Music
Hawk
from a Handsaw (2004-2005)
for
the Trio Ascolto
Listen to Hawk from a Handsaw performed by White Rabbit: Jessi Rosinski (flute),
Alexei Gonzales (cello), Yukiko Takagi (piano), conducted by Eric Hewitt
“I
am but mad north-north-west: when the wind blows southerly, I know a hawk from
a handsaw.” –Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii
Concerto
for Bass Trombone and Ensemble (2000-2005)
Premiere:
Alarm Will Sound conducted by Alan Pierson with Gabriel Langfur, bass trombone,
Paine Hall, Harvard University
Listen:
II. (The disintegration) of the persistence of memory in memoriam Robert Parris
III. Montre molle (au moment de sa premičre explosion) dedicated to Sir Harrison Birtwistle
“Berkowitz's virtuoso
Concerto, for bass trombone and chamber ensemble, creates a stark, dramatic
atmosphere by way of transparent instrumental textures. The technical facility,
agility, wide tessitura, and ability to express and shape melodic lines
requires the soloist to expand the traditional expectations and language of
more familiar brass solo literature. The Concerto by Berkowitz is one of the
most original, challenging, and worthy vehicles I have recently heard for bass
trombone.”
founder and
first president of the International Trombone Association, bass
trombonist,
and author of The Annotated Guide to Trombone Literature
Several
people have asked me “where did you get the idea to write a bass trombone
concerto?”. The idea to write a trombone concerto was inspired by the amazing
1964 Trombone Concerto by Robert Parris, my first composition teacher. Bob Parris had an incredible impact on me as
a musician and my composition of this piece in his memory has been in the works
since shortly after his untimely passing in December 1999. The middle of second
movement of my Concerto makes allusion to the unforgettable beginning of the
first movement of his. As for the bass trombone, my original plan was to write
a trombone concerto, but I was writing so much in the low register that my
teacher at that time, Chris Theofanidis, suggested writing for bass trombone. I
immediately realized the potential of doing so....Meeting Gabriel Langfur at
Harvard and hearing his incredible sound when he sight-read a sketch of the
first movement confirmed the excellence of Chris’s suggestion and motivated me
to complete the first movement and write the second and third over the past
year.
In
the first movement, the continuous music of the bass trombone is reflected, refracted,
compressed, rarified, and otherwise modified in the orchestra....Machina refers
to the various machines that arise out of these processes.
The
second and third movements share titles with paintings of Salvador Dali. Although I do not seek to ‘portray’ these
paintings in the music, the music is sympathetic with underlying ideas in these
paintings. The second movement deals with memory in the interactions between
the trombone and the ensemble as well as in the surfacing of musical memories
of Parris’ concerto, earlier pieces of my own, and moments from other pieces
that have impacted me.
The
third movement is dedicated to Sir Harrison Birtwistle, with whom I studied
while composing the second and third movements. I had told him about my plans for
the third movement in several lessons, and each week he asked me when he would
actually see it....Here it is, Harry!
(Die) Sehnen (2003-2004)
Premiere
Frances-Marie Uitti, Paine Hall, Harvard University 5/2004
Listen
to (Die) Sehnen as MP3 performed by Frances-Marie
Uitti
Program
notes: Sehnen is a German word which means "sinews" or
"tendons" as a noun and "to long for" as a verb. In its
first section, this piece explores the Bb below middle C and a small swath of
material beginning on this Bb. The note/material are viewed from various angles
through various lenses. After reaching a registral peak, the material
progressively disintegrates/explodes into rapid rhythmic passages alternately
spanning the entire cello, 'zoomed in' on one specific area, and making
transition between these extremes. This piece was written for France-Marie
Uitti.
Little Harmonic
Labyrinth (2001-2003) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Premiere
Callithumpian Consort conducted by Eric Hewitt, Paine Hall Harvard University,
12/2003
Listen
to Little Harmonic Labyrinth as MP3
Program
Notes: While Tony said he saw birds flying grew out of improvisations and
'musical images', the quintet takes as
its raw materials a melodorhythmic idea and a formal idea, though of course, in
using these materials, I also tried to realize musical images, albeit different
ones. The seed for the piece is the 7
note melody and its irregular rhythm heard in the clarinet at the beginning.
