SAN FRANCISCO
COMPOSERS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Mark Alburger, Music Director
Languorous Liaisons
8pm, Saturday, May 21, 2016
St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA
Mark Alburger and John Kendall Bailey, conducting
Program
Harry Bernstein
Quartetto Amabile (2014)
I. Allegro marziale
II. Moderato (Swing!)
III. Relaxed and sustained (Meditative)
IV. Inspired by choro (Animato)
Lisa Scola Prosek
Mantilla (A Game Played with Cow Chips) (2016)
Michael Cooke
Fantasy in D... (ish) (2016)
Mark Alburger
Eight Waltzes, Op. 252 (2016) from Alma Maria Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel
I. 1880 - Julius Viktor Berger (Alma's Mother's First Extramarital Affair)
II. 1884 - Emil Jakob Schindler (Alma's Twice-Cuckolded Father)
III. 1894 - Schule (Alma's Curious Education)
IV. 1895 - Max Burckhard / Otto Mahler
(Alma's First Premarital Affair / Mahler's Brother's Suicide)
V. 1897 - Gustav Klimt (Alma's Second Premarital Affair)
VI. 1910 - Walter Gropius / Sigmund Freud
(Alma's First Extramarital Affair / Mahler's Psychoanalysis)
VII. 1918 - Hulda Reserl / Hermine Moos / Martin Carl Johannes Werfel
(Kokoschka's Love Doll / Alma's Illegitimate Son)
VIII. 1937 - Franz Werfel / Carl Zuckmayer / Franz von Papen / Oskar Kokoschka
(Alma's Farewell Party / Eve of the Nazi Anschluss)
Davide Verotta
Divertimento per Piano, Violin e Orchestra (2016)
I. Moderato - Allegro - Tempo primo - Piu moderato
II. Allegretto disturbato
III. Cadenza
IV. Vivace
Davide Verotta, Piano
Monika Gruber, Violin
John Beeman
Ishi (2015) (Carla Brooke)
Scene III
Andres Ramirez, Ishi
Sepp Hammer, T.T. Waterman
Peter Webb, Sheriff
SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSERS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Mark Alburger Music Director and Conductor
Erling Wold Associate Music Director
John Kendall Bailey Associate Conductor
Piccolo / Flute / Alto Flute
Harry Bernstein
Bruce Salvisberg
Oboe / English Horn
Mark Alburger
Stardust
Clarinet
Michael Kimbell
Carlos Ortega
Bassoon / Contrabassoon
Michael Cooke
Michael Garvey
Trumpet
Michael Cox
Horn
Janis Lieberman
Bob Satterford
Trombone
Scott Sterling
Soprano
Angela Arnold
Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols
Diana Pray
Alto
Valentina Osinski
Leandra Ramm
Nicole Takesono
Tenor
William Betts
Sam Smith
Peter Webb
Bass
Harlan Hays
Jefferson Packer
Thomas Wade
Piano
Davide Verotta
Percussion
Victor Flaviano
Davide Verotta
Violin I
Monika Gruber
Violin II
Kristen Kline
Viola
Nansamba Ssensalo
Cello
Ariella Hyman
String Bass
John Beeman
MARK ALBURGER (b. April 2, 1957, Upper Darby, PA) studied with Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti at Swarthmore College (B.A.), Karl Kohn at Pomona College, Jules Langert at Dominican University (M.A.), Tom Flaherty and Christopher Yavelow at Claremont Graduate University (Ph.D.), and Terry Riley. He is Founder and Music Director of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra and The Opus Project, Conductor of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and Adjunct Professor in Music Literature and Theory at Diablo Valley College. Alburger has been the recipient of many honors, awards, and commissions -- including yearly ASCAP Standard Awards; grants from Meet the Composer, the American Composers Forum, MetLife, and Theatre Bay Area; funding from the Marra, Zellerbach, Hewlett, and Getty Foundations; and performances by ensembles and orchestras throughout the world. Alburger's concert and dramatic compositions combine atonal, collage, neoclassic, pop, and postminimal sensibilities -- often in overall frameworks troped on pre-existent material. His complete works (254 opus numbers to date, including the work-in-progress Four Michaels) are being issued on recordings from New Music. 500+ videos of his compositions may be found on the DrMarkAlburger YouTube channel, as well as many other websites. Alburger's Alma Marie Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel, Op. 232, will be premiered this summer at the Dean Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.
