P***@aol.com
2002-04-09 22:18:49 UTC
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2002 at 8 p.m.
The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble
Thomas Buckner, Baritone
Petr Kotik, Conductor
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City
PROGRAM:
Jean-Philippe Rameau - Naïs Overture (1749)
Josef Suk - Meditation on the Choral St. Venceslav (1914)
Somei Satoh - Kyokoku (U.S. premiere) (2001)
Petr Kotik - Music in Two Movements (premiere) (1998-2002)
TICKETS:
$25, $15. 50 % discount for students and seniors & Friends of S.E.M. Ensemble
Alice Tully Hall Box Office: 212/875-5050; CenterCharge 212/721-6500
Patron Tickets: $500 Boxes A; $80 Preferred orchestra seats; $60 Boxes B seats
Patron and Friends of SEM Tickets available through the SEM office only at
718/488-7659
THE ORCHESTRA OF THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE had its debut in 1992 at Carnegie Hall,
where it gave the first complete performance of Atlas Eclipticalis, by John
Cage, with an 86-piece orchestra and David Tudor as the soloist. It was
formed by Petr Kotik as an extension of the chamber music group S.E.M.
Ensemble. SEM Orchestra now performs regularly in New York, and overseas.
Its April 24th concert will mark the orchestra’s fifth concert at Alice Tully
Hall since 1993. SEM Orchestra has commissioned and premiered numerous
compositions by such composers as Maria de Alvear, Muhal Richard Abrams,
Alvin Lucier, Roscoe Mitchell, Akemi Naito, Phill Niblock, Somei Satoh, Sinan
Savaskan, Martin Smolka, Henry Threadgill and Christian Wolff. Since 1999,
SEM has collaborated with the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra, from Ostrava,
Czech Republic. The two ensembles have presented music for three orchestras
at the Prague Spring Festival 1999, the Warsaw Autumn 2000 and at the
Philharmonic Hall in Ostrava. They have performed GRUPPEN, by Karlheinz
Stockhausen, MODULES I,II,III, by Earle Brown and new works by Alvin Lucier,
Martin Smolka and Christian Wolff.
PETR KOTIK (b. 1942 in Prague, Czech Republic) has lived in the United States
since 1969. In 1970, he founded the S.E.M. ENSEMBLE, which, in 1992,
expanded into THE ORCHESTRA OF THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE.
As a composer, Kotik regards himself as self-taught, despite having studied
composition at the Music Academy in Vienna from 1963 to 1966. By 1966, Kotik
had developed his compositional method, based on regulated chance procedures
and visual (graphic) material, transposed into notation, these devices have
remained part of his technique up to the present day. Kotik’s music is
essentially polyphonic which may be due to his disinterest in, and also
lacking of sense of, harmony (similar to John Cage and Christian Wolff).
Throughout the years, Kotik’s compositions often created more confusion then
enthusiasm, as for example, at the 1964 Warsaw Autumn Festival, when, during
the premiere of his MUSIC FOR 3, most of the audience walked out. (“In the
past, no one quite knew what to make of [Kotik’s] music, just as few know tod
ay.” – Kyle Gann, The Village Voice, 1998). Kotik still performs as a
flutist and is becoming increasingly active as conductor, both in the U.S.
and Europe. Among his best-known works are MANY MANY WOMEN (1976-78), based
on a text by Gertrude Stein, EXPLORATIONS IN THE GEOMETRY OF THINKING
(1978-81), based on texts by R. Buckminster Fuller, and his orchestra works
QUIESCENT FORM (1996) and ADAGIO (1997).
Kotik began composing MUSIC IN TWO MOVEMENTS in December 1997, and by
February 1998 the first movement, FRAGMENT, was completed. The second
movement, ASYMMETRIC LANDING, was composed between January 2001 and March
2002. The two movements have been performed previously as separate
works-in-progress. On April 24th, 2002, the entire composition (ca. 55 min.)
will be premiered in its final form.
