Contemporary Concertos & Symphonic Music

Contemporary Classical Vol. 1

Program Note:
Premiere Information:
SUITE ON ROMANIAN THEMES for Marimba, Vibraphone and Piano was commissioned to Maya Badian by the virtuoso Montreal-based percussionist Marie-Josée Simard.
The titles of the four movements are: I. Cantando; II. Giocoso; III. Dolente; IV. Danza. Each of the four movements is generated by a different Romanian folklore tune. The composition is based on harmonic, polyphonic, or heterophonic textures, in accordance to the music's requirements; in addition,
specific modes and rhythms introduce the listener into a typical Romanian atmosphere. Idiomatic writing for each instrument is evident throughout the piece.

Suite On Romanian Themes:  I. Cantando - Vibraphone by Maya Badian

Program Note:
The Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) 2009 that took place at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, selected some of Maya Badian’s compositions for percussion to be displayed and performed at that event.
Badian’s scores were given critically acclaimed reviews in Percussive Notes May 2010, New Percussion Literature and Recordings, Selected Reviews, published by Percussive Arts Society. In the Selected Reviews is stated: “This is a three-movement composition that is available in versions for four (Timpani Quartum) or five (Timpani Quintum) unaccompanied timpani. Although the movements can stand alone, the entire work takes under eight minutes to perform. The title of each movement aptly describes the content of the material and musical elements that are used: Ritmico; Melodico; Moto perpetuo. Either version of this composition provides excellent material for a recital program.”
- George Frock, p. 58, May 2010.

Timpani Quintum: III. Moto Perpetuo (Solo for Five Timpani) by Maya Badian

INSTRUMENTATION:
2 x Violin
1 x Viola
1 x Violoncello
Program Note:
FUGA A QUATRO VOCI for String Quartet is a short fugue that I composed mainly for teaching purposes! Fugues are some of the most beautiful and rewarding pieces to analyze, to compose, to teach, but are also some of the most challenging to perform well.

Fuga A Quatro Voci For String Quartet by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010:
“The GUITAR CONCERTO by Maya Badian is unique in Romanian musical history, acknowledged as the first Guitar Concerto ever composed in Romania.
Maria Livia Sao Marcos Fisch (1938-), a Brazilian virtuoso guitarist now living in Switzerland, commissioned to Maya Badian this Concerto.
The individual character of each of the three contrasting movements of Badian’s Guitar Concerto is clearly suggested by each movement’s title: I.- Moto perpetuo; II.- Aria;  III.- Marcia e Toccata.
Movement I, Moto perpetuo. The ambiance for the first entrance of the guitar is established by a syncopated solo trumpet rhythmic figure and a trialogue between solo trumpet, horn, and trombone sustained by string pizzicati. The solo guitar then develops the opening idea with an accompaniment that gradually involves the full orchestra. The solo guitar part is set apart from the orchestra not only melodically but also harmonically, rhythmically, and by its tone colour variety and shifting registrations. The economic use of the initial material in the orchestral part makes use of diverse musical parameters and composition techniques to maintain the unity while leaving the solo guitar clear and unobstructed.
 53
Cantabile, a short and contrasting section, features only the guitar and a solo pizzicato double-bass, while the maracas and castanets provide timbre colour. The full orchestra, without solo guitar, concludes the first movement in a return to Tempo primo, presenting the material based on the initial rhythmic figure. Regarding the solo guitar, it rests until the very last bar, when its chord laissez vibrer makes a bridge to the slow movement.
Movement II, Aria. A song-like theme presented by guitar makes use of the full range of the instrument, from deep and resonant low notes to the extreme of the high register. The long-held phrases poetically wander into fantasia-like passages of great beauty. The tender harmonic support offered by the strings pulses beneath the solo guitar. The accompaniment continues with the development of the song-like theme. The solo guitar briefly returns to the opening mood before a long string passage closes the movement, perdendosi. After listening to Badian’s Guitar Concerto, writer Andrée Laurier described this Aria as the “unforgettable second movement.” (Composing a home away from home. Maya Badian’s swift pen” by Andrée Laurier, The Canadian Composer, February 1989, p. 26).
Movement III, Marcia e Toccata, features two rhythmic characteristics: binary (Marcia) and ternary (Toccata).
The opening Marcia, a caricature-like march, evokes special moods similar to those of German composer Kurt Weil. The brasses are again present to outline the melodic sense of the opening. Harmonic and sharp rhythmic motion precede the entrance of the solo guitar, which restates the opening march, accompanied by castanets, viola and violoncello soli. The full orchestra completes the March section ending before the solo violin performs a short phrase in a free form. This leads (subito attacca) to the final section, Toccata.
The final movement’s Toccata opens from afar, misterioso, with solo guitar and pizzicato double-bass in perpetual motion of eigth- notes in a ternary rhythm. Gradually, all the strings borrow this motive. While maintaining the rhythm, a dialogue begins between the solo guitar and different sections of the orchestra. At some points, binary-march references in the brass contrast with the flowing ternary rhythm in the strings. Percussion links together the differing rhythmic patterns. This dialogue’s development increases in intensity, using diminution, and rhythmic energy created by syncopated accents. This contrasts with the solo guitar cadenza that follows.
The Concerto ends in a burst of energy tutti, reaching its conclusion in a brilliant flourish.”

