New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings: Composer Spotlight - Julia Adolphe

SoundAdvice sits down with Julia Adolphe, one of the composers selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings in June, part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL. Her piece, Dark Sand, Sifting Light, will be read on June 3, followed by feedback from the New York Philharmonic musicians, maestro Alan Gilbert, and mentor composers. 

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read at the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

Julia Adolphe: The inspiration for Dark Sand, Sifting Light came from the sonic experience of hearing music in the distance. I’ve always loved the sound of a piano being heard from an open window, a familiar melody drifting into focus from far away. When writing for the orchestra, I thought about how the piano sits far back from the audience. I decided to treat the piano as if it were a distant soloist, surrounded by the larger environment of the full orchestra. The piece begins with fragments of a piano melody. A story formed in my mind that I attempted to capture: someone is poised beneath an apartment window, overhearing a pianist practicing. The person listening begins to daydream. This is represented as each note of the piano melody is sustained and colored by the orchestral instruments. The piano music becomes larger than life in the listener’s mind as her thoughts wander and the orchestral sounds transform.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

JA: Complete excitement! I am so honored to be included in such a landmark event by one of the world’s greatest orchestras. The series of events are so diverse and compelling and I am thrilled that my music will be included among composers whose works I love and respect. Plus, New York City is where I grew up and I am overjoyed to return and contribute to its vibrant cultural life.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

JA: Absolutely. I re-examined the entire piece and made changes to the orchestration. In particular, the second half of the work has a fast section with many overlapping layers. I re-orchestrated in an attempt to clarify the most important motifs in each moment and build greater drama towards the climax.

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with Alan Gilbert, mentor composers, and New York Philharmonic musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

JA: I hope to gain as much insight into the art of orchestral composition as I possibly can. My goal is to be open and receptive to all of the feedback given to me, to listen with my ears wide open, and to ask as many questions as possible!

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the musicians who will read the work, or the audience that might hear it, to know about your piece in advance?

JA: I hope that anyone who experiences my music will enjoy and engage with the sounds that transpire. If the music lasts longer than the moment and creates a meaningful memory within a listener, then I will have done my job.

New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings: Composer Spotlight - Andrew McManus

SoundAdvice sits down with Andrew McManus, one of the composers selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings in June, part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL. His piece, Strobe, will be read on June 3, followed by feedback from the New York Philharmonic musicians, maestro Alan Gilbert, and mentor composers.

Photo Credit: Chelsea Ross

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read at the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

Andrew McManus: In the program notes for Strobe, I talk quite a bit about descriptive musical images: flashing lights, stop motion, faded photographs, electronic dance music. But the very first idea I had for the piece - which eventually became its central idea - was a lot more abstract. In the past few years I’ve gravitated towards techniques that involve a high degree of rhythmic complexity. This includes horizontal complexity, in which a single musical line sounds rhythmically erratic and uneven, and vertical complexity, in which multiple simultaneous musical lines have conflicting rhythmic structures. For Strobe I chose to work with a deceptively simple idea: a pulse that decreases in speed by regular increments (2 beats, 3 beats, 4, 5, 6 etc.) On top of these pulses I added sweeping, ascending gestures. My first sketch for this idea looked like a series of flagpoles with ascending wavy lines of increasing length - certainly a far cry from the vivid and colorful musical images I would later come up with! But bridging this kind of gap is very important to me. While much of Strobe uses detailed manipulations of this idea (superimposing different pieces of the idea in different tempos, for instance), it’s certainly not the only one at play. Some are much more freely and simply constructed: soaring melodies for horn and oboe, a rich string chorale, a thumping kick drum, a brief allusion to swing jazz. Synthesizing these ideas with more complex, abstract ones is a challenge, but it’s one that I love to undertake.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

