The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 86

Composers Write Of New Music f-N ilt st: -Or 'i 1 '6' ('' st4) k71'- i 40 41 I 1 '1C k- t' i i '') it --77 IV: 4- 4-- 4--- ::4 :4 -s A77t1 1) l'7 1117 i i I 15 11- :1:: 1 :10 -4t3 5- kzet s- 1 7k! i l' 11'''''''''' 0 )11 1417'' 0 'r t47 1'' ii i Nt71 :3 1 tit 4 e-- i t- e4141: ::::044 1:: CONTEMPORARY PLAYERS Soprano Pat Woodbury joins in a rehearsal of the New Music Ensemble in preparation for a concert of contemporary chamber music on Wednesday at the University of California at Davis The players are left to right Larry Austin Stanley Lunetta Wayne Johnson Arthur Woodbury Richard Swift Jon Gibson and Jerome Rosen The concert presented by the UCD Committee for Arts and Lectures will be at 8:15 PM in Freeborn Hall the on ight Jon Arts -1 1 I rgg Litia I 1 SEPTEMBER 20-21-22 Redbutte LAST FOUR DAYS TO BUY SEASON TICKETS! The announcement of the unusual program of contemporary chamber music to be given July 31st at 8:15 PM by the New Music Ensemble in Freeborn Hall at the University of California at Davis was accompanied by some composers' statements which give interesting insights into the ways composers are experimenting these days The program which will offer four world premieres and two west coast premieres played by experienced and expert musicians from Sacramento and the university includes not only 12 tone music but works which allow the performer to choose the order in which the pages of music shall be played and other compositions which intersperse written music with free improvisation The aim of the group according to spokesman Larry Austin a member of the Davis faculty "is to present as many forms of new music as possible Hence we strive to involve performers composers and listeners in active music making" Jerome Rosen chairman of the music department at Davis and a noted California composer and clarinetist will be represented on the program by a new piece called Elegy written for solo It will be played by Sacramentan Stanley Lunetta to whom it is dedicated Of his work Rosen writes: "In the course of two delightful sessions at his studio Stanley Lunetta discussed his extensive collection of percussion instruments with me The more exotic instruments such as the conga drums the dumbeg and the log drum were fascinating in themselves Even more fascinating were the unsuspected varieties of sound which can be created from these instruments and indeed from the more familiar drums and cymbals by various ways of striking rubbing and tapping them with a variety of objects ranging from sticks and mallets to fingers and elbows "During these sessions Mr Lunetta more or less improvised little phrases to demonstrate the capabilities of each instrument This in turn gave me some ideas for other possibilities which he tried out for me Many of these phrases found their way into the Elegy often enough much as they were originally improvised at our two exploratory sessions "On one level the compositional process simply involved a selection and ordering of these phrases At a higher level that of musical form the selection and ordering becomes all important Several devices were employed to lead the attentive listener convincingly from one event to the next and beyond this point to point $25411? 41 6-S1 3 write Box "Jou" Monterey progression to help him to hear larger relationships The guiding principles were those which are valid for music of any period or style: identity similarity and contrast "A brief consideration of the opening section of the Elegy will serve as an illustration: The work begins with two long tones on the chimes This is followed by a rapidly executed sequence of six notes on the vibraphone Here immediately we have elements of both similarity and contrast Both are pitch producing instruments activated by striking metal bars with mallets The sound quality however contrasting has a certain family relationship The elegiac character of the chimes is answered by a dramatic statement on the vibraphone The latter by the way includes both the B-flat and A first sounded by the chimes but here they are part of the complex sound which results from sustaining all the six notes of the vibraphone figure "This chord sets the loosened snares of the side drum into sympathetic vibration an effect which occurred accidentally during one of my seances with Mr Lunetta but which I am using on purpose in the Elegy The vibrating snares are somewhat similar to the sound made by activating a sizzle cymbal with one's fingers Once the cymbal is thus set in motion it is simple to enlarge this sound by using sticks and to lead it to a crash on the hi-hat cymbals "This crash relates to the following hard blow on the log drum which is extended in a rhythmic pattern By analogy this is identified with a similar pattern on the conga drums and dumbeg Similar procedures lead to a quiet cadential pattern on bass drum timpanum and gong which closes the first section" Another premiere will be the performance of Extrados a work for solo clarinet by Garrett Bowles another California composer Rosen who will perform it offers this comment: "Extrados means the outer surface of an arch This is an apt description of the formal design of this work Bowles has composed eleven melodic segments of varying shapes and sizes The last segment is a complement to the first in that it is a mirror reflection (i backwards and upsiJe down) of it On these two