[orchestra]
Timing: 12’00”
Program note:
There are so many things in our lives that require written approval. When we are children or young adults, we need written approval from our parents to go on field trips or to be excused from class. When we are adults, we need written approval from the federal or state government for a driver’s license or passport. As students in college or graduate school, we are told that we can only take certain classes with the written approval of a professor or department chair. It should also be mentioned that there are occasions when we actually wish we had someone’s permission or approval, although we would never willingly admit it.
Composers, especially young composers, are often seeking out different forms of approval whether they realize it or not. Even in the most genuine, honest and heartfelt piece, the student composer is often still wishing (consciously or not) for the approval of peers, teachers and mentors…understandably. Questions tend to arise when a composer tries something musically new – perhaps not new as compared with the scope of music history, but personally new. Yet, this is precisely how artists grow: by forcing themselves to remain slightly outside of their comfort-zone. This is the context in which this piece should be heard.
Without Written Approval is an orchestral work in one movement built entirely on canons. These canons are sometimes very clear and audible, and at other times, they are difficult to discern. However, they are always working together to create textures that are designed to sustain a single harmony over relatively long stretches of time. Although most of the harmonic language in this work is rooted in major and minor sonorities, the bass voices are always functioning to keep the “key” ambiguous and traditional cadences out of reach.
Within this single movement, there are three musical ideas which return over and over again, each exploring canonic motives in different ways. The piece begins with the string section playing very quickly and very quietly, while the woodwinds and pitched percussion bring color and articulation to the violin and viola lines. Next, the brass and drums force their way in by playing short rising lines very loudly. This episode leads to the third musical idea which is perhaps most easily described as “musical stars” or bursts of colorful light. All three of these ideas return several times, develop independently, and at the end, all occur simultaneously.
Composing repetitive, relatively consonant orchestral music may not be a revolutionary idea. However, as a composer whose music has tended toward chamber works based on dissonant gestures, the style feels like a significant departure. Although I have received nothing short of total support from my mentors, this piece is also, ironically, the one that required their written approval, since it was submitted as the final component of my doctoral degree.
Without Written Approval is dedicated to Ron Gintz and his family (people who truly understand the importance of education) and was made possible in part through the generous support of Ann St. John and her family.
Doctoral dissertation. Dedicated to Ron Gintz and his family.
Available from Woodyard Music Publishing:
Performances:
February 6, 2008 Indiana University Symphony Orchestra; Uriel Segal, cond Musical Arts Center / Indiana Univ.
