IonSound
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Ensemble-in-Residence, University of Pittsburgh
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December 20, 2009 7:00pm Concert: Renew Bellefield Hall University of Pittsburgh
April 11, 2010 7:00 pm Concert: Recyle Bellefield Hall, University of Pittsburgh
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WHAT we do
IonSound Project is a sextet comprised of flutist Peggy Yoo, clarinetist Kathleen Costello, violinist Laura Motchalov, cellist Elisa Kohanski, pianist Rob Frankenberry and percussionist Eliseo Rael.
The members represent some of the most in demand young musicians in the Pittsburgh area. Collectively, they perform with such ensembles as the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, the Pittsburgh Opera, the Wheeling Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, the Youngstown Symphony, the Canton Symphony, and have also appeared with the Columbus Symphony, and the Charleston Symphony.
IonSound Project seeks to add to Pittsburgh's cultural life by programming innovative concerts, commissioning works of new music, collaborating with artists in a variety of disciplines, and exploring the boundaries between concert and popular music.
ABOUT
June 28, 2009 12:00 pm
Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch
Mellon Park
June 28, 2009 7:00 pm
Concert
Your Inner Vagabond
Collaborator: Folk Singer Mark Dignam
* October 2, 2009 8 p.m.
Phoenix Concert
Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy NY, NY
November 1, 2009 7:00 pm
Concert: Reduce
Bellefield Hall University of Pittsburgh
Events
Pro Arts Tickets
Advanced Tickets
December 20, 2009 7:00pm
Concert: Renew
$ 6.50 Student
At the Door
** April 6, 2010 7:00 pm
Concert: Pitt Student Composers
$ 15 General Admission
$ 10 Student
* $10 Suggested Donation
April 11, 2010 7:00 pm
Concert: Recyle
Bellefield Hall, University of Pittsburgh
** Free
Music ensemble's residency is a first at Pitt
Monday, August 18, 2008
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For the first time in the history of the University of Pittsburgh, its music department will have an ensemble-in-residence. IonSound Project, a new-music sextet based in Pittsburgh, will take the post this fall.
"The IonSound residency will be great for our undergraduate and graduate composers because our students will be able to work with this ensemble on an ongoing basis," said Mathew Rosenblum, chair of the music department. "The group is open to new music of all styles, and will help the students develop their craft through rehearsing and performing their compositions." IonSound will perform one public concert of student compositions a year and two concerts of its own repertoire.
While the robust tradition of ensembles taking residencies at universities worldwide is argument enough for Pitt's maneuver, it is crucial for a school such as Pitt to have one, says Rosenblum.
"Because we are a liberal arts department, not a conservatory, we lack the performance resources of those institutions," he said. "Instead, we bring professional ensembles to perform on our Music on the Edge new music series and then invite them to stay to work with our graduate composers.
"Working with professional musicians, and a distinguished composition faculty, is the best way to learn the art of composition. Now Pitt will have both."
IonSound's members are active in other groups. Violinist Laura Motchalov is a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and percussionist Eliseo Rael and flutist Peggy Yoo occasionally perform with it. Pianist Rob Frankenberry is a sought-after local performer (also as a tenor), Kathleen Costello is principal clarinetist of the Alabama Symphony and Elisa Kohanski is principal cellist of the Wheeling Symphony.
The group publicly begins it tenure with a concert Sept.20 at Pitt's Bellefield Hall Auditorium.
Post-Gazette classical music critic Andrew Druckenbrod can be reached at adruckenbrod_post-gazette.com or 412-263-1750. He blogs at community.post-gazette.com/blogs/classical.
First published on August 18, 2008 at 12:00 am
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Kathleen Costello holds the position of Principal Clarinet with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. She continues to spend time in Pittsburgh, where she performs with the ensemble IonSound Project, which she helped to found in 2004. She has recently graduated with a Master of Music degree from Duquesne University where she studied with Pittsburgh Symphony clarinetist Ron Samuels, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where she studied with Russell Dagon. She has also studied with the former Second and Eb clarinetist of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Dan Johnston.
In addition to maintaining an active free-lance career, Kathleen has held positions with the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater Orchestra, the Youngstown Symphony, and the McKeesport Symphony. She has also performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Canton Symphony, the Wheeling Symphony, and the Renaissance City Winds. During her time in Pittsburgh she has held adjunct teaching positions with Seton Hill University and the University of Pittsburgh. Kathleen spends two weeks each summer performing with the Lancaster Festival Orchestra in Lancaster, Ohio.
Peggy Yoo began her flute studies during an afterschool music program and soon thereafter enrolled in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School in New York. Her musical training, however, came to a complete halt when she attended Swarthmore College where she earned a degree in Comparative Religion. But she returned to the flute a few years after graduating and later began studies at the Manhattan School of Music and then later, Carnegie Mellon University. She spent three years playing with the Chicago Civic Orchestra and currently lives in Pittsburgh teaching and playing with various ensembles around the area, such as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orhcestra, the Wheeling SYmphony and Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orhcestra.
