The Space Between Us
Akropolis Reed Quintet
Innova 969

A journey from conflict to resolution. WithÊcatharsis, trepidation, and triumph, we explore our place in the world and how music brings us closer together. Ê

Tim Gocklin, Oboe
Matt Landry, Saxophone
Ryan Reynolds, Bassoon
Andrew Koeppe, Bass Clarinet
Kari Landry, Clarinet

1. Jacob TV - Jesus Is Coming 9:22

David Biedenbender - Refraction 10:25
2. I. Death Metal Chicken 1:41
3. II. Kyrie for Machaut and PŠrt 4:32
4. III. Goat Rodeo 4:12

5. Rob Deemer - Gallimaufry 10:00

Gregory Wanamaker - The Space Between Us 16:33
6. I. Coming Together 1:39
7. II. As One 2:53
8. III. Remembering 5:52
9. IV. Ever Constant 3:02
10. V. The more we change... 3:07
11. John Steinmetz - Sorrow & Celebration for
ÊReed Quintet & Audience 14:50Ê

Total 61:10

Why The Space Between Us:
One morning in August 2014, we gathered aroundÊour laptops to hold a Skype meeting with composer John Steinmetz to discuss the content of his first reed quintet composition. The backdrop to our conversation was obvious. Just days prior, unrest had broken out in a small suburb of St. Louis called Ferguson.ÊAbout a month earlier, a man named Eric Garner died in police custody in New York City. Public and resonant events like this continued to occur, and it seemed like we started counting them more. Hours before one February 2016 performance we gave of JohnÕsÊpiece in Sarasota, FL, 6 people were shot and killed in Kalamazoo, MI, a town just a couple hours from where we are based.

These events illustrate a truth about humanÊbeings, that while we are so much the same, our differences are undeniable. As a quintet, we deal with this reality personally and collectively. We told John, Greg, David, and Rob that we wanted to make a CD about it. Some of the music they wrote for us isÊsoulful, while some is abstract. Some is jarring, and some is heartfelt.Ê The Space Between UsÊis a picture of our changing world. We hope it provides a space for reflection, and perhaps, your own kind of resolution.


Jesus Is Coming (2003)
This is the first reed quintet recording ofÊJacob TVÕs (ter Veldhuis) 2003 work, Jesus is Coming.
ÊVeldhuis created the tape out of two sound samples from the streets of New York City following the 9/11 attacks--an angry street evangelist in Times Square and a small salvation army choir. The work is glued together by a groove Veldhuis created by looping
Êthe baby talk of two Dutch girls, 18-month-old Welmoed and 2-month-old Amber. From the worldÕs anger, sadness, and uncertainty, Veldhuis saw and heard many different responses, and this piece provides an aural picture of that cacophony.

Refraction (2015) Akropolis commission
Refraction
Êis David BiedenbenderÕs portrait of some of the conflicting but coexisting influences from his world. Inspired by a viral YouTube video, ÒDeath Metal ChickenÓ captures the hilarity and absurdity of a rooster crowing to overdubbed death metal music (of course!),
Êand the humans who watch him on their screens. ÒGoat RodeoÓ mirrors this, but with hues of dubstep, funk, and musical pointillism, creating the image of a relentless but ineffective attempt to come together. Gluing together the tattered shreds of sounds in
Êthese outer movements is the contemplative ÒKyrieÓ.Ê

Gallimaufry (2015) Akropolis commission
In
Gallimaufry,
ÊRob Deemer told us he imagined a giant ÒDr. Seuss-likeÓ instrument that could do crazy things with its whole, but also break into its parts, and then reassemble itself. Rob observed the dexterity of the reed quintet lineup, as well as its contradictory nature:
Êa cohesion of woodwind instruments all producing sound the same way, but containing five completely different colors and personalities. The word ÒgallimafuryÓ means hodge-podge, or, a gumbo or stew.

The Space Between Us (2015) Akropolis commission
Gregory Wanamaker composed the title track,
The Space Between Us,
Êusing a purely abstract musical concept representative of each movement title. In a single, connected idea, serialism coalesces into kinetic tonality, which calms into reflection, and finally climaxes with triumph. Throughout the work there is reference to
Êeach member of the ensemble as an individual entity, but the overall emphasis is upon their interactions with each other through counterpoint to create a single unified soundscape.

Sorrow and Celebration for Reed Quintet and
ÊAudience
John Steinmetz decided we would incorporate
Êthe audience directly in the performance of his new piece, Sorrow and Celebration.
ÊWeÕve all been to concerts and ÒparticipatedÓ in the music-making before, clapping along or echoing the indelible lyrics to a famous chorus.
Sorrow and Celebration,
Êhowever, requires us to teach several musical components to the audience before we perform the piece. Using hand signals and some conducting, weÕre then able to perform the work, live,
with
Êour audience, which we have done more than 30 times around the country in communities of all stripe. As performers on the CD, we wish to list the audience members present at our recording session who made this CD not only a possibility, but a sheer joy.

Bob Kinsey; Madison Keezer; Matt Birmingham;
ÊJulie, Ben, and Jenna Cohen; Alison RenŽ; Charles Griffith; Mari Suzuki; Erika Koeppe; Pat Wilson; Alan and Barb Brace; Ed and Lynne Fowlkes; Jim and Linda Oldfield; Alice Schuman; Maggie McMullen; Jim and Barb Higdon; Linda Snelling; Lois Wright; Charlotte
ÊPierson; Drew and Ryan Sauer; Mary Pratt; Annette Pratt; Mark Clague; Cindy Darling-Fisher; Colleen Dolan-Greene; Walter R. Greene II; Susan, Bill, and Natalie Booth; Aaron Hendrix; Bernadette Durkin; Sipkje Pesnichak; Sagar Anupindi; Betsy McCabe; Scott Horowitz;
ÊLeah Weinberg; Mary ÊBrowning; Anita Salustro; Pam Dion; Sue Burton; Emily Milner; Jim Fuqua; John Ryan; Janet Hildebrandt; Sabine Spadmann; Emily Ouellette; Christian Green; Jessica Gibson; Susan Weisberg; Mitchell Green; Joey Velez; John and Samantha Beresford;
ÊTom Beresford; Karen and Bob Koeppe; Donald Dillon

Credits
Producer: Courtney Snyder Ng
Production Assistants: Theresa Zick & Nick
ÊSmith
Recorded at Bethlehem United Church of Christ
Êin Ann Arbor, MI May 2016
Reocrded, Edited, Mixed, & mastered by Dave
ÊSchall Acoustic
Photos by Heather Nash Photography
Album Art by Kari Landry

Sorrow & Celebration for
ÊReed Quintet & Audience was recorded live thanks to the greater Ann Arbor community.

Innova Director: Philip Blackburn
Operations Director: Christ Campbell
Publicist: Steve McPherson
innova is supported by an endowment from the
ÊMcKnight Foundation
innova is the label of the American Composers
ÊForum
© Akropolis Reed Quintet, 2017
All Rights Reserved.
www.innova.mu
www.akropolisquintet.com