Bermel - Mulatash Stomp (sample pages)

Derek Bermel

Mulatash Stomp for Bď ˘ Clarinet, Violin, and Piano

Mulatash Stomp was written for the Broadview Trio in 1991 when I was a student in Ann Arbor.

While I was working on the piece, my teacher William Albright mentioned that he had once spent a wild evening at an all-night ‘Mulatas’ (the authentic Hungarian spelling) and the idea stuck in my mind. Having never been to a true Mulatas, I called my second-hand piece “Mulatash Stomp” and wove a techno-rhythm into the mix for some added American late-night spice.

—Derek Bermel

Duration: ca. 5:30

Mulatash Stomp was recorded on New World Records NWCR895 by Derek Bermel, clarinet; Heleen Hulst, violin; Christopher Taylor, piano

Grammy-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel, “one of the most original voices of American music” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), has been widely hailed for his creativity, theatricality, and virtuosity.

Bermel studied ethnomusicology and orchestration with Andre Hajdu in Jerusalem; he later traveled to Bulgaria to study the Thracian folk style, to Ghana to learn the Lobi xylophone, and to Brazil to study caxixi. This engagement with other musical cultures has become part of the fabric and force of his compositional language, in which the human voice and its myriad inflections play a primary role.

Bermel’s commissioners have included the Pittsburgh, National, Boston, Saint Louis, New Jersey, and Pacific Symphonies, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, WNYC Radio, eighth blackbird, the Guarneri and JACK String Quartets, Music from China, Copland House, violinist Midori, electric guitarist Wiek Hijmans, Schoenberg Ensemble/Veenfabriek (Netherlands), Jazz Xchange (U.K.), and Figura (Denmark).

Bermel has worked for many years as an artistic advisor to the American Composers Orchestra, and has enjoyed multi-year residencies at the Institute for Advanced Study and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. An innovative educator, Bermel was the Founding Director of the New York Youth Symphony’s Composition (formerly Making Score) program. He is Institute Director of Copland House’s CULTIVATE program for emerging composers, and also mentors young composers in the American Composers Orchestra’s Underwood Readings, Playing it Unsafe, and CoLABoratory programs.

Bermel’s discography features three critically-acclaimed discs: an all-Bermel orchestral recording that includes his clarinet concerto Voices (BMOP/sound); “Soul Garden,” a disc of his small ensemble/solo music (New World/CRI); and “Canzonas Americanas,” with Alarm Will Sound (Cantaloupe). Bermel is the founding clarinetist of the chamber ensemble Music From Copland House.

Among Bermel’s many awards are the Alpert Award in the Arts, Rome Prize, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, the Trailblazer Award of the American Music Center, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; commissions from the Koussevitzky and Fromm Foundations; and residencies at Yaddo, Aspen, Banff, Tanglewood, Bellagio, Copland House, Sacatar (Brazil), and Civitella Ranieri (Italy). Bermel holds B.A. and D.M.A. degrees from Yale University and the University of Michigan. Notable among his composition teachers are William Albright, Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, Henri Dutilleux, Andre Hajdu, and Michael Tenzer.

Mulatash Stomp

Score in C

DEREK BERMEL (1991)

Heavy & reckless, but with humor (q = 144)

4 4

Violin

3 4

4 4

2 4

mf

Clarinet

f

4 4

3 4

4 4

2 4

mf

f

4 4 Piano

4

4 4

2 4 2 4

3 4 mf

4 4

3 4

4 4 mf

4 4

2 4 f

4 4

3 4

5 4

3 4

5 4

3 4

5 4

3 4

5 4

2 4

mf

2 4 2 4

8

4 4 4 4

mf

A

quasi pont.

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

f a bit meaner

4 4 f a bit meaner

4 4 4 4

f

© Copyright 2002 by X Pyre Music All Rights for the World Exclusively Administered by Songs of Peer, Ltd.

2 11

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

f

f

ff

("ghost" note)

4 4

3 4

4 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

f

4 4

3 4 f

ff

14

on the string

ff

3 4

3 4 f

4 4

3 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

f

3 4

4 4

18

sf bohemian, dramatic

poco legato (sim.)

f

B

3 24

3

3 4 sf

3 4

3 4 poco dim.

28

C

3 4

4 4

ff

3 4

4 4

flz.

ff

3 4

4 4 mf

3 4

32

ff sub.

4 4

3 4

4

poco rit.

D

a tempo

35

spicc.

3 4 pp pizz . ord.

f

3 4

p sneaky

3 4 pp

f

3 4

38

3 4

4 4

3 4 mf

3 4

4 4

f

4 4

3 4

4 4

ff

3 4 mf

3 4

4 4

mf

f

4 4 f

ff

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

5 41

(spicc. )

4 4 pizz.

3 4

4 4

pp

mf

4 4

3 4

4 4

p

4 4

pp

4 4

mp

mf sempre legato

p

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

ord.

44

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

mp

p sub.

mf

mf

3 4

4 4 f

3 4

4 4

mp

f

E 48

4 4

sul pont.

3 4

4 4

3 4 mf

pp smooth

4 4

3 4 pp light, stacc.

4 4

mp

4 4

pp

3 4

mf

4 4 ff grotesque

3 4

4 4

pp

4 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

3 4

4 4

mf

3 4

4 4

6 52

norm.

4 4

3 4

4 4 marcato cresc. poco a poco

mp

4 4

3 4 mf cresc. poco a poco

mp marcato

4 4

4 4

3 4

4 4 cresc. poco a poco

marcato

4 4

3 4

4 4

56

6 4 (cresc. poco a poco)

4 4 f

ff

6 4

4 4 f

(cresc. poco a poco)

6 4

4 4

6

(cresc. poco a poco)

6 4

ff

4 4

F 59

molto rit.

A little slower (h = 66)

2 2

3 2

2 2

3 2

2 2 3

3

2 2

mp

2 2

3 2

2 2

3 2

2 2

pp

2 2

7 63

molto rit.

2 2 con rubato

2 2 mf

molto rubato

3

3

6

2 2 2 2

68

a tempo

G arco

pizz.

pp morendo

p jolly

mf dramatic 3

pp

mf dramatic

74

3

p 3

3

3

3

3

3

3