Woodwinds

Xantippe's Rebuke was written for Libby Van Cleve. It is for eight taped oboes and one live, solo oboe. The eight taped parts are equal and dependent, while the solo part is meant to be a solo with the tape as accompaniment. The piece works very carefully with the unique sound of the oboe. (The partials of the oboe are so strong that I had to stop using headphones while I worked on the piece.) The taped oboes are written to exploit the harmonic properties of the oboe's sound, combining to create combination and interference tones. I started with unison pitches that created the richest sound and built the piece from there. Most of the subsequent pitches and phrases that I wrote occurred naturally before I notated them later on in the piece, and these in turn created others. So, in effect, the nature of the oboe and its natural sound determined the direction of the piece. The solo part starts off by playing notes that are being created, but not notated, on the tape, continuing on to play a melody that “floats” above the taped oboes. Xantippe was the wife of Socrates.

Xantippe's Rebuke

Feu de Joie was written for bassoonist Shannon Peet and is an homage to the bassoon and its wonderful sound. I had always wanted to write for bassoon, but since my primary interest in writing is to hear what happens when notes are combined, I didn’t want to write a solo piece for just one line of music, so I wrote Feu de Joie for six taped bassoons and one live bassoon (the concert format). The six taped parts are equal and dependent, while the solo part is meant to be a solo with the tape as accompaniment. This is the first piece that I wrote for multiples in which I couldn’t play the instrument; it is also the first piece I wrote using my computer. This is no coincidence; I was able to write very specifically for the bassoon’s sound after I did a series of studies using a programmed bassoon sound that matched the real sound very closely, so I was able to hear what was going to happen without having a performer’s specific knowledge. The taped bassoons combine to create a sound that exploits the unique qualities of the bassoon, creating combination and interference tones. I started with unison pitches that created the richest sound and built the piece from there. Most of the subsequent pitches and phrases that I wrote occurred naturally before I notated them later on in the piece, and these in turn created others. So, in effect, the nature of the bassoon and its natural sound determined the direction of the piece. The solo part starts off by playing dissonant tones and then picks out notes that are being heard on the tape, continuing on to play a melody that “floats” above the taped bassoons.

Feu De Joie

Windjammer (1995)was written for three instruments that I know and love well. Sometimes one instrument lays down the sound that the other two play against, while at other times a pair of them will play unisons (or some other harmonic interval) that the remaining instrument plays over. The roles trade off frequently, so that this is a real ensemble piece, with no one instrument predominating. The biggest challenge was to create a continuous bed of sound without the performers passing out from hyperventilation or oxygen deprivation.

Windjammer

Trio for Duo (1985)is for live and taped alto flute and voice, each part coming from four separate speakers placed in the four corners of the hall (the ideal situation in concert). Lines are passed from voice to voice, weaving a tapestry of matching and contrasting timbres. The voice in this piece is sung to sound as much like an alto flute as possible. By using glissandos, more “extra-notated” sounds were created than appear on the page.

Trio For Duo

4BC (1984) is for four bass clarinets playing in a small range (a fifth) emphasizing the third partial. It is written for the partials as well as the fundamentals, creating combination and difference tones.

"Dowland's Tears" is for 9 taped flutes (6 c flutes and 3 bass flutes) and solo C flute. It uses the melody from John Dowland's "Lachrimae" and explores the sound phenomena that happen when you layer that many flutes by overlapping and panning the tones for maximum effect. Performed by Manuel Zurria


Mary Jane Leach - Dowland's Tears

Flutist Manuel Zurria transforms my piece written for eight sopranos.

Bruckstück (flutes)

"Semper Dolens" (2018)is for 6 taped flutes and solo flute. It is loosely based on a John Dowland piece "I Saw My My Lady Weep." It works with sustained harmony and dissonance. There is a saying about Dowland: "Semper Dowland, Semper Dolens" (always Dowland, always doleful), which inspired the title. Performed by Manuel Zurria

Semper Dolens

MARY JANE LEACH is a composer/performer whose work reveals a fascination with the physicality of sound, its acoustic properties and how they interact with space. In many of her works Leach creates an other-worldly sound environment using difference, combination, and interference tones; these are tones not actually sounded by the performers, but acoustic phenomena arising from Leach’s deft manipulation of intonation and timbral qualities: “an acoustic Through the Looking Glass world based on sound that the performer is not making.” (The New Yorker).

Woodwinds

mjleach