Innova 705

<541> Volume 3

Music from Stanford

1. Jason Federmeyer: inward / echo (2007)

7:52

2. Christopher Trebue Moore: Anima, Limbus (2006)

12:30

Bruno Ruviaro: Anomia (2007)

3. Anomia (Mild)

1:57

4. Anomia (Severe)

1:28

5. Anomia (Chronic)

1:54

6. Kristian Ireland: floors and walls (2005-06)

12:12

7. Marisol Jiménez: Guijarros-Humaredas (2006)

9:10

8. Per Bloland: Negative Mirror II (2006, rev. 2007)

19:47

<541> is a concert series dedicated to performances of challenging music by students and faculty at Stanford University. Composers in the Stanford community produce pieces that reflect a broad range of aesthetic issues, including fragmentation of structure, complex layering of musical time, narrative vs. non-narrative discourses, and the relationship of image and sound. The <541> CD project aims at being an ongoing account of this multiplicity of musical concerns, with each CD being made up largely of performances recorded in <541> concerts.

We would like to thank many people who have been involved with the realization of these concerts and of this recording, above all the administration of Stanford University for its generous financial underwriting of the project. Many individual members of the Music Department have unstintingly given of their advice and support, including Mario Champagne, Jonathan Berger, Mark Applebaum, and Christopher Jones. These concerts benefited hugely from the untiring technical and public relations support provided by Mark Dalrymple and Beth Youngdoff. Our special thanks are also due to Philip Blackburn and Innova Recordings for making this series possible.

 

Professor Brian Ferneyhough

Department of Music

Braun Music Center

Stanford University

Also in this series:

<541> Volume 1 (innova 635)

<541> Volume 2 (innova 658)

1. Jason Federmeyer

inward / echo (2007)

inauthentica

Sarah Wass, flute

Kathy Pisaro, oboe

Brian Walsh, clarinet

John Veloz, bassoon

Amanda Tabor, horn

Stephanie Richards, trumpet

Ian Carroll, trombone

Nick Terry, percussion

Ross Karre, percussion

Traci Esslinger, piano and celeste

Eric km Clark, violin

Andrew McIntosh, violin

Natalie Brejcha, viola

Ashley Walters, cello

Ivan Johnson, contrabass

Mark Menzies, conductor

inward / echo is the second in a series of works that attempts to address the experiential and structural possibilities of memory, specifically, the ability of past memories to influence the present and future. The presence of the sustained D heard throughout most of the work provides a connective filament from, and in which, all else surfaces, resides, and recedes. Whether the presence of this influence shatters the musical paths set afoot, or propels a shimmering of infinite ripples throughout the musical space, the influence of a past memory is one of growth, presence, and decay.

Jason Federmeyer is a DMA candidate in Music Composition at Stanford University. He received his MA in Music Composition from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, and his BA in Music Composition and Theory, summa cum laude, from California State University, Fresno. His principal composition instructors include Mark Applebaum, Brian Ferneyhough, Jack Fortner, Robert Morris, Christopher Rouse, and Erik Ulman. Federmeyer has been commissioned to compose works for inauthentica, the Proteus Ensemble, Ruckus, and the Extension Ensemble Brass Quintet; he has also worked with various members of Alarm Will Sound, the Jack Quartet, and the sfSoundGroup. On his aesthetic orientation, Federmeyer states, “My compositional ground is in constant motion: the tremors provoke a need to engage and examine the bone and sinew of the cultural, political, and aesthetic milieu in which I find myself.”

2. Christopher Trebue Moore

Anima, Limbus (2006)

Graeme Jennings, violins

The form and materials of this piece are designed with the intent of metaphorically representing the psychological phenomenon of psychosis. While the soloist represents the surface level of conscious thought, the four auxiliary violins function as underlying currents or tributaries within the neurotic subconscious, which constantly attempt to subvert the stability of the soloist. The electronics provide a certain raw material, or larger imaginary environment, expanding yet distorting the musical trajectories within. Although the local events do not lend themselves to the perception of a single, unbroken musical thread, the global form does adhere to a certain narrative structure in which the surface-level consciousness is gradually enfeebled and eventually devoured by its psychotic tributaries. Finally, however, the original personality remerges from its self-destructive malaise, functioning at a higher level of psychic and perceptual clarity than before.

