1 / 91
0:00/0:00
Sinfonietta
2021
- Program Notes
- Music for me is an embrace of the world – a way to open myself up to being alive in the world in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind. I care deeply about musicality, imagination, craft, clarity, dimensionality, an elegant balance between material and form, and empathy with the performing musicians. My works always spark and catch fire from spontaneous improvisations. It is music always in the act of becoming. I have a vivid sense that the process of the creative journey (rather than a predictable fixed point of arrival) is the essence. Poetry can give language to the ineffable. Music is, in an analogous way, akin to an infinite alphabet. Sounds can become like butterflies, hummingbirds, lights, rocks, trees, webs, gardens, and landscapes. Three virtuosic dances, each lasting circa 4 minutes and 30 seconds, are, as if hanging on an Alexander Calder-like mobile, suspended so as to turn freely in the air; lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; animated, traveling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and on the move. Organic and, at every level, concerned with transformations and connections, the carefully sculpted and fashioned musical materials of Dance Mobile are agile and spirited, and their flexibility allows pathways to braid harmonic, rhythmic, and contrapuntal elements that are constantly transformed — at times whimsical and light, at times jazzy, at times almost Stravinsky-ballet-like, at times layered and reverberating with resonance, pirouettes, fulcrum points, and effervescence. Across Dance Mobile’s 14-minute duration, there unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the musicians of the (FILL IN NAME OF YOUR ENSEMBLE) in a virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic and articulative range, precision, and teamwork. Dance Mobile is to be performed with dancers when feasible and was commissioned and premiered by the Eastman School of Music in celebration of their 100th anniversary. Commissioned by the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music in Celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Eastman School of Music. Dedicated with admiration and gratitude to Brad Lubman, Musica Nova, and the Eastman School of Music. Commissioning new art is a leap of faith, and as such, artists must always be deeply grateful to those who support the creation and realization of their life's work. Music’s eternal quality is its capacity for change, transformation, and renewal. No one composer, musical style, school of thought, technical practice, or historical period can claim a monopoly on music’s truths. I believe music feeds our souls. Unbreakable is the power of art to build community. Humanity has and will always work together to further music’s flexible, diverse capacity and innate power.
- Recording Notes
- Spectacular Recording!
- Record Label
- Nimbus Records
- Performer Credits
- Grossman Ensemble
- Publisher
- Nimbus Music Publishing