Scored for saxophone quartet and piano, scream when it sighs was commissioned by the H2 Quartet. This live recording features H2 and pianist Michael Kirkendoll.

scream when it sighs

Performed by the <a href="http://www.taleaensemble.org/Talea_Ensemble.html">Talea Ensemble</a>. Recorded at The Roger Smith Hotel, NYC on April 24, 2011.

Inter was composed for <a href="http://dalniente.com/">Ensemble Dal Niente</a> in collaboration with the painter <a href="http://www.brettbakerpaintings.com/">Brett Baker</a>, my brother. Brett’s text pieces (displayed behind the ensemble) manipulate words by stretching out their visual presentation. Each page contains a single small, typewritten letter or punctuation mark. A word that is three letters long, for example, is spaced out over three pages. As a result, a single sentence of prose may span the length of a wall. A statement that typically appears well within one’s peripheral vision, now requires the viewer to physically move alongside the letters. It is also noteworthy that, from a distance, one cannot make out the existence of the typewritten letters. It appears to be a simple grid of blank newsprint pages. One must move within close proximity to discern the written thought.

In composing Inter, I sought to create a musically analogous scenario. The way in which I began to do this could be summed up as follows: Recitation, Dictation, Rhythmic Prolongation. I recorded myself reading aloud the opening line of Proust’s Swann’s Way. I then took rhythmic dictation from the recording. Finally, I stretched out the rhythm, making each sixteenth note a whole note. The final version forms the rhythmic framework for Inter. Just as Brett’s spacial allotment of letters impacts one’s own ability to recite, the durational augmentation similarly stretches the rhythm of the recited text beyond the periphery of one’s ear. Equally significant is the overall texture that defines much of the piece. Monolithic chords are stated and separated by varying amounts of silence. This creates a surface level analogy to Brett’s pieces in that like a single letter floating in the middle of a blank page, each sonority is given a similar degree of breathing space via silence. The idea of stretching or expanding also pertains to the harmonic content. The first two-thirds of the piece involve a unison D expanding out microtonally a whole step in either direction to C and E. A very small amount of intervallic space is covered in a generous length of time. It is important to return to the idea of physical orientation. As previously noted, the small size of each letter in the text pieces requires one to draw near. I have always been interested in a sort of “close listening,” or creating slowly evolving sound worlds that allow for and even demand that the listener zero in on the nuances of each sound.

Finally, the title Inter refers to the constant state of fluctuation that exists within the piece: deliberate microtonal movement between pitches, the slow expansion of register, the ever- changing orchestration of each chord.

Please visit <a href="http://www.drewbakermusic.com">drewbakermusic.com</a> for additional information.

Inter for flute, bass clarinet, violin and cello

Age of the Deceased (Six Months in Chicago) for solo cello with recitation directly addresses the relentless gun violence that continues to plague Chicago. Aside from the high number of individuals killed and families impacted, the age of the victims is particularly shocking. Of the 146 shooting-related deaths that occurred in the first six months of 2014 (and chronicled in this piece), 44 victims were in their teens and 51 were in their twenties.

Age of the Deceased recites in order the ages of those who have died from gun violence in Chicago between January and June 2014. The pacing of the recitations is directly proportional to the timeline of the shootings. 
The piece also explores the role of proximity in our understanding of and reaction to gun violence. For the first 2/3 of the piece, the recitation of each victim's age is immediately followed by a two-note chord. One of the chord pitches (a very low pedal tone) remains static throughout. The other chord pitch varies according to the distance of these crimes from two geographic points. For the first third of the piece (January-February), I plotted the distance of each shooting from my own home in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the far north side. The further away the crime, the higher the variable chord pitch and the quieter the dynamic level assigned to the chord. Crimes that occurred in close proximity are assigned a lower variable pitch (closer to the pedal tone) and louder dynamic levels. 

While gun violence has occurred in my neighborhood (the image associated with this track is a bus stop a few blocks from my apartment where an innocent bystander was shot and killed), the number of incidents pales in comparison to the other geographic point used for the second third of the piece (March-April). That point corresponds to the Englewood neighborhood on the south side. This shift in geography can be clearly heard with the sudden frequency of loud, low chords, reflecting a very different and tragic reality.

The final third of the piece (May-June) contrasts dramatically from what precedes it in all but one way, the unceasing and chilling recitation of the ages of the deceased.

In the end, I hope this piece brings renewed awareness of the horrible toll this epidemic is taking on our city and, in particular, on kids and young adults. Furthermore, as a community, we cannot ignore this tragedy regardless of its proximity to our everyday lives.


