This is the premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, Winterleben, a setting of five texts by poet Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano, commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain, through the gracious support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

Friday, August 7, 2015
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Andrew Bain, horn
Renee Rapier, mezzo
Nic Gerpe, piano

PROGRAM NOTE:

Friedrich Rückert, (1788-1866) – German poet, philologist, orientalist – was a profound source of inspiration for Gustav Mahler. The composer identified deeply with the directness and refined sensibility of his verses, declaring that ‘after Des Knaben Wunderhorn I could not compose anything but Rückert – this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind’. Mahler set many of Rückert’s texts—Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder—but of course there are many Rückert texts which he did not set, including the five poem collection known as Winterleben (Winter Life). What follows is a new work, for mezzo soprano, French horn soloist (sharing equal prominence throughout the work) and piano, based on these beautiful and evocative Rückert poems.

-Geoffrey Gordon

Winterleben (Song Cycle for mezzo soprano, horn and piano, after Friedrich Rückert)

Horn soloist Tommi Hyytinen (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra), mezzo soprano Niina Keitel and pianist Marko Hilpo give the European premiere of composer Geoffrey Gordon's chamber vocal work, Winterleben, at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland -  Monday, 7 June 2021 . Winterleben is a song cycle setting five texts, in German, by Mahler's favorite poet, Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano. This work was originally commissioned by Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting, and first premiered in Zipper Hall,Los Angeles, on 7 August 2015.

GORDON - Winterleben V. Wintersonne (European premiere)

This is a live recording of composer Geoffrey Gordon's work for solo harp, Jeux de Création, commissioned for Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra principal harp, Anne-Sophie Bertrand. The studio recording of this work will be released on the Naxos label (the CD will also be called Jeux de Création) in October 2021.

PROGRAM NOTES:
Jeux de Création, for solo harp, takes inspiration from the aesthetic sound world of the 1920’s, as seen through the lens of the composer’s own contemporary classical language. Thematic material drawn from two landmark works of the era - Claude Debussy’s Jeux and Darius Milhaud’s La Création du Monde – are woven into the fabric of this expressive modern score of eight virtuoso minutes. Extended techniques, including xylophonics, harmonics, palm clusters and flutter glissandi, are interwoven with more traditional harp gestures to draw a vivid portrait of musical creation games.

Geoffrey Gordon
17 May 2021

***************

“Jeux de Création by the American composer Geoffrey Gordon is a brilliant, even spectacular work in all respects.”

- Pizzicato (November 2021)


"French-American harpist Anne-Sophie Bertrand plays a diverse program of music for harp, going back as far as E.T.A. Hoffmann, the older colleague and promoter of Beethoven, and as far forward as American composer Geoffrey Gordon.

Absolutely the most interesting piece on this entire album is Gordon’s Jeux de Création, music that is not just modern but very creative and highly atmospheric."

- The Art Music Lounge (November 2021)

GORDON - Jeux de Création for solo harp

This is a studio recording of composer Geoffrey Gordon's new work for tenor trombone and piano, Vermilion, after the painting by Henri Matisse, with soloist Yu Tamaki Hoso and pianist Kosuke Akimoto, recorded in Tokyo, 28 August 2021.

PROGRAM NOTES:

"I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish" said renowned French artist, Henri Matisse (1869-1954), whose predilection for exploring and using color and composition in unique and vibrant ways fills his paintings with bold imagery often associated with the Fauvist Art movement. The thoughts of the painter Paul Gauguin were known to Matisse: writing about art and color, Gauguin said “How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion”. To his students, Matisse spoke not of red or orange, but vermilion. From around 1912, goldfish, which had been introduced to Europe from East Asia in 17th century became a recurring subject in the work of Matisse. They appear in no less than nine of his paintings, as well as in his drawings and prints. For Matisse, the goldfish came to symbolize a tranquil state of mind and a lost paradise. Visiting Tangier, Matisse had been intrigued to see how people would daydream for hours, gazing into goldfish bowls. In his paintings, the goldfish immediately attract attention due to their color: vermilion. The bright red-orange, so evident and seemingly bursting with its components of red and yellow fused in a dense complicated color, contrasts strongly to surrounding blues and greens, each made brighter by the presence of the other.

GORDON - Vermilion (for tenor trombone and piano)

This is the studio recording of composer Geoffrey Gordon's orchestral work, PUCK - fleeing from the dawn, from the new Orchid Classics CD, Mythologies and Mad Songs - featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins. This work is inspired by the painting of the same name by Scottish artist, David Scott (1837). The recording was made in Glasgow, 3-4 October 2022, with producer Alex Van Ingen.

***********

In the last scene of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the magical fairy Puck comes into the palace of Theseus after all the mortals have retired for the night. 
He says,

And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic.

Oberon, Titania and their band of fairies then enter, "Hand in hand, with fairy grace" to "sing, and bless this place." Their work, Oberon says, must be finished by break of day. Scott's work depicts a scene that does not occur until the play is over and all the supernatural creatures have left the palace. It is this imagined scene which inspires the music for this tone poem.

GORDON - PUCK - fleeing from the dawn

This is the live premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's la terre est bleue comme une orange No. 1  (the earth is blue like an orange) - a work for string quartet inspired by French surrealist poet Paul Eluard's iconic poem. 

