Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

Aether: Fire — passion/psyche

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller and Joshua Chai, piano

Fire Triptych by Joshua Chai
I. 
Parva saepe scintilla contempta [Often, the littlest neglected spark]
magnum excitavit incendium. [ignites a huge conflagration. ]
- anonymous Latin proverb 

II. 
Some say the world will end in fire, 
Some say in ice. 
From what I’ve tasted of desire 
I hold with those who favor fire. 
But if it had to perish twice, 
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
- Robert Frost

III.
Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.
- Shakespeare (from Hamlet)

These three images of fire are about passion - romantic passion, the passion of hate, and what happens if you ignore them. The first movement is a series of "neglected sparks" that erupt into conflagrations, using a quick, rhythmic setting of a Latin proverb split up into motivic "cells" that are repeated and varied in each voice. The second movement is urgent and relentless, with a four-hand piano accompaniment providing the rhythmic impetus, picked up by the choir, and clear structural parallels between "desire"/"fire" and "hate"/"ice". The third movement is more similar to a chorale that finally explodes into an effusive polyphonic joy in love.

Fire Triptych by Joshua Chai

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

Black Hole Sun, arr. Paul Doust
Text: Chris Cornell

In my eyes, indisposed 
In disguises no one knows 
Hides the face, lies the snake 
The sun in my disgrace 
Boiling heat, summer stench 
'Neath the black the sky looks dead 
Call my name through the cream 
And I'll hear you scream again 
Black hole sun
Won't you come 
Won't you come 

Stuttering, cold and damp
Steal the warm wind tired friend
Times are gone for honest men
And sometimes far too long for snakes
In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my youth I pray to keep
Heaven sent hell away
No one sings like you anymore
Black hole sun 
Won't you come
And wash away the rain 
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come 

Black Hole Sun is part of a series of “choral reinventions” that ask the question: what if classic pop songs were re-imagined in an ethereal choral setting? How would our relationship to those songs change? What new meaning and beauty can we discover? The lyrics are simultaneously delicate and explosive, and so I wanted to highlight the volatility of the text in the arrangement. Thereʼs a real sense of anguish and melancholy that mirrorʼs Chris Cornellʼs personal struggles with mental illness. Itʼs raw and cathartic. Black Hole Sun is one of the first “reinventions” that I wrote and therefore holds a special place in my heart. In an unsettling coincidence I finished this piece just days before Chris Cornell of Soundgarden died. So this piece now feels like a retroactive eulogy to me.

Black Hole Sun arr. Paul Doust

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

Ceremonial Burning by Nico Alcala
Text: Nilo Alcala
I have fears to burn
Thoughts too ill to let pervade
I know a flame that quickens inside must purge these wraiths.
I fan this flame and it craves for more kindling.
This torch of courage burns them, nothing escapes.
And when the embers have died
There’s new light
From the ash.
Behold this blaze inside my heart.

In 2009 I first read the poem “An Autumn Burning” by Wendell Berry. The poet speaks of having pages of “words to burn: leaves of…wasted words”. The poem ends on a hopeful note, as it describes new “life beyond words”
springing forth from those burnt pages. I was taken with the imagery of the text and meditated on this poem for several days without thinking about how the music should sound. Eventually, I took the text, crossed out a huge chunk of words from it, and strung together a new poem, as if my own ritualistic burning of words. The resultant poem surprisingly retained the essence of the original which was for me a burning of the old, and a rebirth of something new. Not long after, I started to hear the music in my head, and in my imagination it was a mystical, ritualistic burning of these symbolic words.Years after, I tried to revisit the work and felt another ritualistic burning of words was needed. I totally discarded the excerpts from Berry’s poem and penned a new one. This purging now involved the burning or
letting go of fears. This time the speaker emerges and in possession of a newfound courage.

Ceremonial Burning by Nilo Alcala

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

The Heart Asks by Trevor Villwock
Text: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
The Heart asks Pleasure – first – 
And then – Excuse from Pain – 
And then – those little Anodynes 
That deaden suffering – 
And then – to go to sleep –
And then – if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The liberty to die –

Upon reading this Emily Dickinson text for the first time, my mind was immediately drawn to the current opioid epidemic in the U.S., and then to the broader theme of addiction in all its manifestations. At many times our conscious thoughts, motivations, and actions are driven only by our base animal desires even if we tell ourselves another story. In my piece I tried to capture our fraught relationship with our reptilian brain and the way this relationship intersects with a modern world where quick satisfaction is a very easy thing to find.

The Heart Asks by Trevor Villwock

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

The Inferno by Robbie LaBanca
Text: Dan Hoeweler from The Schizophrenic Writer

Electric waves 
Passing through my brain 
In a haphazard fashion 
Turbulent and inconsistent 
My neurons exploding 
Like firecrackers in the night 
From this blight 
Popping 
And out of sight 
My prefrontal cortex 
Burns
While my eardrums sizzle
And smoke
Suffocates my consciousness
Flames engulf and
Incinerate
My cerebrum
               Till it becomes
Embers in the night sky
Thousands of glowing
Smiles of freedom

Dan Hoeweler's text is a vivid, personal description of a psychotic episode as a result of schizophrenia. As a way of preparing to set this text, I did research into some of the symptoms of schizophrenia and came across the concept of 'disorganized thinking/speech'. Disorganized thinking is inferred from disorganized speech. Effective communication can be impaired, and answers to questions may be partially or completely unrelated. I decided to explore this feature by aligning this serious text with music that, at times, does not match the weight of the subject matter. Over the course of this piece I pair this text with various music styles including, Verdi-esque opera chorus,
Peggy Lee inspired Jazz, a quotation of a Bach chorale and more. The piece also begins and ends with an electronic track utilizing disembodied voices to reflect both an internal monologue and another feature of schizophrenia -auditory hallucinations. For too long we have silently maintained the stigma of mental illness in our society and by giving voice and music to this text I hope to do my small part to help end that stigma. 