AM: I remember missing the initial call because I was on the phone with a friend, but when I finally checked my messages and called back I couldn’t stop thinking about how thrilled and honored I was. I’ve been in love with orchestral music since I was 10 or 11 years old, and it’s always held a special place in my compositional heart. So to be able to work with such an esteemed orchestra is incredibly meaningful to me.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

AM: I wrote Strobe for a reading session organized by the University of Chicago for graduate student composers last year. While I chose not to make any changes since then, I have been thinking quite a bit about what details to refine. For instance, I knew that the U of C reading session would have a small string section, and I balanced the dynamic markings accordingly. This becomes a perpetual challenge when you write complex textures with many moving parts! There were certain passages, however, where I missed the sound of a large string section. While I’m happy to have more strings for this reading, I know that this will affect balance in other parts of the piece. And I’m definitely looking forward to learning something from how this plays out.

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with Alan Gilbert, mentor composers, and New York Philharmonic musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

AM: I’ve known and admired the work of Maestro Gilbert and all of the mentor composers for a long time, so I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to work with them in person and receive their feedback. And the opportunity to work with such incredibly accomplished musicians is incredibly rare, so I’m really looking forward to hearing their reactions to the piece.

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the musicians who will read the work, or the audience that might hear it, to know about your piece in advance?

AM: I’ve worked quite a bit with electronic music, and I’ve found that it requires paying a great deal of attention to the timbral details of every sound I make. This has heavily influenced my acoustic music, and Strobe is no exception. It’s a piece full of noises - some bizarre or unpleasant, others beautiful, and many somewhere in between.

23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings: Composer Spotlight - Kyle Peter Rotolo

SoundAdvice sits down with Kyle Peter Rotolo, one of the composers selected to participate in ACO's 23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings on June 6 and 7, part of this year's inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL celebration.  His piece, Apophis, is based on the Earth-bound asteroid of the same name. Rotolo assures us, it "is very unlikely to collide with us."

American Composers Orchestra: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

Kyle Peter Rotolo: Hang up the phone before they change their minds! I was thrilled that Apophis would be given new life.  As my first significant effort in writing for the orchestra, I did not expect much to happen after I put a double bar on it.  There was no commission involved or performances booked. While I was studying at Brevard Music Center in summer 2012, students had an opportunity to sketch some ideas for the orchestra to read, so I took advantage of that and put some thoughts down.  I decided to finish the process at the end of my Master’s work, but it was all up in the air after graduation.  The Underwood Readings acceptance was the best kind of surprise.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

KPR:  For better or worse, I have the habit of being a chronic reviser of my scores.  However, after a certain point, there is a diminishing rate of returns.  Trying to improve on that 1% of the piece that you are not comfortable with is most often a futile endeavor.  The piece was just fine when it was sent out in December, so it’s probably just fine now.  My main focus has been triple-checking all my parts, making sure everybody has the same amount of bars and rehearsal numbers, and I’ve taken Bill Holab’s excellent feedback to heart regarding music publishing.

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with George Manahan, mentor composers, and ACO musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

KPR: The music making process is fascinating in large part because every element is viewed subjectively; impressions vary from person to person.  It is always enlightening to hear how another composer or performer views something I have written, and shares how they see the potential for things to go a different way.  Much to my chagrin, I often agree!  There is a reason these artists are so esteemed.  It is because their thoughts make excellent musical sense.  So I hope everyone, including my colleagues, is forthcoming with their opinions and suggestions.  I hope they hold nothing back.

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the audience to know about your piece in advance? Anything you hope they take away from hearing it?

KPR: First, some good news:  Apophis, the Earth-bound asteroid, is very unlikely to collide with us.  Second, although the piece takes its name from the popular science story, the music is not written in a strictly narrative form. Apophis is not a literal character represented in the music.  More so, the piece is written in a way that combines a good number of layers (contrapuntally, heterophonically, and any other way I could think of) to create a colossal texture.  And while I am skeptical that music can ever be “about” something, I hope the final impression Apophis leaves is an uplifting one.