Guitar Concerto: III. Marcia E Toccata by Maya Badian

rogram Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010:
“The GUITAR CONCERTO by Maya Badian is unique in Romanian musical history, acknowledged as the first Guitar Concerto ever composed in Romania.
Maria Livia Sao Marcos Fisch (1938-), a Brazilian virtuoso guitarist now living in Switzerland, commissioned to Maya Badian this Concerto.
The individual character of each of the three contrasting movements of Badian’s Guitar Concerto is clearly suggested by each movement’s title: I.- Moto perpetuo; II.- Aria;  III.- Marcia e Toccata.
Movement I, Moto perpetuo. The ambiance for the first entrance of the guitar is established by a syncopated solo trumpet rhythmic figure and a trialogue between solo trumpet, horn, and trombone sustained by string pizzicati. The solo guitar then develops the opening idea with an accompaniment that gradually involves the full orchestra. The solo guitar part is set apart from the orchestra not only melodically but also harmonically, rhythmically, and by its tone colour variety and shifting registrations. The economic use of the initial material in the orchestral part makes use of diverse musical parameters and composition techniques to maintain the unity while leaving the solo guitar clear and unobstructed.
 53
Cantabile, a short and contrasting section, features only the guitar and a solo pizzicato double-bass, while the maracas and castanets provide timbre colour. The full orchestra, without solo guitar, concludes the first movement in a return to Tempo primo, presenting the material based on the initial rhythmic figure. Regarding the solo guitar, it rests until the very last bar, when its chord laissez vibrer makes a bridge to the slow movement.
Movement II, Aria. A song-like theme presented by guitar makes use of the full range of the instrument, from deep and resonant low notes to the extreme of the high register. The long-held phrases poetically wander into fantasia-like passages of great beauty. The tender harmonic support offered by the strings pulses beneath the solo guitar. The accompaniment continues with the development of the song-like theme. The solo guitar briefly returns to the opening mood before a long string passage closes the movement, perdendosi. After listening to Badian’s Guitar Concerto, writer Andrée Laurier described this Aria as the “unforgettable second movement.” (Composing a home away from home. Maya Badian’s swift pen” by Andrée Laurier, The Canadian Composer, February 1989, p. 26).
Movement III, Marcia e Toccata, features two rhythmic characteristics: binary (Marcia) and ternary (Toccata).
The opening Marcia, a caricature-like march, evokes special moods similar to those of German composer Kurt Weil. The brasses are again present to outline the melodic sense of the opening. Harmonic and sharp rhythmic motion precede the entrance of the solo guitar, which restates the opening march, accompanied by castanets, viola and violoncello soli. The full orchestra completes the March section ending before the solo violin performs a short phrase in a free form. This leads (subito attacca) to the final section, Toccata.
The final movement’s Toccata opens from afar, misterioso, with solo guitar and pizzicato double-bass in perpetual motion of eigth- notes in a ternary rhythm. Gradually, all the strings borrow this motive. While maintaining the rhythm, a dialogue begins between the solo guitar and different sections of the orchestra. At some points, binary-march references in the brass contrast with the flowing ternary rhythm in the strings. Percussion links together the differing rhythmic patterns. This dialogue’s development increases in intensity, using diminution, and rhythmic energy created by syncopated accents. This contrasts with the solo guitar cadenza that follows.
The Concerto ends in a burst of energy tutti, reaching its conclusion in a brilliant flourish.”