This work was commissioned by the San Francisco-based Friction Quartet and the premieres took place on 23 and 24 September 2022 at Noe Valley Ministry and Ruth Bancroft Garden in San Francisco.

**************
The earth Is blue like an orange

No error the words do not lie
They no longer allow you to sing
In the tower of kisses agreement
The madness the love
She her mouth of alliance
All the secrets all the smiles
Or what dress of indulgence
To believe in quite naked.
The wasps flourish greenly
Dawn goes by round her neck
A necklace of windows
You are all the solar joys
All the sun of this earth
On the roads of your beauty.

- Paul Eluard 
(translated from the French)

GORDON: La terre est bleue comme une orange No. 1 (for one string quartet)

This is the second movement of Geoffrey Gordon's Duo Sonata, for two horns and piano, from the premiere performance at the Peck School of the Arts, Milwaukee, on April 23, 2014. Horn soloists Neil Kimel and Greg Flint (who commissioned the work) are joined by pianist Kuang-Hao Huang. 

Duo Sonata: Second Movement

This is the studio recording of Geoffrey Gordon's Vermilion for tenor trombone and piano, after the painting by Matisse, featuring trombone soloist Håkan Björkman (Principal trombone, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe) and pianist Pilar Beltran. 

Recorded 11 September, Royal College of Music, 
Stockholm, Sweden - Sound engineer: Jan-Olof Gullö, RCM.

PROGRAM NOTE:

"I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish" said renowned French artist, Henri Matisse (1869-1954), whose predilection for exploring and using colour and composition in unique and vibrant
ways fills his paintings with bold colours and techniques associated with the Fauvist Art movement. The thoughts of the painter Paul Gauguin were known to Matisse: writing about art and color, Gauguin said “How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion”. To his students, Matisse spoke not of red or orange, but vermilion. From around 1912, goldfish, which had been introduced to Europe from East Asia in 17th century, became a recurring subject in the work of Matisse. They appear in no less than nine of his paintings, as well as in his drawings and prints. For Matisse, the goldfish came to symbolize a tranquil state of mind and a lost paradise. Visiting Tangier, Matisse had been intrigued to see how people would daydream for hours, gazing into goldfish bowls. In his paintings, the goldfish immediately attract attention, due to their colour: vermilion. The bright red-orange, so evident and seemingly bursting with its components of red and yellow fused in a dense complicated colour, contrasts strongly to surrounding blues and greens, each made brighter by the presence of the other.

GORDON - Vermilion  (studio)

This is the world premiere of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, At the round earths imagin'd corners, for baritone and piano, after the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, commissioned for and premiered as part of the Oxford International Song Festival, with baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist Alisdair Hogarth - Holywell Music Room, Oxford, England... 7:45pm 27 October 2023.

VII. Death Be Not Proud, Though Some Have Called Thee

VI. Oh My Blacke Soule! Now Thou Art Summoned

V. This Is My Playes Last Scene, Here Heavens Appoint

III. What If This Present Were The Worlds Last Night

II. THOU Hast Made Me, And Shall Thy Worke Decay

This is a the premiere performance of Exposure for solo violin, by composer Geoffrey Gordon, featuring soloist Elisabeth Kufferath for whom the work was commissioned by the Freundeskreises Hauskonzert Musik für heute e.V.,as part of Musik 21 Lower Saxony. The premiere performance took place at the Calder Saal at the Sprengel Art Museum, Hannover, Germany – 14 November 2021. 

PROGRAM NOTE:

Inspired by the TRUE PICTURES art installation, comprised of contemporary North American Photography of the 21st century at the Sprengel Museum in Hannover Germany, Exposure for solo violin responds, sonically, to the powerful artistic visual language of this medium. The contrast of lyrical and explosive, of light and dark, of smooth and abrasive are expressed in sound via the wood and sinew of the solo violin, whose expressive capabilities are explored through both traditional and extended techniques. Exposure, as a term and a title, refers not only to the obvious photographic reference – the amount of light reaching a frame of photographic film or the surface of an electronic image sensor (as determined by shutter speed, lens aperture, and scene luminance), but also to the exposure of thoughts and ideas and concepts which comes of this process, and the way in which, through music, these images can be converted into sound.

Exposure for solo violin

This is the Asian premiere of Geoffrey Gordon's Fumée for Bb clarinet and chamber orchestra, with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, conductor Christoph Poppen and soloist Horácio Ferreira, from HK City Hall Concert Hall, Hong Kong, 29 June 2024.

PROGRAM NOTE:

Immersed in the magical cultural milieu of Belle Époque Paris at the end of the 19th century, the precocious talent of young composer Reynaldo Hahn (August 9, 1874 – January 28, 1947) emerged, and from an early age, Hahn astounded and delighted his audiences with settings of some of the most beautiful and enduring poems of contemporary writers, including Hugo, Verlaine, Mallarmé. It is said that Verlaine "wept to hear Hahn's songs" and Mallarmé wrote: "Le pleur qui chante au langage du poète, Reynaldo Hahn, tendrement le dégage comme en l'allée un jet d'eau." (“The cry that sings to the language of the poet, Reynaldo Hahn, tenderly releases it like a jet of water in the alley.”)

