Where Does Love Go?  --  chamber music by Mark Engebretson

Innova 645

 

1. Where Does Love Go? (2003)

                  forviola, interactive electronics and digital media

                  ScottRawls, viola

                  Duration;5:29

 

2. Duo Concertante (2002)

                  fortwo alto saxophones and piano

                  adaptedfrom original for two saxophones and orchestra by

                  AdamC. Murphy

                  SteveStusek, Susan Fancher, alto saxophone, Inara Zandmane, piano

                  Duration:12:07

                                   

3. Events (1995)

                  forvioloncello and digital media

                  BrooksWhitehouse, violoncello

                  Duration:11:46

 

4. Energy Drink II (2000)

                  forsolo flute

                  AlexanderWagendristel, flute

                  Duration:6:11

 

5. Say a Prayer, But theSea Wind Blows Them Out (1996)

                  forsoprano voice, string quartet and digital media

                  poemby Dina Elenbogen

                  LorenaGuillŽn, soprano, John Fadial, Janet Orenstein, violin, Scott

                  Rawls,viola, Brooks Whitehouse, violoncello

                  Duration:20:46

                                   

6-9. Four Short Songs: acertain sadness (1991)

                  foralto saxophone and violoncello

                  SusanFancher, saxophone, Ingrid Wagner-Kraft, violoncello

                  6.Duration: 1:37

                  7.Duration: 1:18

                  8.Duration: 2:02

                  9.Duration: 2:53

 

Recording Engineers: Dennis Hopson (track 1); BerndGottinger (track 5), Mark Engebretson (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6-9).

Recorded at UNCG School ofMusic and on locationin Austria, 2004-2005.

Produced by Mark Engebretson

 

This recording was made possible in part by a New FacultyGrant from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Special thanks to UNCG School of Music Dean John J. Dealfor ongoing support.

 


Notesand Poems:

 

The pieceson this recording reflect first and foremost my interest in melody. It seems tome that thinking about melody is not particularly in vogue these days, at leastamong composers such as myself who have been raised and trained asÒmodernists.Ó  But I do think thatmelody is at the heart of what we all do and to lose sight of that is to loseperhaps the most attractive, endearing and memorable element of musicalcomposition.  Of course, there is alot more here than just nice tunes: all kinds of extended performancetechniques, electronic elements, quarter-tones, complicated formal procedureslike Òinfective motivic development,Ó interval expansion and otherprocess-oriented thinking, and so forth.

 

Mostimportantly, this collection of pieces was written for my friends, and I amindebted to them and their hard work not only for their performances here, butalso for their steadfast dedication to my music. There is a sense ofmultiple-connectedness that permeates the recording. Events, for example, isperformed here by my current colleague Brooks Whitehouse.  The piece was written for IngridWagner-Kraft, who is performing on the Four Short Songs. Ingrid is also adedicatee of Say a Prayer, which was written for my friend, the Austriansoprano Katharina Ršssner. The Four Short Songs were written for Susan Fancher,a long-time champion of my music, who performs that piece and the DuoConcertante (with our colleagues Steve Stusek and Inara Zandmane) as well.  The Duo was written for our mutualsaxophone teacher, Frederick L. Hemke and his son (more connections), FredJr.  I wrote Energy Drink II forAlexander Wagendristel, an Austrian friend, composer and flutist.  The piece Where Does Love Go? is fullof many multi-level connections that span from the poet Dana Richardson tosoprano Lorena GuillŽn to Susan Fancher (listen for LorenaÕs and SusanÕs voicesin the electronics) to Javier Garavaglia, the violist/composer for whom I wrotethe piece. At this writing, I have just completed Energy Drink III, for soloviola, which is dedicated to Scott Rawls, and the circle of connectionscontinues.

 

 


WhereDoes Love Go? (2003) for viola and live electronics

ScottRawls, viola

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                  ToMaria

Conservation of Energy

 

Where does love go

when love is  gone?

