Batya MacAdam-Somer, violin

April 9th, 2010 8 PM
Conrad Prebys Music Center, Concert Hall

Kafka Fragments: Part I (1980s) by György Kurtág

Tiffany DuMouchelle, soprano

were running through the woods (2010) by Clint McCallum

-short break-

Voice, Violin, and Piano (1976) by Morton Feldman

Stephanie Aston, voice Katalin Lukács, piano

reading (2006) by Nils Vigeland

Katalin Lukács, piano

Sonata KV 454 (1784) by W.A. Mozart

Largo-Allegro Andante Allegretto

Katalin Lukács, piano

Notes:

were running through the woods

(taken from an email exchange between the composer and myself)
I haven't done the performance notes yet, but they would be a better worded version of this: The material of were running through the woods (not totally sold on the title) is derived from transcriptions I made of women screaming in some of my favorite horror movies. I explored a spectrum of literalness from untouched transcriptions to screams that were chopped up, stretched, transposed, reversed, and violinified. The overall form of the piece is supposed to mirror the structure of one single scream (onset-sustain-break-descend-run out of breath). The microtones are to be interpreted as a more ambiguous "inbetweeness" rather than strict quarter tones. (Clint McCallum)

Voice, Violin and Piano

(Notes from the score)
Very quiet. Voice is to sing a consistent open hum throughout on the vowel 'n', but not too nasal.

reading

In reading the two parts are independent of one another in the sense that the strictly notated parts are played simultaneously as solos. There are certainly correspondences between the music and the sections, denoted by letters, are of almost equal lengths. The music, thus, “goes together” but not always at the same speed.

In rehearsing the piece, the challenge is to find that degree of independence and coordination which allows the two parts to be heard as a double commentary on similar music.

It is hoped that after some acquaintance with others' part, common points of reference will emerge for each player, a reassurance that a fairly close correspondence does exist. However, it is important to allow the element of flexibility to exist as well. A plus/minus “differential” of up to five seconds is in no way detrimental to the piece. The perception of this differential is most easily discovered in rehearsing by rehearsing each section as a unit.

The notation of the piece, elimination of bar lines and time signatures in many places, individual rather than cumulative rests, especially in the violin part, is meant to suggest the activity of the title as though each performer were coming to the next sound as an individual signifier of yet to be discovered meaning. (Nils Vigeland)