Canadian violinist Laura Motchalov joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the 2003-2004 season. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Insitute of Music.
Laura comes from a very musical family. Her father is a violinist, and her brother is a pianist. She began studying the violin at the age of four and by the age of six, was accepted into the Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music program in Calgary. As a teen, she won many awards at the local, provincial and national levels. She won the Provincial Grand Prize award in Alberta in 1997 as well as prizes at the Austrian-Canadian Mozart Competition and the Canadian Music Competitions. In 2001, she won Second Prize at the Corpus Christie International Concerto Competition in Texas.
Throughout the years, she has participated in many summer music festivals such as the Indiana String Academy, Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival, Keshet Eilon, Spoleto USA, National Repertory Orchestra and the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. She has studied with William Preucil, Linda Cerone, Zvi Zeitlin, Oleh Krysa, Edmond Agopian, Steven Bryant and Dr. Lise Elson. She has also studied chamber music with members of the Ying Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and the Cavani Quartet.
Laura is very active as both a chamber musician and soloist. Locally, she often collaborates with other members of the PSO and is also a member of the new music ensemble, IonSound Project. In the past, she was a member of the Atlantica trio in Rochester and toured New York State and New Jersey. She has appeared as a soloist with the Calgary Civic Symphony Orchestra, the
National Repertory Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
When not playing the violin, Laura enjoys hiking in the mountains, biking, running, reading and trying new restaurants.
Elisa Kohanski is principal cellist of the Wheeling Symphony and the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra and is a member of several other orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, and the Erie Philharmonic. She serves as adjunct faculty at Grove City College along with maintaining a private studio, teaching students ages five to sixty. In the summers, Elisa enjoys teaching cello choir and sectionals at the Carnegie Mellon Summer Strings Program. A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, Elisa travels home each June to perform in the chamber music festival, Music on the Hill. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she studied with Pamel a Frame. Elisa received her Masters of Music from Carnegie Mellon University as a student of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras Anne Martindale Williams and David Premo.
Elisa resides in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighborhood but travels extensively, having performed in an array of local and international venues, including the Schlossfestspiele in Heidelberg, Germany; the AIMS Opera Festival in Graz, Austria; Royal Albert Hall in London, England; Carnegie Hall in New York City; and in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh Playhouse, the City Theater and Hazlett Theater. Ms. Kohanski has performed with artists including Olivia Newton John, Phil Keaggy, Garrison Keillor, Robert Shaw, and John Tesh and has toured China and the US with the Mantovani Orchestra.
Robert Frankenberry leads a multi-faceted career as a tenor, pianist, and conductor. On stage, he has performed roles ranging from Mozart in Amadeus and John Adams in 1776 to the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann and Don Carlo, and include principal tenor roles in Tosca, Carmen, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto. He has originated roles in works by Roger Zahab, Jeremy Beck, Seymour Barab, and Daron Hagen, and in 2008 traveled to Edinburgh with PNME as Narcissus in Just Out of Reach, by Kevin Noe and Kieren MacMillan. Also active as a vocal recitalist, he performs contemporary song repertoire regularly in New York for the Phoenix Concerts, PRISM Projects, and the Tobenski-Algera Recital Series. He recently sang the premiere of several works by David Del Tredici for Symphony Space's Adventurers series, as well as George Lewis' Dancing in the Palace of Darkness on the Guggenheim's Works and Process series. Robert can be heard as Louis Sullivan in Hagen's Shining Brow with the Buffalo Philharmonic on the Naxos label, and on the Albany label singing Eric Moe's & a Warm Hello from the Alien Ant Farm, with the composer at the piano.
Frankenberry's credits in musical direction range from Sweeney Todd to The Tales of Hoffmann, including the staged premiere of Daron Hagens Vera of Las Vegas for CCO. He has been assistant conductor for productions of Don Carlo, Poliuto, La Forza del Destino and Aida for Chicagos DaCorneto Opera, and assisted Maestro Julius Rudel on Opera Theater of Pittsburghs 2008 production of Kurt Weills Lost in the Stars. At the piano, he performs both standard and contemporary chamber music, and is a member of IonSound, the Music On the Edge Chamber Orchestra, Trio AnimeBOP, and the Phoenix Players. He is on the faculty of the Seasons Festival Conductors Seminar in Yakima, WA, and is also Artist-in-Residence at the Seasons Music Festival. Robert holds a Bachelors Degree in Piano from Mercyhurst College, where he studied piano with Sam Rotman and conducting with Walter Hendl; and a Masters Degree in Voice from Carnegie Mellon, where he was a student of John Shirley-Quirk.
Eliseo Rael currently performs as principal percussionist of the chamber ensemble IonSound Project. He earned his Master of Music from New England Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas, having studied with Will Hudgins, Kalman Cherry, Leigh Howard Stevens, She-e Wu, and Dr. Robert Schietroma. He most recently earned his Artist Diploma from Duquesne University where he studied with Andrew Reamer and Chris Allen.