Does the exploded sun

forever glow

 

through further reaches

of galactic space,

its light crashing on beaches

of unknown planets

as it congeals to ice,

 

invisible

in endless night,

fragmented, desolate,

jagged, small?

 

Does a fallen tear

fall as snow

on some Himalayan slope,

drip from a pear,

 

or is it squeezed

as the bitter hope

of limes that lie

on tropical beaches

shriveling in despair?

 

Does the heartbeat stilled

pound out the years

with the music of the spheres,

thunder on the field

 

before the rain,

or crash on the sand,

curling without end,

again and again?

 

Where does love go

when love is gone?

It goes to the acorn in the sun.

It goes to the cardinal and the crow.

                                                                                                        DanaRichardson 2000

                                                                                  Reprintedby permission of the author.

 

 

 


Saya Prayer, But the Sea Wind Blows Them Out       poemby Dina Elenbogen

 

You say it's easiest to embrace the dead,

easier to stand next to your grandmother's grave,

easier to light her a candle, toss a flower

across her eyes, easier to tell her why you mustleave,

easier than your mother crying over dinner,

your mother with black wicked hair, your motherwithout

teeth. It is easier to turn your back on

your grandmother's silence than your motherstanding

at the doorway, watching her oldest mistake walkaway.

She throws stones at the moon which will notshatter.  

 

You leave me with the heaviness of yourgrandmother

sunk in the earth of Tarshiha, where sheeppass

and the sun sets slowly behind white roofs.

You leave me with the spaces in your mother'smouth,

the darkness behind her eyes, the strap of herblack

brassiere. You leave me with your father who hasnot spoken

since you threw him against the wall for hitting

your mother. His eyes are lost, his jaws clench

with each movement of your arm. You leave me withyour father

selling na'nna on the street,the insufferable sun.

 

You leave me, my sun, alone on this bed we pressed

into, this narrow space you once shared with three

brothers and a sister. Then, there was onlydarkness,

reading books over candle. There are still things

I can't imagine. You leave me with the Breasts

of MaÕa lot, the sun settingan orange ball sinking past

the windmill, beyond the Arab villages, sinking

into the sea on one side of the sky, the moon up

on the other. You leave me with these heavy roads

that once were gravel. You leave me with yourchildhood

steps, your madness.

 

You leave me,walking alone past the shul                                                    

where you wentas a boy with your skull-covered friends                                                                                                                       

and all of the other men pulled out of bed latenight to pray.

It was the fruit you wanted, the cake youdevoured,

this monthbefore the Day of Atonement.  Iwalk, still,                                                             

the staircaseto your room. There is no light just

a few slats ofopen space to let the moon in.

You said once,the world is mostly darkness, that is why

we need thesethings: candles, menorahs and bulbs;

that is why youtell me just before the first three stars

appear to lightthe candles for the Sabbath.

I press them inthe sand,

say a prayer,but the sea wind blows them out.

 

 


Tarshiha isan Arab village in the Western Galil.

NaÕnna ismint leaves.

MaÕa lot isa Jewish development town in the Western Galil.

 

                                                                                                                                  Copyright DinaElenbogen. Reprinted by permission.

                                                                            Saya Prayer, But the Sea Wind Blows Them Out appears in a collection of her poetry,

                                                                                                                                           Applesof the Earth,Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2005

Composer and PerformerBiographies:

 

MarkEngebretson

Melody...complexityÉvirtuosityfor both the players and thecomposerÉinteractivityÉmulti-dimensionalityÉelectronic and acousticinstrumentsÉthis disc: early chamber worksÉand, melodyÉ

 

Lived inMinneapolis, Bordeaux, Chicago, Stockholm, Vienna, Chicago, Buffalo,Gainesville, GreensboroÉconcerts at ICMC, SCI, CMS, Bowling Green Festival,Wien Modern, Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway),Indiana State University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, Indiana), FEMF(Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival) and ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albaniaand Baku, Azerbaijan), Carnegie HallÉ

 

Taught atEastman, University of Florida, SUNY FredoniaÉStudied at NorthwesternUniversity (D.M.), University of Minnesota, Conservatoire deBordeaux...Composition teachers: Michel Fuste-Lambezat, M. William Karlins,Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and JayAlan YimÉSaxophone teachers: Ruben Haugen, Frederick L. Hemke, Jean-MarieLondeixÉcurrently on the faculty at the University of North Carolina atGreensboroÉ

 

LorenaGuillŽn

Stockhausen(Indianerlieder)ÉBerio (Sequenza)ÉBritten-Pears InstituteÉPh.D., Univ. atBuffaloÉResident Artist, Hartwick CollegeÉUniversity of ArizonaRecordingsÉMusica ApertaÉ

 

JohnFadial

USIAArtistic AmbassadorÉperformances at Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center,the Sale Poirel in Nancy, France, the American University in Blagoevgrad,BulgariaÉconcertmaster of the Greensboro Symphony OrchestraÉChesapeakeTrioÉMcIver EnsembleÉ

 

JanetOrenstein

Foundingmember, Guild TrioÉtours in Canada, Europe and the United StatesÉrecitals andmaster classes in seven African countriesÉprizewinner, Philadelphia OrchestraConcerto Competition, West Palm Beach Invitational ConcertoCompetitionÉsoloist, Salisbury Symphony OrchestraÉ

 

ScottRawls

Member ofSteve Reich and MusiciansÉpremieres of The Cave and Three TalesÉWienerFestwochen, Festival d'Automne a Paris, Holland Festival, Berlin Festival,Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center FestivalÉperformances in London,Vienna, Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, Los Angeles, Chicagoand New YorkÉrecordings with Centaur, CRI, Nonesuch, Capstone, andPhilipsÉprincipal violist of the Greensboro Symphony OrchestraÉ

 

BrooksWhitehouse

GuildTrioÉmaster classes throughout the United States and CanadaÉNorway, Turkey,Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Portugal, France and AustraliaÉ

 

StevenStusek

Foundingmember, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, UNCG Quatuor dÕAnchesÉDutch Chamber MusicCompetition winner with duo 2Track with accordionist Otine van ErpÉstudied atthe Paris Conservatoire, Conservatoire de la Region de ParisÉfounder, CarolinaSaxophone SymposiumÉ

 

Susan Fancher

Dozens of commissioned worksÉpublished transcriptions ofJosquin Desprez and Steve Reich...hundreds of concerts internationallyÉRedClay, Amherst, Vienna and RollinÕ Phones saxophone quartetsÉcollaborations withTerry Riley, Charles Wuorinen, Philip Glass, Hilary Tann, Friedrich Cerha, BenJohnston, M. William Karlins, Perry Goldstein, Olga Neuwirth, David Stock,Michael Torke, Ed Campion and Robert CarlÉrecordings on Innova, New World,PhillipsÉ

 

AlexanderWagendristel

Austriancomposer and flute virtuoso..first compositions at age fourÉprinciple flutistwith Vereinigten BŸhnen WienÉawards from Ministry of Culture, the TheodorKšrner Award, ISCMÉimprov group Things of NowNowÉcompositions performed atHšrgŠnge, Klangbogen, Steirischer Herbst, Wien Modern, Zeitgenšssischer Herbst,and in Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia,Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the USAÉ

 

IngridWagner-Kraft

German-born,Vienna residentÉdebut at the Gro§er Musikvereinssaal (Vienna)Épremiered WolframWagner«s Concertofor violin, cello, piano and orchestra...radio, TV and CD productions inGermany, Austria, England, Ireland and Denmark...viola da gamba.

 

InaraZandmane

From Riga,LatviaÉrecitals in St. Paul, Kansas City, Cleveland, St. Louis, and New York,many Republics of the former Soviet UnionÉsoloist, Latvian National Orchestra,Liepaja Symphony, Latvian Academy of Music Student Orchestra, SIU Symphony, andUMKC Conservatory Symphony and Chamber orchestras...Chamber Music Festivals inRiga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Helsinki (Finland), and Norrtelje (Sweden)É