A home for new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre, brought to you by the power of public media. Second Inversion is a service of Classical KING FM 98.1.
Ensemble Variances recently visited Seattle as featured guest artists on Joshua Roman‘s Town Music at Town Hall series. Before the show, the musicians gave Second Inversion an exclusive performance of a piece that was not on the program – Thierry Pécou’s Manoa – featuring the low, lush sounds of the bass flue, bass clarinet, and violoncello. Not only did the musicians play their instruments brilliantly, they swirled around the stage in beautiful, barefoot motion. We hope that you enjoy this special performance!
“For centuries, the mythic Amazonian city of Manoa has kept its secrets hidden from the many explorers who have zealously sought to find even a trace of its existence. Running throughout the work, there is one musical phrase the instrumental trio plays in unison to symbolize the ideal splendour of Manoa and its golden King – El Dorado. On several occasions this phrase moves toward its own disappearance as its slowly fades and finally winks out, like a mirage. Built upon the question-and-answer motif of the songs of the Goahibo, an indigenous culture of the Oronoco, the score calls for the instrumentalists to move, particularly the flutist and clarinetist, linking the intertwined instrumental game with the body game of the native cultures. Anchor to the earth, beacon from space, spiral movements, alternating steps, the piece is a dance whose music unfolds like the undulating leaves of a Mayan codez.”
What’s better than contemporary classical music on Second Inversion’s 24/7 stream?
LIVE contemporary classical music from Town Hall Seattle, straight to your living room, kitchen, mobile headphones, anywhere with an internet connection.
Tonight, tune in at 7:30pm PT for Ensemble Variances with Lisa Bielawa for Cri Selon Cri. This production is the brainchild of France’s Thierry Pécou and the United States’ Lisa Bielawa — a work which brings together their compositions, performance, and, quite literally, their cries of pain. This tour, sponsored in part by the French government, demonstrates the power of music to bring people closer. In addition to works by Bielawa and Pécou, John Zorn’s music will make an appearance on the program.
Second Inversion host Geoffrey Larson and Artistic Advisor Joshua Roman will bring you commentary from the stage and behind the scenes throughout this riveting program. Stream online through your computer or better yet, download our mobile app and stream it on-the-go!
Our first LIVE broadcast of the season is coming up on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30pm PT! Brooklyn Rider‘s Johnny Gandelsman performs Bach’s “Complete Sonatas and Partitas” on the Town Music at Town Hall season opener. Hold up. All Bach… on Second Inversion?!
As Joshua Roman explains in his post on Programming a Classical Season at Town Hall… “Every season includes music by J.S. Bach, whether it’s a concert of Bach or mixed in other programs. I love Bach, and find it an ideal anchor for explorations of many kinds of music. In past seasons, Bach has been played by Baroque specialists like Catharina Meints and paired with other music, like Karen Gomyo’s evening of Bach and Piazzolla. This season, Johnny Gandelsman plays all six Sonatas and Partitas. Yesss…”
It’s a good reminder that all music was new once and who better present Bach than Johnny Gandelsman, a violinist in one of the most forward-thinking, innovative, new-music embracing string quartets, Brooklyn Rider?
We hope that if you’re in Seattle, you’ll come hear the concert in person (and say “Hi!” to KING FM and Second Inversion at the broadcast table in the lobby). For Johnny & Bach lovers worldwide, tune in on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30pm PT! On the go? Be sure to download our mobile app to listen anywhere.
My mandate from the beginning was clear and concise: Town Music’s programming should reflect my musical interests. A live iPod playlist, if you will. Well, my interests are broad and evolving! What can I say?
Nine seasons in, I’ve seen the development of an audience that comes for an experience. We’re lucky, in this sense, to be tied to an organization like Town Hall Seattle, which fosters community discussion and debate around issues important to Seattle. This spirit of engagement naturally flows over into the music series, and has prompted me to explore musical connections that might not be obvious based on traditional metrics. When an audience member leaves one of the Town Music concerts, I want them to have had an experience that generates curiosity and excitement. Hopefully, they will have been surprised at some point, whether by unknown sounds or their own reaction to something of which they previously had a different expectation.
But how to do this without having a total mishmash of unrelated projects? There are several things which remain consistent from season to season:
Every season includes music by J.S. Bach, whether it’s a concert of Bach or mixed in other programs. I love Bach, and find it an ideal anchor for explorations of many kinds of music. In past seasons, Bach has been played by Baroque specialists like Catharina Meints and paired with other music, like Karen Gomyo’s evening of Bach and Piazzolla. This season, Johnny Gandelsman plays all six Sonatas and Partitas. Yesss…
Every season ends with a commission. A musical series which seeks legitimacy must, in my mind, be a part of the continuing tradition of creativity and innovation which is classical music. This means commissioning and/or performing new works. End of story!
Every season has at least one concert where I perform. My relationship with Town Hall Seattle began with a solo performance, before I was asked to join the team as an Artistic Director. My identity is very much wrapped up in performance, and I learn so much from sharing the stage time and time again in front of an audience that I know, and that knows me.
So how to bring it all together? Several of my past seasons have had an arc, or a particular focus. The season of extra-musical influence comes to mind, where concerts had textual, dance, or other non-musical influence. Or the season where each concert had a different number of players. However, I find that these ideas work best when they develop naturally during the planning process. I like to start with one or two intriguing performers or programs, and then find the connections (obvious or not, at this point) to at least one other idea that’s been on my mind. From there, I might consciously begin to search for other performances that will enhance or contrast the developing theme.