Eliseo performs frequently with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Wheeling Symphony. He has previously served as Principal Percussionist of The Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra, Principal Timpanist with the Texas Wind Symphony, and the Arlington Opera. He has been a section percussionist with the Boston Philharmonic, Las Colinas Symphony, Irving Symphony, and the El Paso Wind Symphony.
Eliseo was also a member of the UBSVerbierFestival Orchestra in Switzerland. He was chosen for this orchestra in an international audition that included thirty-two countries, and over a thousand applicants. As a member he performed in the Verbier Music Festival, the Swiss Expo, and the World Economic Summit. In addition he played in some of the world's finest halls while on a 30 day European tour under the Baton of Music Director James Levine and gust conductor Mstislav Rostrapovich. He has performed with Chick Corea, and played under the direction of Kurt Massur, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos, Pavo Jarvi, Leonard Slatkin, Manfred Honeck, Erich Kunzel, Gunther Schuller, Marvin Hamlisch, Bobby McFerrin, and Eugene Corporone among others.
Eliseo taught privately in the Dallas area for two years before moving to Pittsburgh. His students have been members of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, Three Rivers Youth Symphony, South Hills Jr. Orchestra, Dallas all-region band, Texas All-Area band, Texas All-State band, Ohio All-State Band, Ohio All-State Orchestra, Pittsburgh Honor Band, Pittsburgh Honor Orchestra, and have been winners of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist Competition. His students have also been accepted to New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin College, Michigan University, the University of North Texas, and Duquesne University. He currently teaches privately in the in the Pittsburgh area.
Sunday June 28, 2009
10:30a - 12:00p
BECK Slow Motion
ZAHAB entelechronicity
MARTINU Trio-mvmts 1 & 3
MILHAUD Suite for clarinet, cello, and piano
SATIE Three pieces in the Shape of a Pear
MONPOU Paysages
REICH Music for Pieces of Wood
AMAYA Trio
TORKE Telephone Book (1 & 3)
Coffee House Concert
7:00 pm
$10 general admission
BECK In Flight Until Mysterious Night
BECK Third Delphic Hymn
KOLM Haven
RILEY In C
SKIDMORE Whispers
HAGEN Angel Band mvt I
The Phoenix Concert
chamber works
Friday, October 2, 2009
Church of Saint Matthew and Saint Timothy, 26 West 84th Street, New York City, at 8 PM
Peggy Yoo, flute • Laura Motchalov, violin • Elisa Kohanski, cello
Rob Frankenberry, piano • Eliseo Rael, percussion
Jed Distler New Work (2009)
Michael Torke After the Forest Fire (2005)
Satie / Frankenberry Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear (1903/2009)
Orianna Webb Sequence Dreams (2000)
Libby Larsen Firebrand (2003)
Reduce
11/1/09
Bellefeild Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Thompson: Percussion Concerto
Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
As the group heads into the second year of its residency with the University of Pittsburgh, IonSound will kick off the season at Bellefield Auditorium on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 7 pm with Reduce, a program featuring an original work by Pittsburgh film director and video artist Chris Ivey. The program celebrates musical reductions of larger works including Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, Pittsburgher Philip Thompson's Percussion Concerto, and Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. For this concert IonSound is thrilled to welcome back Daphne Alderson, whose rich contralto voice shines in this moving work by Mahler.
Tickets are $8.50 general admission, $5 for students and seniors when purchased in advance through ProArts (www.proartstickets.org), and can be purchased at the door for $15/10. For more information and concert updates please visit www.ionsound.org.
2009-2010 season: Reduce, Renew, Recycle
Sunday November 1st 2009 at 7:00 pm
Bellefield Hall Auditorium
IonSound Project
Chris Ivey, film director and video artist
Daphne Alderson, contralto
MAURICE RAVEL Mother Goose Suite
PHILIP THOMPSON Percussion Concerto (remixed)
GUSTAV MAHLER Kindertotenlieder
Advance tickets $8.50/5
Tickets at the door $15/10
Program Notes
Renew
December 20, 2009, 7:00 pm
Bellefield Auditorium
Ionsound plays works that examine the different facets and stages of renewal including Michael Torke's After the Forest Fire, Libby Larsen's Firebrand, and a new work by Pittsburgh area composer Jonathan Kolm. An exihibit featuring artists that work with recycled or renewable materials including local artists Amy Rappa and Lauren Braun will be on display.
General Admission
Student/Senior Admission
Recycle
April 11, 2009, 7:00 pm
IonSound's final concert of the series at Bellefield presents a diverse look at musical 'recycling', with works by Francis Poulenc, Joan Tower, Daron Hagen, and featuring guest pianist Amy Williams in Lukas Foss' mesmerising Solo Observed. This concert will be paired with a unique installation project aimed at promoting recycling in the city of Pittsburgh.
