Name: Devolution by Andrew Staniland 1
Duration: 12 min 50 s
Description: Devolution was written for the 2009 CBC young composers competition in Banff, AB, and was awarded the National Grand Prize.

I. To the Little House (0:00)
II. Interlude: Vein of Shame (7:28)
III. Kindertotenmusik (10:31)

PROGRAM NOTES

Gretel is in three movements, the first of which is given the subtitle “To the Little House.” The name “Gretel” in the title, of course, refers to the little sister in Hansel and Gretel. As the absence of her brother’s name in the title suggests, however, this work is far from being a retelling of the classic fairy tale.

It is well known that fairy tales are often tinged with dark—even gruesome—undertones. Hansel and Gretel is not an exception: it features heartless parents, attempts at cannibalism and a virtual auto-da-fé. But this 19th century fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm may have an even grimmer undertone.

The original 1812 version of Hansel and Gretel concludes as follows:

Der Vater freute sich als er sie wieder sah, er hatte keinen vergnügten Tag gehabt, seit seine Kinder fort waren, und ward nun ein reicher Mann. Die Mutter aber war gestorben.

The cause of the mother’s death is not mentioned in the story, prompting some commentators to propose that she and the witch are (metaphorically?) the same person—with the implication that Gretel may have committed (metaphorical?) matricide when she pushed the witch into the fiery oven.

The second movement, an interlude entitled “Vein of Shame,” begins and ends with the playback of recordings from the 1993 trial of the Menendez Brothers, who brutally murdered their parents a few years earlier. During the nationally-televised first trial, the brothers’ lawyers introduced the so-called battered-child syndrome as a defense: Lyle and Erik Menendez committed the murders as a result of years of sexual and emotional abuse by their parents. (The “abuse excuse” was not allowed in the retrial and the brothers were subsequently found guilty.)

The third movement, entitled “Kindertotenmusik,” alludes to, and includes quotations from, Gustav Mahler’s 1904 song cycle Kindertotenlieder. The quotes are from the last song “In diesem Wetter!” (“In this weather!”) and are limited to the music roughly corresponding to Mahler’s setting of the following line:

Sie ruh’n als wie in der Mutter Haus, 
(They’re at peace as if in their mother’s house,)

In this song, a father berates himself for having allowed his children out in a storm and then tries to take solace in the belief that they are resting peacefully as if in their mother’s house. Now, doesn’t this sound very much like something that could have gone through the mind of Hansel and Gretel’s father?

If we can make a connection between Kindertotenlieder and Hansel and Gretel in this manner, then maybe we can also add the Menendez Brothers’ case to the mix by imagining Hansel and Gretel making a journey to the witch-mother’s house to avenge themselves for the abuse they had sustained in the past. (Incidentally, while the German word “Kindertotenlieder” is often translated as “Songs on the Death of Children,” the German expression is quite ambiguous in that it can denote anything relating to children and death.)

By pulling these three seemingly disparate threads together, Gretel attempts to give you a glimpse of how one’s childlike innocence gets destroyed, leaving a deep, indelible scar in the individual’s psyche.


PERFORMED BY:

Argento Chamber Ensemble
Conductor - Michel Galante
Flutes - Isabel Gleicher
Oboes - Lillian Copeland
Clarinets - Carol McGonnell
Trumpet - Brad Siroky
Trombone - Jennifer Baker
Percussion - Sean Statser
Piano - Mun-Tzung Chung
Violin - Doori Na
Viola - William Hakim
Cello - Madeline Fayette
Bass - Tristan Kasten-Krause
(Hansel & Gretel recitation: Courtesy of Grace Accidental)

Gretel for Ensemble (Fl., Ob., Cl., Trp., Tbn., Perc., Pf., Vn., Va., Vc., Cb.) (2019-20)

Try tone pivot

Devolution was written for the 2009 CBC young composers competition in Banff, AB, and was awarded the National Grand Prize. 

Devolution

Premiere performance of piece in collaboration with Nunatsiavut Inuk Artist and Activist Delilah Saunders.

Performed by:

Dylan Maddix, conductor
Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano
Anne Thompson, flute
Marie Johnson, clarinet
Erika Raum, violin
Adrian Wright, cello

Commissioned by Western University's School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and premiered during the school's International Week Canada 150 Art Installation and Music Premiere.

Text:
In prison, we were ten again.
I climbed onto her bunk while she put on her face.
A MacGyver beauty queen, trading in our sister' makeup for an old copy of the Globe and
Mail to add colour to her high cheekbones.
Another murdered Indigenous sister's story worn on her already worn-down face.
Vicious I entered her territory, she pulled my hair and laid into me.
I no longer saw my sister's face, but a system.
Possessing our women, men and children.
The sick, twisted wolf growled, "I'm here, I have you where I want you, you're still in my chains, you so-called warrior woman"
Foster homes chewed her up as a child, spit her out at 18, just to lick her back up.
I reminded her that she came from there.
"Look where you came from, my girl"
My home was her only save haven.
I reminded her that she came from there, too.
I reminded her that she may have been beaten into survival mode,
but she had that love within her too.
I reminded her how one arrow, when bent, will snap and break.
But together, the way we were in that moment, the same way we were when we were kids, we are strong, unbending, unbreaking.
One stalk of corn cannot withstand the elements, it cannot stand alone,
but corn in rows, side by side,
They weather storms together,
They move together,
allowing each other to grow.
Together we are strong, unbending, unbreaking.
-Delilah Saunders (2017)


Read more about Delilah's work, the piece and future collaborations here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/delilah-loretta-saunders-chamber-opera-andrew-noseworthy-mmiwg-1.4414857

One Stalk, One Arrow, No Stalk, No Arrow.

Recorded by Andres Vial at Chromatic Audio
Andre White Drums
Adrian Vedady Bass
Mike Rud Guitar
Charles Faubert, photo

Mike Rud Getting Sentimental Over You Chromatic Audio Jan 2016

Original song by Bill Brennan and Andrea Koziol from their new recording.

2. Couldn't It Be

Commissioned in 2017, this version of Hypernova is for pre-recorded flute tracks plus one live flute. Live concert recording.

Andrew Staniland - Hypernova

Reflecting on the tragic events of April 19.  Feeling for all of Nova Scotia right now, especially the families of the victims.

for Nova Scotia

Electronica B • Minor Crush

for Microtonals Accordions ©Xamp
Electric Guitar, Amplified Harpsichord, 
Piano, 3 Percussions, 3 doublebass,
& Wind Ensemble (with NO electronics)

For my beloved friends <3
Tribute to Mark Fell

Conducted by Julien Leroy
With Duo Xamp (F.Vicens & J.-E.Sotty)
R.Reber (Guit.), P.Hattat-Colin (Pno.),C.-U.Kim(Clav.),
& Musicians from the CNSMDP Orchestra
Live Recording by Jean Marc Lyzwa 18th September 2020
Paris CNSMDP
Edit & Mix Samir Amarouch
Master Charles D. Wajnberg

Electronica B • Minor Crush , for 21 musicians | 2020 • J. Leroy

Composed for stereo fixed medium. Wear a pair of headphones for the optimal listening experience.

Interbeing (2020)

Composer of contemporary classical music for stage and screen.

Devolution

Andrew Staniland 1

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