Inspired by and in recognition of Hahn’s legacy, composer Geoffrey Gordon re-imagines, through his own distinct and intensely expressive musical language, the beguiling atmosphere, adventurous harmonic progressions and profound beauty of Hahn’s exquisite and contemplative chanson, “Fumée” (“Smoke”) – first published by Paris Heugel (1896) - in the form of an alluring and intense new concerto for Bb clarinet and chamber orchestra. Echoing and amplifying Hahn’s setting of the text by Jean Moréas, the concerto idiomatically addresses the poet’s message of a life that goes from ashes to ashes, envying the freedom and transience of smoke which has no past, no responsibility, and is without the hardships of life....vanishing into the ether.

GORDON - Fumée For Bb Clarinet And Chamber Orchestra

This is the live performance of Geoffrey Gordon's Crucifixus for double choir and solo cello, from the Presteigne Festival, Wales, UK - featuring the Choir of Royal Holloway, conductor Rupert Gough and cellist Alice Neary, principal cello of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, within the confines of the 13th century Anglican Priory Church in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, 25 August 2024.

TEXT:

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis
sub Pontio Pilato,
passus et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die
secundum Scripturas.
Et ascendit in coelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria,
judicare vivos et mortuos:
cujus regni non erit finis.

(English translation):

He was crucified also for us
under Pontius Pilate;
He suffered and was buried.
And the third day
According to the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven:
He sits at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory,
to judge the living and the dead;
His kingdom will have no end.

www.geoffreygordoncomposer.com

GORDON - Crucifixus for double choir and solo cello

This is the premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, Winterleben, a setting of five texts by poet Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano, commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain, through the gracious support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

Friday, August 7, 2015
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Andrew Bain, horn
Renee Rapier, mezzo
Nic Gerpe, piano

PROGRAM NOTE:

Friedrich Rückert, (1788-1866) – German poet, philologist, orientalist – was a profound source of inspiration for Gustav Mahler. The composer identified deeply with the directness and refined sensibility of his verses, declaring that ‘after Des Knaben Wunderhorn I could not compose anything but Rückert – this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind’. Mahler set many of Rückert’s texts—Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder—but of course there are many Rückert texts which he did not set, including the five poem collection known as Winterleben (Winter Life). What follows is a new work, for mezzo soprano, French horn soloist (sharing equal prominence throughout the work) and piano, based on these beautiful and evocative Rückert poems.

-Geoffrey Gordon

TEXT:

V. Wintersonne

Mond und Sonne scheint so schön,
Wie im Frühling immer;
Öder nur die Winterhöh'n
Macht der kalte Schimmer.

Ach vom Himmel kann die Lust
Nicht hernieder steigen,
Wenn der Erde, wenn der Brust
Sie nicht schon ist eigen.


GORDON Winterleben V

This is the premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, Winterleben, a setting of five texts by poet Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano, commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain, through the gracious support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

Friday, August 7, 2015
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Andrew Bain, horn
Renee Rapier, mezzo
Nic Gerpe, piano

PROGRAM NOTE:

Friedrich Rückert, (1788-1866) – German poet, philologist, orientalist – was a profound source of inspiration for Gustav Mahler. The composer identified deeply with the directness and refined sensibility of his verses, declaring that ‘after Des Knaben Wunderhorn I could not compose anything but Rückert – this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind’. Mahler set many of Rückert’s texts—Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder—but of course there are many Rückert texts which he did not set, including the five poem collection known as Winterleben (Winter Life). What follows is a new work, for mezzo soprano, French horn soloist (sharing equal prominence throughout the work) and piano, based on these beautiful and evocative Rückert poems.

-Geoffrey Gordon

TEXT:

IV. Erwartung

Wenn ich gegen Tages Mitte
 Setz' ins Zimmer meine Schritte,
 Die auf Schnee und Eis geweilt;
 Denk' ich, auf dem Wust des Tisches
 Liegen müss' ein Blatt, ein frisches
 Das vom Freunde Kund' erteilt,
 Wie die rötlich angeglühte
 Mandelblüte,
 Die voraus dem Frühling eilt.

 Oder wann ich lange träumte,
 Wie er nun so lange säumte,
 Sich zu melden; kommt mir's vor,
 Selber müss' er aus den Ecken
 Treten, froh mich zu erschrecken,
 Ohne Meldebrief zuvor,
 Überraschend, wie die Feige
 Aus dem Zweige
 Ohne Blüte tritt hervor.


GORDON Winterleben IV

This is the premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, Winterleben, a setting of five texts by poet Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano, commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain, through the gracious support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

Friday, August 7, 2015
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Andrew Bain, horn
Renee Rapier, mezzo
Nic Gerpe, piano

PROGRAM NOTE:

Friedrich Rückert, (1788-1866) – German poet, philologist, orientalist – was a profound source of inspiration for Gustav Mahler. The composer identified deeply with the directness and refined sensibility of his verses, declaring that ‘after Des Knaben Wunderhorn I could not compose anything but Rückert – this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind’. Mahler set many of Rückert’s texts—Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder—but of course there are many Rückert texts which he did not set, including the five poem collection known as Winterleben (Winter Life). What follows is a new work, for mezzo soprano, French horn soloist (sharing equal prominence throughout the work) and piano, based on these beautiful and evocative Rückert poems.

