Sunday, January 26: Being De-mystified

When Fear No Music announced their 2024-25 season of “Locally Sourced Music,” the offerings that caught my eye first were the “De-Mystifying New Music” concert companion events. These intimate conversations/Q&A/performances were made for me. A safe place where I could freely admit that sometimes I am mystified in the presence of new music. I could hear folks similarly afflicted tell their stories. I could embrace the possibility that new music, for me, could be de-mystified.

Golly, I had that upside down.

Warm sunlight was nudging the temperature toward the balmy mid-40s by 11 am on Sunday, January 26 on the Reed College Campus. The small audience amassed in Eliot Chapel to take in the third installment of “De-Mystifying New Music” nibbled the free pastries and relaxed in the lovely setting. Oregon composers Robert Kyr, Kenji Bunch and this event’s special guest David Schiff were having a casual chat. I think it’s an image I will cherish. 

FNM Artistic Director and violist Bunch welcomed the gathering, introduced Schiff’s Joycesketch II and began. I heard wisps of a fiddler’s tune as if in the background. I heard a suggestion of a jaunty dance and a folk melody and was pleased at hearing both reconfirmed. And I was awed by Bunch’s technical mastery and energized delivery of what seemed to be quite a challenging 5-ish minute work.

Schiff took his bows and settled into his seat on stage next to Robert McBride, guest moderator for the upcoming conversation. Straight away McBride asked if there were any questions from the audience. I wanted to shoot my hand in the air and shout “yes, several.” I did not. Nor did others and so McBride turned to Schiff and initiated a relaxed conversation.

But what had stopped me from asking “were there fiddlers in this piece?” Fear. I thought the question was childish, trivial. Fiddles, indeed. The piece deserved a more profound query than that. My question could out me as one of those folks who just didn’t get it. Fiddlers?

So I settled into the interchange between McBride and Schiff, two guys just chatting about music, and heard David Schiff say:

“I want to take the listeners on a journey they haven’t been on before, write something that the audience will connect with but something new.”

And then, specifically about Joycesketch II Schiff said when he first presented it to some violists they “ran the other direction. This piece is hard. But it’s playable.”  And encouraged further by McBride the composer explained: “I had the idea of doing an opera based on the Dubliners of James Joyce. I wanted to find out if I had any Irish in me.” Schiff listened to Irish fiddle tunes; listened to “Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies” so infused in the writing of James Joyce. He spoke of dropping into a famed Irish pub where there was a fiddler; he wanted to capture the fiddler in music. In the pub there was a band playing but he also noticed different musicians were playing music at the tables. 

Holy cow. That’s what I heard. His music took me on a journey I had not been on before and I connected with it as if I was actually there. I got it. De-mystification underway. 

McBride prompted Schiff into revealing his teenaged self and it was a delight to hear the quite-proud-to-be-vital-at-almost-80 composer speak of piano lessons, of playing first the tuba and then sousaphone so he could participate in the Memorial Day marches. Then switching to double bass just because he could. His life revolved around music for fun and purpose.

He recalled the pleasure of getting books and then records through the mail. (Hey, was it the Columbia Record Club? That’s where I got mine.) He reminisced about receiving Debussy’s La Mer, being mesmerized by it, listening to it hour after hour, absorbing it, studying it. Was he processing the way Debussy had written not a story of the sea but a portrait of the sea itself? Was this his youthful way of demystifying that “new” 20^th century music?  Hmm?

McBride deftly steered the discussion using quotes from Schiff’s books and encouraged Schiff to talk about his compositions and influences on his music. Schiff spoke about the emergence of “atonality.”

“The music world was telling us that atonality won,” he recalled; “it was supposed to be cutting edge.” Atonality didn’t interest Schiff, or his teacher and longtime companion in music–Elliott Carter about whom Schiff has written two books. Nor did it take hold for a whole lot of other creatives who were indeed mystified over how anyone could think “tonality” could ever be superseded.  