23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings: Composer Spotlight - Melody Eotvos

SoundAdvice sits down with Melody Eötvös, one of the composers selected to participate in ACO's 23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings on June 6 and 7, part of this year's inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL celebration. She describes her piece Beetles, Dragons & Dreamers as "something very old and archaic... hiding menacingly behind the face of something modern."

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read by ACO at the Underwood New Music Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

Melody Eötvös: My inspiration for this piece was my strong attraction to historical/philosophical icons and relics that have continued to be used and referred to in our culture throughout the centuries.  Many of these we encounter on a daily basis (such as the risk of computer viruses on our devices, and the sometimes restless of trying to get to sleep), whiles others have a more specific link to one place or another (i.e. the Native American dream catcher).  Explaining how I captured this in the work is a little more difficult.  I’m a deeply intuitive composer so I often follow my ear with a high level of trust – the main impression I wanted people to perceive in this music though is a sense of something very old and archaic (represented perhaps with modal/polymodal harmonies and linear motives) hiding menacingly behind the face of something modern.  The face of this piece (in this case the timbre/texture) is slightly transparent, which allows moments of that dark and older core to show through.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

ME: My first thought was actually a bit of a strange one – when I received the call from ACO it was April 1st , and, never realistically expecting I would be chosen for the Readings, for just a moment it flashed though my head that this was a prank.  Half a second later though that thought disappeared and I was listening intently to my instructions and mentally making a list of things I needed to do to prepare for this.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

ME: Since this work is my DM Dissertation I was actually lucky enough to have it performed by the University Orchestra here at the Jacobs School of Music about a month ago.  So a lot of problems and practical things came up during those rehearsals and I was able address several of these in preparation for the ACO readings.  As far as other preparations are concerned, making the final score and parts as perfect as humanly possible has been my primary concern for a while now.

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with George Manahan, mentor composers, and ACO musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

ME: I hope most of all to get feedback and guidance on the sound world and structure that I’m trying to achieve in my music – I know the music of the mentor composers quite well now and a good amount of trust develops the more you respect a mature composers art and perspective, which I thoroughly do in all of these cases.  I was fortunate enough to recently meet Derek Bermel in Hong Kong too, during which he provided me with an alarming amount of helpful advice and encouragement.  So I’m very eager to meet Beaser, Wilson, and Wolfe in New York this June.

Is there anything you'd like the the audience to know about your piece in advance? Anything you hope they take away from hearing it?

ME: There is quite an extensive program note which explains in more detail the gist behind each movement, however, if wanted to give a last little push for what to perceive in it I would say to try and listen from a middle point where you’re aware of that darker threatening inside character of the sound always trying to come through, but try to hear it through the lighter transparent skin that I’ve put it in.

Listen to the fourth movement of Eötvös' Attic Tragedy (2008), the predecessor of Beetles, Dragons & Dreamors:

New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings: Composer Spotlight - William Dougherty

SoundAdvice sits down with William Dougherty, one of the composers selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings in June, part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL. His piece, Into Focus, will be read on June 3, followed by feedback from the New York Philharmonic musicians, maestro Alan Gilbert, and mentor composers.

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read at the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

William Dougherty: Into Focus is a work that seeks to aurally explore the three areas of visual perception known as the focus, fringe, and margin. When a person focuses on something visually, that object, on which the viewer’s attention is focused, is represented clearly. The spaces around this point become increasingly blurred into the peripheral. My goal in Into Focus was to continually obscure the listener’s points of focus by superimposing large harmonic blocks of sound, which constantly blur the work’s pitch centers.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

WD: I was, of course, honored and grateful to have been chosen to participate in the readings. It’s no secret that opportunities for young composers to have new orchestral works read by world-class musicians are few and far between. I view this as an overwhelming promising sign for American music that the NY Phil has decided to take a leading role in supporting adventurous new works by emerging composers.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

WD: Yes. I divided the strings differently – particularly the 1st violins – to allow for more specific groupings and therefore a wider variety of string textures. For example, the 1stviolins are sometimes divided into players 1-4, 5-7, 8-10 and at other times, 1, 2-5, 6-8, 9-10.