Christopher Trebue Moore began his musical studies as a guitarist. Growing up primarily in Houston, TX, he attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts, where his focus was on jazz and rock guitar. In June 2003, he earned a Master’s degree in composition from the University of Oregon, where he composed numerous chamber, orchestral, and electronic works. He is currently near completion of a D.M.A. in composition at Stanford University where he has worked extensively with Brian Ferneyhough, Mark Applebaum, and Chris Chafe. His music has been performed in the USA, Italy, the U.K., and the Netherlands by various performers and ensembles including EARPLAY, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Insomnio, Graeme Jennings, Red Fish Blue Fish, Keith Kirchoff, Octandre, Ruckus, and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.

3. Bruno Ruviaro

Anomia (2007)

inauthentica

Sarah Wass, flute

Kathy Pisaro, oboe

Brian Walsh, clarinet

John Veloz, bassoon

Amanda Tabor, horn

Stephanie Richards, trumpet

Ian Carroll, trombone

Nick Terry, percussion

Traci Esslinger, piano

Andrew McIntosh, violin

Andrew Tholl, violin

Natalie Brejcha, viola

Ashley Walters, cello

Ivan Johnson, contrabass

Mark Menzies, conductor

Anomias

Three short paragraphs by Júlio Machado

(adapted by Bruno Ruviaro)

3. Leve:

Um: sumir de si o ... em que pela primeira vez foi primavera. Três:

após as flores, desordem dos frutos sem o conforto das caixas. Cinco:

De hora em hora, insectos soltos, frouxos, no ar. Sete: 14 onças tem

meu corpo se preso ao tempo e livre do ...

4. Severa:

Dois: ou sumir de si o ... em que isso foi, no fundo do quintal.

Quatro: Estação parada, flowres de flores, nada. Seis: insects

forgotten de si, pousados no seco e na lama. Eight: 400 gramas tem um

corpo if preso ao ...

e livre do espaço

5. Chrônic:

sumir de si o ... em que pela primeira vez foi primavera. or sumir de

si o ... em que isso foi, no fundo do quintal. after the flores,

desordem dos frutos without the comfort das caixas. estação parada,

flores of flowers, nothing. de hour em hour, soltos insects, loose,

in the air. insects minding their own business, landed on seco and

mud. A body has 14 ounces if tied to tempo and livre from ... . 400

grams has a body if tied to ... and free from spaçe.

Bruno Ruviaro [www.brunoruviaro.com], composer and pianist from São Paulo, Brazil, was born in 1976, and has lived in 18 different places: Rua Teodureto Souto, Rua Cajati, Casa do Seu Demétrio, Rua São Borja, Rua James Adam, Alameda dos Uirapurus, Avenida Modesto Fernandes, Avenida Santa Isabel, Rua Nuno Álvares Pereira, Rua Djalma Bento, Rua Nestor Esteves Natividade, Rua Major Diogo, North Park Street, Jericho Street, Olmsted Road, Thoburn Court, Comstock Circle, Via Parma.

6. Kristian Ireland

floors and walls (2005-06)

Matt Ingalls, bass clarinet

Charity Chan, accordion

Josh Levine, guitar

Ann Yi, piano

Graeme Jennings, violin

Leighton Fong, cello

Christopher Jones, conductor

The ensemble work floors and walls (2005-2006) is central to a group of five pieces, which relate to each other formally and materially in various ways. The title of the work refers in translation to a section of Thomas Bernhard's novella Amras. In the novella, the floors and walls are those of a decaying stone tower. The tower itself is all that remains of an estate which once spanned a substantial area, but which has been lost over time: gradually sold off in sections, narrowing in toward the tower—the inhabitable space further and further constricted, until concentrated vertically. The nature of the internal limitations (corporeal/psychological) imposed by physical structures—restricted movement and expression, claustrophobia, solipsism, a distorted (or perhaps heightened) perception of the exterior world, behavioral changes associated with the widening or narrowing of architectural space—is given representation by the present ensemble work. The instrumental writing is deliberately restricted: particular playing techniques are excluded entirely. The expressive character of each instrumental part is either bound to iterative materials (including perceptible motivic iterations and less perceptible longer material skeins), or given to abrupt change, autism, or mimesis, as formal situations allow or impose.