Now here was something I do understand. New music is not all atonal. Some of you are probably rolling your eyes and thinking “well, duh”; but that statement is meant for those who fear that a specter of atonality hovers over all new music. It does not. This is something about which I am certain, and I just needed to put my hand up and say it. 

Schiff’s music is tonal. Joycesketch II; “Divertimento” from Gimpel the Fool, his opera of the late ‘70s; and the 1987 Scenes from Adolescence which would be performed the next day are all tonal. The latter two pieces are included on a terrific David Schiff performance primer, the album of his music recorded in 1989 by Chamber Music Northwest, with CMNW’s David Shifrin, longtime friend and collaborator of Schiff’s, performing on clarinet (read more about that here).

The event was indeed enlightening. As this hour-long “De-Mystifying” experience ended I felt I had learned some very important lessons. But dear friends at Fear No Music, it may not have been what you intended. In fact, as I said earlier, upside down.

I realized that I have been mystified by music – all music – my whole life. And I want to be. I have been beguiled by Berlioz and flummoxed by Flagello. Singing Gesualdo makes me giddy. Being mystified can be – always has been – a starting point for me and I quite enjoy it. Sometimes I’ve been so mystified I’ve listened to a piece hour after hour. Dr. Schiff, you and Debussy? Yeah, I get it.

I will retain my childlike imaginings of fiddles and curiosity about adolescent hormonal rages set to music. Imagination and curiosity are a great starter skill set for new music. I look forward to my next mystification. As long as I have the next step.

And, thank goodness, it’s something that our local groups are especially good at providing. Program notes, pre-concert lectures, links for further information and resources like video interviews with composers and artists. And companion events, like this precious FNM hour on a Sunday late morning, where we get a chance to meet the composers, listen to their stories and to share a musical journey with them. Our understanding and appreciation of all music is enriched through learning. So give a big cheer to music teachers who ignite their students’ imagination and curiosity by introducing them to all kinds of music. 

Now having learned more about Scenes from Adolescence, I was looking forward to the concert to come–to the new places I will go with Drew Swatosh, Lisa Neher, Carolyn Quick, Denna T. Grossman and Schiff.

Oh, I forgot to mention. Kenji Bunch performed Joycesketch II again. Yup, fiddlers–and now much more.

Learn more about composer David Schiff in this OAW profile.

Monday, January 27: The concert

The privilege of hearing David Schiff’s Scenes from Adolescence performed live drew a good crowd at Portland’s TOC (The Old Church) Concert Hall. But thirty-five brilliant minutes of David Schiff’s music would serve also as a capstone to the stunning four works that came before. 

Each had a story to tell or portrait to paint (thanks for the program notes) of longing, creating, breaking free and seeking with words implied and words sung or no words at all. And all rendered with precision and empathy that is the hallmark of Fear No Music.

Temenos: Sacred Space by Deena T. Grossman

Bunch and soprano Arwen Myers performed as a unit but stood in separate spaces for this piece that can also be performed by one violist/soprano as in this performance by Mirabai Peart to whom the piece is dedicated. The separated staging carried one definition of the Greek word “temenos” – a spacious temple court –  into the performance, in body and sound.

Here is what I heard:

There was a purity that elevated the sacred. Sacred is beauty and the beauty was unweighted, it sparkled. A complexity of thought with a clarity and reiteration of motif that soothed and reached out.

Learn more about composer Deena T. Grossman in this OAW profile.

Pieces by Carolyn Quick

Myers performed again, in sung and spoken word, this time with Amelia Lukas on flute and Jeff Payne on piano. Myers’s calm delivery of anxious text – almost in a haze – was stunning. Each word was clear. The varied flute textures – Lukas seamlessly incorporating flutters–provided a second soprano voice which, with the piano riding in the upper keys for a large portion of the piece, created a predominantly treble sonic stream. The composer can be heard performing the piece here. 

Here is what I imagined: 

A struggle, a beating against the wind of what could be but ultimately would not be tolerated. Perched over an abyss, teetering but finally stepping away from the crumbling foundation. I heard myself breathe aloud at the end.

