Musical variation has infused my creative process ever since I devised the original chaotic mapping technique for making musical variations of original works.
Now after years of working with CantoVario, I find my compositional style has become infused with thousands of variations. They have permeated my musical being, especially those works composed since 2011: September Quartet, a large scale work that received its world première on the tenth anniversary of 9/11; the piano compositions Tre Studi di Colore (2012) and Fuente y Variación (2013); the 2017 trio (violin, cello, piano) Who was Wissam Eid?, and the five-movement work Parallel Lives—Distant Mirrors (2018) where the variation path heard by listeners during the fifth movement depends on seat location.
September Quartet (2011)
Composed for chorus, winds, brass, percussion, violin and piano, September Quartet was commissioned by Tufts University for the New Music Ensemble, John McDonald, Director, in commemoration of the Tufts Sesquicentennial. An integral part of the piece involves the gradual illumination of the names representing the 246 non-hijacker passengers and crew members of the four planes obliterated on September 11, 2001, hence the name September Quartet. Lasting approximately 30 minutes, the five movements are titled: Beginning, 77-175, 93, 11, End.
Caption: Recorded live on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11, this YouTube video captures the performance from the middle of the “93” movement to the “End.” [In the process of establishing this new link, the previous 500 views and comments were lost.]
Performers: Ashley Addington, flute; Jennifer Slowik, oboe; Ray Jackendoff, clarinet; Philipp Staeudlin, alto saxophone; Dana Russian, trumpet soloist; Dana Oakes, trumpet; Jeffrey Means, percussion; Jonathan Hess, percussion; Matt Sharrock, percussion; John McDonald, piano; Jae Young Lee, violin; Tufts Chamber Singers; and Jamie Kirsch, conductor.
The score for this composition September Quartet (2011), can be viewed.
Tre Studi di Colore (2012)
These three études for solo piano – Azzurro (for right hand alone), Rosso (for left hand alone), and Violetto (for two hands) – offer a dramatic and athletic tour de force for the pianist. Their interpretation relies on certain interpretive slants, e.g., hearing the piano embrace different instruments of the orchestra (and at times, a military band). Commissioned by the Three-College Collaboration (Babson, Olin, Wellesley) for the Jubilee Trio’s Houghton Chapel concert, Wellesley College, Nov. 2012, these études were later performed abroad (May 30, 2013) by pianist Jongsun Lee who won an emerging artists’ competition awarding her a debut recital at Youngsan Art Hall in Seoul, South Korea.
YouTube videos of Tre Studi di Colore recorded by pianist Jongsun Lee at Mozart Hall, Seoul, South Korea, in December 2013. Violetto (left), Rosso (middle), Azzurro (right).
Fuente y Variación (2013)
Fuente y Variación (source and variation) was commissioned by pianist Jongsun Lee for her invited artist concert sponsored by Youngsan Art Hall, Seoul, South Korea, May 2013. The piece presents another perspective on classical variation form: first the audience hears an original piece (기원) and then a variation (변화) of it. The variation diverges in substantive ways from the original, yet the two pieces stay connected through motivic and thematic reinterpretation. In a broad sense, the music has become dynamic – it changes with time as a river might change from day to day, season to season, yet is still recognized in its essence.
A YouTube video of Fuente y Variación recorded by pianist Jongsun Lee at Mozart Hall, Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 9, 2013. Variación (left), Fuente (right).
TEDx Talk at Seoul National University
“Two are better than one: composers and performers in music.” Pianist Jongsun Lee presented her work bringing Fuente y Variación and Tre Studi di Colore from score to finished performance, Nov. 16, 2013.
Who was Wissam Eid? (2017)
Commissioned by the Babson, Olin, Wellesley Collaboration and scored for violin, cello, and piano, Who was Wissam Eid? grew out of a New York Times article “The Hezbollah Connection” by Ronen Bergman. Bergman investigated the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon who sought to unyoke Lebanon from Assad’s Syria. Wissam Eid, a young Lebanese police detective and former engineering student, unraveled the plot—initially blamed on a 22-year old religious Sunni Muslim (Ahmad Abu Adass). Family and friends described Adass as kind and generous; sadly, the plotters took advantage of his kindness to set him up as the fall guy for the murder of Hariri. Eid doubted the setup, instead approaching the case with a novel idea: on his own time, he tracked records of cell phone traffic, eventually identifying five members of Hezbollah, a militant group loyal to Bashar al-Assad, as responsible for the entire plot. In reading the story, I fell in love with Wissam Eid, hoping he would somehow escape the fate of Hariri and Adass. His car was blown up in 2008. He was 31.
The 10-minute work for violin, cello, and piano has three movements: Ahmad Abu Adass, Rafik Hariri, Wissam Eid.
Recorded April 17, 2017. Performers: Gabriella Diaz, violin; David Russell, cello; and Lois Shapiro, piano.
Parallel Lives—Distant Mirrors (2018)
Parallel Lives—Distant Mirrors for piano, flute, voice, and soundscape, received its world première on the Wellesley College Concert Series, November 10, 2018. The work explores parallel universes in Iraq and the United States. It offers the audience a concert of “Variations and Shadows” where seat location determines what variation path through a piece is heard by the audience. I’ve talked about such a “variation concert” in formal concert/lectures and informal talks since 1994. The world première performance utilized sound-focusing technology developed by Kevin Brown of Brown Innovations. To our knowledge, this is the first “variation concert” ever presented.
Five movements comprise the 30-minute work:
The culminating movement includes a soundtrack composed of Associated Press recordings from the 2003 bombardment of Iraq, the last minutes of Iraqi TV, recorded American and Iraqi voices, among others. Movements 2, 3, and 4, each focus on one of the Arabic voice recordings but in translation. The text for the third movement for voice and piano can be found in the YouTube description.
Recorded live in Houghton Chapel as part of the Wellesley College Concert Series. Performers: Yong Su Clark, flute; P. Lucy McVeigh, mezzo-soprano; and Jongsun Lee, piano.
The scores for all these performances can be found here.