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects less than one percent of the U.S. population. When schizophrenia is active, symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and concentration, and lack of motivation. However, with treatment, most symptoms of schizophrenia will greatly improve. While there is no cure for schizophrenia, research is leading to new, safer treatments.
Experts also are unraveling the causes of the disease by studying genetics, conducting behavioral research, and using advanced imaging to look at the brain’s structure and function. These approaches hold the promise of new, more effective therapies. The complexity of schizophrenia may help explain why there are misconceptions about the disease. Schizophrenia does not mean split personality or multiple-personality. Most people with schizophrenia are not dangerous or violent. They also are not homeless nor do they live in hospitals. Most people with schizophrenia live with family, in group homes or on their own. Research has shown that schizophrenia affects men and
women about equally but may have an earlier onset in males.. — American Psychiatric Association

The Inferno by Robbie LaBanca

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

your little voice by Anuj Bhutani
Text: E.E. Cummings
your little voice
         Over the wires came leaping
and i felt suddenly
dizzy
         With the jostling and shouting of merry flowers
wee skipping high-heeled flames
courtesied before my eyes
                        or twinkling over to my side
Looked up
with impertinently exquisite faces
floating hands were laid upon me
I was whirled and tossed into delicious dancing
up
Up
with the pale important
                            stars and the Humorous
                                                        moon
dear girl
How i was crazy how i cried when i heard
                                         over time
and tide and death
leaping
Sweetly
              your voice

My younger brother and I have often heard the story of how my parents immigrated here in the 1980s while in their early 20s. My mother had to wait for her visa for two years, so my father came first with no money, and no immediate job prospects. He worked minimum-wage jobs to make ends meet despite having completed medical school in India. 

Of course at that time, they didn’t have the internet, Skype, or cell phones. My parents wrote letters that would arrive three weeks later. One day my father scraped together every penny he had to call my mother from a phonebooth in the freezing snow. The cost for an international call was $17 for the 1st minute, and $3 for every additional minute. 

He had exactly $20. Two minutes. 

He called the medical dormitory in India where my mother lived. Someone in the common room answered the phone, and my father asked her to hurry and get my mother. My mother ran to the phone and asked “Sonu, is that you?” He said “yes”, and the line went dead. Please insert $3 to continue. Two minutes were up. That was the first time they had gotten to hear each other’s voice since my father moved to America several months earlier.

On February 20, 2020, my parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. This is for them.

your little voice by Anuj Bhutani

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

My Brilliant Image by Jasper Sussman
Text: from "I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz" by Daniel Ladinsky
One day the sun admitted,
I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you
The Infinite Incandescence
That has cast my brilliant image!
I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in darkness,
The astonishing Light
Of your own Being!

In my youth, I would settle down behind the piano anytime I was overwhelmed with emotion. I’d write mainly songs — I found the process of pairing words with music cathartic, allowing me to find resolution and understanding. This same experience occurred for me when I set Daniel Ladinsky’s translation of Hafiz’s “My Brilliant Image” to music. I had just gotten out of my most significant relationship to date, and it seemed that everything in my life was cast in shadow. Ladinksy’s words became a sort of mantra for me. They reminded me that even in darkness, I am surrounded by light. Even in our worst moments, we’re made of beauty. And even when we cannot see it, our worth is unmistakably clear.

My Brilliant Image by Jasper Sussman

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano
World première performance

Fireflies by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP)
Text: Margaret Noodin
Waawaatesiwag [Fireflies]
Aaniin ezhi-pogozid dibikigiizis?[How does one taste the moon?]
Aaniin ezhi-pogwad waasamowin? [What is the weight of wind?]
Aaniin ezhichigeyaamba [How can I understand]
ji-nisidostawaag waawaatesiwag? [the fireflies?]
Nimbagamaashi ina giizhigong [Sail kisses to heaven]
gemaa bimaakogomoyaan ode’agaming? [or row to a heart’s shore?]
Waa ninzaka’amawdiz ganabaj [Perhaps I will set myself alight]
atooyaan ishkodensan ishpiming [place the flames in the sky]
anangziibikeyaan dibikong [make a night river of light]
miidash bizaani-ayaayaan [then become as quiet as]
dibishkoo baashkaabigwan-ininiwizh. [a milkweed blossom.]

Commissioned by Inversion Ensemble for its Aether: Fire concert in the winter of 2020, Fireflies (2019) for mixed chorus, piano, and optional percussion evokes vivid imagery of Margaret Noodin’s bilingual poem Fireflies from her 2015 book, Weweni, poems in Anishinaabemowin and English. Honoring the composer’s Ojibwe ancestors, the piece sets the poem’s English text including the Anishinaabemowin word for fireflies (Waawaatesiwag). Moments of musical and whispered aleatory capture visions of fireflies on a summer night. Colorful augmented sixth chords and lush harmonies kindle visions of love and nature amidst the dreamy mixolydian modality and lilting ¾ time. The text used by permission is Fireflies by Margaret Noodin from her book, Weweni, poems in Anishinaabemowin and English, Wayne State University Press, Detroit.

Fireflies by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP)

Tulesonad And Jannilau by Veljo Tormis

Inversion is a collection of vocal ensembles dedicated to commissioning and performing timely new works by living composers. Inversion presents themed concerts on myriad topics, including LGBTQIA+ rights, racial justice, immigration, climate change, and democratic rights as well as space exploration, philosophy, natural science, and the ancient elements. Inversion advocates for inclusion through outreach with local public schools, college partners, and annual emerging composer contests.