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the musicians who will read the work, or the audience that might hear it, to know about your piece in advance?

WD: Into Focus is a work in which I intentionally avoid a typical narrative development where certain intervallic and rhythmic motives are juxtaposed and transformed, constantly reappearing and culminating in the climax of the form. Rather, in this work, I am much more concerned with creating an expanse of sound that envelops the performers and audience alike – exploring sounds that do not require resolution or demand a traditional elaboration.


Hear William Dougherty's piece Winded for wind ensemble and tape here:

New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings: Composer Spotlight - Max Grafe

SoundAdvice sits down with Max Grafe, one of the comopsers selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings in June, part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL. His piece, Bismuth: Variations for Orchestra, will be read on June 3, followed by feedback from the New York Philharmonic musicians, maestro Alan Gilbert, and mentor composers.

Photo Credit: Harrison Linsey

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read at the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

Max Grafe: Bismuth: Variations for Orchestra was something of a departure for me in terms of its inspiration. The previous several pieces I had written were all heavily informed by distinctly extramusical sources, whether theater, literature, visual arts, ancient mythology, science, or a combination thereof. In conceiving of Bismuth, however, I made a conscious decision to write a piece with a higher degree of abstraction than the one to which I was accustomed: one where the content and narrative were determined not by an outside force, but solely according to their musical characteristics and implications. I decided that the most appropriate form for the piece to take in order to accomplish this goal was a theme and variations, although I adapted it from its traditional structure to suit my own musical proclivities. To wit, each variation is not necessarily directly upon the theme, but rather upon a salient feature of the variation that precedes it. Additionally, once the theme is restated at the midpoint of the piece, the preceding variations are revisited in reverse order in an effort to create a sense of musical symmetry. That symmetrical plan, in combination with the work's colorful, angular, and varied musical style, led me to name it after the otherworldly geometry and many-hued patina of a pure bismuth crystal.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

MG: The news came during a time of complex emotions for me: in fact, on the same day that a close family member passed away after a long illness. Although this made the occasion decidedly bittersweet, I can't remember ever being more elated at a piece of news, and I was grateful to have my family there to share in my excitement. Besides the initial shock, my first thoughts were ones of profound gratitude: toward the family members, friends, and mentors who helped me reach this point, for the opportunity to work with such a world-class ensemble as the Philharmonic, and for being chosen to be a part of such a groundbreaking event as the Biennial.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

MG: I've made a few minor adjustments to the music itself, but most of my work since being selected has been focused on making the score and parts as professional and legible as possible. Our preliminary work with Bill Holab on engraving our music for maximum clarity was an important and valuable step in this process, and resulted in my making some substantial formatting changes--particularly to the score--in an effort to minimize ambiguity in my notation and make the most out of the limited page space available.

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with Alan Gilbert, mentor composers, and New York Philharmonic musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

MG: I actually have rather little experience in writing for and working with orchestras. Bismuth is my first truly substantial orchestral work (aside from a few incomplete and marginally successful attempts), and this will be the first reading of my music by a professional orchestra. As such, I expect that the workshop sessions with maestro Gilbert, the mentor composers, and the orchestra musicians will provide a great deal of insight into both the musical and practical challenges of the orchestral medium. I'm sure that, for all the thought I've put into writing and engraving the piece, there are still issues waiting to blindside me, simply by virtue of my relative inexperience. However, I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work through these issues with such a distinguished group of musicians and composers, and I can't think of a better team to help me get a more secure grasp on the craft of writing for orchestral forces.

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the musicians who will read the work, or the audience that might hear it, to know about your piece in advance?

MG: Above all else, enjoy yourselves!