Age Of The Deceased (Six Months in Chicago)

Composed for and premiered by Chamber Cartel

Program Notes:
Years ago, while taking an accompanying class in undergrad, two of my colleagues were working on the Brahms Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78. It is piece that continues to floor me. Of the many astonishingly beautiful moments throughout, the piano chords at the outset have always been of particular interest. Brahms takes simple triads and voices them perfectly—the register, the spacing of the notes, the way those chords provide a buoyant cushion over which the violin melody stretches out—all of these elements combine to create something sublime.

In a way, I’ve been trying to live within the world of those chords for some time now. Brahms’ chords serve a traditional role in harmonizing a melody, and yet, is the melody necessary? More simply put, can chords, these monolithic musical creatures, rome free?

//

Domination of Black is taken from a poem of the same title by Wallace Stevens. The notion of a singular color exerting “dominance” reminds me of a James Turrell exhibit I once attended. For one of Turrell’s pieces, I entered a room that seemed pitch black. My eyes, however, adjusted and I realized there was a light sculpture in the corner. The darkness, once absorbed, provided a focus that illuminated so much subtlety.  

//

Out of the window,
I saw how the planets gathered
Like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind.
I saw how night came,
Came striding like the color of the heavy hemlocks
I felt afraid.
And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.

(closing stanza to Domination of Black by Wallace Stevens)

Domination Of Black

The title Charon refers to the boatman who ferries dead souls across the river Acheron to the shores of Hell. The music itself isn’t intended to be expressly programmatic, but the otherworldly qualities brought about by the unison timbres of the clarinet, violin and cello as well as the slowly ascending melodic patterns, provide subtle allusions to the title. Perhaps equally relevant is the manner in which the piece gradually and methodically morphs from the five-note pattern of the opening to a very different ending point. Charon was written for the ai ensemble.

Charon for clarinet, violin and cello

The title Microscript alludes to a series of texts or "microscripts" by the Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878 - 1956). On small pieces and scraps of paper, Walser composed entire stories, poems and, in one notable case, a novel (taking up only 24 pages!) using microscopic handwriting. For years following Walser's death, these texts were thought to be written in some sort of indecipherable code. However, scholars later discovered that the tiny markings (each letter between 1 and 2 millimeters high) are actually a very old form of German shorthand called Kurrent script. This shorthand dates back to Medieval times and remained in use up until the middle of the 20th century.

Walser's "microscripts" are not only fascinating in terms of the literal meanings conveyed, but are also quite striking from a purely visual standpoint. The Painters' Table Blog nicely articulates and elaborates upon this point:

"It’s easy to see why Robert Walser’s “Microscripts” are some of the most visually interesting pieces of 20th century writing. The tightly-packed miniature ‘Kurrent’ script used by Walser presages later developments in drawing – Brice Marden’s shell drawings immediately come to mind as do works by James Castle, Joesph Beuys, Cy Twombly and Henri Michaux.

More interesting than the microscripts’ visual connection with later developments in drawing, however, is the effect Walser’s method has on the resulting prose – namely an uncanny ability to evoke spatial and temporal movement akin to that in painting.

Like paintings, which can be experienced at once as a whole, Walser’s compressed prose (rarely more than a page or two) constructs full narratives than can be consumed rapidly – nearly ‘at a glance’ as it were. Their short length allows the reader to revisit the work in detail, focusing on sentences, phrases, or words as one might examine the painted passages or marks on a canvas."

It is this invitation to examine each work in a highly focused manner that ultimately interests me. The piece I wrote for Dal Niente is not intended to provide any sort of literal connectivity to Walser's stories or his idiosyncratic script. I am not attempting to musically depict one of his plot lines, set his text or develop some sort of musical shorthand in order to fit an entire piece onto a scrap or two of paper.

Rather, I want to create a similar sense of focus and intensity. I want the listener to gain a heightened awareness of the sonic detailing and I seek to do this in part by limiting certain parameters in order to emphasize others. Microscript begins with nearly two minutes of a single pitch. This seemingly static handling of pitch serves to elevate one's sense of articulation, which in this case - with constant changes in string assignments, bow contact points, articulations, etc. -  is quite diverse. It is my hope that the physicality of the sound is as apparent as that of Walser's writing and I furthermore wish to grant the listener the freedom to linger over and carefully examine various gestures and textures.

Microscript for flute, oboe, soprano saxophone, violin, viola, cello

Skulls was written for Jesse Langen and Ben Melsky who premiered it on January 23, 2016 at Elastic Arts in Chicago. This is a live recording of that performance.

