To watch video: http://vimeo.com/113718396

For Oboe, Piano, And ASL interpreter.
Premier in Eastman School of Music on November 22nd 2014.
Oboe: Carly Gordon
Piano: Alfonso Hernández
ASL interpreter: Daniel Zucker

“1. 2. 3.” is based on a poem by Zoe Sorrell (located below), and it is partially inspired by Lutoslawski’s “Epitaph for Oboe and Piano.” My friend and colleague Carly Gordon commissioned this piece for her senior recital at Eastman School of Music.

The piece tries to represent the drama between two converging opposites: freedom and containment.

The dramatic structure of the piece follows the stanza separations in Harrell’s poetry. In that sense, the piece is programmatic. But I wanted the aesthetic to be built upon my personal interpretation of Harrell’s words instead of trying to literally represent the words with music. For me, the poetry communicates a longing for freedom, and alludes to the act of writing as a method to achieve that freedom. That is what the aesthetic of “1. 2. 3” stands for.

Even though the piece does have direct aural connections to the words in the poetry (like the quote of Frank Sinatra’s “Come fly with me” in m.46), I tried to integrate these connections with the aesthetic that represents my interpretation of the words. In that sense, the direct connections to the words in the poem are hidden within the overall aesthetic, and even though they form part of the piece, they are not the driving force of it.

Another interesting component of the piece is the ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter. As part of Carly Gordon’s own research, the piece is to be performed with an ASL interpreter translating the words of the poetry to ASL. In stage then, the music is not the only interpretation of the words, but also the physicality of the ASL adds another layer of drama to the overall experience of the audience.

The name of the piece is an allusion to the act of composition itself. The whole piece is based on intervallic patterns of one, two, and three half steps. I also used that number set to produce rhythmic ratios that are present throughout the work.


I Never Heard a Caged Bird Sing by Zoe Sorrel

I never heard a caged bird sing.
Only a free bird once with wings wide open
Crowing a silent call that made me cringe
And cry and close my eyes so I wouldn’t know
What I couldn’t hear.

It is strange that you and I are the same
When you live in my stinging eyes
And I am curled up somewhere in my humid throat,
Twitching.
When I sleep, my world is cacophonous
And we walk through the warbling woods
And we talk through tiny telephones
And we sing songs by Frank Sinatra
And we drive like Daisy Duke
And we listen listen listen listen like lazy leper leopards lounging lackadaisically I love you listen lllll

I never heard a caged bird sing.
Does she have no song in her heart?
Or am I in the not-cage that sound does not penetrate,
That sound
Will
Never…

But no I am certain that when I see ellipses of finches
Stretched across a paper sky,
They are more than bean husks
Or dried up paint flakes
Or the bits of sponge that inevitably come off under a fingernail.
Even in the not-cage, there’s a chorus to the spheres.
There’s harmony in the crinkled cracks of colour that create this cosmos.
Looking out through tree branch bars,
This bird and I—
We may not sing, we may not hear
But we know it’s there.



1.2.3

Performed in Dec. 2014 by Philip Nolte, member of the London Symphony Orchestra.

La Mujer Callada: Aquelarre is inspired on a short story from the collection Mujeres Calladas (http://www.edicionescalyarena.com.mx/libros/mujeres-calladas/) by Emma Rizo Campomanes, my grandmother. She used to write a column of short stories according to “la nota roja” in the newspaper (a section devoted to violent crimes and murders).

The story La Mujer Callada is based on tells about four boys that fancy their fourteen-year-old neighbour, Darcy. One of the boys gets a date with Darcy. When he comes back he tells his friends he has murdered her. The four boys proceed to rape Darcy's corpse. The story describes how the warmth of Darcy's body disappears as the boys finish having intercourse with it one by one. Towards the end, they take the naked dead body in a motorcycle and exhibit it through town. The situation becomes a ritual for the four boys, that form a violent gang later on.

I interpret the boys as witches and their rape as a Sabbath. I wanted to represent the innocence of Darcy and the violence of the rape, ending with a long, penetrating dead. Although I make no musical allusion to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, I think it has a connection to my grandmother’s story. Both The Rite and my piece combine ritual, virginity and violence. The name of the piece is also inspired in one of the movements of Armando Luna's piano concerto no.2. .

I wrote this piece in memory of my Grandmother, but I want to dedicate it to the victims of sexual violence.

La Mujer Callada: Aquelarre (The Silent Woman: Witches Sabath)

This piece is dedicated to Sebastián Espinosa Carrasco but was premiered by Matthew Quayle in May 2015 at the NYU Abu Dhabi music marathon. Check his webpage: http://www.matthewquayle.com/

Balamku is a cave located in the Calakmul archeological site in the south of Mexico. It is famous for being full of bats. This piece aims to simulate the experience of being in a dark cave full of bats that suddenly fly in debris.  

Recording and Mixing: Samuel Nacach


Balamku - Performed by Mathew Quayle

This piece is inspired by an Aztec legend. The legend tells of a dog that lives underwater. The end of its tail looks like a child’s hand. The dog hides underwater as it waits for peasants to walk by... then it takes the end of its tail out of the water to deceive the peasants into thinking there is a child drowning. After they grab the fake hand, it grabs them and pulls them into the water to eat them.

Although the piece is not programmatic, I did intend to represent three characters with the music: the river, the dog, and the peasant.

