The Contemporary Composer in the USA

various artists compilation - The Contemporary Composer in the USA

Morton Subotnick - Laminations

performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Lukas Foss - conductor

Lamination is the participation of an orchestral body in what was to become Subotnick's prime medium, electronic music in which he succeeded in recreating a kind of orchestral texture over which he had complete control, though he exerted it only in carefully and exactly measured quantities. He composed three major works of this nature for Don Buchla's synthesizer equipment alone, Silver Apples of the Moon (1967), The Wild Bull (1968) and Touch (1969) and, most recently, one including visual performance, Sidewinder (1970). All of these pieces have undeniable instrumental qualities about them. When I heard some of the material in preparation for The Wild Bull a few years ago I remarked, "Hey, some of that sounds like the Berlioz Requiem." He laughed appreciatively. Lamination is important historically in this regard for the structure of the orchestral part imitates in timbre and texture those sounds that are created electronically. Indeed, many of them are electronic sounds that have been directly translated through orchestration. In perspective, one can see the orchestra slowly being dissolved in the impending spectre of flexibility in making electronic "Klangfarbenmusik". The listener should find it easy to hear the main structural principles of layering (as the title suggests), between the electronic and orchestral parts. (David Rosenboom)

John Eaton - Concert Piece for Synket & Symphony Orchestra

Performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Donald Johanos - conductor

In an article for the Electronic Music Review, Joel Chadabe suggests that the instrument should be reviewed as well as the composition in order to understand the total design. He goes on to say, "The Syn-Ket is a performable and portable electronic sound system designed and built by Paul Ketoff in Rome, Italy, for the American Academy in Rome. Basically, it consists of three sound systems (Eaton calls them 'combiners') racked one above the other ... The Syn-Ket is performed by pushing buttons, turning dials, playing keyboards, depressing a volume pedal, and every now and then patching."

For the orchestration of the Concert Piece Eaton has divided the orchestra into two sections, tuned a quarter-tone apart in pitch, which, the composer says, "allows me to bathe rejuvenesscently in the ancient but still pure springs of microtonal melody". This tuning of the orchestra two sections (to quote Chadabe again) "permits a meeting on common ground with the tuning of the Syn-Ket, which is, of course, not played diatonically. With the quarter-tone tuning of clusters occassional legato phrases in the woodwinds and brass, strong shifts of register, and very sophisticated timbre changes, the orchestra enters the Syn-Ket sound world which leaves Eaton free to mingle without fear of offending".

William Bergsma - Violin Concerto

Performed by Edward Statkiewicz on violin and the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra, Zdzislav Szostak - conductor

William Bergsma's music is difficult to pidgeonhole. Strictly speaking, he does not follow the trends set by any of the early twentieth-century giants, such as Schoenberg, Bartok, Stravinsky or Hindemith, nor has he been felt as a force in the avant garde. All of his work has been devoted to a furtherance of the traditional musical media. One can see in it strong emphasis on linearity. He is a lyricist and a contrapuntalist. His structures are Beethovenian in their economy of means and he shows marked interest in integrating contrasting timbres.

Probably his most extensive work is his opera, The Wife of Martin Guerre. In it one senses a typical Bergsma concern, extreme attention to the balance between voice and orchestra, which manifests itself as well in the Violin Concerto (1965) in the careful relation he makes between the orchestral and solo lines.

Bergsma's caution against overextending himself with dramatic force shows in the reserved manner in which he treats anything virtuosic. He is never flashy, but always concerned with precise relations between individual sounds. One arresting technique is his manner of treating the temporal spacing of harmonic elements. It provides pointed references in time, very cyclic, though in a style that is not primarily rhythmic in its emphasis. This, along with constant lyric and contrapuntal variations provides deep structural strength in a music poetic in impact. (David Rosenboom)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Morton Subotnick - Laminations {10:23}

2. John Eaton - Concert Piece for Synket & Symphony Orchestra {13:27}

Side 2

1. William Bergsma - Violin Concerto: Moderato pesante {6:45}

2. William Bergsma - Violin Concerto: Poco adagio {9:10}

3. William Bergsma - Violin Concerto: Allegro ostinato {6:20}

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