-Geoffrey Gordon

TEXT:

III. Der Abglanz der Rose

Wenn der Rose Liebesrot
 Ist im kurzen Lenz verglüht,
 Bleibt in Erdenwinternot
 Dir kein Trost, o mein Gemüt;
 Blick' hinauf! am Himmel sprüht
 Ew'ges Abend-Morgenrot:
 Deine Ros' ist hier nicht tot,
 Die dort oben doppelt blüht.


GORDON Winterleben III

This is the premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, Winterleben, a setting of five texts by poet Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano, commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain, through the gracious support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

Friday, August 7, 2015
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Andrew Bain, horn
Renee Rapier, mezzo
Nic Gerpe, piano

PROGRAM NOTE:

Friedrich Rückert, (1788-1866) – German poet, philologist, orientalist – was a profound source of inspiration for Gustav Mahler. The composer identified deeply with the directness and refined sensibility of his verses, declaring that ‘after Des Knaben Wunderhorn I could not compose anything but Rückert – this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind’. Mahler set many of Rückert’s texts—Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder—but of course there are many Rückert texts which he did not set, including the five poem collection known as Winterleben (Winter Life). What follows is a new work, for mezzo soprano, French horn soloist (sharing equal prominence throughout the work) and piano, based on these beautiful and evocative Rückert poems.

-Geoffrey Gordon

TEXT:

II.Winter-Lerchenton

In Lüften hängt ein Lerchenton,
 Mein Ohr hat staunend ihn vernommen.
 Ist's eine, die noch nicht entflohn?
 Ist's eine, die zurückgekommen,
 Gelockt von Frühling schon,
 Da rings die Schöpfung noch von Winter ist beklommen?

 Durch meine Seele zieht ein Schwung,
 Den jener Ton hat angeschlagen.
 Ist's Ahnung, ist's Erinnerung
 Von künftigen, von vor'gen Tagen?
 Ich fühle nur mich jung,
 Ob wie ich's war, ob wie ich sein werd'? ist zu fragen.

 Verklungen ist die Melodie,
 Verschlungen von Schneewolkenherden;
 Und Winter ist's im Herzen, wie
 Am Himmel Winter und auf Erden,
 So Winter, als ob nie
 Gewesen Frühling sei und nimmer sollte werden.


GORDON Winterleben II

This is the premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's song cycle, Winterleben, a setting of five texts by poet Friedrich Rückert, for mezzo, horn and piano, commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain, through the gracious support of Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

Friday, August 7, 2015
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Andrew Bain, horn
Renee Rapier, mezzo
Nic Gerpe, piano

PROGRAM NOTE:

Friedrich Rückert, (1788-1866) – German poet, philologist, orientalist – was a profound source of inspiration for Gustav Mahler. The composer identified deeply with the directness and refined sensibility of his verses, declaring that ‘after Des Knaben Wunderhorn I could not compose anything but Rückert – this is lyric poetry from the source, all else is lyric poetry of a derivative kind’. Mahler set many of Rückert’s texts—Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder—but of course there are many Rückert texts which he did not set, including the five poem collection known as Winterleben (Winter Life). What follows is a new work, for mezzo soprano, French horn soloist (sharing equal prominence throughout the work) and piano, based on these beautiful and evocative Rückert poems.

-Geoffrey Gordon

TEXT:

I. Die Winternachtigall

So laut im Winterzimmer schmettert
 Die Nachtigall,
 Daß sich ein Frühlingshain beblättert
 An ihrem Schall:
 Zum blauen Himmel wird die Decke
 Und jede Wand zur grünen Hecke,
 Zur Schattengrotte jede Dunkelecke,
 Des Vorhangs Weh'n zu Bäche-Rieselfall.

 Nur wenn der Himmel oft so schaurig
 Durchs Fenster schaut,
 Dann klagt die Nachtigall so traurig
 Den Klagelaut,
 Als wollte sie ihr Los verklagen,
 Daß sie in Winterhaft muß schlagen
 Und schweigen einst, wann in beglücktern Tagen
 Der freie Frühling seinen Tempel baut.

 Doch laß dich das nur nicht verdrießen
 Und singe zu!
 Ein Lenz muß auch im Winter sprießen,
 Den wirkest du.
 O Himmelskehl' im Zeitenfroste,
 Du bist gegeben uns zum Troste;
 Sing' nur, und ob es dir die Seele koste,
 In jede Seele Sehnsucht, Schmerz und Ruh'.


GORDON Winterleben I

This is the third movement of Geoffrey Gordon's FATHOMS, Five Impressions of Shakespeare's The Tempest (with Prelude) for cello and piano, in a performance by cellist Toke Moldrup and pianist Steven Beck, from Carnegie Hall, 17 December 2015.

"You taught me language, and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse ..."

FATHOMS III Caliban (and Sycorax)

This is the world premiere performance of the first movement of Geoffrey Gordon's QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings, played by the JACK Quartet and New York Philharmonic principal clarinet, Anthony McGill.  The New York Times called the work, commissioned by the American Music Project, "darkly seductive....."

"Mr. Gordon’s Clarinet Quintet combines a zest for sonic experimentation with a four-movement structure built around thematic signposts — reiterations of an opening motif — that guide the listener through a colorful and atmospheric journey. That motif is built on accordion-like layered string chords from which the clarinet emerges almost coyly, with a veiled sound and sinewy flutter."

