Day two in Memphis

Day two in Memphis was as action-packed as day one! Jean Ahn’s two-movment work Salt and Andreia Pinto Correia’s three movement work Acanto were the centerpieces of the day, read expertly by the Memphis Symphony. Once again maestro David Loebel was more than up-to-the-challenge of these demanding pieces. We had some repeat audience members from the readings the night before. They obviously liked what they heard!
To back up a step, Melinda Wagner and I started the day by leading a lively discussion of the first day’s readings, which, as I wrote about in my first blog entry, featured the works of Patricio Da Silva and Christian Baldini. Following that, Jean Ahn and Andreia Pinto-Correia met with maestro Loebel in preparation for their afternoon readings. After a brief lunch, the readings took place during a two and one half hour period, followed immediately by a ninety-minute discussion/critique class of these two pieces. As was the case in the morning discussion, this too was lively! Melinda and I covered many topics including issues of orchestration, notation, composition and aesthetics, as well as the practical issues of communicating with a conductor and an orchestra in a time–constrained rehearsal situation: a slice-of-life in the real world of orchestral performance.
Following that, we had a working dinner in which representatives from the orchestra (concertmaster, principal bassoon, timpanist, principal horn, etc.), along with David Loebel, gave their critiques and commentary to all four composers, drawn from comment sheets that were prepared by members of their respective sections. As with all events, Linda Golding, Michael Geller, and John Glover were present. Amy Gill, the MSO’s Director of Operations was also present. This was a great way to conclude the formal proceedings of this event. Listening to these comments was a learning experience for all of us.
After a brief rest back to the hotel, I joined the composers along with Michael, John and Linda, for a night out on Memphis town. Alas, the timing was not right for a trip to Graceland, but we had great fun unwinding on Beale Street. I got an unexpected glimpse of the Gibson guitar factory, which for an electric guitarist is like a trip to the holiest of shrines. (My first ‘real’ guitar was a 1969 Les Paul custom, purchased new in that year. I should have kept it (!), but I later traded it for a 70’s ES-175 that remains the crown jewel of my guitar line-up. Not a bad exchange, but…)

-Michael Gandolfi

images:
1. Michael Gandolfi talks with Andreia Pinto-Correia during the reading of her work Acanto. Melinda Wagner (front) studies the score as well.
2. The group checks out a car on Beale Street.

from Memphis with love

Two exciting days, with high energy and high focus. The Memphis Symphony is a great band/organization, and their contribution (artistic and beyond) nothing less than stelar. Many thanks to ACO for their vision and their commitment to new orchestral music in the US. Looking forward to genetic cloning so we can have more of you.

First day of Earshot New Music Readings with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra

Yesterday was an action-packed, highly eventful day of travel, meetings, readings and discussion here in Memphis. The focus of the event, the actual readings, took place at the Clark Opera Center in Memphis. The late hour of the readings, 7:30-10:00 PM, did nothing to deter the focus and proficiency with which the Memphis Symphony read. David Loebel was terrific as well. To my surprise, an audience of about forty or so interested concert-goers was present, which gave a late-stage rehearsal feel to the event (almost like an open dress rehearsal). Patricio DaSilva's piece (in three movements) and Christian Baldini's elapsing twilight shades, a single movement work, were informed by two almost diametrically opposed aesthetic stances. The orchestra impressed with its ability to adapt to the different sets of challenges posed by these works. Today Melinda Wagner and I will give our commentary and critical assessments to Patricio and Christian and then we go straight to round two with the other two composers being read, Andreia Pinto-Correia and Jean Ahn. More on those sessions later...

-Michael Gandolfi

images:
1. Mentor Compsoer Michael Ganfolfi (far left) speaks to the participant composers after the first readings session.
2. A view from the bass section as David Loebel (conductor) leads the orchestra through Christian Baldini's work

Musical Chairs...

Before the first set of readings all of the participants went out to dinner to get to know each other a little better and fortify themselves with some food before diving into the music. The tables were covered in butcher paper with crayons scattered about. What composer could resist... Michael Gandolfi scribbled out a bit of a phrase and one by one throughout the evening each composer added their own little bit to the tune.

