The Nose

The idea for The Nose, Dmitri Shostakovich’s first opera, came to the composer one afternoon when he was sitting in for his brother, noted psychiatrist Leonid “Chipper” Shostakovich, who was undergoing a root canal in Murmansk. (Don’t ask.) Dmitri was only supposed to jot down the ramblings of the patient, Betty-Sue Khrushchev, as she kvetched about her daily troubles. But he quickly found himself fixated on Betty-Sue’s nose, which bore a striking resemblance to Ivan Yakovlevich, a barber he once knew. Suddenly inspired, the composer shooed Khrushchev out of his brother’s office and began to sketch out musical ideas for a satirical opera. Shostakovich finished the work in 1928 and it was staged soon thereafter. Initial reviews were mixed, however the opera was an instant hit with otorhinolaryngologists the world over. The Nose never specifically refers to Betty-Sue’s unique honker, but it does include a fine supporting role for a barber named Ivan Yakovlevich.

For 10½ years, David Gunn co-hosted the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award-winning radio show, Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar. The show is archived at www.kalvos.org. Gunn's own website, http://davidgunn.org, contains numerous recordings and scores of his compositions. Gunn is also a writer and humorist, and examples of both can also be found on his website. He lives simultaneously in Barre, Vermont.

www.davidgunn.org

Southern Trajectory

A healthy breeze of Brazilian music sweeps through New York City this afternoon as Vox Novus and the Composers Voice Series present their 5th Annual Trajetória Basileira Concert at Jan Hus Church. With instruments including guitar, violin, piano, flute and voice, the set is simple, intimate, playful, soothing — and full of musical surprises.

For the Composers Voice classic feature “Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Rodrigo Baggio performs solo on acoustic classical guitar, showing the instrument’s resonant harmonics, elastic dynamic range, and percussive possibilities in a wide-ranging selection of one-minute tunes. The set begins mysteriously with Juan Maria Solare’s “Referenços,” a series of striking harmonic chords with pregnant pauses, and then steps into brisk melodic flourishes atop a bouncing bass line in Joel R. Hobbs’s “Sal a Gosto.” This segues into the more meditative “Lamento lela Morte do Allen Forte,” by Christopher M. Wicks, with somber chords alternating with percussive string-brushes and pops of the guitar’s body. Blair Whittington’s “Red” picks up the pace with complex arpeggios offset by quieter counterpoints, while David Bohn’s “A. R. B.” features a series of squiggly runs underpinned by deep bass tones. Francesco’s Scianfani’s “Fractal Fingers” continues in the same style before breaking into dynamic, syncopated chords. Later, bursts of dancing chords emerge in Guilherme Afonso’s “Limitros” and Fermino Gomes’s “A Nod to George Barker,” their sudden eruptions indicating just how powerfully the acoustic guitar can ring out in contrast to the quieter passages. The overall set has a Brazilian flavor, suitable for a beach in Rio, and by the time Brett Copeland’s “Charmer” closes the segment on a pensive note, we’ve heard the full range of a remarkable instrument and performer.

Next, Eva Ingolf performs Rodrigo Baggio’s “Sonata for Solo Violin” on (you guessed it) violin — actually a minimalist model with an electronic pickup. The piece begins with swiftly rising swirls and soulful swoops, staccato arpeggios and resonant flourishes in a repeating, meandering melody line. Then it shifts into a more subdued section with a mournful tone and a bit of dissonance in the duotone chords. This gives way to a series of rapidly rising and descending triads that culminate in a high ending, followed by the final section of fast and furious arpeggios in a traditional phrase-and-echo structure. The score and performance are technical marvels, and the final ringing notes bring out a big grin from the violinist.

Then we have David Souza singing tenor to perform Fermino Gomes’s “Xavante Nós,” accompanied by Douglas DaSilva on classical guitar. It starts with dancing guitar lines, then shifts to an interplay between operatic vocals aside thoughtful guitar counterpoints, then returns to the vigorously dancing fretwork with rising vocals to match.

For Rodrigo Baggio’s “Variações Líricas,” Souza and DaSilva remain onstage as Baggio joins them on lead classical guitar. Here Baggio’s trebly guitar flutters and melodic flourishes play against DaSilva’s syncopated chord structure, while the vocal lines soar and glide. A middle section has a bossa nova rhythm guitar offset by dancing lead-guitar trebly chords, as the vocals shift into overdrive with elongated vowels and dramatic eruptions. The set then settles back to a quieter, riffing exchange between guitars as the singer flies into airy, soothing lines resembling a calming sunset as the piece winds down.

Maria Carolina Cavalcanti takes up the alto flute to play Syrlane Albuquerque’s composition “Frevo Aperriado.” The piece begins with a melodic flurry like a bird darting around and alighting on various branches, gradually building into an emotive final section and rapid-fire grace-note ending. At this point the flutist and composer both take bows and blow kisses in mutual appreciation.

Cavalcanti continues on alto flute for Sergio Roberto de Oliveira’s “DAM,” which takes on a more meditative mood. This showcases the sonorous alto flute as an instrument of solitary emotion, with a series of deeper tones offset by adventurous, high-range melodic phrases. By the time these high-and-low voices come together as one, the piece has settled into a tranquil ending.

