COLLIDING OBJECTS Music by David Kechley innova 829 Dancing Four Movements for Five Percussionists playing Forty-four Instruments (1982) 1 One-Legged Dance (1:58) 2 Bug Dance (2:19) 3 Dream Dance (4:28) 4 War Dance (1:54) Timetable: Matthew Gold, Joseph Tompkins, Matt Ward with guest percussionists Eric Poland & Chris Thompson. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION  Trialogues for Trumpet, Saxophone, & Percussion (2010) 5 Framing/Ripping (6:33) 6 Rounding Corners (7:09) 7 Cross Cuts (5:09) Tom Bergeron, trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet; Steven Bodner, alto, baritone, & soprano saxophone; Matthew Gold, percussion 8 UNTIMELY PASSAGES: A Slow Groove & Chaconne for Marimba & Flugelhorn (2011) (7:49) Candy Chiu, marimba; Tom Bergeron, flugelhorn AVAILABLE LIGHT  Midwinter Musings for Flute & Harp (2005) 9 Frenetic Reflection (4:59) 10 Cold Fusion (3:26) 11 Lyric Transformation (6:27) Linda Chatterton, flute; Ina Zdorovetchi, harp COLLIDING OBJECTS  Interactions for Piano & Percussion (played without pause) (2008) 12 Dragon's Dance (7:50) 13 Dramatic, Delicate, and Dreamlike (8:05) 14 Duels and Dialogues (7:39) Doris Stevenson, piano; Matthew Gold, percussion I thought twice about beginning a new collection of music in 2012 with a work I wrote in 1982. Yet my love of percussion seems to have played constantly in my writing. Dancing, I realize now, but did not 30 years ago, may have simply defined my whole approach to music. Even Available Light, the only work here that does not employ a percussionist, is rhythmic and incisive. The past also came back to me in the most recent and lyrical piece here, Untimely Passages. It is based on a melody that has haunted me for more than twenty years. It came out in music as I remembered my friend Steven Bodner to whom this disc is dedicated. Steve was responsible for the existence of a number of my works including Design & Construction, the last project we did together and one of the last he performed before his death in January 2011. As a saxophonist, conductor, organizer, and thinker, he was an unrelenting advocate for new music. He is much missed and admired still. - David Kechley, Williamstown 2012 Dancing came to mind during a long bus ride one day when my car was in the shop. One-Legged Dance extends Schoenberg's notion of Klangfarbenmelodie by assigning each percussionist a different note in a single line. They are not pitched notes, but the sounds of drums, woodblocks, cymbals, etc. Bug Dance was inspired by a modern dance piece I had seen years earlier and by a percussion piece by Michael Udow. It features like instruments in three sizes, - calves, sand papers blocks, and guiros - interjected by bongos and conga drums. Dream Dance uses pitched percussion, lots of bells, and sustained marimba. War Dance is a free-for-all using as many drums as possible. UNTIMELY PASSAGES, written in memory of Steven Bodner, premiered on The Box series in 2012 at Williams College, but the melody has rung in my head since the late 1980s. I never figured out what to do with it until Tom Bergeron and Candy Chiu asked me to write a work for marimba and flugelhorn. It is a minimalist groove, and a chaconne, in which is a set of variations is built on a repeated melodic line. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION, trumpet, saxophone, and percussion, began as an assignment in my composition classes. The three colleagues who helped me with the class happened to play these instruments. Steve Bodner, Tom Bergeron, and Matt Gold enjoyed working together and asked me to write a piece for them. I went beyond the limited assignment, however, by pairing the baritone saxophone with flugelhorn, and soprano sax with piccolo trumpet for the second and third movements. We began with the notion of a percussion set up that could fit into a suitcase, but I kept adding new items to what became a curious looking drum set. There is, however, no pitched percussion. The titles of the movements and the entire work were inspired by the circular saw blades and pine planks we cut to different lengths to sound as Bb, Eb, C, F as heard in the first and last movements. AVAILABLE LIGHT was written during winter 2005 for my wife, Jerilee, a flutist. Sick during that grim time, she was never able to perform it and its premiere waited until 2010. I have always felt this combination of instruments is capable of more than pretty sounds, and that the harp is particularly misunderstood. Frenetic Reflection shows this as the harp plays at least as many fast and aggressive notes as the flute. Cold Fusion is a nuclear reaction that takes place at room temperature rather than in extreme heat, but also suggests the melding of two musical styles. The bass line alludes to the old rock song, Green Eyed Lady, though it is hardly recognizable with these harmonies and instruments. Lyric Transformation revisits the chromatic patterns of Frenetic Reflection and morphs them into lyrical and slow-moving statements that indicate light is fading and winter has prevailed. COLLIDING OBJECTS requires marimba, cymbals, large drums, tam tam, pitched gongs, crotales, woodblocks, and exotic bells. The pianist joins in with almglocken, a suspended cymbal, and mallets played on piano strings. Dragon's Dance refers to a previous work and its 'post minimalist' techniques. The various percussion timbres occur with the same - precise randomness - as the accented guitar notes from In the Dragon's Garden (1992). Dramatic, Delicate, and Dreamlike juxtaposes those three qualities until it concludes and moves on to Duels and Dialogues, which speaks for itself, as tom toms beat and cymbals crash before the work comes to its hypnotic close. David Kechley's memories of his father, composer Gerald Kechley, refining passages at the piano over and over, led him toward a musical career. His early work is chromatic and expressionist. Modality and lyricism followed as did post minimalist leanings in the early 1990s. His music draws upon classic 20th Century works, vernacular, popular, jazz, world, and ethnic music. These influences are integrated into a consistent style, but the resulting musical narratives create sharp contrasts among lyricism, virtuosity, and dramatic gesture. Thanks to Williams College for financial support and facilities (Chapin Hall, Thompson Chapel, 62 Center). Recording: Dan Czernecki Final Mastering: Toby Mountain Graphic Design: Rose Michelle Taverniti Copy Editing: Rosemary Armao Producer: David Kechley innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation Philip Blackburn, director Chris Campbell, operations manager www.innova.mu innova is the label of the American Composers Forum. © David Kechley, 2012. All Rights Reserved. innova Recordings, 332 Minnesota St E-145, St. Paul, MN 55101, USA www.innova.mu www.pinevalleypress.com