SOMEI SATOH (b. 1947) has emerged as one of Japan’s most acclaimed composers
of the post-Takemitsu era. Essentially an autodidact, Satoh arrived at
composition through the spiritual practice of Zen Buddhism and Shintoism. In
his compositions, he strives for simplicity by creating music, which
transcends a timelessly static feeling.
Satoh’s earliest compositions, mostly for solo piano, date to the beginning
of 1970s. The techniques he developed during this period were close to those
of the American minimalists of the time. Later, his style reflected greater
complexity and toward the end of 1980s, his works had moved closer to
romantic sensuality. The static element, however, has remained constant
throughout Satoh’s oeuvre. In his most recent works, Satoh’s tempo marking
requires quarter note to be MM 20, leading on occasion to a loss of all sense
of tempo.
KYOKOKU (The Valley), written for baritone and orchestra, is Satoh’s
largest-scale work to date. It was commissioned by Mutable Music for Thomas
Buckner, to whom it is dedicated. Buckner premiered Kyokoku last August at
the Ostrava New Music Days Festival with the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra,
Petr Kotik, Conductor. The text is an excerpt from the ancient Chinese book
Tao Te Ting, by Lao Tse.
THOMAS BUCKNER, baritone, is one of the world’s foremost new music
performers. His diligent, focused work and his willingness to take risks
have earned him admiration and respect from both musicians and concertgoers
around the globe. Buckner maintains an active performance schedule, and has
toured throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa (recently, he
performed with members of the Dogon tribe in Mali, West Africa). For over
two decades, Buckner has commissioned works by emerging as well as
established composers such as Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Jon Gibson, Leroy
Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros,
Morton Subotnick, Ushio Torikai and David Wessel. Buckner is also a producer
of new music - in the 1980s, he managed the San Francisco based 1750 Arch
Records, and since the early 1990s he has directed the Interpretations series
at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. Most recently, he has established a
new CD label “Mutable Music” dedicated to cross-influences of new music,
improvisation and jazz.
The life and work of JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764) could be compared to
that of John Cage. Both composers lived to be 80, both were able to devote
themselves fully to composition after they reached the age of 50, and both
published books that made an impact on music almost equal to that of their
compositions. They both irritated “mainstream” audiences and worked for
most of their lives on a low budget (Voltaire, for example, asked the Paris
Opera to send his fee for collaborating on the opera Le Temple de la Gloire
to Rameau, explaining that “Rameau’s fortune is so inferior to his talents,
that it is fair the fee be entirely his”).
NAIS was commissioned by the Paris Opera to celebrate the Peace Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which ended the War of the Austrian succession. (In
London, the treaty was celebrated by Handel’s FIREWORKS MUSIC.) Although the
opera itself is a pastorale, the overture is altogether different. It
depicts an attempt by Titans to storm Olympus. They are successfully
repelled by Jupiter and Neptune (read Louis XV and George II of England) who
use the thunder and lightning to avert the attack.
JOSEF SUK (1874-1935) is the best known of the composers working in Prague at
the turn of the century (Janácek lived and worked in Brno). At the time,
Suk’s career was overshadowed by such figures as Vítezslav Novák and Karel
Kovarovic, whose music is hardly known today. Suk derived most his income
from performing as violinist in the renown, Bohemian String Quartet. From
1922 on, he taught composition at the Prague Conservatory, and became its
Director in 1930.
Initially written for the Bohemian String Quartet, MEDITATION ON THE CHORAL
ST. VENCESLAV was composed in 1914 at the onset of World War I. To avoid
performing the Austrian anthem at the start of each concert, as was expected
during the war, the quartet asked Suk to compose a short piece based on a
national theme. The choice of the St. Venceslav Choral was logical, St.