Guitar Concerto: II. Aria by Maya Badian

Guitar Concerto: I. Moto Perpetuo by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010: "The French violin virtuoso Jean-Jacques Kantorow (1945-) commissioned Maya Badian to compose a violin concerto, taking in consideration his virtuosity. In immediately accepting this commission to compose a 20th-century concerto for violin, Badian considered that it would be joining a huge and well-known body of existing repertoire.
The VIOLIN CONCERTO by Maya Badian is cast in a three-movement form:
I.- Prelude; II.- Fugue and Choral; III.- Sonata -, blending unusual fantasia-like cadenzas with a fugue, and ending with a contemporary sonata finale. The result is a virtuoso concerto for the solo violinist with fascinating orchestral components.
III.- Finale, Allegro giocoso e spirituoso, the third and last movement. Under the brilliant dance-like solo violin subject, the piano presents a staccato chromatic descending line in its lowest register accompanied by cellos and double-basses pizzicati. After this opening, there is a bridge passage featuring a powerful rhythmic piano figure combined with the original violin subject now presented by the orchestra. An ad libitum passage for the solo violin prepares the second subject that, based on long held notes and smooth phrases, contrasts with the first subject. On closer examination, this subject, presented by the entire orchestra, is both an augmentation and a mirror of the melodic and rhythmic opening subject. It becomes an aural puzzle for the listener. The development is replaced in this work by a brief interlude assigned to the percussion section, reminding the listener of the fugal material from the second movement and thus connecting this sonata with the previous movements. At this point, the recapitulation contains an orchestral distillation of all of the elements earlier presented in this movement. The conclusion of the entire Concerto is structured in two sections - the first movement, cadenza, now orchestrated as a dialogue between different instruments, followed by the formal fugal material presented superimposed and brilliantly blended, by both the solo violin and the orchestra.”

Violin Concerto: III. Sonata by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010: "The French violin virtuoso Jean-Jacques Kantorow (1945-) commissioned Maya Badian to compose a violin concerto, taking in consideration his virtuosity. In immediately accepting this commission to compose a 20th-century concerto for violin, Badian considered that it would be joining a huge and well-known body of existing repertoire.
The VIOLIN CONCERTO by Maya Badian is cast in a three-movement form:

I.- Prelude; II.- Fugue and Choral; III.- Sonata -, blending unusual fantasia-like cadenzas with a fugue, and ending with a contemporary sonata finale. The result is a virtuoso concerto for the solo violinist with fascinating orchestral components.
I.- PRELUDE, the first movement, is introduced by a solo cadenza, ad libitum, unusually coupled with timpani, and continues with a dialogue between alto-saxophone and the solo violin. This dialogue is a reflection of the introduction and is based on a free retrograde inversion of the thematic material in the cadenza. It is orchestrated with a parallel dialogue/trialogue between three orchestral groups - the strings, the brass, and the woodwinds. The strings enter first, followed by the brass and finally the woodwinds. The central portion of this opening movement is based on the idea of mixing polyphony with heterophony. As it develops, thematic material recalling the initial cadenza is used in the polyphonic texture. A closing cadenza, mirroring the opening cadenza, features again the solo instrument but this time accompanied by a snare-drum instead of the timpani.

