Postcards from Garfield Park

I.  Busking
II.  At Play Amidst the Fountains and Flowers
III.  Westward Late Afternoon (Garden Heat Blues)
IV.  Evening Games (with Busking Reprise)

performed live at the Night Annex Studio, Indianapolis by Jenna Page (piccolo, flute), Eric Salazar (clarinet, bass clarinet), Heidi Radtke (soprano and alto saxophones), and Kelly Swenson (bassoon, contrabasson)

Large public parks are one of the best places in cities and urban places throughout the world - regardless of which continent or country you are in, chances are pretty good that the planners of that city (if they’re smart) have set aside a good portion of land to become wonderful spaces for public use.  Indianapolis (and the surrounding communities) have several great public parks, but the one that was first established is Garfield Park, built in the late 19th century.  In researching a bit about this park, I loved coming across older postcards that focused on a wide variety of the park’s features, especially those of the Sunken Gardens.  When approached by Eric Salazar from Classical Music Indy to write a quartet for winds that was place-centric, he suggested we go tour around the park, looking for spots in which to film the quartet playing this piece.  While walking around I kept thinking of those older postcards, and how the park must have been used by fin de siècle Hoosiers – what sort of games would they play?  What sort of music would they hear?  How would children run around the gardens?  "Postcards from Garfield Park" imagines such a day, from late morning into early evening, in a four-movement work that borrows style and genre from ragtime and playful scherzi from early French modernists, as well as reimagining some slow blues (from under the shade of the Garden’s evergreens) for a hot and humid afternoon.

Thanks to Eric Salazar, Mitzi Westra, Heidi Radtke, Trina Gross, Douglas Spaniol, and Scott Joplin

Commissioned by Classical Music Indy and supported by the Indy Arts and Culture 
Restart & Resilience Fund: An Arts Council of Indianapolis program 
made possible by the Lilly Foundation

Postcards from Garfield Park

Five Modular Etudes

1. Reich, Riley & Townsend Mini Storage
2. Deckard's Vacation Modular
3. 2 Fast 2 Danz
4. (D) Press On (2)
5. Man Eye Zeke

Each of these modular synth studies were conceived to explore a small Eurorack system, as well as compose a set of short works that used as many of the modules as possible in one live setting at a time.

Each piece is recorded from a live performance with no overdubs, and then only modified with a 'house/ambient' reverb and some small mastering EQ.  All dynamics, motion, pitch and harmonic content were derived through CV or human knob-twisting, and all sounds (minus the recording of church bells) were made using this Eurorack system.

An interesting challenge!

Five Modular Etudes

Bassoonist Mark Ortwein approached me about five years ago with an idea for writing a piece where he could perform much like a rock guitar player would, sending his amplified bassoon through a number of effects stomp pedals.  Our original plans were for some kind of a solo piece which then morphed into this piece, upping the ante to include amplified CONTRABASSOON as well as adding a complete wind ensemble to accompany and play against the intrepid (mad) bassoonist.  This piece’s title includes some of my typical ‘punishment’ word play (of course) as well as aptly describes a number of musical elements featured throughout the work:  numerous clingy harmonic major/minor seconds in chords and diads, constant drumming, and myriad velcro-cling effects by the soloist all wrapped up in a kind of snarky, quasi-anxiously-stoned-avant-garde-acid-jazz aesthetic.  

Led by a virtuosic, neo-hep-kat bassoonist…. naturally.

commissioned by and composed for that mondo-awesome bassoonist, Mark Ortwein

live performance by Mark Ortwein and the University of Indianapolis Wind Ensemble, cond. by Jon Noworta

Ecstatic Cling

I.  O Virgo Ecclesia
II. Nunc Gaudeunt Materna Viscera Ecclesia
III. O Orzchis Ecclesia
IV. O Choruscans Lux Stellarum

for mezzo-soprano and piano

Mitzi Westra, mezzo-soprano
Greg Martin, piano

These antiphons (in Latin) are by mystic Hildegard of Bingen that were written and set to her on incomparable music for a dedication for a new church and were later gathered together in her Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum. The first of these four antiphons speak a note of mourning and fear, for which sacrifice of Christ, and the marriage of the church and the Lamb will ultimately conquer their enemy and redeem the church. Each successive antiphon becomes more joyful and ecstatic. This setting sets its stage in mourning and anxiety, before moving through an embrace of that coming joy and eventual marriage. Initially, the first of this set was commissioned by soprano Karen Adair which I then transcribed for my wife Mitzi Westra – she then asked for the last three to be written to be included in an upcoming recording project. I have always enjoyed the work of this polymathic Christian mystic, and had wanted to interact with her through her writings for some time.