Hear Max Grafe's Pavane and Galliard (2014) and see the score below:

23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings: Composer Spotlight - Jared Miller

SoundAdvice sits down with Jared Miller, one of the composers selected to participate in ACO's 23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings on June 6 and 7, part of this year's inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL celebration. His piece Contrasted Perspectives is inspired by the Surrealist art movement. 

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read by ACO at the Underwood New Music Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

Jared Miller: Largely a result of having access to New York's great art museums (MOMA, the Met etc.), over the past couple of years, I have developed a real interest in the Surrealist paintings of the early twentieth century. Often inspired by the creator's dreams, Surrealist art contains sharply juxtaposing images and ideas presented simultaneously in scintillating detail. Emotionally, this art invokes a multitude of reactions from me - ranging from mirth, to sorrow to sheer awe. Contrasted Perspectives attempts to explore this multiplicity. The first movement, “Dalí” is most significantly influenced by his famous painting "The Persistence of Memory." I used the various colors, timbres and sonorities of the orchestra to depict the melting clocks and shimmering waves of desert heat pictured in his dream-like magnum opus (pictured above, courtesy of MOMA). "Fellini," the second movement, deals with the idea of juxtaposition and was inspired by the famous Italian filmmaker. Taking bits of musical material from the first movement, I recast them in various musical styles - from Jazz, to quasi-Stravinsky, to an Italian-style opera overture - that overlap and segue into one another. The overall effect should be one of ordered chaos, as exemplified in this clip of Fellini's 8 1/2.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

JM: I was walking down Broadway when I got the call and if memory serves correctly, I'm pretty sure I let out a fairly vocal "Woohoo!" (a la Homer Simpson, circa 1994) upon finding out. After the initial (and obvious...) excitement of the news, I took it as a true honor. The ACO was one of the first orchestras I'd ever heard in New York when attended the premiere of Chinese composer Fang Man's Resurrection back in 2009. Since then, I have been consistently impressed with their stunning musicianship, innovative programming and fantastic artistic leadership under George Manahan. The opportunity to work with them seems unparalleled. I also cannot wait to hear my piece! I pushed myself to experiment with a lot of musical techniques and languages I wasn't super-familiar with when I was writing it, so - like all of my fellow UNMR participants - I am very interested to hear the results of my efforts!

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

JM: When you write an orchestral piece, it can be challenging to make what you think will be effective changes to the written music if you haven't heard it yet.  Since the first time I will be hearing Contrasted Perspectives will be at the UNMR, I didn't change very much from the initial score I submitted in my ACO application. That said, I plan on going over the score after I've heard it and making changes to the piece based on what I've heard - especially if I am fortunate enough to have the piece performed again! Meanwhile, I've been going over the score and taking note of anything that might be unclear to the conductor or orchestral musicians so if questions happen to arise in the reading, I can answer them efficiently and effectively. 

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with George Manahan, mentor composers, and ACO musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

JM: I hope to learn a lot from the experience. I consider it a great privilege to be able to work with musicians and a conductor who are very "at home" with new music. I believe the advice they will provide for me - especially regarding some of the unconventional playing techniques I've asked for - will be invaluable. Moreover, I am really looking forward to gaining the perspective of the four mentor composers. I respect all of them deeply as artists and as teachers so I think there will be a lot to be gained from their comments on my music.

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the the audience to know about your piece in advance? Anything you hope they take away from hearing it?

JM: One aspect of writing orchestral music that I absolutely love is infusing it with a sense of humor! I find this to be both creatively satisfying and artistically genuine. My piece - especially the second movement, "Fellini" - is meant to be light-hearted, so I hope this comes across to the listener. If I am lucky, the audience will be smiling and maybe even chuckling by the end of it!

New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings: Composer Spotlight - Wang Lu

SoundAdvice sits down with Wang Lu, a previous participant in ACO's Underwood New Music Readings and one of the comopsers selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings in June, part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL. Her piece, Scenes from the Bosco Sacro, will be read on June 3, followed by feedback from the New York Philharmonic musicians, maestro Alan Gilbert, and mentor composers.