EarShot readings - behind the scenes with four emerging composers

Today begins the first day of the EarShot / Memphis Symphony New Music readings. Selected from a pool of hundreds of submissions, four emerging composers (Jean Ahn, Christian Baldini, Andreia Pinto-Correia, and Patricio DaSilva) have been selected to participate in an intensive two-day reading session with the Memphis Symphony and its music director David Loebel. Mentor composers Michael Gandolfi and Melinda Wagner will provide insight and guidance to the young composers. Check in here to get a behind-the-scenes view of what's on the participants minds as they live through the process of hearing their works realized.

images:
1. Memphis Symphony Orchestra preparing to read the first work. The readings were held at the Clark Memphis Opera Center

Sound Off!: Orchestra Underground Season Finale

You've heard what the composers have to say for themselves, now is your chance to tell us what you thought about the concert!

Below are a few questions to get the ball rolling...

- What surprised you most about the concert?
- Do you think that composers write differently when they are the soloist? How so?
- Which piece did you think was the most convincing? Why?

See what other people are saying and let us know what you think!

The Ghosts Are Everywhere

In putting the finishing touches on his final composition with ACO, Derek Bermel gathered his thoughts on his new work A Shout, A Whisper, A Trace.

"During the last five years of his life, the composer Béla Bartók lived and worked in New York City. As he approached the age of 60, in ill health and preoccupied with the destruction of his beloved native Hungary by the Nazis, he slowly began adapting to the unfamiliar surroundings. Yet he struggled with the new language, the cultural barriers, and the speed and complexity of New York.

"Bartók wrote home about his mixed feelings of hope, alienation, and despair to colleagues like the violinist Josef Szigeti and the composer Zoltán Kodály, to his two songs, who remained in Budapest, and to his small array of American piano students and supporters, from Boston to Seattle. The translated letters, published by St. Martin's press, document the humbling struggle of a master composer, trying to make sense of life in America, a place where he was virtually invisible.

"Years ago, while studying Thracian folk style in Bulgaria, I read Bartók's letters. At the time I had been mostly engaged with the correspondence concerning his early travels around Hungary. But as I began composing the final piece for my residency with ACO, I felt drawn to reexamine his later letters. The fresh perspective enabled me to reflect anew on my own experiences living in unfamiliar countries and cultures. I began to muse on the curiously ironic - yet utterly typical - manner in which Bartók's last years unfolded; so many immigrants have arrived in my hometown - New York - brimming with the hopes, fears, and yearnings associated with exile. These remnants exist today; the ghosts are everywhere, present and enduring, as much a part of the city as the buildings and rivers around us."

Go Behind the Scenes!

Go behind the scenes with ACO Artistic Director Robert Beaser and guitarist Eliot Fisk as they explore the challenges of writing contemporary music for the guitar. Check out the video below, which is a continuation of our Composer Portrait Video series.



Film produced by Jeremy Robins.

Preparing the Piano

What do a nine-pound steel ball, gaffer tape and small pieces of rubber all have in common? They help make classical music! In Thomas Larcher's piano concerto Böse Zellen, the soloist "prepares" the piano by placing different materials on the strings of the piano. Tape is placed across the strings, small pieces of hard rubber are placed in between, and a variety of balls are rolled across the strings to alter the sound of the piano. Throughout the piece, the soloist gradually "un-prepares" the piano, so that by the end of the work the instrument is back to its original form.

ACO presents Thomas Larcher and Böse Zellen in the U.S. premiere on May 1, 2009 at Carnegie Hall.

Burkina Electric

When Lukas Ligeti isn't writing new music for ACO, he is often found playing with his band, Burkina Electric. The band brings together traditional popular music from the Burkina Faso region of Africa with contemporary electronic dance music, creating an innovative and pioneering sound in electronic world music. ACO teamed up with The Point in the Bronx to feature Burkina Electric on a recent Composers OutFront! concert. Check out the video below!