Across four movements, the interaction between clarinet and strings changes, with moments of bright commonality and others in which the warm, musky clarinet tone contrasts with the sharper and glossier one of the string quartet. In the third movement, small cells of players break away for a series of arresting duos and a trio that chart different interpersonal dynamics. The work ends softly on a languid low clarinet trill, which Mr. McGill played so quietly that the final notes were not so much heard as felt as gently pulsating airwaves."

The New York Times: 22 November 2015

QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings: First Movement

This is the studio recording, on the Signum label, of Geoffrey Gordon's double concerto, Saint Blue, commissioned for the English String Orchestra and soloists Simon Desbruslais and Clare Hammond, through funds provided by Arts Council England. Inspired by the works of Russian visual artist and visionary, Wassily Kandinsky, Saint Blue (scored for trumpet, piano and strings) is divided into two contrasting sections, with the second essentially embedded in the first—a kind of sonic exploration of the sacred and profane—in a fairly straight-forward A-B-A design. The first section is a reaction to Kandinsky’s 1911 All Saints I (part of the Stadtische Galerie’s permanent collection in Munich), and features the soloists and full string orchestra in a shared expression of this colorful masterpiece. The contrasting B section draws the orchestra’s principal double bass into a trio with the trumpet and piano soloists, creating a kind of extended, jazz-infused cadenza, after Kandinsky’s In Blue (1925; part of the Kunstsammlung Museum’s collection in Dusseldorf). An animated return to the tutti string orchestra and some (evolved) thematic music from All Saints I, concludes Saint Blue. 

"Geoffrey Gordon’s Saint Blue, inspired by two Kandinsky paintings ('All Saints 1' and 'In Blue', well worth a web search), is by far the best work on this engaging disc; a taut and exhilarating single movement concerto, wonderfully played by soloists Simon Desbruslais and Clare Hammond."

–Chris Achenbach
Classical Ear (UK): 30 April 2018

"Geoffrey Gordon's Saint Blue is inspired by two Kandinsky paintings, All Saints I and In Blue and constructed as 'a sonic exploration of the sacred and profane,' with the trumpet deployed first as an instrument of heavenly summons, then as the bluesy soul of jazz in this complex, richly-satisfying work."

-Kate Wakeling
BBC Music Magazine: January 2018

Saint Blue (double concerto for trumpet, piano and strings after Kandinsky)

This is the world premiere performance of the fourth movement of Geoffrey Gordon's QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings, played by the JACK Quartet and New York Philharmonic principal clarinet, Anthony McGill.  The New York Times called the work, commissioned by the American Music Project, "darkly seductive....."

"Mr. Gordon’s Clarinet Quintet combines a zest for sonic experimentation with a four-movement structure built around thematic signposts — reiterations of an opening motif — that guide the listener through a colorful and atmospheric journey. That motif is built on accordion-like layered string chords from which the clarinet emerges almost coyly, with a veiled sound and sinewy flutter."

Across four movements, the interaction between clarinet and strings changes, with moments of bright commonality and others in which the warm, musky clarinet tone contrasts with the sharper and glossier one of the string quartet. In the third movement, small cells of players break away for a series of arresting duos and a trio that chart different interpersonal dynamics. The work ends softly on a languid low clarinet trill, which Mr. McGill played so quietly that the final notes were not so much heard as felt as gently pulsating airwaves."

The New York Times: 22 November 2015

QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings: Fourth Movement

This is the world premiere performance of the second movement of Geoffrey Gordon's QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings, played by the JACK Quartet and New York Philharmonic principal clarinet, Anthony McGill.  The New York Times called the work, commissioned by the American Music Project, "darkly seductive....."

"Mr. Gordon’s Clarinet Quintet combines a zest for sonic experimentation with a four-movement structure built around thematic signposts — reiterations of an opening motif — that guide the listener through a colorful and atmospheric journey. That motif is built on accordion-like layered string chords from which the clarinet emerges almost coyly, with a veiled sound and sinewy flutter."

Across four movements, the interaction between clarinet and strings changes, with moments of bright commonality and others in which the warm, musky clarinet tone contrasts with the sharper and glossier one of the string quartet. In the third movement, small cells of players break away for a series of arresting duos and a trio that chart different interpersonal dynamics. The work ends softly on a languid low clarinet trill, which Mr. McGill played so quietly that the final notes were not so much heard as felt as gently pulsating airwaves."

The New York Times: 22 November 2015

QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings: Second Movement

This is the world premiere performance of the third movement of Geoffrey Gordon's QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings, played by the JACK Quartet and New York Philharmonic principal clarinet, Anthony McGill.  The New York Times called the work, commissioned by the American Music Project, "darkly seductive....."

"Mr. Gordon’s Clarinet Quintet combines a zest for sonic experimentation with a four-movement structure built around thematic signposts — reiterations of an opening motif — that guide the listener through a colorful and atmospheric journey. That motif is built on accordion-like layered string chords from which the clarinet emerges almost coyly, with a veiled sound and sinewy flutter."