EIGHT WALTZES, Op. 252 (2016), from ALMA MARIA SCHINDLER MAHLER GROPIUS WERFEL, is an equivocation of dances derived from the oft-affaired-and-married Austrian-American composer-socialite, who knew -- and apparently was known -- by so many in the arts, politics, and sciences of her times (1879-1965). Each dance represents a year in her life, and references music in chronology and/or spirit of same, including
Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) - 1812 Overture, Op. 49 (1880)
Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) - The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Op. 8 (1912)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) - Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun" (1894)
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection"): III (1894)
Symphony No. 4: II (1900)
Alma Mahler (1879-1964) - Five Songs: I (1910)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869} - Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14: II (1830)
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) - West Side Story: Gee, Officer Krupke! (1957)
Bela Bartok (1881-1944) - Dance Suite: II (1923)
Edward Elgar (1857-1934) - Variations on an Original Theme ("Enigma"), Op. 36: XI (1899)
JOHN BEEMAN studied with Peter Fricker and William Bergsma at the University of Washington where he received his Master’s degree. His first opera, The Great American Dinner Table was produced on National Public Radio. Orchestral works have been performed by the Fremont-Newark Philharmonic, Santa Rosa Symphony, and the Peninsula Symphony. Mr. Beeman has attended the Ernest Bloch Composers’ Symposium, the Bard Composer-Conductor program, the Oxford Summer Institutes, and the Oregon Bach Festival and has received awards through Meet the Composer, the American Music Center and ASCAP. Compositions have been performed by Ensemble Sorelle, the Mission Chamber Orchestra, the Ives Quartet, Fireworks Ensemble, Paul Dresher, the Oregon Repertory Singers and Schola Cantorum of San Francisco.
ISHI, the last survivor of the Yahi tribe, lived alone for three years in the wilderness near Mt. Lassen following the massacre of his people. In 1911, he was discovered by a sheriff, trembling with starvation, and soon taken to the Oroville prison. The news of Ishi’s discovery reached anthropologists T.T Waterman and Alfred Kroeber who were in the process of curating the museum of anthropology in San Francisco. Scene 3 of the opera, Ishi, highlights Waterman’s first meeting with Ishi inside his prison cell. An emotional connection is made as Waterman reads a list of words in his native language, climaxing on "Siwini." Ishi, recognizing the word for "yellow pine," begins to tap on the wooden frame of his prison bed. The chorus follows singing homage to the tree where Ishi and his family remained in hiding. A bond of friendship is made in dramatic form as Waterman sings in reply, "You are Yahi, yes, Yahi!” Composer John Beeman and librettist Carla Brooke convey the timeless story of Ishi through the emotional power of opera while hoping to bridge the cultural divide.
In addition to playing the flute, these days HARRY BERNSTEIN balances his work teaching music at City College of San Francisco with a dedicated interest in learning to play the viola (and violin). Even before teaching his first class in the Music Department in 2006, he was inspired by taking a composition class at the College, and later collaborating with a group of musicians who had been through the same class. Out of those efforts came the first brief pieces for strings, probably around the time of that first fateful violin class. Along with some of his colleagues at the College, he is determined that the College’s proposed Performing Arts Education Center, twice approved by San Francisco voters, actually be completed by its celebrated architects, even in the face of multiple efforts to thwart the progress of the PAEC. Composing sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but SFCCO provides attractive opportunities for sharing any future efforts.
The title, QUARTETTO AMABILE, reflects the lighter character of its music. It was written as part of a group concert by members of the Irregular Resolutions (IR), a San-Francisco based composer cooperative. IR members decided to present a program of music for string quartet at the Center for New Music in San Francisco in October, 2014. Two up-and-coming ensembles -- the Friction Quartet and the Telegraph Quartet -- were hired to work with the composers and perform their music. The piece was ultimately performed by the Telegraph Quartet, but due to the venue size, some people were turned away. The first movement is a march whose melody came to the composer rather spontaneously. The opening in G minor contrasts a scale figure in dotted rhythms with a rising augmented fourth (G-C-sharp). After an initial modulation, the main melody returns in a later passage in A major, played dolce. The return to the home key is marked by a short fugato section. In the version heard tonight, the movement is abbreviated, making a connection to the second movement through a modulation. The second movement is actually his transcription of a love song titled Be Mine that he wrote to his future partner in about 1981. An earlier transcription for a sax quintet for a performance in 1996 -- as part of a larger work -- has been revised here for string quartet. That choice was influenced by the composer’s having become an avid string player over the last 10 years. The third movement came about from a session of improvising at the piano. A strong melodic or rhythmic character is lacking here. Instead, the parts exchange gestures and there are contrasts between high and low, with an emphasis on the lower registers of the violin and viola. The harmony floats among several tonal centers, finally stopping unexpectedly on an inverted B-flat major chord. The finale was inspired by the lively and rhythmic Brazilian choro music, introduced to the composer’s attention by pianist and composer Carol Belcher, a fellow IR member. The finale is in five sections. The first, third, and fifth start with a syncopated accompaniment; all of them have an extended rhythmic tune followed by a refrain. The second section consists of shorter figures and even some striking glissandi. The fourth section breaks away from the prevailing sixteenth notes to a slower chordal section in triple meter. The return to the lively sixteenth notes leads to a codetta bringing the quartet to a close.
