Karen Kim, violin
Chris Gross, cello
David Friend, piano

recorded and mixed by Gleb Kanasevich
LeFrak Hall, Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College
Queens, NY

1.10.23

Many thanks to Adrian Morejon, Tori Cheah, and Talea Ensemble.

burnt canvas, for piano trio

Как у нас, на синем да на море, сильная дробная да волна
A strong wave is coming on the blue sea

Как меня, удалого да й мальчишку, тёмная ночка ох да обняла
Dark night embraced me, young boy

Какъ я, удалой да й мальчишка, я на взгоренке да лежу
I’m lying on the small hill

Скрозь мои кости да суставы травка муравка охъ проросла
Through my bones the grass grown

Скрозь мои да резвые ножки стёжка дорожка охъ пролегла
Through my fast legs a stitch path lay

Скрозь мои сахарные усты быстрая речка охъ протекла
Through my sugar lips a fast creek is flowing

Скрозь мои прослышнаи ушки чёрная змейка охъ проползла
Through my ears a black snake crawled

Ты слетай, белая лебёдка, на родиму охъ сторону
Fly to the native side, white winch

Не скажи, белая лебёдка, что я молод охъ запропал
Don’t tell them that I was lost

А скажи, белая да лебёдка, что я молод охъ женился
But tell that I married

(говором) Не пора ли нам, братцы да ребята, со синя ох моря домой?
(spoken) Isn’t it time for us, brothers, to go back home?






Performed by Elizaveta Agladze (mezzo soprano), Tierney McClure (flute), Marienn Sanchez (violin), Alexey Logunov (piano), conductor - Hung-Yuan Cheng,
 
Winner of Georgina Joshi Composition Commission Award 2023
Date of premiere: 4/4/2023, Indiana University Recital Hall, Bloomington, United States.

On The Blue Sea (2023)

Ruckus:  a disturbance or commotion.
"a child is raising a ruckus in class"

OTHER THINGS:
a heated argument
a devastating, sudden, sick feeling in your stomach
being "woken up" with construction equipment as you are trying to fall asleep

Commissioned by and composed for Lati2de (Leo Schlaifer and Matt Dardick).

Performers: Leo Schlaifer and Matt Dardick
Additional mixing and mastering credit: Douglas McCausland

ruckus ruckus (2022, two soprano saxophones and electronics)

Elegy of the Rasping Masses (2024) is a Mass sung by the dead. Attempting to sing with voices now divorced from their living selves, the dead are unable to articulate their old songs and instead speak in rasps reminiscent of their previous hymns. The piece begins with a solitary voice on route to a cathedral, merging with others along the way to coalesce in a cacophony of similarly muted singers. Upon arriving the parishioners listen quietly to a line of chant before beginning to hum and sing on their own. Briefly they are imbued with the natural voices of their living selves, reveling in the lushness of their impossible sound before a low bell tone cuts them short. This announces the end of the Mass, signaling the time for their departure, and the return to their graves.  

This piece makes extensive use of natural harmonics. Natural harmonics are nodes on each string that follow the harmonic series, and can be played by lightly pressing each string at the appropriate place, characterized by a hollow flutelike timbre. Most string instruments’ harmonics sound in a high register, but due to the Double Bass’s low range its harmonics sound within the range of the human voice. Elegy of the Rasping Masses utilizes this unique combination, the low range and harmonic timbre, to evoke the sound of ghostly voices. 

This piece was recorded by Kolten Heeren in Bloomington, IN.

Elegy of the Rasping Masses

As an individual living in today's world, I often find myself questioning the impact of my human desires and actions, especially
considering the severity of climate change, environmental issues, and the suffering of nature and animals caused by human cruelty. It
feels almost indulgent to pursue personal ambitions while the Earth's climate and environment are approaching an irreversible tipping point due to human activities.

Faced with countless problems resulting from human behavior, I have experienced deep self-doubt and questioned the purpose of my own art. Feeling a sense of responsibility as a composer, I wanted to contribute, even to a small degree, to addressing these issues through my work, as the tragic consequences of our current lifestyle will undoubtedly be experienced by our generation.

When I received the commission from the IU New Music Ensemble, I resolved to convey the suffering endured by nature and animals
in some form. I collaborated with Ari Schwartz (b. 2000), the poet of "For All We Took," who is also my colleague in composition at
IU, to create a poem that criticizes human actions and apologizes to the natural world. We worked together through multiple revisions
to ensure that the poem's emotions could be effectively expressed through music.