The next piece is “ISWHOPA (I Saw Werner Herzon On Park Avenue),” by CV artistic director Douglas DaSilva, who curated the afternoon’s concert. It features Kristen Mather de Andrade on clarinet and Sara Bong on piano. Beginning with roiling piano figures and searching clarinet lines, it progresses into rhythmic, asymmetric chord clusters against a brisk clarinet melody, the two instruments exchanging phrases to and fro. The second part opens with a melancholy clarinet solo punctuated by piano droplet notes and builds to an interlude with busy piano chords against boisterous clarinet counterpoints. The piece gains complexity, speed and emotion as it builds to a final point of unison and resolution, getting a thumbs-up from the composer.

The same duo performs the afternoon’s finale: JP Redmond’s “Choro Alegrinho,” which begins with a densely melodic interlude, with high piano flourishes answered by the clarinet, the two voices rising and falling around each other like playful birds. Midway the piece segues into an astounding run of piano notes and chords against a warbling clarinet counterpoint; then the instruments trade places as the clarinet embarks on runs of its own. After a quieter, eye-of-the storm middle section, the set builds to a climax before settling into a peaceful but mysterious ending. It closes a tuneful afternoon at Jan Hus Church — which is soon after followed by a casual set (featuring many of the same musicians) at a nearby East Side establishment called Ryan’s Daughter.

Jack Crager is a New York City–based journalist who writes about music, visual arts, fitness, and other subjects (jackcrager.com). He regularly contributes concert reviews to NM421.

Vox Novus is pleased to announce the selections for the UK Guitar Quartet

Vox Novus is called for guitar quartet works 3-4 minutes in duration composed for UK Guitar Quartet to be premiered on May 31, 2015 for the Composer’s Voice concert series at the Jan Hus Church in New York City.

The UK Guitar Quartet was formed for the express purpose of premiering Juan Trigos’ 25-minute, genre expanding Guitar Quartet (2009), which was commissioned by the Tantalus Quartet, but left un-premiered. A technically, musically, and rhythmically challenging masterpiece, the work redefines the guitar quartet with intricately interwoven rhythmic layers with four equally prominent parts. The UK Guitar Quartet is led by University of Kentucky guitar professor Dieter Hennings Yeomans, and joined by Dr. Jay Sorce, Andrew Rhinehart, and Jeremy Bass.

Works selected for the UK Quartet include:
Sound Waves 3 by Nathan R. Johnson,
Black Pearl by Blair Whittington,
Reflets by Thomas Schuttenhelm,
Arabesques by Kevin Scott,
Gestalt Maschine by Justin Breame,
Four for Sobriety by Juan Maria Solare, and
Rising by Juan Calderon

The UK Guitar Quartet

Dieter Hennings Yeomans's musical endevaours span from new music on guitar to early music for lute, baroque guitar, and theorbo. Mr. Hennings has been a soloist with Canada’s New Music Concerts Ensemble, Eastman BroadBand Ensemble, Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, the University of Arizona Philharmonia, and the Orquesta Juvenil de Sonora, Mexico. Mr. Hennings has won several prestigious competitions including the 2008 Aaron Brock International Guitar Competition, 2005 Eastman Guitar Concerto Competition, the 2002 Villa de Petrer, Alicante (Spain) International Competition, the 2001 Portland Guitar Competition, among others. Mr. Hennings is an active proponent of new music, particularly that of Latin America, having recently worked with composers Mario Davidovsky, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Juan Trigos and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. Dieter Hennings is a member of the Music Faculty at the University of Kentucky where he teaches Classical Guitar.

Dr. Jay Sorce is a classical guitarist noted for his “...unique blend of refinement, intensity, and virtuosic technique", he has appeared in performance throughout the United States and in Newfoundland, Canada, and Germany as a soloist and chamber musician. Highlight appearances include repeat performances at the Long Island Guitar Festival, Germany’s prestigious Iserlohn Guitar Festival, Canada’s Tuckamore Festival, Brooklyn’s UNPLAY festival, the East Bank concert series, and at New York’s Staller Center for the Performing Arts where his solo recital was hailed by renowned guitarist Jerry Willard as “simply brilliant.” A strong advocate of new music, Jay has premiered many new pieces and championed works by such luminaries in the field as Phillippe Hurel, Elliot Carter, Louis Andriessen, and Marga Richter.

Andrew Rhinehart holds a Bachelor and a Master of Music Performance degree with an emphasis on classical guitar from the University of Louisville. He has studied extensively with teachers such as Daniel Boring and jazz guitarist Craig Wagner. While studying at UofL. Also, he has participated in summer programs with the Cincinnati Conservatory and the National Pastoral Musicians Association. He enjoys playing several different styles of music including jazz, classical, blues, country, and rock. Since graduation he has been teaching and performing in the Louisville area and all over the U.S. As a guitarist Andrew would like to share his music performance philosophy and instruction methods to anyone who would like to achieve technical discipline and overall mastery of the guitar.

The classical guitarist Jeremy Bass is highly regarded as a performer of chamber music and solo repertoire. He is engaged in both the rediscovery of neglected historical works, and the performance of new music. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where he is completing doctoral studies in guitar performance.