to view the program notes

Tristan Keuris (1946-1996, Netherlands) studied composition with Ton de Leeuw at the
Jason Alder
Basklarinet Eindexamen
14 juni 2010
Bernard Haitinkzaal
Conservatorium van Amsterdam
Tristan Keuris
Concertino (1977) voor basklarinet en strijkkwartet
I. Allegro
II. Lento
III. Allegro Molto
Eva Saladin, viool; Carlos Ocaña, viool; Marc
Sabbah, altviool; Guillaume Grosbard, cello
Francisco Castillo Trigueros
Monólogo Fantástico (2007) para clarinete bajo solo
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Solo (1966) für melodieinstrument und Rückkopplung
Formschema III
Sonido 13 with Silvia Bennett
Electro-acoustic explorations in Improvisation
Harry Cherrin, saxophone
Silvia Bennett, dance
Utrecht Conservatory from 1962-1969 and received the Prijs voor Compositie in 1969. He taught
at the conservatories in Amsterdam, Hilversum, and Utrecht, as well as giving masterclasses and
lectures internationally. He received commissions for many of his works, including from the
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Houston Orchestra, BBC, and Dutch Government. Keuris
wrote many pieces of chamber music, several of them especially for clarinet, including, besides
this Concertino, the Klarinet Kwartet (for four clarinets), Klarinet Kwintet (for clarinet and
string quartet), Canzone (for solo clarinet), Zeven stukken voor basklarinet en kamerorkest
(Seven pieces for bass clarinet and chamber orchestra), Play (for clarinet and piano), and
Muziek (for clarinet, violin, and piano), as well as having sketches for a clarinet concerto. While
searching for his own voice and style during the height of the Dutch avant-garde music scene,
Keuris retained accessibility and tonality in his music. Clear influences from Bartók, Stravinsky,
and Webern can be heard.
Concertino was written for the Gaudeamus Kwartet and Harry Spaarnay in 1977. It is a 3
movement piece beginning with a driving sixteenth-note pulse. The second movement takes the
opposite approach, senza misura, with the strings focusing on creating textural colors over which
the bass clarinet is allowed the freedom to explore the melodic material, continuing to a viola
solo which is similar in nature and character to the cello solo in the Klarinet Kwintet, followed
by a return to precise rhythms, and leading attacca into the third movement, where we hear
musical content return from the first movement. It is interesting to note the further similarities
in rhythmical and motivic material between this last movement and that of the Klarinet Kwintet
written ten years later.
Franciso Castillo Trigueros (1983, Mexico) wrote Monólogo Fantástico for me in
2007 while studying with Theo Loevendie for his Master’s in Music Composition here at the
Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Previous to that he received his Bachelor’s in Music from the
Shepard School of Music at Rice University, studying composition with Pierre Jalbert, Shih-Hui
Chen, Arthur Gottschalk, Kurt Stallman and Anthony Brandt. He currently is pursuing a PhD at
the University of Chicago. From his own notes on the piece:
“para Jason Alder, por la amistad...
para Italo Calvino, por la inspiración...
Monólogo Fantástico is a study of ornamentation and the possibilities of form through
expansion of motives. The piece also explores the timbre of the bass clarinet in its most extreme
ranges. All elements of the piece are presented shortly in the Prologue, where they form a
smooth, soft melody. Then, each element of the element is extracted and expanded into full
sections. Section a consists of suspended trills, where pitch appears and disappears from a fog
of white noise. Section b expands jagged grace notes that create an irregular sense of tempo,
but slowly progress into rigid patterns. This section is followed by a transition between b and
c, which leads to a new section (c), an expansion on the grace note scale in that permeates the
entire piece. Frenetic runs lead to the climax of the piece, which consists of an intermediate
version of the prologue and the epilogue. Section d comes back to the trills from section a now
with different colors (multiphonics) and slowly evaporates until returning to a stratospheric
Epilogue, which is only suggested.”
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007, Germany) is one of the most important figures in
music of the 20th Century. His experimental nature lead to new developments in electronics,
aleatoric and serial composition, and spatialization. Solo is written for any melody instrument
and delayed feedback. To perform the piece in 1966 when it was written required the assistance
of at least four people to operate the different elements of the delay system, which include the
recording, the playback, and the speakers. Using modern technology, specifically the software
Max/MSP, this piece can now be performed with a computer doing all these tasks.
For the performance of Solo, Stockhausen has supplied 6 different Formschemas, and 6
different Notenseiten (note pages). The performer chooses which Formschema, which is divided
into 6 Zyklus (cycles), will become the basis for their interpretation of the piece. Each Zyklus is
fixed at a very precise length of time, and is further divided into smaller Perioden of equal
length. For example, in this Formschema III, Zyklus A is divided into 7 Perioden of 30,4
seconds, Zyklus B into 10 Perioden of 9 seconds, Zyklus C into 8 x 20,25 seconds, Zyklus D into 9
x 13,5 seconds, Zyklus into E 11 x 6 seconds, and Zyklus F into 6 x 45,6 seconds. The choice is
then left to the performer to choose which Notenseite is associated with which Zyklus, and
Stockhausen has provided a number of guidelines as to how to interpret them. The systems of
notes are not intended to be played in the order which they appear on the page, but as defined by
the rules of the particular Zyklus to which they have been attributed. Stockhausen uses 3
different symbols to indicate what musical material should be used in each Zyklus- either a full
Systeme, smaller Teile (part), or individual Elemente, or sometimes a combination of two. It is
also indicated whether the musical material should come only from the Notenseite associated
with the Zyklus, or also including material from the Zyklus before and/or after. Further
instructions include regards to whether each Periode should contain Systeme, Teile, and
Elemente which are similar, different, or contrary to each other. Considerations also need to be
taken in regards to the feedback delay. In some Periode, Stockausen has prescribed Chords,
Blocks, and Polyphony to occur created from the layers of Feedback which will be present. It is
then the up to the performer to take all this information and construct a part from which to play.