Dedicating this piece to Mother Nature, I have experimented with contemporary musical approaches. The piece criticizes humanity,
portraying the pain and sorrow of nature and animals, and expressing apologies to the natural world. Ultimately, the piece sings of hope. I aim to convey doubts about whether humans in the present age can truly coexist with nature and whether we are incapable of change. I want to deliver a message that there is still hope if we start making small changes now.

For All We Took (2023) for soprano and sinfonietta

commissioned by Korean National Symphony Orchestra

This composition, titled "The Whale," delves into the profound issues of climate change and environmental problems, which have become the most significant challenges for the current generation of humanity due to human activities and selfishness. As I began to deeply contemplate these issues, I embarked on a sonic exploration centered around the theme of the suffering of nature's creatures at the hands of humans. 

In "The Whale," the sounds of whales are depicted in both physical forms and abstract interpretations based on personal imagination. Throughout the composition, the whale sounds are expressed in a multidimensional manner, adapting to various musical contexts. The sonic characteristics and changes in coloration within different sections offer varied perspectives on the sounds of whales. 

In the early sections, within a meditative musical concept, the composition seeks to present the diverse sounds and emotions of whales. In the middle to later sections, the piece aims to portray the whales' suffering due to the overwhelming presence of plastic pollution. Ultimately, the composition gently concludes while hinting at the souls of deceased whales and the hope for the future. 

The Whale (2023, rev. 2024) for orchestra

Dissolution (2024) for cello solo

[Program Notes]
The title of the piece, "Chiyu," represents the Korean pronunciation of the word "치유," which translates to "healing" in English. While healing typically conveys the idea of curing diseases, "chiyu" embodies a more psychological, experiential, and humanistic approach. 

This piece is composed as a response to unexpected and challenging hardships that intrude as unwelcome guests into everyday life, causing deep wounds and feelings of melancholy. The process of composing the piece itself was aimed at psychological healing, seeking sounds that bring solace and tranquility to the mind, without being constrained by any particular formal structure. 

Throughout the composition process, I sought to find healing for these emotions, relying on the act of composing itself to seek emotional stability within myself. I aimed to express my emotions delicately and emotionally, drawing upon the unconscious resonance of sounds, without the restraint of rational control. I crafted the music using contemporary musical language, capturing the unique sensations inherent in these sounds with sensitivity and emotion.

Additionally, elements of meditation that brought comfort to me during a brief stay at a hanok (traditional Korean house) called 치유재 (Chiyoujae, literally "Healing Studio") in Seoul's Bukchon area are reflected throughout the composition.

Performed by Dissolution Ensemble 
Recorded live at Akademie für zeitgenössische Musik (Blackbox Kosmos, Hochschule Luzern – Musik) on 19 Feb, 2024

치유 (Chiyu; Healing; 治癒, 2023) for quintet – Younje Cho / 조윤제

Pièce pour 14 musiciens:
Flute Clarinette Cor Trombone Piano Harpe Violons Alto Violoncelle Contrebasse 
Enregistrement de la création publique au Crr de Boulogne Billancourt avec les étudiants sous la direction de Jean-Christophe Vervoitte

Aspérité

Pièce pour Voix et dispositif sonore et visuel conçue par Valérie Giovanni 
Chant: Amélie Raison

Osmc

Julia Wolfe- Compassion

Alexey Logunov was born in Leningrad, Russia. He graduated in 2014 from Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory of Rymsky-Korsakov, where he studied composition with Vladimir Tsitovich and Gennady Banshchikov and was later assistant to Sergei Slonimsky. Logunov studied piano performance at Saint Petersburg Conservatory, mentored by Ekaterina Murina from 2016 to 2018. In 2020, he earned a Master of Music degree in Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with P. Q. Phan, Eugene O’Brien, and Tansy Davies. Logunov is now a doctoral student and associate instructor of composition at the Jacobs School.

Logunov’s compositions have been performed at numerous festivals in Russia and internationally, including From Avantgarde to Present Days, Children’s Earth, Sound Ways, reMusik.org, Musica Futura (Minsk, Republic of Belarus), New music-new reality (Ekaterinburg), Composer 2.0 (Yaroslavl) and the Midwest Composers Symposium 2019 (Indiana University, USA), Performing Media Festival 2024 (South Bend, Indiana) and SEAMUS@40 (Louisiana State University, USA). He collaborated with artistic groups “Musica Futura” and “Dialectic of Sound” from 2010 to 2011. In 2016, he participated in the “Roche Continents” program in Salzburg, Austria. The following year, he joined a concert tour of France’s Atlantic coastal cities as part of the Dinard Réunit les Jeunes Virtuoses festival. He was respectively a scholar of and a student of the X and XI International Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky-city and a participant of 2023 Splice Institute (Kalamazoo, Michigan).

On The Blue Sea (2023)

Alexey Logunov

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