The title comes not from the Bach piece of the same name, but from Douglas
Hofstadter's "Interlude" by the same name (which itself is
referencing Bach). In this
"Interlude", Hofstadter creates what he calls " nesting (stories
inside stories, movies inside movies, paintings inside paintings, Russian dolls
inside Russian dolls (even parenthetical comments inside parenthetical
comments!))". This piece seeks not
only to do something similar, but to make that structure obvious to the
listener as Hofstadter does for the reader in this dialogue.
The
piece is in 4 sections with a "coda" which serves as a sort of
summary. In the first section the opening material is repeated, warped,
reflected, etc in a sort of tempo canon in the spirit of Nancarrow. The second (brief) section (where one will
hear an abrupt harmonic shift and a thin constantly changing timbre) takes the
"space" between the notes of the original melody and fills them with
that same melody made (intervallically and durationally) proportionally smaller
to "fit" in the intervals of the original melody. Thus a 7 note melody becomes a self-similar
49 note melody. This is my way of
creating a sort of 'story within a story'.
The third section does the same thing, creating a 343 (7x 7 x 7) note
melody presented in a mass of chromatic sound within which individual
instruments emerge as
"soloists" and in groups with accelerandi and ritardandi. The fourth section is a brief exploration of
the "next level down": microtonal deviations around a single note. All transitions between sections attempt to
make obvious the "placement of new notes" between the "old
notes" to establish the new section. The coda starts by building back up
from level 4, then adding 3, then 2, then 1, and then starts with the original
melody accompanied by glissandi which progressively change their shape to fill
in the other levels showing the whole of the piece at once. I am deeply
indebted to fellow composer and friend Adam Roberts for his help in preparing
the parts for this piece.
Tony said he saw birds
flying
(2003) for solo piano
Premiere:
Yukiko Takagi, Paine Hall, Harvard University, 12/2003
Listen
to Tony said he saw birds flying performed by Yukiko Takagi
Listen
to Tony said he saw birds flying performed by Matt
Bengtson
Program
notes: This piece grew out of various
improvisations and 'imagined musical images' at a time when I was working on
piano repertoire of Liszt and Ligeti, the techniques of whom inevitably make their
way into the material. Some of the 'imagined musical images' include
expansion/compression, zooming in/zooming out, emergence from/dissolution into
continuous sound. The title is unrelated to anything in the music, at least
from my perspective. In the hospital
where I previously worked, a quite friendly member of the library custodial
staff named Tony (who was also a formidable pianist, predominantly in the
church music repertoire) used to come listen to me practice on the hospital's
piano. On one occasion I had just
finished this piece and decided to play it for him, curious as to how he would
react. "Aaron, that makes me see
birds flying!" was his response. Then
untitled, I decided that his reaction would make a nice title for the piece.
Zeno (2001) for flute,
clarinet, soprano saxophone, trumpet, trombone, electric guitar, electric bass,
and piano
Premiere:
Bartok Festival Closing Concert 2001, Szombathely, Hungary
Listen
to Zeno as MP3
Perspectives (2000/2002) for 7
cellos
Listen
to Perspectives for 7 cellos as MP3
Ethan
Philbrick, David Huckaby, Soohyun Nam, Courtenay Vandiver, Nicole Cariglia, Guy
Fishman, Benjamin Schwartz, cellos,
Eric Hewitt, conductor Harvard
University, February 12, 2005
I wrote Perspectives for 7 cellos in 2000. In retrospect, this was my first 'big' piece, and it begins to explore many of my current musical preoccupations: rhythm, texture, transformation (of textures and harmonies), and a certain (sometimes hyperbolic) theatricality of gesture. The piece is made up of 5 sections. The first kaleidoscopically introduces much of the piece’s material and then presents transformations between chords, the second is a sort of mini-concerto for the 4th cello, the third and fourth being with a 'frozen' landscape that collapses into references to past and future moments in the piece, and the fifth creates a set of tabla out of the 7 cellos. After completing the piece, I noticed that each section sort of portrays a different take on the same material (and events), hence the title Perspectives. It has been a real privilege to work with Eric Hewitt and these seven fabulous and enthusiastic cellists!