Name: Friss by JonathanElliott
Duration: 4 min 16 s
Description: From the Duo Montagnard CD "Inventions, Interludes and Interjections" (2012)

영정거리(Youngjeonggeori)

From the Duo Montagnard CD "Inventions, Interludes and Interjections" (2012)

Friss

Oiseaux Exotiques, by Olivier Messiaen.  Live performance with Aspen Wind Ensemble (Joaquin Valdepenas, conductor)

Oiseaux Exotiques by Olivier Messiaen

Der Hunger von Spiegeln, for electric guitar, Yamaha DX7 and piano, percussion, contrabass, and video. In collaboration with the Ictus Ensemble. Premiered at the Lille Opera House on April 11, 2015.

Der Hunger von Spiegeln

La Figure Se Brule

piano, electric piano and vibraphone with fixed media (2016)

Three

Saxophone : Mai Toyama
Accordéon : Fanny Vicens
Violoncelle : Jeanne Maisonhaute

MIXTUR Festival – Barcelona


Déviation II pour saxophone ténor, accordéon microtonal et violoncelle

Recital 2013

Davidovsky: Synchronisms #6

electronic score for excerpt from a large-scale work performed with live processed piano and live processed vocals

arewewherewewere, chapter one

Shindō no su (Japanese: 振動の巣, English: Nest of Vibration)

for flute, bass clarinet, glockenspiel, keyboard + laptop, violin, viola, and cello. 

Performed and recorded by the Talea Ensemble, conducted by Eduardo Leandro, viola solo by Elizabeth Weisser.



Program note:

In Vladimir Nabokov’s "Despair", the title of the book plays on the word’s connotations with dis-pair, as in to take apart a pair, since the protagonist’s insurance fraud scheme is based on the manipulated death of his doppelganger — the covert murder of his physical double. The resemblance between the two, however, is seen only by the protagonist himself, like a mirror onto which he projects his narcissism and vanity, a projection which drives him forward with his scheme toward an anxious and climactic final decoupling.

A self-image, splitting, recognizing a difference within itself, revolting against itself, is a common symbolic process — a character shatters a mirror in rebellion, tears up an old photograph, or burns their clothes in a fire. Shindō no su (nest of vibration) also stars a cast of characters that split from themselves, that are not sure if they are one or two, and that contemplate their shadow with nervous quivering, defiance, and confusion. Our protagonist, the viola, stars as if an anti-soloist in an anti-concerto, cautiously navigating the movements and vibrations of the ensemble like a spider across the threads of her web, herself a reflection of her own trembling terrain. This spider also carries her shadow while she roams, like an extra pair of antennae she seeks to abandon, augmenting the already overwhelming sensitivity she has toward the environment she creates.

The piece’s Japanese title nods to the mechanical houseplants that vibrate, nod, and flutter when spoken to, increasingly popular in the homes of Japan’s hikikomori.

Shindō no su

Completed August 30, 2020
Premiered May 6, 2022 by Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra as part of the 2022 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute

Remember to Have Fun began its life as a mixed quintet written for conductor Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz. Started in the midst of an existential funk early 2020, the piece was intended to remind myself that I should, in all things musical, have fun. After all, the reason I had taken to music in the first place was because I had discovered in composing a wholly unique kind of fun that I could not find anywhere else. 

Cast in three continuous movements, Remember to Have Fun is best understood as a triptych recontextualizing a handful of simple motifs into three different kinds of fun: I. ‘Master of None’ is overly excitable, interrupting and tripping over itself as it tries to decide where to go with its cellular, half-step dominated main idea. II. ‘Think About What You’ve Done’ picks up the pieces after its exhausted predecessor, initially introspective but growing, with a twinkle in its eye, increasingly quirky and mischievous. III. ‘Remember to Have Fun,’ spurred on by the music’s increased confidence, takes the first movement’s main idea and sprints at breakneck tempo toward a rip-roaring, frenetic finish. 

The majority of the work on this piece was completed during a particularly dour and sedentary year. With all the loneliness, anxiety, and pessimism floating about, I wanted to create a piece that would be characterized by the exact opposite of all those emotions. The piece’s prosaic title ends up being many things: a title, yes, but also a word of advice to the conductor, an expression marking for musicians, a reminder to myself as an artist, a small instruction for listeners, and maybe even a bit of hopeful inspiration for you, the reader.

Random Stuff

Remember to Have Fun, for symphony orchestra

composer-pianist/visual artist based in brooklyn; over 150 works in all media. visit www.jonathanelliott.net for news, audio samples, and more! thanks for visiting.

Friss

JonathanElliott

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