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Program Notes May Day May Day was written especially for an evening concert on May 1st, 2005. While in the process of scheduling the concert, it was always in the back of my mind that this might be a chance to write for organ. My choice of instrument combination is simply a reflection of the instruments I had to work with in this given scenario. What makes the instrumentation of May Day (string trio and organ) somewhat unique is that it presents colors and textures that are rarely written for in this combination. May Day is dedicated to Paul Borg for his help, and inspiration he has provided over the past four years.Back to top String Trio I began the Trio in the middle of December 2004, and completed it in the beginning of February 2005. Much of the work was written while I was in New York performing Mahler's first symphony and so the musical material is reflective of the thoughts and emotions I had while I was living there. The main inspiration for the Trio are the members performing it tonight, who have always given me a muse for creation since we began playing together three years ago. The Trio is dedicated to Beth Erwin with love and endless hilarity.Back to top Winter Overture I remember the day when a close friend of mine asked me to write him a piece. We had gone to IHOP and drank six carafes of coffee, and when I got home I began the sketches for what would become Winter Overture. It's not often that you can write a piece for a large ensemble where you know all of the members quite well, but here is one such instance. That being said, this is a piece that reflects the thoughts and feelings I had for all of the members of our chamber orchestra at the time of its conception.Back to top Music in Limbo I have always written my music in condensed periods of extensive composition. Music in Limbo though is certainly the largest piece written in the shortest period of time. I completed the piece in its entirety in just less than five days, and finished my final edits on the sixth day. When I first came across the call for scores for the Phillip Neil Prize, I thought about how great it would be to write something, but since I didn't have anything for this specific ensemble, I would have to write a new piece specifically for the contest. I had just moved from New Zealand to the Chicago, and then I had secured some auditions in New York so I was to move yet again. I knew that I needed to finish the piece before I moved for the third time, because it takes me a while to start writing music in a new location; hence 7 minutes of music in 6 days.Music in Limbo involves two musical materials' that are vaguely inspired by ragtime music, and honky-tonk piano. The most obvious are the stride piano figures that appear throughout, and the less obvious are the subtle bending of harmonies within keys in order to make them fit, or in some cases, not fit. All of the parts are written rather virtuosically, and the piece is intended to be fun and showy, with brief moments of dark introspection. This piece is a very emotional piece for me, concerning my thoughts of having just left some of my greatest friends, and having to go back to a country that I don't want to be in. Back to top If You Don't Look at the Sky Enough I still remember riding the bus with Colleen Kuraszek, and Beth Erwin when Colleen asked me to write her a piece based off of a melody I had written in the piece November 15th. I got to work, and finished the piece in a bout of depression while living in my parent's house. I think the piece contains a very unique character that offers the slightest inkling into Colleen's personality. The piece is in sonata form, and explores the lyrical as well as coloristic intertwining of the viola and piano.Back to top String Quartet I began this piece during my first year of study at Illinois State University, while studying with Serra Hwang. John Adams, and Krafwerk heavily influenced a great deal of the writing. At that time I was obsessed with incessantly driving rhythms, and easy to digest harmonies, this element gives the music an easy to follow, tonal skeleton, but much of this skeleton is deformed with off putting, bi-tonal interjections.Back to top Septet The septet was alive in many guises before the piece was complete. This final decision on instrumentation comes partly from a composition contest that called for this exact group, and partly from similar pieces by Beethoven, and Hindemith. I wrote it in about 6 months while living in 5 different places. Some of the major influences on the piece are Arnold Schoenberg, Olivier Messiaen, George Crumb, Gygy Ligeti, Dmitri Shostakovich, Elliot Carter, Tan Dun, Bright Eyes, OutKast, Tom Wolfe, Glenn Block, and all my friends. The first movement is reminiscent of a Viennese waltz, in sonata form. The second has been said by some of the players to sound like sinister circus music. We come then to the ever important middle movement, and what better place to have an intermezzo. The intermezzo shares some similarities to the first movement but now we have our waltz turned a bit lop-sided with the meter of 5/8. Next we have our slow fourth movement. I wrote this with the idea of exploring many of the different coloristic options of this instrument combination. Finally, we come to the fifth movement. This seven-part rondo opens with a solo cello motive that acts as the recurring A section. Listen for mixed meters, dance rhythms, and metric modulation. The piece is dedicated to Glenn Block, with whom I have shared hundreds of musical and extra musical experiences with over the past four years.Back to top String Quintet This string quintet is a unique piece for me. I began writing it in my first year of university, and didn't complete it until my fourth and final year. Its not that I was writing it the whole time, I just kept coming back to it, and then putting it down for a while. In this sense it contains a huge number of influences that spanned over that time period. Another thing that makes the piece unique is the usage of solo bass as a melodic instrument. I explored a lot of different colors, and textures that the bass is rarely playing a role in and came up with some fantastic things.Back to top Owl Brook Lament The passing time seems like a dreamMelancholy and surreal, both words extreme Friend you are nothing but Time passing between each scene Reminds me that time is Queen Soft, sad, passing it may be One more time I need it seems To tell you, forĘ you, I'd bleed It may grow old but when we end I'll remember music, and you, my friend -Colin Hardersen Back to top |
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