Composer Highlight: Clara Iannotta

We were introduced to Clara Iannotta and her piece, Limun, this fall and we performed it for the first time in the beginning of November. It was such a fun challenge to learn, and we cannot wait to share it with a new audience on Wednesday, Dec. 17th at Cloud City @ 8 PM! It is full of beautiful sounds and textures, and we will even be getting some help from the Fragments Duo who will be playing the harmonica parts!

Now, here are some words from Clara to get a glimpse into her life and mind. (We love the lemon story!)

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Can you describe your piece in three words?

Not sure about it ...

Now you can use all of the words that you want!

Limun is a piece that I have written during the summer 2011 — half of it while I was in Moscow, attending a three weeks workshop with Bedrossian and Billone, and the rest of it in Royaumont, in a beautiful abbey, near Paris, where I spent three weeks working with Ferneyhough, André and Parra. I remember I was quite stressed out and tired — I finished IRCAM just in May and ever since I was copying an awful opera for about 18 hours per day (no kidding), and this was making my life miserable, also because in my 'free time' I had to write 2 pieces — Limun, and Àphones (an ensemble piece). I was so stressed, that when I finished writing the first 5 minutes of the piece, I noticed that the 2 musicians didn't have any time to turn the pages, and this is why I decided to add two page turners, that become essential in the last part of the piece. I went for a few days in Rome (where my family lives) and I visited my 89 old grandmother. I told her how tired I was, and she told me 'of course you are, you don't eat enough lemons!' ... Hmmm ... Ok, I said, I'll try that, and when I got back home I started eating 3 lemons per day. Now, I don't know if it was because of the lemons or simply because it was time to get better, but I actually got better, so I did a little research about lemons and finally I decided to call this piece, that I was writing in the meanwhile, 'Limun' (lemon, in Arabic). 

What inspired you while writing this piece?

The first part is just about tremolos — I remember I found about 30 different ways of having a tremolo. 

What are you listening to on repeat these days?

The last album of Foo Fighters.

What is your go-to midnight snack?

I wake up everyday around 5:30am, which means at midnight I sleep... 

Any fun winter travel plans? Bundled up, bathing suited up, or staying put?

I am writing these answers at Boston airport, waiting to fly back to Europe for the winter break. I think I will simply try to rest a bit, enjoying my family.

Check out more of Clara's work on her website (her piece for Ensemble Intercontemporain is a great listen)! http://claraiannotta.com/

Composer Highlight: Brendan Faegre

Hello, and we are back with our Composer Highlight series! We are rehearsing tons and getting really excited for our Permutations show that we are splitting with the Fragments Duo (Sarah Goldfeather, violin and Justine Aronson, voice) at Cloud City this Wednesday, Dec. 17th at 8 PM.

We performed Brendan's Four Koans on our first concert together on Fire Island back in the Summer of 2012, and it holds a special place in our heart. At that time we didn't even have all four of them, only three! We really wanted to give everyone a chance to get to know him better (and Maya just always wants to know what everyone is snacking on). 

Without further ado, here is the man of the hour!

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Can you describe your piece in three words?

four musical koans

Now you can use all of the words that you want!

Great!  I remember when I was a teenager my dad told me about Zen Buddhism and the fascinating techniques they had developed for pursuing enlightenment.  Things like meditation, raking gravel, koans.  The idea of a koan--an irrational statement, story, or question designed to foil the logical mind and allow for an intuitive and spontaneous type of comprehension--stuck with me over the years.  I tried to meditate on a few koans in one of my dad's books, but I didn't have the patience to sit down and contemplate a mysterious question for a week.  However, I found that I did have the patience to sit down for that long and contemplate sounds and musical ideas.  So I composed these four musical koans as a way of translating part of the koan idea into a purely sonic medium, so that audiences, performers, I, and other sonically-inclined folks could all really grapple with the idea.

What inspired you while writing this piece?

Oops.  I think I just said all that in the last question.  I could also add that from the geeky composer side of things, Lasse Thoresen's ideas about "spectromorphology" were a big inspiration.

What are you listening to on repeat these days?

The Bad Plus's "Made Possible"

What is your go-to midnight snack?

Right now, these gluten-free crackers that taste kind of like Saltines, with some olives, and mint tea.

 Any fun winter travel plans? Bundled up, bathing suited up, or staying put?

Going with my wife to visit her family in Argentina for the holidays.  Bathing suited up indeed!

Check out more things from Brendan on his website! http://www.brendanfaegre.com

Composer Highlight: Kevin Baldwin

TODAY IS THE DAY! These composers that we have been 'highlighting' are all wonderful people and composers, and we couldn't be more excited to share their music with you! Come on out-- The Firehouse Space (TONIGHT) @ 8 PM.

Now meet Kevin...

Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration and/or title of your piece?

 sub -(prefix) freely attached to elements of any origin and used with the meaning “under,” “below,” “beneath” 

tect - (suffix) to cover or conceal

The idea for sub//tect came one afternoon during a snow storm. After hours of sitting near the window and watching the snow fall, I noticed how the snow slowly accumulated to cover up the objects that were once in view. Over time, objects' characteristics had been removed; their colors and textures had been completely removed, and shape relatively distorted. The snow had covered [sub] the objects to protect them from being fully realized. The whitewashed and distorted shapes were still recognizable, though only through the memories of what the characteristics were when visible. 

What is your pump-up music?

Almost anything by Daft Punk. When I go for a run I turn them on and go -- keeps me at high energy!

What can listeners expect or listen for in your piece?

Just as I saw the snow cover objects outside my window, this piece slowly removes various musical characteristics. These characteristics may include timbre, texture, harmonicity, resonance, motion, or sound. Certain objects continue to reappear, but with various characteristics missing or changing. These objects may sound similar, or simply have the appearance of sounding similar due to the memory of the their characteristics in previous appearances. It is through the struggle of these objects attempting to remain audible that the piece progresses and takes form.

What would you choose as your last meal on this planet?

Coconut chicken curry, hands down.

Composer Highlight: John Rot

Say 'hello' to John! He is a wonderful composer (and person) studying at Columbia. We met him through David and Jesse (composers from our concert in October), and we are so glad that we did. We can't wait to share his piece in what remains behind;  with you on Friday! Here is what he had to say about his music and life...

andPlay: Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration and/or title of your piece?

John: I suspect that a primary reason I'm attracted to writing chamber music is my tendency to humanize individual voices and instrument(alist)s. Over the course of the piece's eighteen or so minutes, we witness a relationship form, flourish, and ultimately die between these two very human entities.  Two individuals come together to explore and build upon their commonalities, always mindful of their constantly evolving personality, and in doing so attain a unity of understanding and intention representative of their wealth of shared experience.  However, time brings with it both juncture and fracture, and the two inevitably diverge once the relationship has run its course.

The title is taken from William Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality.  The poem itself is not terribly relevant to the music, but the notion of immortality does have some resonance, particularly in the viola.  Unlike the violin, whose genesis and conclusion we witness somewhat directly, the viola projects an aura of timelessness.  There's a feeling that the viola has experienced a lifetime before entering the finite timeline of the violin, and that it has a lifetime remaining once it departs.  The violin – and, by extension, the audience – is privy only to a tiny slice of the viola's eternity, during which both voices nevertheless have a profound and lasting effect on the other before going their separate ways, one to termination and the other to yet another beginning.

What is your pump-up music?

Queen's live performance of "Somebody to Love" from the Rock Montreal album.  Or "Zero to Hero" from Hercules.

What can listeners expect or listen for in your piece?

Quiet. 

What would you choose as your last meal on this planet?

An extensive array of spicy vegan fare.