Contemporary Classics May 28- Composer Conversations with Bunny Beck

During the first hour of this episode we have a conversation with New York composer Bunny Beck who I met at the Birmingham New Music Festival in Birmingham Alabama in October of 2018.  We will be discussing and play her “Fantasy for Saxophones” and her  “Suite for Sarro”.   In the second half of the program we will be featuring music by other New York Composers.

Works to complete this episode are:

RogerBourland’s Alarcón Madrigals, Book 3   No. 1, Cuerpo en llamas No. 2, Lamentarioa and No. 3, Comoloca flor  

Ed Windels’ Peal Off for Brass Quintet which is a three part single movement work which was commissioned andpremiered by Gaudete Brass Quintet on Dec. 20th, 2018 in Chicago,Illinois. Ed describes the genesis of this work when he was at  the New Music Gathering in BowlingGreen, OH in May of 2017 in the following way: “as I was listening to ScottTegge – tubist for the Gaudete Brass Quintet – participate in a paneldiscussion, and listening to his sonorous and evocative voice, got my brain tospinning and I found myself wondering how I would use my particular style and aestheticfor this timbral combination. Within minutes the entire opening span of thepiece formed in my mind, almost exactly as it currently stands (with the happylater alteration occasioned by a slight misreading at the premiere. Neverdiscount the benefits a mistake can produce!).”   

Arc Of Horizon by Harry Stafylakis, which wasCommissioned by the Lake George Music Festival (Lake George, NY) and madepossible by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.  It was premiered by the Festival Orchestraconducted by Roger Kalia on August 26, 2015 at the Sacred Heart Church, LakeGeorge, NY, conducing.  

David Mecionis’ Obstinate Duet. From theprogram note of the premiere “Obstinate Duet for flute and clarinet is builtfrom a melodious 12-tone row. Each instrument states the row following arepetition of the first three notes. These ideas of cellular repetitions andintervalic relationships generate the rest of the “conversation.” Thepiece owes its style to many early 20th-century 12-tone pieces, which I findhave a certain élan and sense of discovery. In keeping with that period, Iclosely followed standard serialist procedures. I was reading GustaveFlaubert’s unfinished final novel Bouvard and Pécuchet at the time ofcomposition and I may have been unconsciously influenced by it, hence thedouble meaning of the title: it’s a duet on an ostinato figure, while alsoperhaps a character piece on the theme of Flaubert’s hilariously obstinateheroes.”   

Debra Kaye’s StringQuartet No. 2 – The Howland Quartet. This work was written in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of theHowland Music Circle, honors this musical community by “telling the story” ofits founding, growth, and the ongoing spirit that sustains it and which remainsan enduring legacy. It is in 3 movements:

Mov. I – A shimmering idea…you decide to follow.

Mov. II – The beauty of the dream upon reflection.

Mov. III – Danza Energico

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  • 8:02pm Bunny Beck Interview by Bunny Beck on single (live ), 2018
  • 8:15pm Bunny Beck: Fantasy for Saxophones by Ken Thompson Soprano Saxophone; Peter Hess, Alto Saxophone; Ed Rosenberg on Tenor Saxophone; Jay Ratman, Baritone Saxophone on single (live), 2018
  • 8:21pm Bunny Beck Interview by Bunny Beck on no album (live)
  • 8:35pm Bunny Beck: Suite for Sarro by BAMA Players on single (live)
  • 8:41pm Bunny Beck Interview by Bunny Beck on no album (live)
  • 8:54pm Roger Bourland: Alarcón Madrigals, Book 3: No. 1, Cuerpo en llamas by Ensemble Vocal Luna & Wilmia Verrier Quiñones on Abrazo: The Havana Sessions (Ansonica Records), 2016
  • 8:55pm Roger Bourland: Alarcón Madrigals, Book 3: No. 2, Lamentario by Ensemble Vocal Luna & Wilmia Verrier Quiñones on Abrazo: The Havana Sessions (Ansonica Records), 2016
  • 8:57pm Roger Bourland: Alarcón Madrigals, Book 3: No. 3, Como loca flor by Ensemble Vocal Luna & Wilmia Verrier Quiñones on Abrazo: The Havana Sessions (Ansonica Records), 2016
  • 9:01pm Ed Windels: Peal Off for Brass Quintet by Gaudete Brass on single (live), 2018
  • 9:07pm Harry Stafylakis: Arc of Horizon (2015) for orchestra by Lake George Music Festival Orchestra conducted by Roger Kalia on no album (live), 2015
  • 9:30pm David Mecionis: Obstinate Duet, for flute and clarinet [NY premiere] by Barry J. Crawford (flute) and Carol McGonnell (clarinet) on single (Live at St. Peter’s Church, NYC, May 24, 2017. Jeremy Tressler, engineer. Barry J. Crawford, flute Carol McGonnell, clarinet), 2017
  • 9:38pm Debra Kaye: String Quartet No. 2- The Howland Quartet by Voxare String Quartet on single (live performance), 2018
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