The multi-instrumentalist MICHAEL COOKE is a composer of jazz and classical music. This two-time Emmy, ASCAPLUS Award and Louis Armstrong Jazz Award winner plays a variety of instruments: you can hear him on soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, flute, soprano and bass clarinets, bassoon and percussion. A cum laude graduate with a music degree from the University of North Texas, he had many different areas of study; jazz, ethnomusicology, music history, theory and of course composition. In 1991 Michael began his professional orchestral career performing in many north Texas area symphonies. Michael has played in Europe, Mexico, and all over the United States. Cimarron Music Press began published many of Michael's compositions in 1994. After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, he has been exploring new paths in improvised and composed music, mixing a variety of styles and techniques that draw upon the creative energy of a multicultural experience, both in and out of America. In 1999, Michael started a jazz label called Black Hat Records (blackhatrecords.com) and is currently on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. The San Francisco Beacon describes Michael's music as "flowing out color and tone with a feeling I haven't heard in quite a while. Michael plays with such dimension and flavor that it sets (his) sound apart from the rest." Uncompromising, fiery, complex, passionate, and cathartic is how the All Music Guide labeled Michael's playing on Searching by Cooke Quartet, Statements by Michael Cooke and The Is by CKW Trio. His latest release, An Indefinite Suspension of The Possible, is an unusual mixture of woodwinds, trombone, cello, koto and percussion, creating a distinct synergy in improvised music that has previously been untapped.
A fantasy is a musical composition with a free form and often an improvisatory style. Early in the 16th-century fantasias consisted of short sections based on one or more musical motives. FANTASY IN D...(ISH) makes use of improvisation by the orchestra. Performers receive collections of notes or instructions and are told to improvise using them for certain period of time. Not all sections are improvised; some sections are a mix of fully notated and improvisation. There are a couple of repeating motives, but the most prominent are the repeated three notes which are heard at the climax. There are two top-level sections; the climax of the piece is the start of the second, with is the inverse of the first (b+a rather than a+b). Each of these principal aeas are broken down until there are 64 total sub-sections. These break into various levels (2-4-8-16-32), and, depending on the level, trigger different events: texture or chord changes, instrumentation, etc. How long each sub-section lasts is based on the Golden ratio, φ (phi) or 1.6180339887498948482..., a mathematical relation that appears in many patterns of nature, including the spiral arrangement of leaves and other plant parts. The overall feeling of Fantasy in D is very likely a bit somber or melancholy. Various life events, the passing of the composer's father and his mother's struggle with pancreatic cancer during the writing of the work, affected the mood of the piece.
LISA SCOLA PROSEK has composed and produced eight operas with librettos in Italian and English. The Lariat, January 2015, San Francisco, was awarded The NY Center for Contemporary Opera Award. In 2012, Daughter of the Red Tzar, written for acclaimed tenor John Duykers, premiered to capacity audiences, and is currently on the outreach season with Long Beach Opera. Awards for Lisa’s operas include The San Francisco Arts Commission, The Center for Cultural Innovation, The California Arts Council, and the NEA. Lisa graduated from Princeton University in Music Composition, studying with Edward Cone, Milton Babbitt, Lukas Foss, and Gaetano Luporini at the Conservatorio Cherubini. Also a lyric Soprano, Lisa studied voice with Margherita Kalil of the Met. Her operas are available from Theodore Front Publishing, and the libraries of Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the SF Public Library.
MANTILLA is an orchestral excerpt from an opera in progress. The scene is a game of Frisbee played with dried cow chips, a back and forth played by ranchers on the meadows of Fort Ross, California. A light moment in the opera, it precedes a terrible scene of violence with surreal abandon.