Across four movements, the interaction between clarinet and strings changes, with moments of bright commonality and others in which the warm, musky clarinet tone contrasts with the sharper and glossier one of the string quartet. In the third movement, small cells of players break away for a series of arresting duos and a trio that chart different interpersonal dynamics. The work ends softly on a languid low clarinet trill, which Mr. McGill played so quietly that the final notes were not so much heard as felt as gently pulsating airwaves."

The New York Times: 22 November 2015

QUINTET for Clarinet and Strings: Third Movement

This is the third movement of Geoffrey Gordon's Three Summer Sketches, for solo piano, commissioned for pianist Jeri-Mae Astolfi by the Wisconsin Arts Board, and recorded on the Ravello label.  Buy the whole disc here: http://www.ravellorecords.com/wisconsinsoundscapes/

Three Summer Sketches: III. Spring Green

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group gives the world premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's Harmonie - an Jenny, a setting of a text by Karl Marx, as part of the Wilde Lieder Marx.Music Project. Scored for soprano and solo cello, Harmonie is a setting of an early romantic text by the political thinker and theorist, dedicated to his love, Jenny, from Buch der Lieder 1836, featuring soprano Elizabeth Atherton and cellist Ulrich Heinen, given on 1st September 2018, in Marx's hometown of Trier, Germany. Recording courtesy of German Radio SWR2. A studio recording of this work is available on the Coviello label. http://covielloclassics.de/en/Katalog/cov-91914-wilde-lieder-marx-music/

TEXT:

Harmonie (an Jenny)

Kennst Du das süsse Zauberbild,
Wo Seelen in einander fliessen,
In einem Hauche sich ergiessen,
Melodisch voll und freundlich mild?

Sie glühen auf in einer Purpurrose,
Und bergen sich verschämt im weichen Moose.

Und walle weit durch Flur und Land,
Das Zauberbild wirst Du nicht finden,
Kein Talisman vermag's zu binden,
Und keine Sonne je es fand.

Es ist in ihrem Scheine nicht entsprossen,
Hat keine Erdennahrung je genossen.

Drum bleibt es ewig prangend stehn,
Ob schwingt die Zeit den raschen Flügel,
Apollo fast der Rosse Zügel,
Und Welten stumm im Nichts vergehn.

In sich hat's eine Kraft sich selbst erzeuget,
Die keine Welt, die selbst kein Gott ihm beuget.

Es ähnelt wohl dem Zytherklang,
Gespielt auf einer ew'gen Leier,
In stetem Glühen, steter Feier,
In hohem, sehnsuchtsvollem Drang.

O! horch den Saiten, die in Dir erschallen,
Zu suchen wird Dein Fuß nicht weiterwallen.

Karl Marx (1836)

2018-09-01, Marx.Music (Promotionsaula, Trier)

GORDON: Harmonie - an Jenny after Karl Marx

This is a live performance of Geoffrey Gordon's new work for string orchestra, Gotham News, after the painting of the same name by Dutch artist Willem de Kooning (1955), with the Radom Chamber Orchestra and conductor Szymon Morus, Krzysztof Penderecki Concert Hall, Radom, Poland - 29 November 2019. 

Gotham News was commissioned by the Merz Foundation as part of the Mario Merz Prize in Music Composition awarded to Mr. Gordon in 2017, and was premiered in Sicily, with the WADI Ensemble and conductor Willy Merz, in a performance at the Chiesa di Santa Caterina, in Bellini Plaza, Palermo, Italy, on 13 October 2018.

GORDON - Gotham News (for string orchestra)

Horn soloist Ben Goldscheider premieres composer Geoffrey Gordon's new chamber work, THORN, at Conway Hall, London, in a performance from 3 February 2019. Callum Smart (violin) and Richard Uttley (piano), of the Ashwell Trio, are also featured.

This work is inspired, in part, by a relic said to be a thorn from Jesus's crown, kept at Stonyhurst College, in Clitheroe, Lancashire, for the last 200 years. The thorn, enshrined in a glass case, has Mary Queen of Scots' pearls entwined around it. The Crown of Thorns is said to have been seized from Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Roman Empire, in the Fourth Crusade - around AD 1200 - and was later sold to King Louis IX of France while he was in Venice. King Louis kept the religious relic in the specially-built Saint Chapel and thorns were broken off from the crown and given to people who married into the family as gifts. The thorn at Stonyhurst College - a 400-year-old Jesuit boarding school - was said to have been given to Mary Queen of Scots when she married into the French royal family. Mary then took it with her to Holyrood, in Edinburgh, and following her execution in 1587, it was passed from her loyal servant, Thomas Percy, to his daughter, Elizabeth Woodruff, who then gave it to her confessor - a Jesuit priest - in 1600. The Jesuits brought it with them to the college and it has been kept there ever since.  In deference to the date of the thorn arriving at Stonyhurst, this work quotes, Why art thou so heavy, o my soul? of 17th c. English composer, Orlando Gibbons (1583 – 1625).

 This work was originally funded by the Britten Sinfonia.

GORDON -  THORN (for violin, horn and piano)

This is the studio recording of composer Geoffrey Gordon's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, after the Thomas Mann novel, Doktor Faustus, featuring cellist Toke Moldrup, conductor Lan Shui, and the Copenhagen Philharmonic (which commissioned the work in 2014).