Skulls for harp and guitar

Nox is scored for an open instrumentation comprised of voices, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. The performers are organized into four groups that surround the audience. The result is an immersive and highly visceral sonic experience that is played in partial darkness.

The title of the piece is drawn from Anne Carson's Nox, an elegiac scrapbook filled with bits of letters, photos, personal reflections, and a moving translation of poem No. 101 by Catullus. Through the linear and spatial arrangement of these artifacts, Carson forges an intense atmosphere that connects the ancient and the modern, intimacy and distance, present experience and memory. These connected oppositions emerge within the music despite the fact that the piece itself is not expressly programmatic. 

Nox was commissioned by the Ear Taxi Festival and is dedicated to Augusta Read Thomas.

In Columna is scored for chorus, 2 violins, cello, lute, and organ. The text (sung in Latin) is taken from Exodus 13:21 and 13:22:

21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

-Translation from The Holy Bible: New International Version

In Columna was commissioned by Seraphic Fire, Patrick Dupre Quigley, Artistic Director, in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

In Columna

Some Echoes is scored for soprano, horn, piano, percussion, violin and cello. The text is by Robert Creeley. Some Echoes was commissioned by the Work & Process at the Guggenheim Museum and was included on a concert celebrating the John Chamberlain retrospective.

Some Echoes

Whisper Wall is scored for twelve musicians situated around the audience. It was premiered by the ICE ensemble in May of 2005. The text is comprised of names and words drawn primarily from the art works of Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The first sounds of the piece are the whispered names “Cy” and “Samo”. Samo was the pseudonym Basquiat used to sign various graffiti messages that he posted throughout New York during the late 70’s and early 80’s. During the 80’s Basquiat gained fame as a painter whose aesthetic incorporated certain graffiti-like images. Some of Twombly’s works have also been likened to graffiti. Both artists infuse their paintings with names, poetry and other textual references. Basquiat frequently honors his own contemporary African-American heroes (names used in Whisper Wall) such as Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Jackie Robinson. Twombly on the other hand focuses on the heroes and gods of the ancient world. Among them (also included in Whisper Wall) are Sesostris (pharaoh from the 12th dynasty) and Proteus (god of the sea). Some of the other names and words used in Whisper Wall are intended to bridge past and present as well as the literal and spiritual. The title of T.S. Eliot’s Burnt Norton appears in the musical text. The poem begins, “Time present and time past/Are both perhaps present in time future”. The word “shaman”, or one who serves as an intermediary between the physical world and that of the spirits, is also included. These terms are but a few of those used throughout.

It should be noted that the selected words are utilized for thematic as well as sonic purposes. Many of the words at the outset of the piece emphasize “s” and “sh”. These phonetic sounds are placed within the context of complimentary musical textures such as sandpaper being rubbed against wood and cardboard. Thus the text generates music and vice versa. Likewise, text in the paintings of Twombly and Basquiat transcends mere verbal messages and becomes an important visual subject matter.

Finally, the idea of temporal suspension not only dominates the textual content, but the music as well. While the context of the musical materials may be contemporary, the primitive nature of the sounds yields yet another connection to the distant past.


Whisper Wall

Scored for piano, viola and crotales, Riding With Death is named after the 1988 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting of the same title. This recording was made during the live premiere by Atlanta-based Chamber Cartel, for whom the piece was written. Note: The premiere took place in a covered outdoor venue, hence the steady and rather appropriate sound of rain.

Riding With Death

Drew Baker is a Chicago-based composer and pianist. Described by the American Record Guide as "extremely inventive," Baker's music explores the many sonic identities of conventional and unconventional instrumentations, often taking into account visual art and politics.

Baker's complete piano music was recently recorded by renowned pianist Marilyn Nonken and <a href="http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/drew-bakermarilyn-nonken-stress-position">released on New Focus Recordings</a>. Additionally, his works have been performed by a number of leading contemporary music ensembles including
<a href="http://taleaensemble.org/">The Talea Ensemble</a>, <a href="http://www.iceorg.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)</a>, <a href="http://dalniente.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ensemble Dal Niente</a>, The Group for Contemporary Music, <a href="http://www.moderecords.com/profiles/ensemble21.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ensemble21</a>, and <a href="http://www.chicagochambermusic.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chicago Chamber Musicians</a>. 

Baker earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music in Composition from Rice University and a Doctor of Music in Composition from Northwestern University. His primary composition teachers have included Marti Epstein, Augusta Read Thomas, Shih-Hui Chen, Karim Al-Zand and Jason Eckardt. Find out more at www.drewbakermusic.com.

drewbakermusic

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