Name: Crumb: An Idyll for the Misbegotten by Alexis Evers, flutist
Duration: 10 min 57 s
Description: Live performance from the July 6 Performer's Showcase II Concert from the 2016 Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. Many thanks to the fabulous Kathie Hsieh, Todd Bills, and Crystal Wing In Chu for being wonderful collaborators and performers!

Please excuse the computer-generated recording here. Listen to and support the A/B Duo - https://abduomusic.bandcamp.com/track/wrought-iron

PARTS: https://www.adjectivenewmusic.com/store/p29/Wrought_Iron.html

If you're thinking about playing it, I can send the premiere performance recording too.

Variety Show

Wrought Iron (2012) for Flute and Percussion (Computer-generated)

“My House is Ancient” is the fifth movement of a six-part chamber drama entitled Black Wings, in which the male lead (tenor) commits adultery with his brother’s wife (soprano). To maintain her affection, however, he must agree to kill her husband, his brother. Despite the crime’s success, the new lovers quickly tire of one another; she finds a new man, and he, weighted by guilt and loneliness, loses his mind. 

The fifth movement is a dirge with several peaks of euphoria. The soprano sings it following her husband’s murder, but she is not mourning for him. Rather, she mourns her own plight: the unarticulated loneliness, hatred and boredom that tempted her to unfaithfulness continue to hound her even after her husband’s death. She spurns the company of her new lover and seeks an ecstatic communion with the dead. The crisis of the movement arrives when the soprano, beholding a figure in her home, realizes it is not the longed-for ghost, but her lover, whom she has begun to despise.

Deepest thanks to performers Alexis Evers (flute), Chelsea Oden (clarinet), Ramsey Sadaka (cello) and Estelí Gomez (soprano) for performing this piece.

My House Is Ancient (Estelí Gomez, soprano)

Rodney Dorsey, conductor / University of Oregon Wind Ensemble / University Singers / Carolyn Quick, soprano / Cole Blume, tenor

The Thaw for Soprano, Tenor, Mixed Choir and Wind Ensemble (2016) was commissioned by Rodney Dorsey for the University of Oregon Wind Ensemble and University Singers who premiered the piece on May 28, 2016 in the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts (Eugene, Oregon). The work is dedicated to the memory of University of Oregon mentors Anne Dhu McLucas, Lawrence Maves, Steven Larsen, and Charles Dowd.

I was drawn to the vivid detail and sensuality of Artis Henderson’s writing style, especially her honest portrayal of emotional pain and healing. Her poem, The Thaw, was written for this project; it draws upon imagery from Oregon’s rich, natural beauty to explore themes of love, loss and healing. The form of the musical work follows the text from a stunned and frozen stasis through the warming of spring.

I am grateful for artistic support from Rodney Dorsey, Artis Henderson, Sharon Paul, Brian and Kaisa Amer.

-- Notes by Andrea Reinkemeyer

The Thaw

I am the bud curled tight against the cold.
I am the bulb beneath the snow.
I am the white sky, the long night, the crack and shudder of ice.

I wait beside the adder’s tongue, the cobra lily, the purple hyacinth
for the soil to stir and the river to swell.
I wait through mist and hail.

I am fog and breath and cloud.
I am the cherries on the branches, too green.
I am rain.
And rain.
And rain.
And then --

I am the windows flung open to catch the sun,
my mouth like cherries,
the heat building in me.

I am leaf-touched, sun-tasted, petal-kissed.
I am wind and light and sky.
I am the cleft in the ridge; I am the river --
roaring, roaring,
flooded with rain.

-- Artis Henderson

Copyright © 2014 Artis Henderson.
Used by permission of Artis Henderson.

Instrumentation: 
Piccolo, 2 Flutes, Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet in B-flat, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon / 2 Horns in F, 2 Trumpets in B-flat, 2 Tenor Trombones, Tuba / Timpani, 4 Percussion*, Harp / Soprano, Tenor, SATB
* Percussion 1: Marimba (4.3), Vibraphone, Large Tam-tam
* Percussion 2: Large Concert Bass Drum, Wind Gong, Metallic Windchimes
* Percussion 3: Kick Drum, 2 Toms, Bongos, Woodblocks, China Cymbal, Glass & Bamboo Windchimes
* Percussion 4: 5 Temple Blocks, Sizzle Cymbal, Triangle

RENTAL: https://www.adjectivenewmusic.com/store/p277/The_Thaw.html

The Thaw for Soprano, Tenor, Mixed Choir and Wind Ensemble (2016) - (LIVE, Premiere)

Ambient music for amplified flutes with reverb and electronic sounds created from hydrophone recordings taken by the NOAA in the Challenger Deep - the deepest point of the Marianas Trench, and indeed, the Earth's surface. 
The first of a set of electroacoustic ambient pieces (currently WIP) that are composed using these recordings in their respective electronics parts. Dedicated to the fish.

Marianas I (Ambient Music For Flute, Alto Flute And Fixed Media)

I. Eeire
II. Vibrant 
III. Serene
IV. The Machine

By Rebecca Larkin
Alexis Evers, Linda Jenkins, Rebecca Larkin and Savannah Gentry, flute


In Contrast

Live performance from the July 6 Performer's Showcase II Concert from the 2016 Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. Many thanks to the fabulous Kathie Hsieh, Todd Bills, and Crystal Wing In Chu for being wonderful collaborators and performers!

Crumb: An Idyll for the Misbegotten

"Waves" spans from my memories of the Pacific Ocean. With most of my extended family living in the San Diego area as I grew up, I have many fond memories of the ocean, and Coronado Beach in particular. Since moving to Oregon, my fondness for the ocean has only continued to grow. After taking a road-trip to San Diego with the UO Flute Studio during the summer of 2016, I felt it only appropriate that a piece I dedicate to them be related to a place we've shared that also has personal significance.

Written for the University of Oregon Flute Ensemble.

Premiered and recorded on January 17th 2017 at Beall Concert Hall, Eugene, OR.

Crumb: An Idyll for the Misbegotten

Alexis Evers, flutist

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