Bellefield Hall
Address:
315 S Bellefield Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Ensemble in Residence, University of Pittsburgh
November 1, 2009
7:00 PM
University of Pittsburgh
Peggy Yoo, Flute
Kathleen Costello, Clarinet
Laura Motchalov, Violin
Elisa Kohanski, Cello
Rob Frankenberry, Piano
Eliseo Rael, Percussion
Featuring
Reduce. To lessen. To make smaller. To make do with less. Imperatives to reduce are all around us, with motives from virtually every aspect of life. Reduce calories to lose weight, reduce spending to get out of debt, reduce waste to save the planet. It's easy to think of reducing as a hardship; eating less means I'll be hungry, spending less means I'll have less fun, using less means I'll have to work harder. So we focus on the rewards and try to eat our spinach with a smile. We force ourselves to go without so that we'll feel more attractive, get out of debt, and have a planet left for our grandchildren. But reducing isn't always about suffering. In the culinary world, one reduces liquids such as wine, balsamic vinegar, or stock to intensify the flavors and increase the pleasure of eating. In many spiritual traditions, the act of choosing to go without something is taken in order to gain awareness of the self and of one's connection to the world. And once the initial shock of behavioral change is past, many people find that eating less, spending less, or living in an environmentally conscious way simply feels good. The act of reducing becomes something of an end in itself.
Although tonight's program came about as a direct result of IonSound's thinking about how music can or can't interact with the extramusical ideas related to "going green", the other meanings of reduce are relevant as well. All three of the works you'll hear already exist in versions for much larger instrumental forces--50+ players in each case. So it's sort of like music on a diet. Certainly the option to play a piece with 6 rather than 60 players will cost less. But why choose to reduce orchestration when there are already many pieces that exist for this instrumentation? IonSound already has an excellent piece by Philip Thompson in our repertoire, so shouldn't we just play that again? Certainly any living composer knows that writing an orchestral work for large forces is likely not going to result in hundreds of performances. It will take a lot of hard work. Rescoring a piece for smaller forces not only makes it possible to hear a work more often, it also allows the composer (and anyone else fortunate enough to hear both versions) to hear the musical material in more than one way. In this case, think of the cooking sense of reduction. The incredible energy of the large scale orchestration is distilled into a kind of hyper-excitement in the six-player version, and there is a visceral quality to the sheer thought of one player covering ideas that were originally given to three players. It's not for nothing that the old saying goes, "sometimes less is more."
But why choose works by composers who are thought to have been among the finest orchestrators who ever lived? Isn't a symphonic work for large forces immutable because that was how the composer chose to write it and thus represent his or her ultimate intentions? And aren't these pieces already getting plenty of performances? There is in fact a long tradition of composers changing their own orchestration for various situations, or approving radical reductions by other persons. Ultimately, practicality has always been a driving force in music. Beethoven first published his Violin Concerto as a Piano Concerto. Symphonies and string quartets alike were sold in arrangements for piano, both two- and four-hand versions. Granted, things did become less fluid as the Romantic period progressed and the concept "Masterpiece" became the cornerstone of programming, but no less a figure than Schönberg himself made chamber versions of works by Mahler and others for a small ensemble, suitable for performance in homes and small halls. Piano rolls exist of Mahler playing his own 4th Symphony in a solo transcription. Kindertotenlieder also exists in a version for voice and piano by Mahler, not as a rehearsal convention, but as a viable performance option. Ravel's original setting of these five movements was for piano four-hands. For these composers, this music contained ideas and relationships that could speak in more than one setting, and adapted appropriately for each context. "Reduction" for them was as much a part of the creative process as it was a practical measure. Their music was a fact of the present moment and the present situation, however large or small the underlying idea. And regardless of the size of orchestration, the compositional choices at the core of these two works possess a lean sense of economy that lends itself well to a small ensemble. The present reductions are drawn largely from the full orchestrations, but not without consulting the composers' own piano versions. The music is all theirs, although the perspective may be somewhat different; I was not there in 1905 or 1910. How could I know for certain what they would think? I can only hope that they would understand that this is music that we love, and want to share with our friends, and indulge us in our musing.
Regardless of the origin or intention of a piece, we best honor art by noticing it, we best notice by focusing our attention, and our attention is captured differently than it was a century ago. In this case, we put forward the idea of reduction in all of its senses, but most particularly that of relating to our world in a responsible manner, through doing more with less and finding new joys in the act of so doing. And what has all this to do with the music of Mahler, Ravel, or Thompson? I'm not entirely sure. But if you listen for an hour, maybe you can tell me.
Rob Frankenberry, October 23, 2009
Program:
Maurice Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
I. Sleeping Beauty's Pavane
II. Tom Thumb
He thought he'd have no trouble finding his way back by following the breadcrumbs he'd left everywhere he'd gone; how surprised he was when he couldn't find a single
one; the birds had come and eaten them all. Charles Perrault
III. Little Miss Ugly Fact, Empress of the Pagodas
She undressed and got into her bath. Immediately, the denizens of the pagodas began singing and playing their instruments: some had theorbos made of chestnut shells;
others had viols made of almond shells; for their instruments were necessarily proportional to their own size. Mme. d'Aulnoy: Green Streamers
IV. Conversations between the Beauty and the Beast
"When I think of our kind heart, you don't seem so ugly."--"Oh my yes, I have a kind heart, but I'm hideous."--"Many men are more hideous than you."--If I had a wit, I'd
think of a fine compliment to thank you, but I'm only a beast."
