Performed by the Bozeman Symphony, conducted by Norman Huynh

Learn more at http://scottleemusic.net

The Fire Beneath

A collection of my recordings of many of my favorite easy listening rock tunes from the 60's and 70's.

Dream A Little Dream of Me - Elizabeth on Vocals

"Bass Cathedral" takes its title from an epistolary novel of the same name by Nathaniel Mackey, the fourth installment in his series From a Broken Bottle, Traces of Perfume Still Emanate. This open-ended work follows the progress of the protagonist N., a multi-instrumentalist and composer, and his fellow bandmates in the ensemble Molimo m’Atet. Taking the form of letters written from N. to one Angel of Dust, the novel catalogs the band’s experience publishing and touring a new record entitled Orphic Bend. Mackey’s open and fluid prose evokes the creative process inherent in art, music, and literature rather than following a strict narrative. His writing blurs the distinction between music and language, often giving the impression that the sounds of the words themselves betray an inner meaning no less important than their syntax.
"Bass Cathedral" for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble springs out of one poignant, recurring aspect of the novel: the imagery of balloons. Early on in the story, while listening to a test pressing of their album Orphic Bend, the band remarks that upon the very first note plucked by bass player Aunt Nancy a balloon “emerges from the point where the needle and the vinyl meet.” To the surprise of the band, balloon after balloon containing fragments of text rise from the record. Continuing to appear over the course of the novel at live performances and among listeners to Orphic Bend, these balloons evolve into an anthropomorphic figure named B’Loon. The imagery of rising balloons permeates the music of Bass Cathedral in the form of ascending gestures that recur in various forms throughout the piece. Texts excerpted from inside the novel’s balloons are encoded into musical passages in a variety of ways, dictating phrase lengths, harmonies, and structural proportions. The mere idea of balloons rising from the music takes on significance elsewhere.  For example, after the cadenza the ensemble’s different component groups “launch balloons” in the form of constantly ascending lines that build to a cacophonous climax.
The setup of the ensemble in "Bass Cathedral" is rooted in the make-up of Molimo m’Atet, a band which features well-developed characters that bring their own distinct musical functionality to the group as a whole. Although the characters in the novel are not related to the different musical groupings in one-to-one correspondence, the energy produced by their interactions is rooted in Mackey’s evocative depictions of the band’s live performances. For example, the concertante comprising the solo clarinet, contrabass, piano, and percussion battery often lays the groundwork for a given passage in much the same way that Aunt Nancy’s bass becomes an “antiphonal church” in which the other band members join their unique voices.
	Commissioned by the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, "Bass Cathedral" is dedicated to clarinetist David Angelo.  "Bass Cathedral" was written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University. This recording features David Angelo as soloist with the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Matthew Marsit conducting.

Bass Cathedral

Zlatomir Fung, cello
Janice Carissa, piano

Recorded at Skillman Studios in Brooklyn, mixed by Ted Moore in Chicago

Program note: Prelude is a duo for cello and piano that was written to precede attacca into the Brahms e minor cello sonata without pause (though it may also be performed alone) and is affectionately written for and dedicated to Zlatomir Fung and Tengku Irfan.

Prelude

Live performance at Oberlin 2.26.19
Oberlin New Music Ensemble
Conducted by Tim Weiss at the Oberlin Conservatory Warner Hall

Lyric Rivera, fulte/alto flute/piccolo
T. Colton Potter, oboe/English horn
Caleb Rose, clarinet I
Alex Abreu, clarinet II
Brian Geise, bassoon/contrabassoon
Nicholas Ginsburg, horn
Sam Friedman, trumpet
Evelyn Proffit, trombone
Carson Fratus, percussion I
Eli Geruschat, percussion  II
Amanda Lubin, piano
Esther Roestan, violin I
Simone Hammet-Lynch, violin II
Corley Friesen-Johnson, viola
Luka Stefanovic, cello
Matthew Frerck, contrabass

About the work:

In Spanish there are two verbs for the English verb “to be”, one is ser (to be) and the other one is estar (to be). The difference between the two is the quality of permanence: estar is a transitory state, an accidental element of being, while ser is permanent, ex. I am (ser) a human being, I am (estar) tired. The Spanish word esencia (essence) is descriptive of the ser verb form, the true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory (Merrian-Webster).

I find myself thinking about this a lot in times of change. Living in another country demands an immense effort for adaptation, in which one of the dangers -and almost unavoidable stage- is the feeling of losing oneself. Being at a distance with all the elements that made me myself: my culture, my family, my mother language, made me value all the small-things, those moments, places, persons that have now became lucid memories that I jealously treasure. And, aren’t we all just memories? Those instants that we chose to keep at the surface, and even the ones that remain deep inside, hidden, they shape our being, our feelings, our responses, they become our essence.

Esencia - Oberlin New Music Ensemble, conducted by Tim Weiss

Those who may be interested in seeing video documentation of this piece can do so here:
https://youtu.be/IEkX5UdHtNA?t=1 
Seven performers:
1 - any hammered dulcimer (cimbalom in this recording)
2 - tabletop 6-string acoustic guitar
3 - electric lap guitar
4 - tabletop 6-string electric guitar with whammy bar and nut extender
5 - tabletop 6-string baritone electric guitar with whammy bar and nut extender
6 - tabletop 7-string electric guitar and amplified piano played inside
7 - live processing and mixing

Sound Icon + Gleb Kanasevich
Play it loud, at the very edge of comfortable.

Found Objects (2018-19)

performed by the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows
at Seiji Ozawa Hall in Lenox, MA
14 July 2019

Nathan Aspinall - Conductor

Johanna Gruskin - Flute
Matthew Griffith - Bass Clarinet
Julianne Mulvey - Basson/Contrabassoon
Esteban Garcia - Horn
Ole Heiland - Tuba
Jonathon Wisner, David Riccobono - Percussion
Shelley Ng - Piano
Evan Bish - Double Bass

asestarse (2018, rev. 2019) | for 9 players

ONE FOOT IN THE DARK for Viola, Cello, Piano Trio

Live Performance on August 4, 2019
Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood Music Center

Performed by:
Sam Pederson, Viola
Sonia Mantell, Cello
Christine Wu, Piano

© 2019 Harriet Steinke

2019-08-04 1000AM SUN CD1

One Foot in the Dark (for viola, cello and piano) / Live at Tanglewood Music Center

Performed by Elise Kuder, Anna Takeda, Mike Kelley, and Rupert Anthony Thompson

String Quartet

for clarinet trio
B-flat Clarinet: Amy Advocat
Violin: Lilit Hartunian
Piano: John McDonald

Bass Cathedral

Sid Richardson

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