Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings Composer Spotlight – Composer Ruben Naeff

Composer Ruben Naeff   Photo: Elsbeth Tijssen

In this interview with composer Ruben Naeff, find out how a great literary work inspired his latest composition, Danse Macabre, which will be read at the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction New Music Readings this weekend.

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your composition? How would you describe your composition process? 

Ruben Naeff: Moby Dick! This year I worked with my friends from West 4th New Music on an oratorio about Moby Dick that will be performed by Contemporaneous during the MATA Interval Series on February 21st in New York. I decided to select a few passages from my movements and develop the material into a larger, unified work for orchestra. The composition process is always a mysterious activity: I am changing musical fragments that I already have into as many variations as I can come up with and then I select the ones that get me tick. I am basically chasing the most beautiful or exciting musical moments. It remains very abstract what beautiful or exciting actually means. It happens very often that my initial starting point -- Moby Dick in this case -- is not present anymore at a later stage. That doesn't matter: I care about the notes, and the rest is secondary. In this case I ended up with something that reminded me most to a dance with death, or a Danse Macabre, as it is called.

ACO: Since the selection of your work for the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction New Music Readings, how have you further developed your piece in preparation for the readings? 

RN: Ask a composer for an existing piece and he will give you a new one -- that is what composers do, right, compose new music. So my piece wasn't selected as it did not exist at that time yet. But as I wrote above, it was based on another piece that I recently wrote.

ACO:  What do you hope to get out of this experience of having your piece read by the Berkeley Symphony and in working with the mentor-composers? 

RN: As much advice as possible, on every possible concept of composing. Obviously technical things on orchestration, or practical things on score preparation, but also artistic comments on the musical material, its development, its form -- everything.

ACO: What are you most looking forward to in participating in these New Music Readings? 

RN: Getting to know great musicians, both performers and composers, both my peers and my mentors, and talking about music as long as we can. That, and of course hearing my new piece performed by this stellar orchestra, and learning about the million things I could have done better. And the best part is: those are the million things that I actually will do better, since there is time to improve my piece for the second reading. That opportunity is in one word amazing, and in two words extremely rare.

ACO: What would you like to say to other composers who may be interested in applying to future New Music Readings? 

RN: Don't hesitate, apply!

Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings Composer Spotlight – Composer Sivan Eldar

Composer Sivan Eldar    Photo: Mathieu Desruisseaux 

In the past year, composer Sivan Eldar has been travelling around the world, inspiring her latest composition, A Thousand Tongues, which will be read at the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings. Find out how yoga, letter writing, and reading all played a role in Sivan’s composition process!

ACO: What was the inspiration for your composition? How would you describe your composition process? 

Sivan Eldar: I had just moved back to San Francisco when I got the call from ACO in October. Life was moving very quickly until then. The months before I was in Prague, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Berlin, NYC, DC. For some people that is normal, maybe they travel a lot for work or as part of an ensemble. But I’m used to spending a lot of time at home, doing things very slowly. Having only a few days in each place, to spend with people who are very special to me, was a very intense and strange experience. But also a very beautiful one. When I moved back to SF I knew that I would be living inside those memories for a while. So after I got off the phone with Greg at ACO I decided that through this piece I would spend time with these people and places. During the month I was composing I turned off the internet from 9am-8pm. I read a lot. I wrote letters. I spent time on my yoga mat at home. That was my process – slowing down time, and also giving time. I think one can hear it in the composition.

ACO:  Since the selection of your work for the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction New Music Readings, how have you further developed your piece in preparation for the readings? 

SE: My piece for the Berkeley Symphony is brand new! I’ve been working on it since late November 2013.

ACO: What do you hope to get out of this experience of having your piece read by the Berkeley Symphony and in working with the mentor-composers? 

SE: I revise my music often. When I work collaboratively with a performer revising becomes part of the compositional process – we discuss sketches, we improvise, we make changes. Having multiple readings with the Berkeley Symphony, and getting immediate feedback from the conductor, the players, and the mentor-composers, is probably the closest I’ll ever get to really collaborating with an orchestra. It’s a very unique opportunity. I am thrilled about that.

ACO:  What would you like to say to other composers who may be interested in applying to future New Music Readings? 

SE: As I said, this is really a unique opportunity. It is a commissioning program that gives you enough time to develop a new work, but also enough feedback to realize it in the best way you can. Any composer who is drawn to the colors of the orchestra should definitely apply!

Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings Composer Spotlight – Composer B.P. Herrington

Composer B. P. Herrington

Composer B.P. Herrington, who will be participating in the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings in February, takes us through his composition process and the impact of  being chosen for the Readings has had on his piece, A Region Lovelier Far. 

ACO: What was the inspiration for your composition? How would you describe your composition process?

B.P. Herrington:  My compositional materials tend to be very humble, drawn from the rural culture of East Texas, and my music is intuitively filled with the rich ornamentation and rhythmic character of that music.   However, my treatment and development of these materials often involves a tremendous amount of rigor: post-tonal processes such as serial organization, rotational arrays, various games.  Hopefully this coexistence of intuition and rigor translates into a rich listening experience.

I compose by hand on a full orchestral score.  I sketch out basic ideas on a separate sheet of manuscript paper then flesh it out on the full score, making every line as unique for each instrument as possible.   

ACO: Since the selection of your work for the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction New Music Readings, how have you further developed your piece in preparation for the readings?

B.P.H.: Before I received this opportunity, my piece was just a frustrating, unrealized dream.  After I heard I’d been accepted, the piece took on a new life.  There is nothing in the world like writing a piece for a guaranteed performance.  Having the piece read in-progress also removes the mortal dread of miscalculation.   

 

ACO:  What do you hope to get out of this experience of having your piece read by the Berkeley Symphony and in working with the mentor-composers?

B.P.H.: This piece explores ideas I’ve only thus far pursued in a chamber music setting.  I’m eager to absorb and incorporate all the advice and feedback I receive.    

ACO:  What are you most looking forward to in participating in these New Music Readings?

B.P.H.: Hearing the music come alive under the direction of Joana Carneiro and the fantastic musicians!

ACO:  What would you like to say to other composers who may be interested in applying to future New Music Readings?

B.P.H.: This opportunity is one-of-a-kind.