THE DIGITAL AGE:
Program Notes
WELCOME!
This is the digital age, where music comes from computers (sometimes) and programs are on your phones. This means that you are welcome to have your phones out during the show to read the program notes. That said, please turn them to silent!
The Digital Age features new works: music written since the mid 20th century, which many call the "digital age". Majority of this programme consists of works composed in the last 20 years.
Conversation for Two Tambourines (2006)
By Bobby Lopez
Featuring Jia Lopez
(unrelated)
Eavesdrop on this “Conversation for Two Tambourines” featuring two tambourines with different voices! Using a variety of techniques, and two very specific types of tambourines, this composition by Bobby Lopez exchanges rhythmic ideas back and forth between the two parts. Lopez was inspired by a particularly tricky figure in Britton’s “A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”, which begins the piece. Lopez elaborates on this theme and creates a rhythmic motor that seems to never want to end. See if you can hear when the tambourines are whispering or shouting!
Blues for Gilbert (1980)
By Mark Glentworth
Glentworth's "Blues for Gilbert" is dedicated to his former teacher, Gilbert Webster. Glentworth's composer notes state that his work was initially an improvisation that he played for Webster during their last lesson together before gilberts death. This is a moody, "cool jazz" piece meant to call back to the early days of jazz vibraphone. Feel yourself transport back to the 1930s and enjoy this bluesy piece!
Triptych Boom (2014)
(with Electronics)
By Chad Floyd
Triptych: a set of three associated artistic, literary, or musical works intended to be appreciated together.
A work in three "parts", or sounds, buckle up for this exciting work with electronics. It is funky, fast, and a chop-buster. Floyd cycles between traditional sticks, nylon brushes, bundles, and even the performer's hands to create an innovative performance. This piece was originally written for solo snare, to be accompanied by percussion ensemble, but Floyd decided to reimagine the piece with an electronic backing-track.
Three Intermezzi (2020)
By Stephen Primatic
Featuring Jeremy Weins
Primatic's "Three Intermezzi for Vibraphone" draws from the language of jazz once again. Accompanied by piano, the complex harmonies and wonderful melodic ideas draw these two beautiful instruments together. The three Intermezzi are connected by themes, but are designed to push forward through time. Changing tempi and meter signpost each section within the movements, so don't get too comfortable!
SORA (2023)
By Jacob Tran
World Premiere
“Sora” is a piece that sketches a picture of grief, and the mournful distance that can separate two friends. It follows the Japanese story of famed poet Matsuo Bashō and his apprentice Sora. While, in their year of travel, on their way to Edo, Sora accrued a fatal illness and was forced to separate from Bashō, close to death as he was. Bashō described his debilitating separation from Sora as feeling as though they were separated by a thousand miles, and during this time, two poems were written between the two of them at a small temple which they both passed, Sora’s being the first:
No matter where I fall
On the road,
Fall will I to be buried
Among flowering bush-clovers.
Bashō wrote in answer:
From this day forth, alas
The dew-drops shall wash away
The letters on my hat
Saying “A party of two”.
A Hero's Journey (2014)
(with Electronics)
By Jarryd Elias
"A Hero's Journey" by Jarryd Elias is inspired by the grandiose genre of movie music and soundtracks. Elias is a percussionist in Los Angeles who often works in the realm of cinematic music. He features ostinati and syncopated figures that groove with the backing track. The piece follows the structure of the literary 'hero's journey', in which a super-human protagonist travels through the highs of battle and lows of defeat.
Double Take (2009)
By Jamieson Carr
Featuring Will Nguyen
"Double Take" by Jamieson Carr is a blisteringly fast duet between two "aggressive" (Carr's words) percussionists. The setup is reflected across a shared bass drum, with each player's rhythmic figures offsetting each other. This piece could be the percussion bed to any disco, hip-hop, or pop track, with it's syncopation, groove, and improvisatory solo sections!