-----
"Beauty, will you marry me?"--"No, Beasty!"
"I'll die happy, since I've had the pleasure of seeing you again."--"No, Beasty dear, you shan't die: you will live and be my husband."...The Beast vanished, and at her feet
she now found a prince more handsome than love itself, who thanked her for breaking the spell that bound him. Mme. Leprince de Beaumont
V. The Magic Garden
Philip Thompson: Percussion Concerto (remixed)
Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
1. Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgehn (Now the sun will rise as brightly)
2. Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen (Now I see well why with such dark flames)
3. Wenn dein Mutterlein (When your dear Mother)
4. Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen (Often I think that they have only stepped out)
5. In diesem Wetter (In this weather)
Program Notes:
Mother Goose Suite
by Maurice Ravel (reduced by Rob Frankenberry)
In 1908, Ravel made a present of a set of five pieces for piano four-hands to Mimie and Jean Godebski, the daughter and son of his friends Cipa and Ida Godebski, a young Polish couple whose Paris apartment was a gathering place for some of the greatest artists of the day, including André Gide, Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, and, from time to time, Igor Stravinsky. Ravel was a regular visitor to the Godebskis' salon, and it's possible that he was drawn as much by the enchanting games and conversation he shared with Mimie and Jean as he was by the more rarefied discussion among the grown-ups. Although Mimie and Jean were considered quite accomplished for young children, they found the prospect of premiering the work of their dear friend the composer too nerve-wracking, although they happily accepted the gift and played it for and with Ravel privately. In April of 1910, two other children (aged 6 and 7) presented the first performance of the Mother Goose Suite. The suite is a set of five pieces evoking some aspect of a well-known fairy tale. Some confusion exists for American audiences when presented with this combination of main and sub-titles, however, as Mother Goose in the USA refers to a collection of nursery rhymes, rather than fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty or Little Red Riding Hood. The earliest versions of those stories recorded in a published literary format were by Frenchman Charles Perrault in 1607, under the title Histoires ou contes du temps passé avec des moralitezStories or tales of olden times, with morals, with the subtitle Contes de ma Mère L'Oye--Tales of my Mother Goose. It is from this volume that Ravel drew his inspiration, as well as the title of the whole work and two of the movement titles. The resulting Suite is arguably one of Ravel's most exquisite creations. The idea of evoking the poetry of childhood in these pieces, Ravel later explained, naturally led me to simplify my style and to refine my means of expression.
Percussion Concerto (remixed)
by Philip Thompson
About Percussion Concerto (Remixed)
I scored the original Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra in 2002 for three percussion soloists. The remixed version is for Pierrot ensemble and drum set and I created it especially for IonSound Project and their excellent percussionist Eliseo Rael. In writing the original piece I tried to create an environment where different kinds of music coexist with equal power and validity. Clean, discrete sound objects alternate with virtuosic passage work and a recurring chorale. The remixed version maintains all of these elements, but I was pleased to find that transcribing the original percussion parts for drum set seemed to reveal something new about the inner nature of the piece. Not surprisingly, the rock-inspired elements assert themselves more strongly in this new version, including a completely rewritten cadenza that tips its hat to the arena rock drum solo. I'm extremely grateful to the members of IonSound Project, and especially Eliseo, for giving me the opportunity to recast this work into its present form.
Kindertotenlieder
by Gustav Mahler (reduced by Rob Frankenberry)
texts by Friederich Rückert (from Kindertodtenlieder)
1901 found Mahler occupied with settings of texts by Friedrich Rückert, one of his favorite poets. During that summer, he penned four of the five Rückert Lieder, and three of the Kindertotenlieder. The remaining two songs were not composed until 1904, when Mahler realized he needed another work for his upcoming concert season. The intervening years not only saw his marriage to Alma Schindler, but also the births of his two daughters and the composition of the 6th Symphony. The cycle was premiered, along with the first four of the Rückert Lieder, in January of 1905, conducted by the composer with baritone Friederich Weidemann as soloist. Much has been made about the death of his beloved daughter Maria a few years later to a combination of scarlet fever and diptheria, and Mahler himself stated that he could not have composed the work after the death of his own daughter. Though it is not clear exactly what caused Mahler to select such a sad subject for a cycle, it is thought by some that his own near-death experience in February of 1901 followed by several operations and a long convalescence could have drawn him to thoughts of mortality. There is further the fact that his favorite brother Ernst had died in his arms, and it is possible that while reading Rückert's 425 poems (written in response to the deaths of his two children to scarlet fever), Mahler must have been struck by the fact that Ernst was the name of the poet's son who had died. Whatever prompted the composition of the cycle, all five of the poems Mahler chose to set deal with the subject of light, a subject which only 36 of the 425 poems address. The resulting cycle, while explicitly about the loss of children, is implicitly about consolation for the storm of unbearable grief, light in the midst of darkness. Henry-Louis de La Grange writes, "Schönberg observed that in fact Mahler's two 'saddest' works (apart from the Sixth Symphony) both end with a radiant vision of eternal life, without which this deeply mystical, if not conventionally religious, man would not have been able to bear the reality of human suffering. The principal message of the cycle lies in the disembodied tenderness of its conclusion, where Mahler seems to find a new answer to the metaphysical questions that had always obsessed him. The belief in eternal renewal and in the union of man with nature was one of the great revelations in this mature phase. It was only one transcendental step from these songs to the luminous melancholy of the Adagios of the last symphonies."