Saudade by Drew Swatosh

Payne soloed beautifully in this piece that began with an angular motion then smoothed into melody above arpeggiated chords. A triplet figure kept forming a question mark around an illusive tonic. Just one sentence of explanation invited me on the journey.

Here is what piqued my curiosity:

The titular definition – an indescribable longing–would it ever be fulfilled or would it always be just a hope? Would I be left at the end without knowing; still longing? The ending was, for me, unambiguous. See what you think here.

Just a bit about the two previous composers, Swatosh and Quick, and the next, Lisa Neher. This creative trio are the founding members of Raindrop New Music, a new local publishing collective who credit Fear No Music with their first meeting in 2019. Refer to this recent Oregon Arts Watch piece for some great background on Raindrop and even more information about this creative trio. 

she conjures by Lisa Neher

Like a scene from an opera, she conjures tells a story from the first to last notes. Neher’s earlier piano/soprano version was made a trio with the addition of flute. Lukas and Payne remained steadfast while Myers embodied the role of daughter beating a drum for justice. No set, no staging or lighting. No need. Neher’s dramatic scene comes to life in a masterful performance. You can view the voice and piano premiere of this work here.

Here is what I felt:

From the onset the theme, the emotion, the story burst through. Nothing superfluous, no caricature. Pure, menacing and nightmarish. It kept pulling me in and I wanted out. Drum as familiar. Goosebumps. 

Joycesketch II by David Schiff

My third hearing of the work was three times more exciting. Intrinsic in the privilege of live performance, it was different, not perhaps so much in the stellar performance by Bunch, but in my mind’s ear. An earlier performance is here.

Scenes from Adolescence by David Schiff

Five musicians took the stage to perform. Flutist Lukas, clarinetist James Shields, violinist Keiko Araki and cellist Valdine Mishkin were so close together. Why? At the piano FNM Executive Director Monica Ohuchi was behind, slightly off center. Then they played and I understood. This exquisitely difficult piece moves so fast and with so many conjoined runs and sudden simultaneous silences it was essential to be as close as possible. The musicians counted with fervor, turbo mode. Live performance – what a blast.

I would like to hear and experience it again and again. We can, right here.

The pleasure of performance of all works, combined with the recognition that 2025 is David Schiff’s 80^th year (August 30 is his birthday) had the audience on their feet. A cupcake, a candle and an ovation.  

Lead on

Fear No Music leads on, showcasing local composers in two more FNM concert/de-mystifying programs in late April and again in late May. Also coming right up is a truly mystifying FNM special gathering with guest musician, educator and creative pied piper Rob Flax, a program in support of FNM’s Young Composer’s Project. Here are those dates and more information.

Broaden your awareness and knowledge about composer David Schiff in other Oregon Arts Watch pieces. Read about his life in Oregon here, about his 2022 work Prefontaine here and some of his other newest endeavors here.  Also be aware of this 2007 Third Angle recording of Schiff’s Gimpel the Fool. 

Read Schiff’s books on Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Elliott Carter (two books here and here) and The Ellington Century, a portrait of the composer and his times.

Connections: New Music for Choirs

Quick, Swatosh and Neher are creating for choirs. Check out their choral offerings and the rest of their complete catalogs here.

Want more like that?

Coming up in one week are new choral and vocal sounds that might seriously ignite your imagination and curiosity. On February 8, Resonance Ensemble treble voices are not only performing works by Cecille Elliott – premiering her new commissioned work It’s So Quiet – and giving us a listen to a 2024 work by Judy A. Rose, the online program indicates they will be performing two choral pieces by Caroline Shaw. And yes, Shaw and creative partner Danni Lee, a/k/a Ringdown, are also going to create “an unforgettable musical experience that invites the audience into new sonic landscapes” (Resonance website). But let’s listen to those two Caroline Shaw choral works Its Motion Keeps and So Quietly:

Resonance and Ringdown perform at the Aladdin Theater on Saturday, February 8, 7:30 pm. Tickets may be purchased here.