The four assistants originally needed for the performance of the piece included one for the
microphone recording, one for the feedback channels, and one for the speakers. The
Formschema specifies in which Periodes which device needs to be turned on or off, and on which
channel (left or right.) In addition, the Formschema sometimes specifies a certain number of
interruptions that should occur in the Recording and Feedback channels of each Period,
performed by the assistants with volume faders to cause quick drop-outs in what is being heard
in the feedback. Stockhausen originally designed this piece, in 1966, for use with a tape recorder,
with recording and playback heads spaced at exact distances and tape of an exact length and
running at an exact speed so as to synchronize with the exact time lengths of each Period. The
fourth assistant was needed to operate these and give cues as to when it was changing from one
to the other. I will be performing using a patch I developed with the software Max/MSP. With
this patch, all these elements have been automated with the computer, as well as adding effects
to create the four different tone timbres Stockhausen asks for.
Thus…
Has now become……
Sonido 13 (2007, Netherlands/United States) combines the classical training of its members
with an unbridled spirit of exploration and freedom to create spontaneous pieces of chamber
music which defy classification. Utilizing the lean instrumentation of (bass) clarinet and
saxophones, these two Amsterdam-based, American-imported improvisers push the edge of
what is musically possible, creating richly textured and surreal sound worlds in which anything
can happen: multiphonic chords melt together to make complex, otherworldly harmonies;
microtonal melodies intertwine and clash; instruments are played in every unconventional
manner, including half-disassembled, to allow for new acoustic exploration. The results of these
experiments can be both exhilarating and meditative, beautiful and terrifying; still sounds, pure
as
snow,
next
to
wild
passages
of
gritty
chamber-noise.
The name of their duo, meaning "13th Sound" in English, refers to the 'discovery' of microtones
by Mexican composer Julian Carillo; that is, notes outside of or 'between' the notes of the
conventional 12-tone octave. Using this microtonality as a starting point, the duo has developed
the concept of the 13th Sound to include all elements of music outside the conventional system,
to create a unique personal musical language informed by contemporary concert music,
electronic music, noise, free improv, folk musics and many others. They frequently work with
live electronic processing and looping, which infinitely expands their sonic palette, in addition to
collaborating with some of Amsterdam's most adventurous musicians as a trio or quartet,
making each Sonido 13 show a one-of-a-kind experience. Sonido 13 is now performing in
support of their debut CD Versorium.
Jason Alder is a contemporary, improvising, and electronic musician. Hailing from the metro
Detroit area, he is an alumnus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts summer programs, and
received his Bachelor of Music in Music Performance on clarinet from Michigan State University
(US) with secondary focus on bass clarinet and saxophone, as well as on computer/electronic
music and ethnomusicology, all while working as an audio and live sound engineer for the
Recording Services department. In 2006 he relocated to Amsterdam where he currently resides
and attend the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (NL), studying bass clarinet. Past and current
teachers and instructors include Richard Alder, Richard Hawkins, Kimberly Cole, Andrew
Harwood, Frank Ell, Yaniv Nachum, Ernesto Molinari, and Erik van Deuren. He also studied
electronic and computer music with Mark Sullivan and live electronics and Advanced
Rhythm/Contemporary Music through Non-Western Techniques with Jos Zwaanenburg.
Jason is an active musician, keeping a busy performance schedule as a soloist, improviser,
chamber musician, session musician, and with various bands, orchestras, and jazz ensembles in
the United States and Europe. He is a specialist in new and contemporary music, and has been
working closely with composers while in Amsterdam, having premiered several pieces solo or as
part of an ensemble. As an improviser, he is a founding member of the electro-acoustic
improvisation duo Sonido 13; is a member of the Magic Lantern Show Orchestra, which
improvises soundtracks to silent films; works with members of the improvised dance and theater
community; and plays often with other members of the Amsterdam improvised and
experimental music scene. He is also a founding member of the touring klezmer trio Payazen.
He has performed in the Berliner Philharmonie, at the 2006 & 2009 International Gaudeamus
Muziekweek in Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw, as well as the 2008 & 2010 Internationale
Saxofoonweek in Amsterdam. In 2009 he attended the IMPULS International Ensemble- and
Composers-Academy for Contemporary Music in Graz, Austria, where he worked with members
of Klangforum Wien, as well as taking part in the groundbreaking MELE (Motion Enabled Live
Electronics) workshop, utilizing state-of-the-art motion tracking devices in a 3-dimensional
space to control sound processing, which resulted in a presentation at the 2009 Sound and
Music Computing Conference in Porto.
Met denk aan…
De musici:
Eva, Carlos, Marc, and Guillaume- Hartelijk bedankt, muchas gracias, thanks
broheem, et merci beaucoup for your great work, energy, and cooperation to
put everything together
Harry- For the many, many, sources of Inspiration…
Silvia- Grazie mille. Sempre un piacere lavorare con voi
Francisco- Muchas gracias por escribir la música bonita para mí
Mijn leraars:
Erik van Deuren- Bedankt voor de laatste vier jaar van leuke lessen, leiding,
openheid, en hulp om mijn eigen richting te vinden
Jos Zwaanenburg- Voor de hulp met de elektronica en advies met de
Max/MSP patch. Zonder jou kan ik niet alles
My Family:
Mom, Dad, and Grandma for all your support and help all these years
Karen and Bill for making the trip over
My Techies:
Sean Winters, Tjeerd Schils, and Juan “Nano” Martínez for the help running
the sound, lights, video, and recording
And all of you for coming and listening!
A video of this concert is being streamed live on
www.jasonalder.com