Texts and translations:
Gustav Mahler
Texts from Kindertotenlieder, by Friedrich Rückert
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from The Lied and Art Song Texts Page,
http://www.lieder.net/
1. Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgehn
Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgehn,
Als sei kein Unglück die Nacht geschehn!
Das Unglück geschah nur mir allein!
Die Sonne, sie scheinet allgemein!
Du mußt nicht die Nacht in dir verschränken,
Mußt sie ins ew'ge Licht versenken!
Ein Lämplein verlosch in meinem Zelt!
Heil sei dem Freudenlicht der Welt!
1. Now the sun will rise as brightly
Now the sun will rise as brightly
as if no misfortune had occurred in the night.
The misfortune has fallen on me alone.
The sun - it shines for everyone.
You must not keep the night inside you;
you must immerse it in eternal light.
A little light has been extinguished in my household;
Light of joy in the world, be welcome.
2. Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen
Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen
Ihr sprühtet mir in manchem Augenblicke.
O Augen, gleichsam, um [voll]1 in einem Blicke
Zu drängen eure ganze Macht zusammen.
Doch ahnt' ich nicht, weil Nebel mich umschwammen,
Gewoben vom verblendenden Geschicke,
Daß sich der Strahl bereits zur Heimkehr schicke,
Dorthin, von wannen alle Strahlen stammen.
Ihr wolltet mir mit eurem Leuchten sagen:
Wir möchten nah dir [immer]2 bleiben gerne!
Doch ist uns das vom Schicksal abgeschlagen.
Sieh' [recht]2 uns [nur]1 an, denn bald sind wir dir ferne!
Was dir [noch]3 Augen sind in diesen Tagen:
In künft'gen Nächten sind es dir nur Sterne.
1 added by Mahler.
2 omitted by Mahler.
3 Mahler: "nur"
2. Now I see well why with such dark flames
Now I see well why with such dark flames
your eyes sparkled so often.
O eyes, it was as if in one full glance
you could concentrate your entire power.
Yet I did not realize - because mists floated about me,
woven by blinding fate -
that this beam of light was ready to be sent home
to that place whence all beams come.
You would have told me with your brilliance:
we would gladly have stayed near you!
But it is refused by Fate.
Just look at us, for soon we will be far!
What to you are only eyes in these days -
in future nights shall be stars to us.
3. Wenn dein Mutterlein
Wenn dein Mütterlein
tritt zur Tür herein,
Und den Kopf ich drehe,
ihr entgegen sehe,
Fällt auf ihr Gesicht
erst der Blick mir nicht,
Sondern auf die Stelle,
näher nach der Schwelle,
Dort, wo würde dein
lieb Gesichten sein,
Wenn du freudenhelle
trätest mit herein,
Wie sonst, mein Töchterlein.
Mit der Kerze Schimmer,
ist es mir, als immer
Kämst du mit herein,
huschtest hinterdrein,
Als wie sonst ins Zimmer!
O du, des Vaters Zelle,
Ach, zu schnell
erloschner Freudenschein!
3. When your Mother
When your mother
steps into the doorway
and I turn my head
to see her,
my gaze does not alight
first on her face,
but on the place
nearer to the threshhold;
there, where
your dear face would be
when you would step in
with bright joy,
as you used to, my little daughter.
When your mother steps
into the doorway
with the gleam of a candle,
it always seems to me as if
you came in as well,
slipping in behind her,
just as you used to come into the room!
O you, a father's cell,
alas! too quickly
you extinguish the gleam of joy!
4. Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen,
Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen,
Bald werden sie wieder nach Hause gelangen,
Der Tag ist schön, o sei nicht bang,
Sie machen nur einen weiten Gang.
Ja wohl, sie sind nur ausgegangen,
Und werden jetzt nach [Haus]1 gelangen,
O, sei nicht bang, der Tag is schön,
Sie machen [nur]2 den Gang zu jenen Höh'n.
Sie sind uns nur voraus gegangen,
Und werden nicht [hier]3 nach [Haus]1 verlangen,
Wir holen sie ein auf jenen Höh'n
Im Sonnenschein, der Tag is schön [auf jenen Höh'n]2
1 Mahler: "Hause"
2 added by Mahler.
3 Mahler: "wieder"
4. Often I think that they have only stepped out
Often I think that they have only stepped out -
and that soon they will reach home again.