GORDON - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (studio)

This is the studio recording of composer Geoffrey Gordon's setting of the John Keats poem, Ode to a Nightingale, for mixed choir (SATB) and solo cello, featuring the Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir and cello soloist Toke Moldrup. Recorded in Copenhagen and released on the BIS records label in April 2020:

https://bis.se/performers/moldrup-toke/cello-libris-works-by-geoffrey-gordon

From reviews of the studio recording of Ode to a Nightingale:

“…luminous and astringent by turns….. ecstatic.”
Richard Whitehouse
Gramophone

"… flashes of vocal writing which recall Britten at his best.”
Richard Hanlon
MusicWeb International

“ …sheer sonic gold - a gorgeous setting of the Keats poem.”
Colin Clarke
Fanfare

“…full of activity, warmth of feeling, and virtuosity.”
David Moore
American Record Guide

GORDON - Ode to a Nightingale (studio)

This is an excerpt from the first movement of the premiere performance of composer Geoffrey Gordon's bass clarinet concerto, Prometheus, featuring the Philharmonia Orchestra, from Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, with soloist Laurent Ben Slimane and guest conductor, Martyn Brabbins, 19 January 2019.

PROGRAM NOTE:

Prometheus is inspired by the short story by Franz Kafka, based on the Greek legend. That text is as follows:

There are four legends concerning Prometheus:

I. According to the first, he was clamped to a rock in the Caucasus for betraying the secrets of the gods to men, and the gods sent eagles to feed on his liver, which was perpetually renewed.

II. According to the second, Prometheus, goaded by the pain of the tearing beaks, pressed himself deeper and deeper into the rock until he became one with it.

III. According to the third, his treachery was forgotten in the course of thousands of years, the gods forgotten, the eagles, he himself forgotten.

IV. According to the fourth, every one grew weary of the meaningless affair. The gods grew weary, the eagles grew weary, the wound closed wearily.

There remained the inexplicable mass of rock.--The legend tried to explain the inexplicable. As it came out of a substratum of truth it had in turn to end in the inexplicable.

Franz Kafka (1917) public domain

GORDON - Prometheus 1st Movement

This is an excerpt of the world premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's Peter Quince at the Clavier, for baritone and piano - a setting of the Wallace Stevens poem - from the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna - 16 March 2018. Baritone Tobias Greenhalgh and pianist Marcin Koziel perform.

PETER QUINCE AT THE CLAVIER
Wallace Stevens

                           I.

Just as my fingers on these keys
Make music, so the selfsame sounds
On my spirit make a music, too.
Music is feeling, then, not sound;
And thus it is that what I feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,
Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk,
Is music. It is like the strain
Waked in the elders by Susanna:
Of a green evening, clear and warm,
She bathed in her still garden, while
The red-eyed elders, watching, felt
The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.

GORDON - Peter Quince At The Clavier (excerpt)

This is the world premiere performance of Geoffrey Gordon's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, commissioned for soloist Carol Wincenc and the Buffalo Philharmonic, from April 5, 2013,  Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York. Making his US debut, Christoph-Mathias Mueller is the guest conductor.

******************************

     Geoffrey Gordon has produced a rich catalog of new music in diverse genres including chamber and orchestral, works for voice and solo instruments, and various scores for theater, dance and film. As a winner of the Aaron Copland Award, he twice served as  composer-in-residence at the Aaron Copland House. His music has been sponsored by the Barlow Endowment, the National Endowment for the Arts, the United Performing Arts Fund, the Concert Artists Guild, and the American Composers Forum, among many others.

     The Flute Concerto is dedicated to Carol Wincenc and the BPO, commissioned by the Orchestra and an anonymous donor. This world premiere represents a creative homecoming, in that both Ms. Wincenc and Mr. Gordon are former residents of Western New York.

     The new Concerto reveals a composer who has found a singular voice in the very large milieu of serious contemporary music. Today's manners and modes are very different from those which comprised the so-called avant-garde in the middle and later 20th century. The former was a time when 'anything goes' provided a chic calling card for composers who believed that in order to be 'new' they had to disavow as much 'past' as possible. But the idea of 'freedom of expression' for its own sake is now passe. In the last decade or two, many composers have embraced the idea that fine music should be 'about something' - as Tchaikovsky had the courage to say.

     Indeed, with Gordon's new setting for flute and orchestra, we have an up-to-date tone-tableau which conjures a snapshot of a much-beloved scene in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, i.e. in Act II when Oberon describes how Cupid delivers his charm. From the scene, Gordon attached two lines to the title page of the score:

    And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
           To hear the sea-maid's music.

     In full context:
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea-maid's music.

That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth
Cupid, all arm'd; a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west,
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;

      Gordon develops the motif in the solo line by providing a continuous narrative of tuneful fragments, all woven together in a long garland of evocative effects. To support the lyrical journey in the flute, the score calls for a large orchestra, with piano and celeste, and two very rich sections of percussion including: triangles, bell tree, mark tree, woodblocks, glockenspiel, marimba, tubular bells, bass drum, various cymbals, gongs, tam-tams and tom-toms, crotales, vibraphone, xylophone, and bongos.

     The work is scored in one movement with a tantalizing cadenza for the soloist. In order to blend the many musical episodes into a continuous musical chain, the composer employs many changes in tempo and meter. Rather than functioning as an accompanying escort, the orchestra serves to embellish the flow of the musical imagery conjured by the sea-maiden solo flute.