My best example of this process is a season from several years ago, where each concert featured a composer/performer playing their own work and works that had inspired them. I had already decided on a couple of the performers when I realized the commonality: they were also composers. It wasn’t hard to find other people I’d already wanted on the series who also composed. In the end, we had Derek Bermel, So Percussion, the JACK Quartet, Gabriela Lena Frank, and to bring it all back home to Seattle, players from the Seattle Symphony who also compose.
Which leads me to the last piece of the puzzle: maintaining a connection and sensitivity to the community I serve with this series so I can properly inhabit my role as provocateur. Some of that comes from talking regularly with friends and colleagues in Seattle, during my many (many!) trips there or over the phone and email. I also like to find special occasions to highlight local musicians, whether in an all-cello ensemble or the composer/performer concert. One of the more gratifying endeavors was in June, where we managed to pull Seattle Youth Symphony players, alumni, and mentors from the Seattle Symphony and other orchestras together to share the stage in a program of inspiring string ensemble music.
And, my most frequent activity as an Artistic Director: listening. Hours are spent scouring the internet for music and musicians I haven’t heard. Following trails of interesting ideas to see where they originate. Going to concerts when I can (usually at home in NYC) and asking colleagues what’s new and what’s great as I travel around the country.
In the end, I’m on the hook for the programming decisions, and I take this job very seriously. This is a never-ending path of discovery that has taken me far beyond simply programming my own recitals, and it has had a profound impact on how I see my artistic voice developing. Sharing is such an important part of being human, and as an artist I see opportunities to improve that quality in myself, and they are certainly not limited to the concert stage. I love the the feeling of giving someone else a chance to share their voice with an audience and enjoy the dialogue this beautiful interaction spawns.
Take a look at this upcoming Town Music Season and past concerts.
Music I’m listening to: Ieyoka: “Say Yes Evolved” Bela Fleck: “Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn” Xenakis: Complete String Quartets (JACK Quartet)
There’s something about stretching the limits, pushing the boundaries, that turns me on. When it’s a shared experience, the reward is greatly magnified. I recently had the honor of working with young musicians in a setting that kept all of us on our toes. In partnership with my series at Town Hall Seattle, the Seattle Youth Symphony called on some of their lovely players and alumni to join me and a few colleagues acting as mentors for a concert of 20th and 21st century string ensemble music.
It’s important to demonstrate to young musicians that ours is a tradition of innovation and creativity. Classical music is a living, breathing thing, not stuck in the past. The same discipline used to bring a Beethoven Symphony to its peak form can be turned to the task of helping birth a new work, and share a new idea. One of the most fruitful ways of passing along a teaching is to lead by example, and I’m ever so grateful to my friends from the Seattle Symphony and other orchestras who played in our ensemble as mentors. Sitting alongside their future colleagues, working together to prepare a very challenging program and present it in a few short days was not an easy task. Through Town Hall Seattle’s partnership with Second Inversion and KING FM, we also gave these aspiring musicians a chance to participate in a video recording session, the results of which are now viewable online.
The program: the world premiere of Running Theme by Timo Andres, which was commissioned by Town Hall. Then, John Adams‘ Shaker Loops; and lastly, Béla Bartók’s Divertimento. The schedule: 6 rehearsals including the recording session and the dress rehearsal, from a Wednesday to a Saturday. A chance for the young musicians to have a glimpse of the condensed and intensive experience professional musicians are often faced with.
The diversity of style within the program was integral to its success in creating a powerful experience for the students. The Divertimento is a fantastically fun work that retains much of Bartok’s folk influence, while delving into more chromatic and idiosyncratic ideas in the slow movement. It’s a difficult work, and there are many solos, another opportunity for our mentors to lead by example. Shaker Loops has long been one of my favorite works, and to me represents minimalism at its most exciting and transportive. To see musicians who had never played this kind of music learn to embrace and inhabit a new way of feeling musical structure and phrasing over a few short days was very cool.
Perhaps the best part was the way they rose to the challenge of putting together Running Theme, an entirely new piece of music for which they could not sit and study previous recordings or hear in concert before taking on the responsibility of presenting it to the world for the first time. Every piece in the canon had a birth, every composer in history has counted on musicians and audiences to give them a shot at leading into the unknown. The evolution of one’s feelings as moments begin to be recognized, form really takes shape, and the conviction borne of seeing both the big picture and feeling the importance of subtlety is a beautiful process, one that for me is so integral to how we then share our hearts with the audience.
What’s the value of this experience? Hopefully, for the protégés, a glimpse of what it takes to be a professional musician. To learn to be prepared at rehearsals, on the ball and focused regardless of the familiarity of the music. To be inspired by the level of the mentors, and of course hear the little tips that come along the way. And to be empowered by the notion that they can be a part of the amazing lineage of classical music and its creation, by working directly with an exciting – and in this case young – composer.
For the mentors, to see the growth and feel the energy of youth, and be challenged to lead by example. Also, to be reminded of the wonder they felt sitting in such a group for the first time when they were that age, and the confidence that develops as something unknown becomes a familiar tool in now capable hands.
For me, the incredible joy of seeing the chemistry between musicians, mentor and protégé. And the honor of leading the team as we work together to the best of our ability to convey something that will transport an audience to a place where the impossible becomes possible, and our inner selves are given a common voice.
MUSIC ON ROTATION:
Fiona Apple – Tidal (album)
Timo Andres – Shy and Mighty (album)
Olivier Messiaen – Fête des Belles Eaux – performed by Ensemble d’Ondes de Montreal (2008)
