly unraveled line, and to quietly rocking chords. The title loosely refers to its slight undulation or floating qualities, a subtle motion or disturbance of the surface, like trailing the hand in water. This piece was commissioned by the Del Sol String Quartet, through the Canada Council for the Arts. -Linda Catlin Smith

Linearia

“Linearia” is a series of entanglements, ethereal, fleeting, at times contracting into knots. Among these figured structures the cantilena, which is an intersection of linear sound formulas of each instrument with a vertical surface, is occasionally liberated. Being the result of these two planes, the cantilena reveals itself in the third dimension, space. These moments of time’s relative suspension nevertheless draw the listener to an additional dimension of sound, to depth, sound’s clear essence. -Dobromiła Jaskot, trans. Anna Perzanowska

Genres

New music
Avant-garde

Musical Selections

Hannah, for cello and electronics (2007) (16:51) / Dobromiła Jaskot [U. S. premiere] -- Dilations, for voices, clarinets, and cellos (2008) (37:16) / Catherine Lamb [world premiere] -- Das Árvores, for piano, clarinets, tuba, percussion, and contrabass (1999) (15:18) / Chico Mello -- Through the Low Hills, for piano and cello (1994) (10:50) / Linda Catlin Smith -- String Quartet No. 4 “Gondola” (2008) (14:50) / Linda Catlin Smith [world premiere] -- Linearia, for string quartet (2007) (12:39) / Dobromiła Jaskot

Performers

Hannah Addario-Berry, cello (Hannah ; Quartet ; Linearia)
Dobromiła Jaskot, electronics (Hannah)
Carl Boe, tenor (Dilations)
Trey Costerisan, tenor (Dilations)
Noah Miller, tenor (Dilations)
Jeff Anderle, bass clarinet (Dilations)
Phil O’Connor, bass clarinet (Dilations)
Jonathan Russell, bass clarinet (Dilations)
Gianna Abondolo, cello (Dilations)
Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello (Dilations)
Thalia Moore, cello (Dilations)
Jeff Anderle, clarinet (Das)
Jonathan Russell, clarinet (Das)
Peter Wahrhaftig, tuba (Das)
Richard Worn, contrabass (Das)
Eva-Maria Zimmermann, piano (Das)
Rick Sacks, percussion (Das)
Gianna Abondolo, cello (Through)
Linda Catlin Smith, piano (Through)
Del Sol String Quartet: (Quartet ; Linearia)
Kate Stenberg, violin (Quartet ; Linearia)
Rick Shinozaki, violin (Quartet ; Linearia)
Charlton Lee, viola (Quartet ; Linearia)

Subjects

New music
Avant-garde (Music)
20th century classical
21st century classical
cello with electronics
Drone music
Songs with instrumental ensemble
Sextets (Piano, clarinets (2), tuba, percussion, bass)
Cello and piano music
String quartets