Сlarinets in Carl Maria von Weber’s Early Operas

В статье проанализированы партии кларнетов в ранних операх Карла Марии фон Вебера — композитора, позднее создавшего для этого инструмента ряд произведений, которые до сих пор входят в его концертный репертуар. Работа Вебера с кларнетом до сольных сочинений (первое из них, Концертино, было написано в 1811 году) показывает освоение им опыта предшественников и процесс поиска собственного пути в композиции. Первые оперы Вебера, не без оснований считающиеся незрелыми и малоудачными сочинениями, обычно не попадают в поле зрения исследователей, но тем интереснее оказывается проследить, как он использует в этих операх инструмент, который в будущем станет столь важным для его творчества. Если в «Немой лесной девушке», первой из сохранившихся опер Вебера, кларнет звучит редко и характерные черты его тембра лишь едва заметны, то в последовавшем за ней «Петере Шмоле» эти черты проявляются уже более ярко и разнообразно. Наконец, в истории создания «Сильваны», оперы в общем не показательной в смысле использования кларнета, содержится любопытный сюжет, через который соединяются ранние оперы Вебера и его сольные кларнетные сочинения. The article examines clarinet parts in early operas by Carl Maria von Weber, who later created several works for this instrument, that still remain in its concert repertory. Weber’s work with this timbre before turning to solo works (the first one, Concertino, was written in 1811) shows his learning from the experience of his predecessors and searching for his own way in composing music. Weber’s first operas, considered with good cause immature and unsuccessful works, do not usually fall within the attention of scholars, but it is nevertheless interesting to trace in this operas his use of the instrument that would later become so important for his creative work. In Das stumme Waldmädchen, his first surviving opera, the clarinet plays only rarely and its distinctive features are just barely perceptible, but in the following Peter Schmoll these features are revealed in a more vivid and diverse manner. Finally, the history of Silvana that is generally not exemplary for clarinet use, contains a curious case that connects Weber’s early operas and his solo clarinet works.

The Solo Percussionist—Center Stage

The virtuoso percussionist, though not unique to the twentieth century, began to appear on both professional and student recitals during the latter decades of the century. This chapter examines the solo literature written for the principal percussion instruments—timpani, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone—and multiple percussion, the latter term describing an array of dissimilar instruments that is novel to the twentieth century. The chapter portrays the evolution of composer Elliott Carter’s timpani solos and his use of metric modulation. Virtuoso artists, such as Vida Chenoweth, Keiko Abe, and others, composed and commissioned new works for keyboard percussion. Their collective efforts brought keyboard percussion to the forefront of the solo percussion literature. The eminent solo artist Evelyn Glennie commissioned over 200 solo works, many of them categorized as multiple percussion. The percussionist, once banished to the back of the orchestra, often appeared center stage by century’s end.

FOR/WITH New York City, 15–16 November 2019 THE STORY OF ONE OF MY FOLLIES New York City, 16 November 2019

In two nights in New York, I saw three world premieres and four other recent pieces at two very different concerts. Friday, 15 November at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn was the concert FOR, the first of two nights called FOR/WITH curated by the trumpeter Nate Wooley. The venue was celebrating the life of its late founder, the artist Suzanne Fiol, and her work was displayed around the hall with an appropriate sense of reverence and intensity. Wooley featured a composer I admire, Eva-Maria Houben of the Wandelweiser collective, and an uncharacteristic solo trumpet piece that she wrote for him called chanting ballads. Like most of Houben's work it was stark, simple and repetitive, and seemed to place the performer in a battle with himself, its briefly sustained tones becoming daunting events, spaced as far apart from each other as they were. Unlike most of Houben's work, it took advantage of the trumpet's entire range of pitch and dynamic, which at first seems to be entirely out of place with the atmosphere of the work, but, as it goes on, one of course realizes that this is the point and there is so much in these bare, somewhat awkward trumpet sounds to listen for. Every extraneous sound – both from the trumpet and from the hall – becomes part of the piece. My mind moves to curation: does Houben's music demand more control over a concert? No phones maybe? I feel for the performer: while the work does what I love most about solo works, which is to take us out of the regular ‘concert’ feeling and give us the sense that we're witnessing a ritual with a strange tool, I then end up focusing on the performer's unintentional ornamentation. A few clammed notes: are they supposed to illustrate the fragility of the instrument, its tone and its user, or are they also intended as part of any tool's thorough exploration? I've played Houben: it's hard. I get it. But I do think the point is to be charitable as a listener and enjoy every sound equally, in an attempt to divorce oneself from preconceived notions of ‘successful’ playing. What at first seemed like quite an awkward undertaking became an empowering experience for me, and, one hopes, for Wooley as well.

Commissioning Brian Cherney’s String Trio

The author offers a personal account of the events that led him to commission Brian Cherney’s String Trio in 1976 for CBC Radio Music. The trio was first heard on the Two New Hours radio program in 1978, along with solo works for violin, viola, and cello by the German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann. In 1979 the trio was submitted for consideration to the International Rostrum of Composers, and it was chosen as a recommended work, which resulted in the trio being broadcast in twenty-five countries, significantly enhancing Cherney’s international reputation. The performers who premiered the trio also recorded it, allowing further audiences to appreciate this important work.

Transcoding the I Ching as Composition Techniques in Chou Wen Chung, Zhao Xiaosheng and Chung Yiu Kwong

This article examined into three Chinese composers’ compositional method based on the ancient Chinese philosophy I Ching. Transcoding the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching in the piano solo works of Chou Wen Chung, Zhao Xiao Sheng and Chung Yiu Kwong display new representative of Chinese New Music. The analysis shows Chou and Chung’s creations that emphasize the use of the 64 hexagrams within a Westernized context, while Zhao brought out a new and individual compositional method based on the Chinese ancient philosophy that shows a complete departure from the West.

The optimist: alternatives in the here and now

Reading against futural accounts of utopia in the work of Jill Dolan and Jose Esteban Muñoz, this chapter examines the significance of solo works which emphasise the ‘here and now’ as a space of personal, social and political intervention. By juxtaposing shows which tackle the uncertain task of planning for a future with intimate, one-to-one performances, it suggests how vulnerability may be deployed to address the exposure to harm faced by marginalised and/or minority subjects while also inviting audiences to recognise alternatives to the status quo. Understood as a focused attentiveness to the present that is not straightforwardly affirmative – and which may paradoxically involve feelings of doubt and vulnerability – optimism in performance describes how opportunities for resistance and change already exist. Such opportunities, though, are also riven with risk – particularly for queer, trans and other non-conforming subjects. Featured practitioners: Deborah Pearson, Ivana Müller, Duncan Macmillan, FK Alexander, Rosana Cade, Nando Messias.

Conclusion

Drawing together the key features of post-millennial solo works preoccupied with identity, individuality and subjectivity in neoliberal times, this short chapter theorises the potential of queer exceptionality as characterised by the generative powers of complicity, misrecognition, uncertainty and vulnerability. Featured practitioner: Chris Goode.