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read at the New York Philharmonic EarShot Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

The inspiration for Scenes from the Bosco Sacro came from a visit last year to the Bosco Sacro, or "Sacred Grove," a Mannerist garden complex in Italy, about an hour's drive north of Rome. I was struck by the strange, grotesque depictions of historical and mythological figures, a kind of historical amusement park, and wanted to convey this bizarre experience through the piece.

Wang Lu: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

It was of course exhilarating, and I immediately thought to look again at the score, since it had been a few months since the submission.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

  I made adjustments to the form, clarified some of the orchestration, and made some improvements to the engraving.

WL: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with Alan Gilbert, mentor composers, and New York Philharmonic musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

The opportunity for a composer to hear any orchestral work is incredibly rare. I look forward to interacting with the musicians, getting feedback from composers I admire, who have years of experience writing for the medium, and working with a conductor who is a great champion of new work.

Wang Lu at the Bosco Sacro in Italy

23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings: Composer Spotlight - Haralabos Stafylakis

SoundAdvice sits down with Haralabos Stafylakis, one of the composers selected to participate in ACO's 23rd Annual Underwood New Music Readings on June 6 and 7, part of this year's inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL celebration. His work Brittle Fracture attempts to depict an unusual type of material structural failure in musical terms, and is inspired by techniques commonly employed in pop music production.

American Composers Orchestra: What was the inspiration for your piece that will be read by ACO at the Underwood New Music Readings?  How has that been incorporated into the work?

Haralabos Stafylakis: The inspiration for Brittle Fracture (2013) came from multiple sources.  One thing that I don't mention in the program notes for the work is how the main theme and my orchestrational approach were inspired by electronic effects typically used in popular music styles.

The principle theme of the work – a 2- to 4-note repeating figure – came about as I was sitting around one day with my electric guitar in hand. I'd been listening to a lot of beautifully-produced metal and pop music at the time, and on a whim put an exaggerated delay effect on my guitar amp.  I fiddled around with the instrument, playing the simplest possible musical ideas and seeing how they were transformed in time by the prominent delay effect.  Eventually I settled on the motive that is heard throughout Brittle Fracture, but instead of relying on electronic manipulation, I orchestrated the delay effect using traditional instruments.

Likewise, the gradual introduction of the orchestral instruments was based on a sample-and-hold audio circuit, which functions by tracking an incoming stream of voltage values, selecting one, and freezing it for a short time; it then selects another value, and so on.  In Brittle Fracture, the piano begins with the above-mentioned theme on its own.  The orchestra functions as a set of parallel sample-and-hold circuits: it "tracks" the piano part, and every so often an instrument captures one of the piano's pitches, holding it indefinitely.  A different value (pitch) is captured every time, so that there is an accumulation of sound across the orchestra's range; the interactions between the captured pitches informs a good deal of the piece.

Finally, the title of the work was borrowed from the field of materials science.  The study of fracture mechanics makes a fundamental distinction between fractures that occur at different levels of tensile stress.  In the case of brittle fracture, there is little or no apparent plastic deformation before failure occurs; in other words, cracks travel so fast that it is often impossible to tell when the material will break.  Formally, Brittle Fracture attempts to depict this type of structural failure in musical terms.  As musical tension builds to a critical level, a series of fractures occurs, slicing between two contrasting musical surfaces until the inevitable and complete dissolution of their constituent materials.

ACO: What were your first thoughts when you were chosen to participate in these Readings, which are part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL?

HS: My first thought was to go home and make some inspired celebratory cocktails for myself and my wife [composer Nina C. Young, who participated in Underwood in 2013] and to see how long I could withhold the news from her while maintaining conversation.  I think we were halfway through our first drink before I casually let the news slip.  My second thought was how excited I was to hear Brittle Fracture be performed by a symphony orchestra.  My third thought was despondency at the amount of work I'd have to put into making orchestral parts.  My fourth was how much this opportunity was worth the labor.

