{"id":1261,"date":"2018-04-09T14:24:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T18:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2018-04-09T14:24:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T18:24:58","slug":"eighth-blackbird-records-student-compositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/2018\/04\/eighth-blackbird-records-student-compositions.html","title":{"rendered":"Eighth Blackbird Records Student Compositions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/2018\/04\/recording-songs-by-student-composers.html\"><strong>Last week<\/strong><\/a> I wrote about a recording session we had with soprano <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindsaykesselman.com\">Lindsay Kesselman<\/a><\/strong> on March 15<sup>th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Two weeks later we brought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eighthblackbird.org\"><strong>Eighth Blackbird<\/strong><\/a> here to record seven student chamber pieces:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oliver Glynn: <em>A Couple of Ogden Nash Poems<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Nicholas Karr: <em>Sulcus<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Thomas Little: <em>Invasion of the Minor Seconds<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Thomas McMillan: <em>Prime Gaps<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Algernon Robinson: <em>Spring<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Luis Sanz: <em>Transiciones<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Scott Shea: <em>First Impressions<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The group began with an open rehearsal\/discussion session, touching on some of the issues that come up with student works and with these pieces in particular, and getting feedback from the composers about intention and style.<\/p>\n<p>Soprano <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindsaykesselman.com\"><strong>Lindsay Kesselman<\/strong><\/a> joined them for Algernon Robinson\u2019s <em>Spring<\/em>, a gentle setting of an early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century poem by Madison Cawein.\u00a0 Robinson\u2019s music threaded delicate, polyrhythmic textures with subtle harmonic shifts that matched the sumptuous impetuosity of the poem.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/karr.png\"><br \/>\n<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/little.png\"><br \/>\n<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/robinson.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1265\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/robinson.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"637\" height=\"455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/robinson.png 932w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/robinson-300x214.png 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/robinson-768x548.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next was Thomas Little\u2019s <em>Invasion of the Minor Seconds<\/em> \u2013 as one might suspect from the title, a wild romp.\u00a0 One might not suspect, though, that the piece features a healthy dose of quarter tones and improvisatory passages, which the ensemble handled with aplomb.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/little.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1264\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/little.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"683\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/little.png 908w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/little-300x198.png 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/little-768x506.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a dinner break, we resumed with <em>Sulcus<\/em> by Nicholas Karr.\u00a0 The title is a play on words, referring to the depression or groove in the cerebral cortex, and also the fact that the music creates a polyrhythmic groove that flies by at a manic pace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/karr.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1263\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/karr.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"716\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/karr.png 908w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/karr-300x178.png 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/karr-768x457.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The most orchestrally conceived composition of the evening, Scott Shea\u2019s <em>First Impressions<\/em> worked within a late Romantic harmonic scheme, leaning sometimes toward Brahms, others toward Richard Strauss.<\/p>\n<p>Luis Sanz moved here from Puerto Rico last summer.\u00a0 His composition, <em>Transiciones<\/em>, reflected some of his experiences in adjusting to new surroundings, language and climate.\u00a0 The score calls for an interesting mix of traditional Latin percussion instruments alongside more recent instrumental colors.<\/p>\n<p>After Sanz\u2019s piece, the group recorded Oliver Glynn\u2019s <em>A Couple of Ogden Nash Poems<\/em>, which incorporated spoken and sung text by the instrumentalists.\u00a0 Both texts and music were playful and charming \u2013 few who were there will soon forget the plaintive sound of Nicholas Photinos singing \u201cPeace, peace, thou hippopotamus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/glynn.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/glynn.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"363\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/glynn.png 456w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/glynn-234x300.png 234w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The session concluded with Thomas McMillan\u2019s <em>Prime Gaps<\/em>, a trio for flute, clave and piano that featured the composer\u2019s typical flair for dynamic counterpoint.<\/p>\n<p>Seven pieces, seven different voices, ranging from traditional to cutting edge, from thorny to sweet.\u00a0 Each one played with the same high level of professionalism and artistry by the ensemble.\u00a0 The thing I admired most about their approach: some pieces they \u201cgot\u201d instantly, based on the information they were given on the page.\u00a0 For others, they asked probing questions of the composers.\u00a0 Sometimes the answers pulled them to interpretations they may not have anticipated.\u00a0 In every case, though, they found the right sound and expression to convey the young composer\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I wrote about a recording session we had with soprano Lindsay Kesselman on March 15th.\u00a0 Two weeks later we brought Eighth Blackbird here to record seven student chamber pieces: Oliver Glynn: A Couple of Ogden Nash Poems Nicholas Karr: Sulcus Thomas Little: Invasion of the Minor Seconds Thomas McMillan: Prime Gaps Algernon Robinson: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1266,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}