Violin Concerto: I. Prelude by Maya Badian

Marimba & Vibraphone Concerto: I. Preludio by Maya Badian

Concerto Grosso for four timpani, obbligato trumpet and string orchestra
Program Note:
CONCERTO GROSSO for four timpani, obbligato trumpet and string orchestra is acknowledged, with Maya Badian's Concerto for marimba, vibraphone and orchestra, and her Concerto for guitar and orchestra, as the first composition ever composed for this specific combination of instruments in the Romanian music history.
“Although Maya Badian’s ‘Concerto Grosso’ for timpani, obbligato trumpet and string orchestra was written in the 1980’s, there is a strong connection between this exciting work and the various musical periods of the past 300 years - a concerto that spans at least 300 years of music and all of its fascinating styles. Badian’s ‘Concerto Grosso’ is a wonderful piece that crosses so many musical styles but still retains a distinct 'Badian' sound and feel.” - Eric Paetkau, conductor, after his performance of the Canadian premiere of the Concerto Grosso’s original score, in Toronto, Canada, on 14 February 2014.
The three-movement Concerto: I. Allegro-Sonata II. Serenata III. Toccata, in concerto grosso style, presents the timpani and trumpet as the concertino, while the strings performing the role of the tutti.
Allegro-Sonata, the first movement, emphasizes the technical development of an initial rhythmic motive, announced by the timpani. This rhythmic motive is transformed and used in both the solo parts and in the accompanying strings.
Serenata, the second movement, is a reflection of the Romantic period, containing a rich theme simply presented, in a few bars, by the strings. In this movement, the only contribution of the solo timpani comes in an abstract and unusual glissando passage.
Toccata, the third and final movement, is totally modern in concept.
Glissandi, formally given to the timpani, now become aleatoric material for strings.
The timpani present brief elements of the thematic material, surprisingly combined with a vox vagans (trumpet). This voice independently "sings" above the concertino and tutti to finally introduce unexpected jazz elements. As unification, at the very end, the timpani return to reflect on the initial motive.

Concerto Grosso - 4 timpani, trumpet & strings: II. Serenata by Maya Badian

Concerto Grosso - 4 timpani, trumpet & strings: III. Toccata by Maya Badian

Dr. Maya Badian is a Contemporary Classical Music Canadian Composer of Romanian Origin. 
Maya Badian has more than 100 published original compositions including symphonies, orchestral music, concertos, cantatas, chamber music, music for multimedia, and musicology and pedagogy works. All her works are published and internationally distributed by Lucian Badian Editions. Her musical output is part of the collections of international libraries, such as Library and Archives Canada, The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Bibliothèque Božidar Kantušer, Paris, France, and of many music libraries across Canada, the USA, Europe, Australia, Japan, and National Library of New Zealand. 
”Maya Badian is an important composer, if it does not use some of the extreme devices discovered by earlier 20th century composers, Badian’s music does reflect the accumulated wisdom of a century of experiment and invention.” – The Ottawa Citizen
Dr. Maya Badian have her life and achievements reflected in an international biography work: The Life and The Music of Maya Badian, A Privilege to Soar by Fred Popovici, Pro ARS Publications, Ottawa, 2010.
“An internationally acclaimed composer” – as described in Orchestral Works CD Review, Winnipeg Sun, 1999.
Dr. Badian is a member of the Canadian Music Center, Canadian League of Composers, Association of Canadian Women Composers, Ottawa New Music Creators, Romanian Union of Composers and Musicologists, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Moldova.

Marimba & Vibraphone Concerto: I. Preludio by Maya Badian

Maya Badian, Composer