The day is fair - O don't be afraid -
They are only taking a long walk.
Yes: they have only stepped out
and will now return home.
O don't be anxious - the day is fair.
They are only taking a walk to those hills.
They have simply gone on ahead:
they will not wish to return home.
We'll catch up to them on those hills.
In the sunshine the day is fair.
5. In diesem Wetter
In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus,
Nie hätt' ich gesendet die Kinder hinaus;
Man hat sie getragen hinaus,
Ich durfte nichts dazu sagen!
In diesem Wetter, in diesem Saus,
Nie hätt' ich gelassen die Kinder hinaus,
Ich fürchtete sie erkranken;
Das sind nun eitle Gedanken.
In diesem Wetter, in diesem Graus,
Nie hätt' ich gelassen die Kinder hinaus;
Ich sorgte, sie stürben morgen,
Das ist nun nicht zu besorgen.
In diesem Wetter, in diesem Graus!
Nie hätt' ich gesendet die Kinder hinaus!
Man hat sie hinaus getragen,
ich durfte nichts dazu sagen!
In diesem Wetter, in diesem Saus, in diesem Braus,
Sie ruh'n als wie in der Mutter Haus,
Von keinem Sturm erschrecket,
Von Gottes Hand bedecket.
5. In this Weather
In this weather, in this windy storm,
I would never have sent the children out;
They were carried outside -
I could say nothing about it!
In this weather, in this roaring storm,
I would never have let the children out.
I was afraid they had falllen ill,
but these thoughts are now idle.
In this weather, in this cruel storm,
I would never have let the children out;
I was worried they would die the next day -
but this is now no concern.
In this weather, in this roaring, cruel storm,
they rest as they did in their mother's house:
they are frightened by no storm,
and are covered by the hand of God.
Bios:
IonSound Project comprises flutist Peggy Yoo, clarinetist Kathleen Costello, violinist Laura Motchalov, cellist Elisa Kohanski, pianist Rob Frankenberry and percussionist Eliseo Rael. The group was founded in 2004 with a mission to add to Pittsburgh's cultural life by programming innovative concerts, commissioning works of new music, collaborating with artists in a variety of disciplines, and exploring the boundaries between concert and popular music. IonSound has received critical acclaim for their original programming, fresh approach to contemporary music, and commitment to the city of Pittsburgh. IonSound is Ensemble-in-Residence at University of Pittsburgh, where they work with students and perform the works of graduate students in composition.
Daphne Alderson is thrilled to be performing with IonSound. Daphnes diverse, eclectic career as lyric contralto includes opera, oratorio, chamber music and cabaret throughout the United States, Canada and Italy. Ms. Alderson has performed with Pittsburgh Opera, Chatham Baroque, Central City Opera, Opera North, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh and Amherst Early Opera. Her roles include Purcell's Sorceress, Hansel, Isabella, Nicklausse and Handelian and Scarlatti baroque opera roles. A champion of new works, she has premiered the music of John Marcinizyn, Michael Moricz, Enrique Ubieta and Douglas Levine. Daphnes voice gives me shiversshes really magical, and when she sings in French, youll want your sweetheart nearby, quotes Ted Sohier (WQEDfm, Pittsburgh). . The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls her, An artist of dignified passion, (Handels MESSIAH) and beautifully rendered love songs.
Ms. Alderson's 2009 season opened at the Andrew Carnegie in Carnegie's, "All Heart, All Judy," celebrating the songs of Judy Garland with exquisite arrangements by Douglas Levine. "Songs That Oscar Taught Me," commissioned last year for the Carnegie in Carnegie, tours the mid-Atlantic region this February 2010. LAmour la Vie," a one woman show based on the life and music of Edith Piaf was commissioned for Heinz Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh and performed to full houses. Other projects in the 2009 season include "Words of Love" at Heinz Chapel, appearances at the Club Café, Whittaker Center for the Performing Arts in Harrisburg, opera outreach programs touring with the Pittsburgh Opera, The Steinway Society, Bricolage Theatre, IonSound Project and chamber music with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Spring 2010 brings Honegger's KING DAVID, chamber music and a tour of Central America with guitarist John Marcinizyn.
About filmmaker Chris Ivey:
Chris Ivey is an award-winning filmmaker who has received recognition
for his short film works at the Tokyo Video Festival, Carolina Film
Festival and the Cin(E) Poetry Festival. He has also won Addy
Awards for Best Broadcast Campaign for commercials he directed for
Jones Soda and the Washington Wild Things Baseball Club.
One of Chris' passions is helping artists and small businesses
continually build stronger work and business with his skills as a
commercial director. Time and time again he has proved through stylish
and innovative creativity that you do not need multi-size budgets to
create memorable works.
Chris is a well recognized artist/documentarian in the independent art
scene of Pittsburgh most notably for his "East of Liberty" documentary series
that tackles the issues of race, class and gentrification during the regeneration
of the East End neighborhood, East Liberty. Chris has collaborated with organizations
such as the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, The Pittsburgh
Foundation, BBC Radio, YLE-TV (Finland), The Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional
History Center and The Andy Warhol Museum, to name a few.