ACO: Since you were selected, have you further developed your piece? How have you been preparing yourself and your work for the Readings?

HS: Brittle Fracture was originally composed for chamber orchestra during my residency with the CUNY Graduate Center's Contemporary Music Ensemble.  I began adapting it to symphony orchestra during my residency at the New Music on the Point festival last summer.  But since this new version has not yet been performed, I've spent the past few weeks refining the score to make it as impactful – and playable – as possible.  I've been to several ACO concerts and have at least some sense of what would work best in a reading situation with minimal rehearsal, so I've been tailoring my notation for maximum clarity.  Part of the process with the Underwood readings is that professional engraver/typesetter Bill Holab studies our scores and parts and provides us with his recommendations on how to improve them; this has been an invaluable service to me.

ACO: During the Readings your work will be workshopped with George Manahan, mentor composers, and ACO musicians. What do you hope to gain from this experience?

HS: Something I've come to learn throughout my experience as a young composer and arranger is how complex the orchestral medium really is.  No matter how many orchestration textbooks I study or courses I take, the actual interactions between the orchestra's multitudinous instruments rarely come out quite as I imagine them.  As I've learned from one of my mentors, David Del Tredici, effective orchestration can't quite be taught – it must be learned from the personal experience of hearing one's work performed by a live orchestra.  The Underwood New Music Readings offer an incredible opportunity to hear the results of my imagined orchestration in rehearsal and in performance.  With score in hand, and with the added perspectives of maestro Manahan, the ACO players, my colleagues, and the mentor composers, I expect to leave with a deeper understanding – and a stronger command – of the orchestral medium.

ACO: Is there anything you'd like the audience to know about your piece in advance? Anything you hope they take away from hearing it?

HS: Until this piece, my compositional approach was based on a dialectic narrative process between musical themes that could be thought of as characters in a novel or film.  A first theme is presented, it evolves and develops until another theme is introduced, which itself evolves, etc. Eventually the various themes meet, interact in various conflicting or complimentary ways, evolving together...

Brittle Fracture eschews that tradition.  A theme is presented at the beginning and remains essentially unchanged throughout the work, with only subtle mutations occurring in its cellular design.  Instead, it is the musical environment around it that changes, constantly altering the context within which the invariable theme is heard.  I imagine its journey through the work as an analogy for humanity's progress through history: physiologically, our species has changed very little over the past tens of thousands of years, but we've altered the world around us so persistently and thoroughly that the various stages of our civilizations bear little resemblance to each other.  I think this would be a fruitful way to listen to the piece: follow that one theme from beginning to end and listen to how the world around it morphs.

Listen to Stafylakis' Brittle Fracture

Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings Composer Spotlight – Composer Sivan Eldar, Part 2

Berkeley Symphony Music Director Joana Carneiro reviews composer Sivan Eldar’s score for A Thousand Tongues at a session at the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings.

SoundAdvice catches up with composer Sivan Eldar, who is participating in the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings on May 4 and 5, 2014 at the Osher Studio in Berkeley, CA. Sivan shared with us her experience of working with Berkeley Symphony Music Director Joana Carneiro, mentor-composers Robert Beaser and Ed Campion, and the musicians that performed her piece, A Thousand Tongues, at the first Readings session in February.

American Composers Orchestra: How would you describe your experience at the first Readings session back in February?

Sivan Eldar: Everyone involved was extremely enthusiastic, curious, thoughtful. And also extremely generous. It was a great experience.

ACO: What did you learn from the experience of working with the mentor composers, Maestro Joana Carneiro, and the musicians of the Berkeley Symphony on your piece? Have your interactions with them impacted your composition? If so how?

S.E.: I really enjoyed working with Joana Carneiro. During the reading I jotted down comments on my score: a gesture that needed to blend better, a texture that needed to be brighter or more delicate. But before I had a chance to say anything, she was already rehearsing those parts again, and getting the balance just right. She seemed to understand our music in a very intuitive way.

