Movement I: Wildflowers from "The Wildflower Quintet" for reed quintet (Oboe/English horn, Clarinet in B-flat, Soprano/Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon)

"The Wildflower Quintet" for Reed Quintet (Oboe/English Horn, Clarinet in B-flat, Soprano/Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon) is a re-imagining of Jenni Brandon’s work The Wildflower Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano.  This original version was commissioned in 2004 by the College of Fine Arts of the University of Texas at Austin to honor and celebrate the life and environmental work of Lady Bird Johnson.

The Reed Quintet version was commissioned and premiered by the Kalliope Reed Quintet in 2021.  https://kalliopereedquintet.com/

The inspiration for the piece came from a poetry book written by one of Mrs. Johnson’s friends, Bette Woolsey Castro.  Her book, The Wildflower, was inspired by the opening of Lady Bird’s Wildflower Research Center in Austin, Texas, and contains a collection of poems about wildflowers and nature.

The five movements are based on the imagery from several of these poems.  This new version of the work for reed quintet combines the beautiful colors of the ensemble to tell the stories of glorious fields of wildflowers, hummingbirds, and summer afternoons in quiet gardens.  

The original version was premiered and recorded by Rebecca Henderson-oboe, and Kristin Wolfe Jensen-bassoon.  They performed this piece around the world, including for Mrs. Johnson at her Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.

The reed quintet version was premiered by the Kalliope Reed Quintet during the 2021 ClarinetFest Virtual Festival as well as the 2021 International Double Reed Society 2nd Annual Virtual Symposium.

July 2021

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The Wildflower Quintet Movement 1: Wildflowers for Reed Quintet

The tallest dunes in North America are the inspiration for this work which tells of the incredible system of sand, salt flats, and streams.  The flute and marimba dance and flow as they tell the story of this unique topography.  Fun techniques for the flute like jet whistle, flutter tonguing, and key clicks all add a unique element to creating the world of the Great Sand Dunes, while the ever-moving marimba part creates a sense of fluid motion.

Premiered by Matthew Coley-marimba and Iva Ugrčić - flute

Great Sand Dunes for Flute And Marimba

Keepsake for Rishi, performed by Meerenai Shim (Contrabass flute) and Kris King (Contraforte) at Santa Clara University on February 20, 2019. This piece was written for this incarnation of the ensemble Keyed Kontraptions and is dedicated to Rishi Dhanivan Sweeney.

https://keyedkontraptions.com/

http://brettaustineastman.com/

Keepsake for Rishi

Jessie Nucho performing the world premiere of Passover, by Brett Austin Eastman, at Center for New Music in San Francisco on July 10, 2021. Notes from the composer about the piece:

Passover is a part of a series of three works for flute exploring the concept of feedback.This work overall is about processing anxiety. It is a musical interpretation of a poem by Jessie Nucho written as a way of managing anxiety.The piece itself is the result of a feedback process: the words of a personal struggle, when transformed through another’s lens, can evolve from their original meaning and become something new. The text of the original poem is reprocessed as music, then fed-back to its author, who performs the world premiere, reinterpreting the original work in an entirely new medium, and thus, in a different mindset.The audience reaction during performance represents the last form of feedback experienced in the process, allowing the performer to see a new self-reflection.

To achieve the text-to-music transcription, I started by using a cryptogram developed for the piece. In this cryptogrammic technique designed to transcribe text into melodic phrases, each letter in the alphabet corresponds to a specific musical pitch and duration. I also use a technique called aspirated articulation for recreating certain speech sounds, such as unvoiced fricatives “s,” “t,” etc. and eliding them with the next pitch, thus creating an artificial attack to the principle note, notated as a grace note right before the main note.

-Brett Austin Eastman


For full video, please click the following link:
https://youtu.be/lYFwsHTVeH8

For more information:
http://brettaustineastman.com/

Passover (2020) - performed by Jessie Nucho

San Francisco new music trio, Slow Wave, performing Paraphrase at Old First in San Francisco on January 8, 2022. Naomi Stine on piano, Kyle Beard on bass clarinet, and Justine Preston on viola.

To see video of the full performance:
https://youtu.be/W2xY5Cfl5xY?t=2709

Paraphrase was written for Slow Wave for their inaugural performance in 2019. It consists of three movements, each of which is approximately 5 minutes in length. The first movement, Consolation, presents themes by each instrument, solo at first, but gradually becoming intertwined in an ecstatic build-up. The second movement, Revenent, contains music that was channeled from the death of a loved one. The third and final movement, Chi Io, explores the childhood influences of the composer, including a paraphrased theme from a Bay Area crust-punk/sludgecore band called Noothgrush. The title is both a reference to the bands drummer, Chiyo Nukaga, as well as to the composer. The Italian words "chi" and "io" literally translate to the English words "who" and "I."

For more information
http://brettaustineastman.com/

Paraphrase I. Consolation

Paraphrase II. Revenent

Paraphrase III. Chi Io

A taste of the winning pieces for our 2010 Composition Competition. Works include:

Jonathan Bartz - Concertino for Bassoon, Piano and Three Strings (Violin, Viola, Cello)
Stefan Cwik - 8 Minatures for Chamber Ensemble for Flute, Violin, Bassoon and Piano
Arthur Gottschalk - American Nights for Violin, Bassoon and Piano
Leis Nielson - What about you? for Violin, Cello and Bassoon

2010 Mashup of Winning Pieces

The Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition (BCMCC) is a non-profit organization whose goal is to is to foster the creation of new chamber music works that include the bassoon. The organization's premiere event is a competition for new compositions featuring the bassoon in a chamber setting.

2010 Mashup of Winning Pieces

BCMCC

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