West Chester University of Pennsylvania presents
Graduate Composition Recital
Ryan Williams, composer
Sunday, October 12, 2014 Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building 2:00 PM
College of Visual and Performing Arts
Program
agua .................................................................................................................. (2014) for Solo Cello and Fixed Media Kevin Klein, cello
Muse/Temptress ............................................................................................... (2013) for Solo Piano Danton Arlotto, piano
Duet .................................................................................................................. (2013) for Solo Tuba Michael W. Pettis, tuba
Six Greeting Cards ........................................................................................... (2014) I. On the Occasion of Your Wedding II. Get Well Soon III. Happy Birthday IV. Congratulations on Your New Baby V. With Deepest Sympathies VI. Thank You Elizabeth Devonshire & Josh Oldham, bassoons
From a Closed Cape in Winter......................................................................... (2014) I. Pensively, Reflecting II. Lost III. Lamenting, With Remorse IV. Agitated, Tormented V. Freely Danny O’Neill, tenor Bryan McMasters, piano
Il a TournĂŠ Autour de Moi ............................................................................... (2014) Angelica Grau, soprano Bryan McMasters, piano
Fantasy ............................................................................................................. (2014) Andrew MacNamee, Christine Mendoza, Erin Hayes, & Christa Sipes, trombones Leslie Ricket, bass trombone
Please Turn Off All Electronic Devices
Program Notes agua • solo cello and fixed media The idea for agua came to me at some point in the winter of 2014. Almost immediately, I knew it was going to be for a solo cello and I can’t say why. As I explored the sounds, I began to have fun with what I could do. While there is a vast world of possibility with incorporating electronics into music, I wanted to go after a simple goal: to create a sound world that could feel familiar to the listener. At times, the sounds in agua are merely creating the environment in which the listener is immersed, and at others, the sounds play in counterpoint with the cello. Muse/Temptress • solo piano I have a close friend with whom I chat often. It’s one of those great friendships where you can talk about everything and nothing. I found, as I was entrenched in various composition projects, I would get stuck and send a text message to her. Somehow, she would know where I was, mentally, and find a way to either give me the mental kick in the pants to keep working, or to just distract me, since I probably wasn’t going to be productive, anyway. Those two parts of her personality are the inspiration for this piano solo – the rolling, flowing melody of the first half is for the Muse, and the lively vals criollo of the second half is for the Temptress, distracting me from doing what I should. Duet • solo tuba My favorite part about this piece is the quizzical look I get from everybody when I tell them the title. Years ago, I came across a piece by composer and tubist Øystein Baadsvik titled “Fnugg.” This piece featured several extended techniques for the tuba, one of which is multiphonics, that is, singing while playing. The combined sound of the tuba’s pure tone with the sung pitches creates a wonderfully rich sonority. After hearing this technique performed, I decided that I wanted to write a piece for tuba that would use multiphonics to create a second line working in counterpoint with the played line, resulting in the sound of a duet – but one that could be performed by a single player.
Six Greeting Cards • bassoon duet Last fall, as I began my studies, I went to a concert of new music and heard a great, little piece for piano that contained a handful of short, succinct ideas. I loved the idea of it. As I thought about it, I started to compare larger compositions to grand soliloquys; masterfully crafted pieces of oratory. In contrast, these miniatures were much simpler ideas, like a greeting card: a short, simple message that gets its point across, and is often lighthearted and fun. I let this idea simmer for a while, and eventually the idea of writing a set of short miniatures based on greeting cards came to mind. As I thought mores, the whimsical nature of the bassoon seemed like the perfect fit for a piece with such an air about it. From a Closed Cape in Winter • song cycle for solo tenor and piano In an effort to expand my portfolio, I set out to compose a piece for voice. I began the process, I had the incredibly great fortune to be connected with David Yezzi, an outstanding poet and professor at Johns Hopkins University. David and I spoke several times about the poetry for this song cycle, and I posed an idea to him that he embraced with as much excitement as I had: to tell the story of my own fight with depression. (Spoiler: everything is fine now!) I The white house in winter hunches in snowy air: the sky is white, the trees and clearings white, and the wind whips the sea white and black. I see you here, back before blankness turned my mind to a field over which no one walks and where one sees only drifts hardened in sunlight. The white dress you wore our first year flounces like sea foam and falls against the granite shore, then recedes offshore. Swept-out rooms no longer show your ever being here.