I also thought that Robert Beaser and Ed Campion – our mentor composers – were a great pair. During the feedback session, when one would focus on form, the other would fill in the gaps about orchestration, and vise versa. They were full of energy and very passionate about helping us make our pieces as good as possible. To me the sessions with them were inspiring, not only as a composer, but also as a teacher of young composers.

As for the musicians of the Berkeley Symphony, I was very motivated by their willingness to think critically about our music and share their thoughts and comments. My piece opens with a flute/clarinet duet accompanied by percussion. The feedback I got from these three players, both before and after the reading, added character to the opening, and a new kind of depth. I have already incorporated their suggestions into the score!

ACO: What was the experience like to hear your piece read by the Berkeley Symphony? Has listening to your piece performed live provided any insights into how you will further develop your work?  

S.E.: To be honest, I was very nervous about the first half of the piece. The texture was sparse and a little unusual for the orchestra: breathy bass flute, very soft bass clarinet, inhales in the brass section. I was afraid that it would come across as “too thin” rather than intimate and dreamlike. Interestingly, it turned out to be the most interesting and haunting section of the piece. And also the material that I ended up developing most for the second reading.

Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings Composer Spotlight – Composer Nicholas Omiccioli, Part 2

SoundAdvice checks in with composer Nicholas Omiccioli, who is about to participate in the second installment of the Berkeley Symphony EarShot Under Construction Readings on May 4 and 5, 2014 at the Osher Studio in Berkeley, CA. Nick brings his work burning to the Readings with the Berkeley Symphony conducted by Joana Carneiro. We catch up with him to find out how the first Reading session went back in February, what he learned, and how he's preparing for the next and final Reading sessions next week. Read on to find out what he's been up to and listen to push/pull (2013), the piece he describes as "an exploration of rock music's influence on my compositions," and the precursor to burning.

American Composers Orchestra: What is the most valuable piece of advice that you received at the first reading session with the Berkeley Symphony in February?

Nicholas Omiccioli: The most valuable advice I received was concerning the individual parts for the musicians. I ended up having too many cues and it was suggested that I take most of them out and give the musicians multi-measure rests instead. They seemed more comfortable counting than trying to follow along with who was playing.

ACO: What was the most surprising or unexpected experience of the session?

N.O.: Some of my experiences with orchestras in the past have been less than ideal, so I went into this situation with some reservations. Fortunately though, I was happily surprised with how supportive and helpful the musicians were with their feedback. It felt like a true collaboration. I thought the rehearsal was extremely productive and the orchestra surpassed my expectations in every way. They nailed the character of the piece and all the difficult passage-work I wrote for them. The piece came together rather quickly and wouldn't have taken much more rehearsal time to be performance-ready.

ACO: Have you made many changes to your piece since the reading?  If so, what has changed?

N.O.: I only had a draft of the piece back in February, so there have been a number of edits and additions. The initial draft was missing a transition and an ending. For the performance in May, I'm happy to say that the piece is completed, although, I anticipate a few small edits after the reading before I officially call it "done." Other than the additional material, the most drastic change is the deletion of almost a hundred measures of music. During the February reading, I thought one of the sections was too square, repetitive, and quite frankly, "cheesy." It worked out surprisingly well to delete this section and I think the overall shape of the piece improved because of it.

ACO: Is there anything you'd say to other composers about the process of working with an orchestra? Any insights you would like to offer?

N.O.: I was truly inspired after working with Joana and the Berkeley Symphony, they made this one of the most rewarding musical experiences I have ever had. I think it takes composers a few test runs with an orchestra to learn how to write for them and what's expected in rehearsal. You have to be good at thinking on your feet. Having written mostly chamber music before this opportunity, the best advice I have for composers is to simplify your ideas and present them in the clearest way possible.

Listen to Nick Omiccioli's push/pull (2013):