Venceslav being the patron-saint of the Czech nation. Meditation became very
popular and a few months after its premiere, Suk re-orchestrated it for
string orchestra for concerts by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
-
[Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/]
[How to join, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.metatronpress.com/jzitt/Cage/]
[ or email ***@metatronpress.com with the text "info silence" ]
The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble
Thomas Buckner, Baritone
Petr Kotik, Conductor
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City
PROGRAM:
Jean-Philippe Rameau - Naïs Overture (1749)
Josef Suk - Meditation on the Choral St. Venceslav (1914)
Somei Satoh - Kyokoku (U.S. premiere) (2001)
Petr Kotik - Music in Two Movements (premiere) (1998-2002)
TICKETS:
$25, $15. 50 % discount for students and seniors & Friends of S.E.M. Ensemble
Alice Tully Hall Box Office: 212/875-5050; CenterCharge 212/721-6500
Patron Tickets: $500 Boxes A; $80 Preferred orchestra seats; $60 Boxes B seats
Patron and Friends of SEM Tickets available through the SEM office only at
718/488-7659
THE ORCHESTRA OF THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE had its debut in 1992 at Carnegie Hall,
where it gave the first complete performance of Atlas Eclipticalis, by John
Cage, with an 86-piece orchestra and David Tudor as the soloist. It was
formed by Petr Kotik as an extension of the chamber music group S.E.M.
Ensemble. SEM Orchestra now performs regularly in New York, and overseas.
Its April 24th concert will mark the orchestra’s fifth concert at Alice Tully
Hall since 1993. SEM Orchestra has commissioned and premiered numerous
compositions by such composers as Maria de Alvear, Muhal Richard Abrams,
Alvin Lucier, Roscoe Mitchell, Akemi Naito, Phill Niblock, Somei Satoh, Sinan
Savaskan, Martin Smolka, Henry Threadgill and Christian Wolff. Since 1999,
SEM has collaborated with the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra, from Ostrava,
Czech Republic. The two ensembles have presented music for three orchestras
at the Prague Spring Festival 1999, the Warsaw Autumn 2000 and at the
Philharmonic Hall in Ostrava. They have performed GRUPPEN, by Karlheinz
Stockhausen, MODULES I,II,III, by Earle Brown and new works by Alvin Lucier,
Martin Smolka and Christian Wolff.
PETR KOTIK (b. 1942 in Prague, Czech Republic) has lived in the United States
since 1969. In 1970, he founded the S.E.M. ENSEMBLE, which, in 1992,
expanded into THE ORCHESTRA OF THE S.E.M. ENSEMBLE.
As a composer, Kotik regards himself as self-taught, despite having studied
composition at the Music Academy in Vienna from 1963 to 1966. By 1966, Kotik
had developed his compositional method, based on regulated chance procedures
and visual (graphic) material, transposed into notation, these devices have
remained part of his technique up to the present day. Kotik’s music is
essentially polyphonic which may be due to his disinterest in, and also
lacking of sense of, harmony (similar to John Cage and Christian Wolff).
Throughout the years, Kotik’s compositions often created more confusion then
enthusiasm, as for example, at the 1964 Warsaw Autumn Festival, when, during
the premiere of his MUSIC FOR 3, most of the audience walked out. (“In the
past, no one quite knew what to make of [Kotik’s] music, just as few know tod
ay.” – Kyle Gann, The Village Voice, 1998). Kotik still performs as a
flutist and is becoming increasingly active as conductor, both in the U.S.
and Europe. Among his best-known works are MANY MANY WOMEN (1976-78), based
on a text by Gertrude Stein, EXPLORATIONS IN THE GEOMETRY OF THINKING
(1978-81), based on texts by R. Buckminster Fuller, and his orchestra works
QUIESCENT FORM (1996) and ADAGIO (1997).
Kotik began composing MUSIC IN TWO MOVEMENTS in December 1997, and by
February 1998 the first movement, FRAGMENT, was completed. The second
movement, ASYMMETRIC LANDING, was composed between January 2001 and March
2002. The two movements have been performed previously as separate
works-in-progress. On April 24th, 2002, the entire composition (ca. 55 min.)
will be premiered in its final form.