II In my dream we are lost in the woods. We’ve missed the turning hidden by snow. The way we didn’t go leads home. The way we are going leads to the sea. You follow me. You shake. Afraid, you take berries
from a bough and put them in your mouth. I try to stop you before you swallow more. Snow falls in the hourglass wood. We have understood that you won’t wake up. It’s then I wake up in the white house, ice ticking like needles on the glass. III Low sun, thin shadows, sere days, frozen meadows. Cooling coals, gray fires, ice downing black wires. And the lamp is burning down. And it is miles to town.
IV I hear you crying through the trees. The white house wheezes like a patient’s shallow breath: at the moment of death, his slow rattle. I hear a sound like crying though the trees. You return as a wind-wraith, specterseeming, a ghost ship blown to tatters on its trip home from battle. V Out in the reach a bell is sounding the way through the fog. Out in the reach a gong is guiding boats past the rocks. If I hear the channel bell I can ride the swell to safety. If I keep to the bell I know the following sea will not dash me against the bar, as it has before. Above the still harbor I will watch for spring.
Il a Tourné Autour de Moi • solo soprano and piano While on my endeavor to find a text for From a Closed Cape…, I reached out to my high school French teacher to ask about French poetry, thinking back to Chanson des Roses, a collection of choral pieces by Morten Lauridsen with which I had fallen in love. Mme Dravk loaned me a book of poetry by French realist poet Jacques Prévert. As I scanned through the book, one poem jumped off the page to me, and I immediately knew I wanted to use it in a composition.
Il a tourné autour de moi pendant des mois des jours des heures et il a posé la main sur mon sein en m’appelant son petit cœur Et il m’a arraché une promesse comme on arrache une fluer à la terre Et il a gardé cette promesse dans sa tête comme on garde une fluer dans une serre J’ai oublié ma promesse et la fluer tout de suite a fané Et les yeux lui sont sortis de la tête il m’a regardée de travers et il m’a injuriée Une autre est venu qui ne m’a rien demandé mais il m’a regardée tout entière Déjà pour lui j’étais nue de la tête aux pieds et quand il m’a déshabillée je me suis laisée faire Et je ne savais pas qui c’était.
He hovered around me for months days hours and he put his hand on my breast calling me his little heart And he pulled a promise from me as you pull a flower from the soil And he watched over this promise as you watch a flower in a greenhouse I forgot my promise and the flower immediately withered His eyes popped out of his head and he looked at me crosswise and he abused me I met another who asked nothing of me who stared at me quite openly For him I was already naked from head to foot and when he undressed me I let him And I did not know who he was.
Fantasy • trombone quintet Years ago, while working on my education degree at York College, I was on the support staff for York’s first Low Brass Workshop. As a part of the workshop, the professor invited the three trombonists with whom he played while working on his degree at Penn State. One of the pieces the Nittany Trombone Quartet played that night stuck with me after all these years and was the stylistic inspiration for this composition.
UPCOMING COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS EVENTS For full event details visit www.wcupa.edu/cvpa or call (610) 436-2739 Monday, October 13, 2014, 7:30 PM Faculty Recital: Gloria Galante, harp Ware Family Recital Hall Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 8:15 PM Fall Choral Festival; Ryan Kelly, director Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Thursday, October 16, 2014, 8:15 PM New Music Concert; Adam Silverman and Van Stiefel, directors Ware Family Recital Hall Friday, October 17, 2014, 8:00 PM Senior Recital: Nikolay Gavlishin, guitar; Glenn Lyons, director Ware Family Recital Hall Saturday, October 18, 2014, 2:00 PM Senior Recital: Paul Feldmen, trumpet; Robert Skoniczin, director Ware Family Recital Hall Saturday, October 18, 2014, 4:00 PM Senior Recital: Keira Kradzinski, voice; Randall Scarlata, director Ware Family Recital Hall Saturday, October 18, 2014, 6:00 PM Senior Recital: Kenneth Stoudenmire, French horn; Elizabeth Pfaffle, director Ware Family Recital Hall Saturday, October 18, 2014, 8:00 PM Senior Recital: Alyssa Flora, voice; Randall Scarlata, director Ware Family Recital Hall Monday, October 20, 2014, 7:30 PM Faculty Recital: Elizabeth Pfaffle, french horn Philips Autograph Library