Kristian Ireland is currently a doctoral music composition student at Stanford University, studying with Brian Ferneyhough. His works have been performed in Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Australia, and the USA by leading exponents of contemporary music. Most recently, his string quartet clearing was premiered by the Arditti Quartet at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, as part of the 2007 Centre Acanthes program. Violinist Yasutaka Hemmi performed the solo version of clearing at Stanford University and at CNMAT in Berkeley. Kristian attended the 2005 Sommerakademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, at which his work, metope was performed by Ensemble SurPlus. In the same year antiphon was performed by the Swiss-Australian Perc'onnection in Switzerland (Basel and Sion), and by Speak Percussion in Barcelona, Copenhagen, Espinho, Livorno, Oslo, Porto, and Trieste. Kristian was a 2003 Artist Fellow of the Japan Foundation during a period of residency in Tokyo and Kyoto, prior to which he was a young composer delegate at the 2000 ACL Festival in Yokohama, Japan. His work, strophe, was premiered by the Aphids Trio and conductor Warwick Stengards at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2000. Kristian participated in the 41st Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Darmstadt. In 2005, he undertook research at the Archivio Luigi Nono in Venice, Italy, and spoke on the music of composer Maki Ishii at conferences at USC (Los Angeles) and UC Berkeley.

7. Marisol Jiménez

Guijarros-Humaredas (2006)

Christopher Froh, percussion

Loren Mach, percussion

Florian Conzetti, percussion

Christopher Jones, conductor

The essence of this piece is the interplay of two sonic images. The first image, “Guijarros,” translates literally as rocks. The second image, “Humaredas,” translates as smoke, or literally, smokes. However, in this case the metaphor is interpreted more as “smoke-like” sonic textures. Of the two main materials explored, Guijarros is characterized by dense bursts of abrupt, irregular attacks, while Humaredas is made up of elongated gestures that continuously move and transform.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Marisol Jiménez began her musical studies by studying piano at an early age, and later at the School of Music of the University of Guadalajara. In 2003 she completed her Bachelor’s degree in music composition at the University of Oregon where she composed a number of chamber works, and also began working with electronic media. Subsequently, she earned a Masters degree at Mills College during which time she created a number of electroacoustic pieces, and also created music for collaborative projects with video and visual artists. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in composition at Stanford University where she has worked with Mark Applebaum and Brian Ferneyhough. Her music has been performed in concerts and music festivals in Mexico, the USA, and Europe by groups including the Arditti String Quartet, ensemble recherche, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble SurPlus, Octandre, and the sfSoundGroup.

8. Per Bloland

Negative Mirror II (2006, rev. 2007)

inauthentica

Sarah Wass, flute

Brian Walsh, clarinet

Nick Terry, percussion

Traci Esslinger, piano

Andrew Tholl, violin

Ashley Walters, cello

Mark Menzies, conductor

Negative Mirror Part II, like its antecedent Elsewhere is a Negative Mirror Part I, is based on Italo Calvino's novel Invisible Cities. This second installation continues the large-scale form established in the first composition, a form derived from the chapter structure of the novel itself. Part II is essentially a set of variations, manipulating material first encountered in Part I, often recycling the results and subjecting them to further alteration.

Both pieces employ the recently created Electromagnetically Prepared Piano Device, a rack of 12 electromagnets that is placed over the frame of a grand piano, each electromagnet positioned over a string. The string resonances created by this device act as a “supertheme” which moves in and out of the foreground depending on the activity of the other instruments. Note that although the device is controlled electronically, the resulting sound is entirely acoustic, emanating directly from the piano strings.

Per Bloland is active as a composer of both acoustic and electroacoustic music. Recent awards include first prize in the SEAMUS/ASCAP Student Commission Competition and grand prize in the Digital Art Awards, Tokyo, Japan. His music has been performed in numerous countries and can be heard on the TauKay (Italy), Capstone, and SEAMUS labels. He received a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently working toward his Doctoral degree at Stanford University.

Credits

<541> series co-producers: Mark Applebaum, Brian Ferneyhough, & Christopher Jones.

Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation

Philip Blackburn: innova Director, design

Chris Campbell: Operations Manager

Bob DeMaa, Mastering

www.innova.mu