SOMEI SATOH (b. 1947) has emerged as one of Japan’s most acclaimed composers
of the post-Takemitsu era. Essentially an autodidact, Satoh arrived at
composition through the spiritual practice of Zen Buddhism and Shintoism. In
his compositions, he strives for simplicity by creating music, which
transcends a timelessly static feeling.
Satoh’s earliest compositions, mostly for solo piano, date to the beginning
of 1970s. The techniques he developed during this period were close to those
of the American minimalists of the time. Later, his style reflected greater
complexity and toward the end of 1980s, his works had moved closer to
romantic sensuality. The static element, however, has remained constant
throughout Satoh’s oeuvre. In his most recent works, Satoh’s tempo marking
requires quarter note to be MM 20, leading on occasion to a loss of all sense
of tempo.
KYOKOKU (The Valley), written for baritone and orchestra, is Satoh’s
largest-scale work to date. It was commissioned by Mutable Music for Thomas
Buckner, to whom it is dedicated. Buckner premiered Kyokoku last August at
the Ostrava New Music Days Festival with the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra,
Petr Kotik, Conductor. The text is an excerpt from the ancient Chinese book
Tao Te Ting, by Lao Tse.
THOMAS BUCKNER, baritone, is one of the world’s foremost new music
performers. His diligent, focused work and his willingness to take risks
have earned him admiration and respect from both musicians and concertgoers
around the globe. Buckner maintains an active performance schedule, and has
toured throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa (recently, he
performed with members of the Dogon tribe in Mali, West Africa). For over
two decades, Buckner has commissioned works by emerging as well as
established composers such as Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Jon Gibson, Leroy
Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros,
Morton Subotnick, Ushio Torikai and David Wessel. Buckner is also a producer
of new music - in the 1980s, he managed the San Francisco based 1750 Arch
Records, and since the early 1990s he has directed the Interpretations series
at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. Most recently, he has established a
new CD label “Mutable Music” dedicated to cross-influences of new music,
improvisation and jazz.
The life and work of JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764) could be compared to
that of John Cage. Both composers lived to be 80, both were able to devote
themselves fully to composition after they reached the age of 50, and both
published books that made an impact on music almost equal to that of their
compositions. They both irritated “mainstream” audiences and worked for
most of their lives on a low budget (Voltaire, for example, asked the Paris
Opera to send his fee for collaborating on the opera Le Temple de la Gloire
to Rameau, explaining that “Rameau’s fortune is so inferior to his talents,
that it is fair the fee be entirely his”).
NAIS was commissioned by the Paris Opera to celebrate the Peace Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which ended the War of the Austrian succession. (In
London, the treaty was celebrated by Handel’s FIREWORKS MUSIC.) Although the
opera itself is a pastorale, the overture is altogether different. It
depicts an attempt by Titans to storm Olympus. They are successfully
repelled by Jupiter and Neptune (read Louis XV and George II of England) who
use the thunder and lightning to avert the attack.
JOSEF SUK (1874-1935) is the best known of the composers working in Prague at
the turn of the century (Janácek lived and worked in Brno). At the time,
Suk’s career was overshadowed by such figures as Vítezslav Novák and Karel
Kovarovic, whose music is hardly known today. Suk derived most his income
from performing as violinist in the renown, Bohemian String Quartet. From
1922 on, he taught composition at the Prague Conservatory, and became its
Director in 1930.
Initially written for the Bohemian String Quartet, MEDITATION ON THE CHORAL
ST. VENCESLAV was composed in 1914 at the onset of World War I. To avoid
performing the Austrian anthem at the start of each concert, as was expected
during the war, the quartet asked Suk to compose a short piece based on a
national theme. The choice of the St. Venceslav Choral was logical, St.
Venceslav being the patron-saint of the Czech nation. Meditation became very
popular and a few months after its premiere, Suk re-orchestrated it for
string orchestra for concerts by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
-
[Searchable Silence archives: http://newalbion.com/artists/cagej/silence/]
[How to join, unsubscribe, etc: http://www.metatronpress.com/jzitt/Cage/]
[ or email ***@metatronpress.com with the text "info silence" ]