Chris has also shot notable works for Del Monte Foods, a University of Pittsburgh
documentary on K. Leroy Irvis and the recently acclaimed documentary for
Diversity Films "Why Us? Left Behind and Dying" which was co-directed with students
from Westinghouse High School about the effect of AIDS on the African American
community and worldwide.
Currently Chris is producing four documentaries:
The Big Gamble (2010) A documentary about the effect of new developments and fears
regarding the joint building of a new Pittsburgh hockey arena and casino.
East of Liberty series (on going through 2010): A documentary focusing on the
redevelopment and gentrification of Pittsburgh neighborhood, East Liberty.
THE GROOVE OF 8 (2010): A behind scenes feature length concert film
following the quick rise and struggles of a North Carolina jazz band
as they go to the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco.
Zombietown, USA (2010): A documentary that follows the zombie cult
created by Pittsburgh filmmaker George A. Romero and features dozens
of interviews with die- hard Romero fans and celebrities such as
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
Philip Thompson
Philip Thompson was born in Baltimore and grew up in Forest Hill, Maryland. He received his early musical training through Harford Countys excellent public education system and Peabody Conservatorys preparatory school studying trombone and composition. He completed his undergraduate work at Oberlin Conservatory and received his MA and PhD in composition and theory from the University of Pittsburgh. Thompson has served as adjunct faculty at Seton Hill University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Chatham University teaching courses in music theory, appreciation, and technology. He lives in Pittsburghs Lawrenceville neighborhood with is wife and two children.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Maurice Ravel was among the most significant and influential composers of the early twentieth century. Although he is frequently linked with Claude Debussy as an exemplar of musical impressionism, and some of their works have a surface resemblance, Ravel possessed an independent voice that grew out of his love of a broad variety of styles, including the French Baroque, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Spanish folk traditions, and American jazz and blues. Ravel's mother was of Basque heritage, a fact that accounted for his lifelong fascination with Spanish music, and his father was a Swiss inventor and engineer, most likely the source of his commitment to precision and craftsmanship. At the age of 14, he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he was a student from 1889 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1903. His primary composition teacher was Gabriel Fauré. A major disappointment of his life was his failure to win the Prix de Rome in spite of numerous attempts, and apparently due to the conflict between the conservative administration of the Conservatory and Ravel's independent thinking, meaning his association with the French avant-garde (Debussy), and his interest in non-French traditions (Wagner, the Russian nationalists, Balinese gamelan). He had already established himself as a composer of prominence, and his loss of the Prix de Rome in 1905 was considered such a scandal that the director of the Conservatory was forced to resign. Ironically, Ravel, who in his youth was rejected by some elements of the French musical establishment for being a modernist, in his later years was scorned by Satie and the members of Les Six as being old-fashioned, a symbol of the establishment. In 1932, an injury he sustained in an automobile accident started a physical decline that resulted in memory loss and an inability to communicate. He died in 1937, following brain surgery. Although Ravel often lamented that he was not one of the great composers, due at least in part to a relatively small output, nearly all of his sixty-some works have continued to be heard regularly on programs across the spectrum of the classical concert world since their composition.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Born in Bohemia on July 7, 1860, the sensitive and musically talented Mahler entered the Vienna Conservatory to study music at the age of fifteen. Encouraged to compose, Mahlers greatest successes in life nevertheless came as a conductor of symphonies and operas. In 1897, he became the director of the Vienna Opera, a post he held for ten years. During this period, he not only built up the quality and prestige of the Opera, but found time to compose eight large symphonies and four collections of songs. In 1907, Mahler became the new director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the next year conductor of the New York Philharmonic. He completed his ninth symphony and the orchestral song cycle Das Lied von der Erde during this time, but due to failing health, returned to Vienna in 1911, where he died on May 18. It was Mahlers conception that a symphony should be an "entire world," and thus his symphonic endeavors run the gamut from the sublime to the banal, the spiritual to the earth-bound, often with the presence of death hovering in the background. These symphonies received little critical support during his lifetime, and were generally considered pretentious failures until the latter part of the 20th century. They are now considered as the summation of the late Romantic tradition, while simultaneously opening the gates for the myriad strains of 20th and 21st century compositional style.
Thanks:
Special thanks to Daphne! It is thrilling to present such a stunning piece of music with you! Thank you also to Chris.
These programs are were produced by Gary Cravener, whose expertise has elevated IonSound's image!
Please stay for our reception following the concert.
Dont forget to visit our website at: www.ionsound.org
We can also be found on myspace: www.myspace.com/ionsound
Look for upcoming University of Pittsburgh events at: www.music.pitt.edu
Check out our new line of IonSound products at http://ionsound.googlepages.com/shop
We are excited to announce a brand new website that will deliver all your Pittsburgh New Music news! Phil Thompson recently unveiled www.pittsburghnewmusicnet.com -- visit and register your concert or comments today!
