Birth of a Piece 4

I've posted my performance from May of Margi Griebling-Haigh's Sortilège on YouTube. Anyone learning the piece for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition can listen to my performance there.

I had posted this a while ago, but the sound level was too low.  Today I posted a better version.  It should be playable and listenable even on a laptop with poor speakers.

In addition, Randy and I will be performing the piece again on Sunday, Sept. 25 at Cleveland State University in Drinko Hall.  The concert is part of the Cleveland Composers' Guild concert series and will begin at 3:00 pm on that Sunday.

This is a very colorful piece and it has been fun to learn and perform.  I hope you enjoy it!

Birth of a Piece #4

 

I'm in the home stretch for my recital on May 6th here in Cleveland. Randy and I have been working a lot on Margi Griebling-Haigh's new piece, "Sortilège".  

Yesterday we played through the piece for Margi and rehearsed it some afterwards. She had some good suggestions, in particular, ways in which to achieve the mood of certain sections.

Randy and I had made some small changes to the piece in her absence.  We tinkered with a few tempos and ritards, accelerandos, etc. We wanted to see if those worked for her, too.  We ended up keeping some and restoring others.  We've all been friends for a long time, so there was a very comfortable environment for making criticisms and discussing musical ideas.

This is not always the case with a composer! I've commissioned lots of music from many composers in my career. Each person is different to work with. It is important for the performer to judge what kind of interaction with the composer is helpful or possible or even if one is desired at all.

I can think of one composer whom we intentionally kept out of rehearsals because of his overly critical and micro-managing behavior in the past! We didn't let him hear the piece until the premiere!

Another composer who's written a lot for me has the philosophy that once a piece is written, the composer needs to let go and enjoy the new life given it by the performers.

What experiences have you had working on a new piece with the composer?

Birth of a Piece #3

 

I read through Margi Griebling-Haigh's piece,"Sortilège", with Randall Fusco on Friday.  It was really great to hear the "total picture" after weeks of practicing just the bassoon part and studying the piano score.

The harmonic language of the piece is much more clear to me now.  I anticipated some ensemble issues (as did Randy) by marking some piano cues in my part, but more were needed where I didn't expect them. This is not unusual for me! I'll probably put a few more in as we learn it together. 

Randy's playing supported most of my musical nuances.  Some needed more inflection on my part.  We adjusted a few tempos slightly to help the rhythms set into a groove more.  The piece is composed as a set of free variations based on my name!  It has many sections and lots of tempo changes.  Margi is great at sketching musical moments with concision.

All the technical passages are possible with some broadening for the most difficult of them.  These invariably happen at places where it is good to let the music stretch a bit anyway.

At the end of our work I felt Randy and I had articulated many ideas we agreed upon about the piece. These were mainly related to style, tempo, rubato/ritards and colors.

I'm looking forward to our next rehearsal!

The Birth of a Piece 2

Margi got a copy of "Sortilège" with this beautiful frontispiece to me today. I'm very excited to start working on it!

I'd like to talk a bit about how I came to choose Margi for this commission.

First, I've premiered her trio, "Trocadillos" for oboe, bassoon and piano and her wind quintet and heard several of her other works, so I'm very familiar with her compositions.  Margi has a vibrant, expressive style that is traditional and very easy to grasp at first listening.

Second, she is an oboist and thus, knows how to write well for the double reeds. This is not as obvious as you might think. I've commissioned many pieces from many composers during my career; some write well for the bassoon, some don't.  This time, I really wanted to engage someone who would be able to write for the bassoon in a flattering way.

Third, I wanted the piece to have multiple performances after the premiere. It's such a shame for a new piece of music to be shelved right after a premiere and suffer an uncertain performing future. "Sortilège" be part of the required repertoire for the next Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition. Each time it is held, the Competition features a new work for bassoon by a female composer. Thus, Margi fits this criterion, too.

Each applicant will learn "Sortilège", perhaps perform it in her area and then, if chosen for the final round of the competition, play it there. This will guarantee many performances of the piece in the coming year.

The Birth of a Piece

The commissioning of new music for the bassoon has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career.
There are many exciting parts to this process:

• choosing the composer -- often a friend who's music you admire
• working with the composer through the development of the piece
• receiving the finished product -- like Christmas Day!
• performing and promoting the new piece  

I have gone through this process many times. The last project resulted in my CD, "Nostalgica", which contains four pieces I commissioned.  

The result was extremely gratifying: music that pushed the boundaries of classical music, joining it with jazz and blues. It stretched my abilities and pushed my playing to a new level.

Just last week I received the first draft of a new piece I've commissioned from Margaret Griebling-Haigh.  Margi is a composer, oboist and professional music copyist and editor.

The piece, "Sortilège", is for bassoon and piano. The purpose for the commission is two-fold. I will premiere the work at the 2011 International Double Reed Society Conference this June in Tempe, Arizona. The piece will also be required repertoire for the next Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition.