Performed by the faculty on the Washington State University School of Music for the Festival of Contemporary Art Music, 2011.
I. Drammatico, II. Andante con sprezzatura, III. Giga

    Chamber Concerto was composed for the Affinity Chamber Players, which premiered the first two movements separately in 2008 and 2009. As one might gather from the title, the work borrows from the concept of a concerto for orchestra, albeit scaled down in duration and scoring to suit an ensemble of eleven players. Each instrument in the ensemble is featured in various soloistic chamber combinations drawn from the full ensemble. One might imagine a Baroque-style concerto grosso, but with an ever-changing concertino, or group of soloists. 

    In the first movement, following a brief introduction, the piece follows a traditional ritornello form: surrounding the solo variations are statements of the tutti ritornello, which is characterized by high rhythmic energy and a generally homophonic texture, in contrast to the polyphonic concertino sections. Since the instrumentation of the concertino changes with each new appearance, so does that of the ritornello. The ritornello undergoes other additional mutations with each return as well, but remains clearly identifiable throughout. The ritornello structure provides ample opportunity for the instrumentalists to display virtuosity, lyricism, stentorian rhetoric, and even a dash of whimsy in the various, contrasting sections.

    The Italian word sprezzatura was coined by Renaissance author Baldassare Castiglione in his Il libro del Cortegiano (“The Book of the Courtier”), which was published in 1528 near the end of his life. Castiglione defines the word as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.” The word bears an inherit paradox: studied carelessness, rehearsed spontaneity, acting naturally. While it clearly applies to many arenas of life (not just the intrigues of courtly life in Renaissance Italy), it also to me seems to be entirely apropos as a description of music as a performing art, where we practice and rehearse for many hours in order to prepare a performance that seems spontaneous and fresh. Composing is no different; there are few worse epithets for new music than “labored,” “affected,” “derivative,” and the worst of all:  “academic.” All the difficult elements of craft in the art of composition are used by the composer to create (ideally) a consistent, elegant work of art that requires none of the carefully assembled structure to be apparent to the audience. In this Chamber Concerto—and I suppose in everything I compose—I aspire to these ideals, but I found the word to be an inspiration for the musical character I was attempting to express in the second movement as well.

    The final movement, Giga, refers to the gigue as a traditional concluding movement in Baroque dance suites. The character of the gigue as a fast compound meter dance is retained, albeit dressed up in a modern harmonic and rhythmic style.

Chamber Concerto (2008-10)

Chamber Concerto was composed for the Affinity Chamber Players, which premiered the first two movements separately in 2008 and 2009. As one might gather from the title, the work borrows from the concept of a concerto for orchestra, albeit scaled down in duration and scoring to suit an ensemble of eleven players. Each instrument in the ensemble is featured in various soloistic chamber combinations drawn from the full ensemble. One might imagine a Baroque-style concerto grosso, but with an ever-changing concertino, or group of soloists. 

In the first movement, following a brief introduction, the piece follows a traditional ritornello form: surrounding the solo variations are statements of the tutti ritornello, which is characterized by high rhythmic energy and a generally homophonic texture, in contrast to the polyphonic concertino sections. Since the instrumentation of the concertino changes with each new appearance, so does that of the ritornello. The ritornello undergoes other additional mutations with each return as well, but remains clearly identifiable throughout. The ritornello structure provides ample opportunity for the instrumentalists to display virtuosity, lyricism, stentorian rhetoric, and even a dash of whimsy in the various, contrasting sections.


Chamber Concerto mvt. 1 - Drammatico

The Italian word sprezzatura was coined by Renaissance author Baldassare Castiglione in his Il libro del Cortegiano (“The Book of the Courtier”), which was published in 1528 near the end of his life. Castiglione defines the word as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.” The word bears an inherit paradox: studied carelessness, rehearsed spontaneity, acting naturally. While it clearly applies to many arenas of life (not just the intrigues of courtly life in Renaissance Italy), it also to me seems to be entirely apropos as a description of music as a performing art, where we practice and rehearse for many hours in order to prepare a performance that seems spontaneous and fresh. Composing is no different; there are few worse epithets for new music than “labored,” “affected,” “derivative,” and the worst of all:  “academic.” All the difficult elements of craft in the art of composition are used by the composer to create (ideally) a consistent, elegant work of art that requires none of the carefully assembled structure to be apparent to the audience. In this Chamber Concerto—and I suppose in everything I compose—I aspire to these ideals, but I found the word to be an inspiration for the musical character I was attempting to express in the second movement as well.

Chamber Concerto mvt. 2 - Andante con sprezzatura

The final movement, Giga, refers to the gigue as a traditional concluding movement in Baroque dance suites. The character of the gigue as a fast compound meter dance is retained, albeit dressed up in a modern harmonic and rhythmic style. 

Chamber Concerto mvt. 3 - Giga

Ryan M. Hare, composer and bassoonist, was born in Reno, Nevada in 1970, and now lives in Pullman, Washington. He earned tenure and the rank of full Professor at Washington State University, where he taught composition, bassoon, and music theory from 2003 until 2020, when he decided to take a voluntary early retirement in order to focus his attention on composing.

Ryan’s music has been performed at a large variety of venues and festivals, in as diverse locations as Tokyo, Japan, and Darmstadt, Germany, as well as Southeast Asia and China. Commissioners include Fred Korman, longtime former principal oboist of the Oregon Symphony, and the Washington Music Teachers Association, who awarded Ryan "Washington State Composer of the Year" in 2012. Further commissions have come from the Walla Walla Symphony, Mid-Columbia Symphony, Washington Idaho Symphony, Common Tone Arts, Affinity Chamber Players, the University of Idaho Vandaleers Concert Choir, and the Lake Forest College Orchestra, among others. His music has been championed by numerous other well-known performers and ensembles around the world, with notable recognition from New Music USA, Artist Trust, and the American Prize. In addition, a number of Ryan's compositions are published by TrevCo Music Publishing and ALEA Publishing.

Much of the subject matter of Ryan Hare's music is drawn from nature; recurrent themes include the deep mysteries of the cosmos and the extraordinary beauty of the state of Washington—as originating from a gloriously violent and volcanic past. He finds delight in the outdoors, physics, and astronomy, both in pursuit of hobbies such as hiking, photography, and bicycling, and also as a source of musical inspiration. He has often found creative respite in bicycling all over the beautiful region of southeast Washington known as the Palouse. 

Inspired by the multiplicity of styles found in art music of the twenty-first century, Ryan sees no essential contradiction between serialism, the avant-garde, minimalism, and the vernacular, but rather embraces the rich potential for all of it to be synthesized into something beautiful, compelling, and unexpected.

With numerous guest artist appearances at multiple venues around the U.S., including many at International Double Reed Society annual conferences, Ryan M. Hare seeks to combine composition and bassoon whenever possible. He believes in the promotion of the music of today for its own sake but also as a necessary component of maintaining and refreshing the interpretation of music of the past. 

Ryan is a founding member of the Artemisia Winds chamber ensemble, and also serves as principal bassoonist of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, McCall SummerFest orchestra, Siletz Bay Music Festival orchestra, co-principal bassoonist and contrabassoonist of the Walla Walla Symphony, contrabassoonist of the Mid-Columbia Symphony, and has performed in a variety of the leading professional ensembles all over the Pacific Northwest. He has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Yakima Symphony, Washington Idaho Symphony, and WSU Symphony Orchestra.

Before earning the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition in 2000 at the University of Washington, Ryan M. Hare  earned a Master of Music degree in Composition at Ithaca College, and a Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis in composition at Oregon State University. Ryan's principal teachers in composition include Joël-François Durand, Diane Thome, Richard Karpen, Greg Woodward, and Ron Jeffers. Additional composition studies were also undertaken with Shulamit Ran and Jacob Druckman, both visiting professors at Ithaca College, and Brian Ferneyhough and Paul-Heinz Dittrich at the 1996 Ferienkurse für neue Musik, Darmstadt, Germany. His primary bassoon teachers include Arthur Grossman, Lee Goodhew, and Mike Curtis, with additional studies in audition preparation with Seth Krimsky.