     Flutist Carol Wincenc takes on the role quite naturally, writing: "In Astrological terms, I am a born Cancerian - or moon child. As a lover of the water and an avid swimmer, a sea maiden is what I am. And as for the stars shooting madly, that is a very powerful image - luminescence and the forward force."

- Edward Yadzinski
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

Concerto for Flute and Orchestra

GORDON: Roman Rituals for solo horn
Saar Berger, horn - Ensemble Modern

PROGRAM NOTES:

	The flame is a reminder of Pentecost when witnesses were unified by the power of the Holy Spirit and saw "tongues, as of fire" (Acts 2:3).

	Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. The apostles were celebrating this festival when the Holy Spirit descended on them. It sounded like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

	Pentecost is the Greek name for Shavuot, the spring harvest festival of the Israelites, which was going on when the Holy Spirit came. The disciples were together in Jerusalem after Jesus' Resurrection and return to heaven, fearful because he had left them.

	Speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift that can be manifested as either a human language or a heavenly supernatural language in three ways: The "sign of tongues" refers to xenoglossia, wherein one speaks an actual language they have never learned.

	Bible: 1 Corinthians 14 : Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.

	The devil mostly speaks a language of his own called Bellsybabble which he makes up himself as he goes along but when he is very angry he can speak quite bad French very well though some who have heard him say that he has a strong Dublin accent. The name "Bellsybabble" is a pun on Beelzebub, "babble" and Babel.

	Vedic Sanskrit
In Vedic religion, "speech" Vāc, i.e. the language of liturgy, now known as Vedic Sanskrit, is          considered the language of the gods.

	The eight muscles of the human tongue are classified as either intrinsic or extrinsic. The four intrinsic muscles act to change the shape of the tongue, and are not attached to any bone.


TEXT REFERENCES:


Hebrew:
"Sha–bu–'ot"        (Pentecost)
"mi–ba–tar yo–ma ṭa–ba"  (after the holy day)

Latin:
“De–us” (God)
“Lin–gua” (tongue)

Greek:
“Kyr–i–e e–lei–son” (Lord have mercy)

Vedic Sanskrit:
“de–vá” (God)
“yaj–ñá” (sacrifice)  


Babble/Babel:
“Bell–sy–bab–ble" (devil speech)

GORDON - Roman Rituals for solo horn

US/UK composer Geoffrey Gordon’s contributions to the contemporary music repertoire have been and continue to be exceptional.  Intense and luxuriant harmony, passionate melody and superb handling of instrumentation and sonic textures define his music.  His works include orchestral, chamber and vocal works, recognised and performed by the world's top musicians and ensembles.  His music has been called "darkly seductive" (The New York Times), "complex, richly-satisfying " (BBC Music Magazine), “stunning” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “iridescent and glowing” (Chicago Tribune), “taut and exhilarating” (Classical Ear), “haunting” (Strings Magazine), "gripping" (Bachtrack), "fierce and uncompromising" (MusicWeb International) and “magnificent” (Fanfare).  The Philharmonia identifies “his infectious style" and “an ear for melody”; the New York Times his “zest for sonic experimentation”.  

Recently and upcoming, the BBC Philharmonic will premiere Mr. Gordon's new bassoon concerto, Anima Mia, during the 2022-23 concert season; the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta will premiere a jointly commissioned chamber concerto for Bb clarinet and ensemble, Fumee; and the Antwerp Symphony will premiere Mr. Gordon's Mad Song, which they commissioned for soloist Dimitri Mestdag. 

In 2018, the Philharmonia gave the premiere of Geoffrey’s Gordon’s bass clarinet concerto “Prometheus” after the treatment by Franz Kafka, at the RFH, with US and Nordic premieres following in 2019 with the Minnesota Orchestra and Malmo Symphony.   His superb setting of Keats' “Ode to a Nightingale” for choir and cello premiered in May 2018 in Copenhagen by Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir and a new CD of three of his major cello works, Cello Libris,  was released on the BIS label in early 2020, featuring the Copenhagen Philharmonic under Lan Shui.  His song cycles, “Peter Quince at the Clavier” and “Sonnets from Neruda” premiered in March 2018 at the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna, and in October 2017 the Munich Philharmonic under James Gaffigan premiered his trumpet concerto, "CHASE," after the sculptures of Giacometti.  His cello sonata “FATHOMS” premiered at Carnegie Hall in  December 2015  and his “Winterleben” for horn, mezzo and piano (commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain), premiered in August 2015 as part of the 47th International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles.  Honoured by a number of residencies internationally, he has twice served as composer-in-residence at the Aaron Copland House and is winner of 2017 Mario Merz Prize for Music Composition. In 2018, he was commissioned by the Curie Institute in Paris, part of the Muse-IC project. A new chamber work, featuring musicians from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, premiered at the  Salle Cortot Theatre in Paris in March, 2019. 

Future performances and commissions include new works for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic and many others.

Find more links to Geoffrey Gordon's music, as well as bio and reviews etc. at www.geoffreygordoncomposer.com

NEW CD, Cello Libris, out on BIS Records!  
Find it here:
https://bis.se/performers/moldrup-toke/cello-libris-works-by-geoffrey-gordon

Geoffrey Gordon Composer

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