foundation segments (or "building the rest of the musical arch is constructed "The performer is given a choice at the end of each segment as to which of several other segments he may play next Depending on his choice he will play a greater or smaller number of segments before he is led to the final segment Thus he has some control over the length of a given performance For this concert I have selected eight segments "Since Mr Bowles specifies that there can be only one beet between segments and elp him to inships The were those or music of le: identity ntrast deration of ion of the as an illus- begins with the chimes )y a rapidly ce of six vibraphone we have 1 similarity are pitch nents acti- metal bars rastisound gnat- ng has relationship through composed compositions with only a few free lements "The 'composed' fragments are stylized In some these stylistic elements are implicit: Homage an expression of the soft pleasing timbre of John Lewis' Modern Jazz Quartet Ritournelle a caricature which juxtaposes the current obsession in jazz for triple meter and certain fashionable compositional approaches and Couplings a quick impression of the erotic often animalistic jazz improvisation of Ornette Coleman In contrast Square and Uncommon Canon are less implicitly stylized fragments of sound and line employing relatively unconventional rotation schemes In Square the pitches are controlled and the rhythmic design is free in Uncommon Canon the rhythmic designs are for the most part controlled and most of the pitches are free" Richard Swift also of the Davis faculty will be represented by a new work for solo percussionist called Domains of which he writes: "Domains II one of a series of compositions for various ensembles explores the sonorities and timbres of four groups of percussion: drums (of various kinds) metal (cymbals triangle) wood (slit drums woodblock s) and pitched instruments (Glockenspiel and vibraphone) Many possible routes through the music are open to the performer who must plan his performance beforehand no matter what route may be chosen different combinations of timbres will at times dominate only to be succeeded by others" New Yorker Gunther Schuller another leader in the experimental field writes of his Densities "Densities I is the first in a proposed series of small ensemble pieces which will explore various types of densities as well as textures In this brief work the basically pointillistic continuity experiences various degrees of densification with the 'beat' and harmonies more often implicit than explicit" since the segments themselves contain rests the auditor will hardly be aware that the version he hears consists of a joining together of separzte segments This is part of the composer's calculations" Karlheinz Stockhausen a German composer who is a leading figure in modern experimental music will be represented July 31st by a piece called Refrain He furnishes this comment: "Trills short melodies bass notes (piano) and glissandi clusters occur six times as a refrain and disturb a quiet context The six time-points where the refrain starts are variable The final gestalt of Refrain depends upon the context in which the performers place it at the same time each refrain influences the whole musical text that follows "Those who want to understand what I have written for the three players in Refrain must read the score Those who wish to understand how the players interpret my score must know the score and compare performances Those who simply wish to hear (not understand) a piece of music need only listen What is left to be explained?" Austin's own Collage will be given its premiere on the program He writes of it: "This work is an agglomeration of nine musical fragments The present order of the fragments is arbitrary In fact in the future I will no doubt add more fragments or perhaps discard some depending on the music situation In two fragments the instrumentation is indeterminant Square being for any combination of from two to four instruments and Uncommon Canon for any combination of any number of instruments The remaining fragments including the improvised interludes are for specific instrumentations "I have used improvisation and chance as compositional resources Varying degrees of compositional control are exerted from freely improvised fragments with only the time span indicated to FRI 20 Modern Jazz Quartet Jack Teagarden with Pee Wee Russel! Gerry Mulligan Charlie Teagarden and others Lambert Hendricks Bavan Art Blakey the Jazz Messengers Jimmy Witherspoon Gerald Wilson the Festival Orch with Carmel! Jones Harold Land Bud Shank Joe Pass SAT 21 Muddy Waters Blues Band Lu Murphy Yerba Buena Jazz Band The Gospel Song Joe Sullivan Jack Teagarden Pee Wee Russell Gerry Mulligan the Swing Band Festival Omit guest features SAT 21 Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Bob Brookmeyer Thelonious Monk Quartet Mel Tome Gerald Wilson Orch guest features SUN 22 John Lewis presents "New Music" with Gerald Wilson arch Laurindo Almeida Modern Jan Quartet with Laurindo Almeida Thelonious Monk with Festival Orchestra Gerry Mulligan guests The Drums of Ghana SUN NIGHTSEPT 22 Dave Brubech Quartet Dizzy Gillespie Quintet Harry James Orchestra Carmen McRae WANTED EXPERIENCED PIANO ORGAN SALESMAN Sherman Clay 1312 St Sisql admhsiolts will sof le il sole wstil Augest 1 el local sloscies THE SACRAMENTO BEE SUNDAY JULY 28 1963 Page L6 Sacramento California.