Recording and Mixing: Samuel Nacach 

Dedicated to Ignacio Guadalupe Martínez, my father.

Ahuizotl

[2 violins, Viola, Cello, 2 Tars, Tabl, 2 recordings]. Performed by members of the UAE National Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. I thank Canyon Records, the Jutland Archaeological Society, the Danish Folklore Archives, The Royal Library, and Louise Lerche-Lerchenborg for granting me the rights to use the two recordings in the piece and to publish the composition online. 

Recordings: 

1: "Mrada" Olsen, Poul Rovsing. Music in Bahrain : Traditional Music of the Arabian Gulf. Moesgaard : Aarhus: Jutland Archaeological Society ; distributed by Aarhus University Press, 2002. CD 2. Courtesy of Jutland Archaeological Society. All rights reserved.

2: “Deer Dances: Yoko Muhu (Speckled Owl) and Bali Jekan (Fresh Air)” from the album Yaqui Ritual and Festive Music courtesy Canyon Records. Published by DMG Arizona (ASCAP). License No. 2015-020. All rights reserved. www.CanyonRecords.com

More info on www.crismaryan.com
Más información en www.crismaryan.com

Cristobal MarYan - Golfo Musiqa

Viral was premiered by the String Orchestra of New York City on February 12, 2018,  in the Americas Society in NYC. For more information about the piece visit www.crismaryan.com

La Orquesta de Cuerdas de la Ciudad de Nueva York estrenó "Viral" en la sociedad de las americas el 12 de febrero del 2018. PAra más información de la pieza visita www.crismaryan.com

Viral (live) - The String Orchestra of NYC

“Tres Cuartos de Cien” is a symphonic totem. Just as the Canadian Kwakwaka’wakw sculpted their history in wooden totems, the piece celebrates and narrates 75 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and Mexico. In 1960, Canada gifted a State Totem by Mungo Martin to Mexico as a sign of friendship, This year, Mexico offers this "symphonic totem" with the same affection. I wrote the piece commissioned by and with the support of Mexico's Undersecretary for North America Jesús Seade of Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs. It is divided into three parts:

 

1.     The two nations begin their diplomatic relations as a consequence of the Second World War. A chaotic chord unleashes a myriad of melodies that culminate in a solid orchestral tutti that represents the start of the diplomatic ties between Canada and Mexico.

 

2.     The Cold War. An unsure period where the two countries look for their place in a divided world. The orchestra turns dark and mysterious. However, in 1960 Canada commissions a State Totem for Mexico as a sign of friendship. We hear the woodwinds "whisper" over the mysterious bed of the orchestra. The rhythms of their whispers emulate the word "totem". The orchestra then changes to represent the sculpting of the totem. The claves sound like sculpting tools and the strings bang the wood of their instruments. The orchestra reaches a climax that leads us to the next section...

 

3.     NAFTA. The “car horns” of automobiles (the tight bond of the automobile industry between Canada and Mexico) invites us to this last section. The orchestra grows progressively like a machine that represents the diverse number of industries that have strengthened both nations since January 1st, 1994. We reach a monumental orchestral tutti that leaves us ecstatic and inspired by the history of these two countries, and the exciting future of that history.

 

I want to personally thank the Orchestra of the Americas, Jesús Seade, Enrico Chapela, Vanda Gaidamovic and Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs. It is also worth mentioning the dramatic development of "The Rite of Spring" greatly inspired me for this piece. At some point, I subtly quote the work by Stravinsky.

Tres Cuartos De Cien (live)- The Orchestra of the Americas

"El Bosque" is a music and sound piece that accompanies a light installation by Víctor Zapatero with the same name. It was premiered at the Festival Internacional Cervantino 2019. 

"El Bosque" es una pieza sonoro-musical que acompaña la instalación lumínica de Víctor Zapatero con el mismo nombre. Se estrenó en el Festival Internacional Cervantino 2019. 

Violín: Alex Serna
Clarinete: Aarón Heredia
Flauta: Erika Flores
Cello: Ivan Koulnikov
Piano and Harp: Sampled

El Bosque (music and sound for light installation)

Cristina Ioan commissioned "Dharafat" for a workshop and concert in Abu Dhabi. I wanted to write something related to the Arabic classical music tradition and my research led me to a rhythmic mode or Iqa' called Dharafat or Zarafat In 13/8. The piece is an exploration of that rhythm combined with the glissando headjoint, which gives the flute a folk-like sound similar to the Nay flute used in the Middle East. I worked closely with Cristina for the final version of the piece, she gave both technical and artistic propositions essential to the completion of it.

Cristina Ioan comisionó "Dharafat" como parte de un taller y un concierto en Abu Dhabi. Yo quería escribir algo que tuviera que ver con la tradición de música clásica árabe y mis investigaciones me llevaron al modo rítmico Dharafat o Zarafat en 13/8. La pieza es una exploración de ese ritmo combinada con el glissando headjoint, que le da a la flauta un color folclórico similar al de la flauta Nay que se usa en le medio oriente. Trabajé de cerca con Cristina para la versión final de la pieza. Sus recomendaciones artísticas y técnicas fueron invaluables para terminar la pieza.

Dharafat - Performed by Cristina Ioan

For Bio please be so kind to visit: www.crismaryan.com

Para biografía por favor visita: www.crismaryan.com

Cristóbal MarYán

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