June 8, 11a
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Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge
480 Richland Place, Monroe, LA 71203
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Program
Waits & Measures by David Lipten (Florida)
5 Bagatelles by Mark Lee (Tennessee)
all the trees I've ever loved by Louise Fristensky (Texas)
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A Propensity for Self-Destruction by Mel Mobley (Louisiana)
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Stay On It by Julius Eastman
Notes
“Waits & Measures” was written in response to a request by Axiom Brass. They gave me complete freedom regarding musical style and substance. They did request that the new composition not be terribly long and, importantly, that it not be yet another fanfare. I did comply with the quintet’s requests, at least with the first (the piece is approximately 7 minutes long). I was a little mischievous about the second in that some of the music may evoke a fanfare, but it’s highly abstracted; interrupted by silences (“Waits”). The measures are, well, measures. Bad pun. As a former low-brass player myself (trombone), I’m prone to that kind of humor. “Waits & Measures” was premiered by Axiom Brass at Adelphi University in New York in September 2021 and performed at the Midwest Brass Conference in December of that year, both under the auspices of Brass Legacy (https://brasslegacy.com).
5 Bagatelles for Cello are a short set of pieces that explore elements of key, register, texture, and dynamics. The opening and closing movements are related harmonically and serve as pillars for the inner movements. Numbers 2 and 4 are contrasting separated by a lyrical central movement.
all the trees i've ever loved is an open-instrumentation trio for three noise and-or percussion and-or electronics performers. This experiential system meditates on the remembered phenomenological ephemera of tree-laden spaces. all the trees i’ve ever loved is an extrapolated moment of virtual deep being in a speculatively remembered space. It is a falsified forest bath and uncanny tree chat in a language not had but felt as an echo. It is the cultivating of the vibe, a trio reciprocally weaving a story of a space.
A Propensity for Self-destruction was born out of the idea that we often feel like we have no control over a situation while in reality, it is often our avoidance of the issue that makes it a problem. Compositionally, the goal was to exert differing levels of control over the materials and to create a work in which each of the players has a varying degree of control over what happens at given points in the music.