Four Antiphons of Hildegard of Bingen

Vanessa Porter, violin
Greg Martin, piano

Vanessa Porter is a violinist who has made her own way in the world of music, rather than only following the usual paths of a performer of concert music.  Consequently, through projects like her Green Dot Journeys and her National Parks commissions, she has forged a unique road as a performer, bringing her playing into a number of concert venues that are off the beaten path: into the homes of music aficionados, into the national parks, and other non-traditional venues.  I had the great privilege to help her with a composition contest for the Green Dot Journeys (named after the roads in Rand McNally maps that are considered very scenic), and I loved the entire process she undertook to make this project work.  As she began to plan her next composition project based on the National Parks of the United States, I hoped that I would be able to write a piece for her based on the park in my home state of Montana: Glacier National Park.

This sonata is a very accessible, single movement, thirteen-episode piece that uses as a framing device the beautiful scenic elements of the park that are close to, viewed from, or a short walk away from the marvelous roadway called the Going to the Sun highway, the only road in the park which crosses the park, west to east.  In a land of wonders, so many of which can only be seen by back country hiking, the amount of stunningly beautiful scenery that can be seen from this road is nearly overwhelming.  Each episode relates to various places along the highway, traveling from Lake McDonald in the west, and moving along the road to Lake St Mary in the east.  Along the way, the traveler rides next to McDonald Creek, by the trail of Cedars, past Heaven’s Peak, the Weeping Wall, up to the top of Logan Pass, past hidden treasures such as the Triple Falls, the Garden of the Gods, moving up and across the Continental Divide, down around Siyeh Bend, past St Mary Falls, Baring Creek, Sunrift Gorge, and then to St Mary’s Lake.  My hope is that the music reflects at least some of the beauty of this part of Montana with its clear, tumbling streams, cloud-crowned mountains, green forests, red and grey rocks, multi-colored meadows of flowers, and its calm, cold lakes.

During the composition of this piece, I was greatly assisted by viewing the photography of many folks, but I would like to single out and thank a friend of mine who regularly photographs the wonders of Glacier National Park, Mr. Blake Passmore.  You may view his photography at FineArt American: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/blake-passmore.html

Additionally, I was greatly assisted in my writing by a wonderful violinist colleague, Dr. Davis Brooks.  His suggestions and editing of the violin part made this piece better in every way.  Mille grazie, m’amici!

Commissioned by and composed for Vanessa Porter

Violin Sonata No. 2 (Going to the Sun)

Cecily Terhune, who plays on this recording, is an incredible saxophonist who has embraced a wide variety of music, including works for live electronics using guitar effects pedals.  We were finally able to collaborate on this piece, which employs delay, a digital whammy, reverb, a freeze pedal, an octave pedal and something really cool called the Rainbow Machine......

The piece reflects the search proposed by Jesus in the book of Matthew (7:7) "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." This music is yearning, restless, impatient, pushing forward and falling back - 

Commissioned by and composed for Cecily Terhune

ask, seek, knock

King Crimson has long been a favorite progressive rock group of mine, and their Discipline album from 1981 features two songs, Discipline and Indiscipline, which utilize polymetrical and minimalist material throughout.  NO DISCIPLINE was composed as a ‘tip o’the hat’ to these two pieces (and indeed Frippertronics), and named after an embarrassingly common tenet of my play/work life, that of having a plan and then… well….. wandering away from it….  The work is a virtuosic piece for a soloist who must maintain independent lines between each hand, while also playing a Brufordesque kick bass drum part with one foot.  (Of course, the piece can also be performed by two players on one marimba as well……

commissioned by and dedicated to the most excellent composer/percussionist Alex Williams

Öszinte Örommel, Francoise Heureux, percussionists

No Discipline

This is the premiere of a song cycle I wrote for my wife Mitzi Westra.  It is a setting of Wallace Stevens' famous set of poems "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."  She is the featured mezzo-soprano here, along with pianist Greg Martin

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

The Hungry and the Cold

"Herbert's Earth" is a setting of three poems by George Herbert (1593-1633), reflecting the poets views of life and love.  This piece was premiered by DavidMichael Schuster, tenor, and Michael Scherperel, piano, on March 26, 2017.

The Call

This is a setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Builders," here set for TTBB choir.  In his poem, Wadsworth describes the generational journey of making meaning and having an impact through the allegory of building a very large structure.

This track was performed and produced by Matthew Curtis at Choral Tracks.

The Builders, for TTBB choir

I am an eclectic composer who writes with a postmodern mischievousness: my pieces can be comedic/ironic, simple/complex, or humble/reverent. My recent projects have taken a turn toward turn towards the sweeter side, exploring a consonant adiatonicism.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

FRANK FELICE, composer

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