DAVIDE VEROTTA was born in a boring Italian town close to Milano and moved to the much more exciting San Francisco in his late twenties. He studied piano at the Milano and San Francisco Conservatory (with Bob Helps), and privately with Julian White. Composition studies at San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Davis. He is actively involved in the new music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaches piano and composition privately and at the Community Music Center in San Francisco. Recent compositions include works for orchestra, different solo instruments, percussion, various chamber ensembles, and recently piano solo and two pianos. For more information, please visit his web site at www.davideverotta.com.
DIVERTIMENTO PER PIANO, VIOLIN E ORCHESTRA is a four-movement double concerto. It starts with a slow section in which the piano and violin play with very sparse orchestral accompaniment. The piano has more radiant, soothing melodies, while the violin takes more sober and almost tragic overtones. The second movement, a somewhat deranged dance, is started by the whole orchestra. The orchestra eventually leaves the foreground to piano and violin, before it actively rejoins in a crescendo that leads straight into the third movement. This is a short slow movement, where piano and violin are again almost in a duet. It opens the way to a short fast ending that takes the piece to its questioning conclusion.
John Beeman - Ishi: Scene 3 (Carla Brooke)
(The SHERIFF escorts WATERMAN into the jail and opens the door for him to enter ISHI’S cell)
SHERIFF:
Here’s the Indian, Mr. Waterman.
WATERMAN:
Thanks, Sheriff. How is he doing?
SHERIFF:
He seems pretty scared, but has eaten some of the food.
WATERMAN:
He looks very thin, but at least he’s still alive. I’ll take it from here. So where do I begin? How can I reach this man from such a different world? How can I get him to trust me? I’ll try some native words and see if he understands.
(Reading from a book) Wu Na. (No reaction from ISHI) Nothing?
Kiwach’i. (Still no reaction from ISHI) Apparently, this is not his language.
Dooban-na. This is not working. I’m not sure we’ll ever know his story. (ISHI remains sitting mutely)
Siwini. (ISHI begins to react) Siwini.
(ISHI, recognizes the Yahi word for yellow pine. WATERMAN tries again)
Siwini, yellow pine, siwini. (ISHI looks at WATERMAN) I think he knows this one. Siwini.
He recognizes the wood, yellow pine, siwini.
ISHI:
Siwini, siwini. (ISHI looks directly at WATERMAN. Their eyes meet.)
ISHI and WATERMAN:
Siwini, siwini.
Siwini, siwini.
Siwini, siwini!
ISHI:
Yellow Pine, I hid beneath your branches.
At dawn I let the sun shine on my face.
Opening my eyes each morning,
There I felt safe.
Yellow Pine…
CHORUS:
You hid beneath its branches.
At dawn you let the sun shine on your face
Opening your eyes each morning.
There you felt safe...
ISHI:
Siwini…
WOMEN:
...protected your family.
Sometimes you climbed up the tall trunk
To see the rushing creek filled with fish.
MEN:
Birds built nests in the branches
And sang the first sounds of morning.
A life you once knew beneath the towering green canopy.
ALL:
You lived, and then nearly died
Siwini, siwini, siwini, siwini.
Siwini, siwini.
Siwini. (fading to whisper)
WATERMAN:
Ya…Ya-hi. (Gestures toward ISHI. Mispronounces "Yahi" with a long "i.")
ISHI:
(correcting WATERMAN) Ya-hi, Ya-hi.
WATERMAN:
Yahi, Yahi. That’s it, you are Yahi!
ISHI and WATERMAN together:
Yahi, Yahi.
ISHI:
Nize ah Yahi. (“I am Yahi.”)
WATERMAN:
Yes, you are Yahi. You are Yahi.
BOTH:
Yes, Yahi!
(The cell door is opened by the SHERIFF. ISHI and WATERMAN walk out together.)
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***
Another fantastic concert,
getting there via a shearing,
then
down
the
freeways
through Solano and
Contra Costa to
Cybercopy for program printing,
lateralling
over
the Coast Ranges and
Richmond and Golden Gate Bridges
to
San Francisco.
Dinner stop and a
quick
communal
entrance for
amazing audio-visuals....
Homewrd late,
videos, continuing labors on
That's How It Is On This Bitch Of An Earth, Op. 254
[Title: Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
Waiting for Godot (1953)
Source Material: David Attenborough (b. 1926)
Color Original-Broadcast Filmography (1963-2016)]
[C. The Tribal Eye (1975)]
IV. Kingdom of Bronze
Sound - Opening (1:02)
Admiration - Astonishing Number / Quality (9:00)
Sound - Choral Music (15:00)
Sound - Vocal / Drum (17:14 )
Sound -Women's Singing (20:00)
Sound - String / Drums / Voices (31:00)
Sound - Voices / Clapping (49:30)
