VCH Excite!: Project: World

30 SEP 2018 VICTORIA CONCERT HALL

P E R FO R M E R S

PERCUSSION

JAZZ PIANO

BASS

Mark Suter

Nate Shaw

Tony Makarome

www.silkroad.org/artists/mark-suter

brooklynmusicfactory www.brooklynmusicfactory.com

tony_makarome

PERCUSSION

PERCUSSION

PERCUSSION

NARRATOR

Zhu Zheng Yi

Eugene Toh

Wang Shan

Gulnara Mashurova

zhengyizzy

wangshan_percussion

PROGRAMME

Weavings for any number of Caxixi Weavings explores the caxixi, a Brazilian instrument made from woven baskets with gourd bases filled with small beads, as vehicles to express the boundless possibilities of the instrument family known as shakers, which appear throughout the world’s cultures. The piece flows through many time signatures and at least two improvisations with a closing section inspired by the music of guitar virtuoso Pat Metheny. It is a physical work that requires the body to become an extension of the instrument.

—MARK SUTER

PERFORMERS

Mark Suter, Zhu Zheng Yi, Eugene Toh INSTRUMENTATION

Caxixi /Soundscape COMPOSED BY

Mark Suter

(Cycles) America Antonín Dvořák arrives in New York City in 1892, famously claiming that American music should draw inspiration from what is unique to the nation. In the same year the “deathbed” edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is published. In one of the annexes appears: America Centre of equal daughters, equal sons, All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old, Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich, Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love, A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother, Chair’d in the adamant of Time.

Remarkably, an Edison gramophone recording of America, purportedly with Whitman himself reading the work, survives (although the last two lines are missing).

Every day at 5 p.m., the Largo of Dvoř ák’s 9th Symphony, From the New World, broadcasts over local community centers throughout Japan, announcing that it’s time to go home. One can trace the near century-long path of the Largo from the New York Philharmonic premiere to modern suburban Tokyo through the 1922 art song arrangement by William Arms Fisher, championed later by Paul Robeson in his notable 1958 performance at Carnegie Hall, titled “Goin’ Home.”

Joe Gramley asked me if I could write a piece for him for a program of new works by those connected to New York City. Happening to be on Long Island’s coasts around that time, my path in this piece started in Montauk and followed through Whitman, 1892, America, Dvořák, his 9th Symphony, Bernstein’s 1962 recording of it with the New York Philharmonic, Robeson’s Carnegie Hall performance of Fisher’s “Goin’ Home,” and a leap to my old Tokyo neighborhood.

Both the vibraphone part and the underlying material (based on the Bernstein recording) are derived from a retrograde reinterpretation of Dvoř ák’s work, metaphorically reaching back in time, while the gramophone noisily rolls Whitman’s voice forward in periodic loops loosely tied to the four-mallet arrangement for vibraphone with spinning motor. Framing all of this are electronically-enhanced sounds of incoming/crashing and receding waves from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (recorded near Montauk, NY and Newport Beach, CA), speaking possibly to how the optimism and uniqueness in the America observed by both Whitman and Dvoř ák ebbs and flows over time. — K O J I R O U M E Z A K I

PERFORMERS

Mark Suter, Gulnara Mashurova INSTRUMENTATION

Bass Drum, Cymbals, Vibraphone, Electronics COMPOSED BY

Kojiro Umezaki kojiroumezaki www.kojiroumezaki.com

WORLD PREMIERE

Doubtful Sound for Solo Frame Drum Doubtful Sound is inspired by a recent trip to New Zealand. A 50th birthday present from, and with, my loving wife Kathryn Lockwood and daughter Surriah. Our journey through Doubtful Sound, a fiord in the far south west of New Zealand, was utterly spectacular and jaw dropping. From the seal colony at the mouth of the sound, the rough and jagged razor-backed mountains and its serene inner passages, this piece seeks to capture and recreate a journey from the sea inward. This work was written for my good friend Mark Suter and is highly influenced by 25 year of work with my teacher Glenn Velez.

PERFORMERS

Mark Suter INSTRUMENTATION

Frame Drum COMPOSED BY

Yousif Sheronick framedrumschool yousifsheronick

—YOUSIF SHERONICK

WORLD PREMIERE

Diluvio arranged for Five Percussionists Diluvio is inspired by a rainstorm in the tropics and the simple marvels that it entails: the gradual growth of a few scattered raindrops into a full-fledged downpour, the hypnotic quality of the constant aural and physical presence of the rain, and the notion that something so powerful as a flood can result from simple drops of water. The piece draws largely on vocabulary from Guarapachangueo rhythms of the Cuban rumba tradition (a style with a natural power and fluidity of its own), and also takes inspiration from the trance-like interlocking parts of Baka Pygmy music. — E D W A R D P E R E Z

PERFORMERS

Mark Suter, Zhu Zheng Yi, Eugene Toh, Wang Shan, Nate Shaw INSTRUMENTATION

Congas, Marimba, Glockenspiel, Clave, Log COMPOSED BY

Edward Perez edwardperezbass www.edwardperez.com

WORLD PREMIERE

Tausendfussler for Drum Set and Electronic Tape Tausendfüssler is German for “1,000 legs” or “Centipede” – whose flattened elongated body is composed of many segments, each bearing a single pair of legs. It is commissioned by Mark Suter, who is Swiss American, hence, the origins of the name title.

The work involves the use of all four limbs, working in sync and out of sync in contrapuntal fashions which in composite junction form intricate beats, rhythms and grooves weaving around and over bar lines to an electronic track of mixed sounds: 6-string fretless electric bass guitar, FX 1 rain, piano and tape sampler keyboard. The piece is reminiscent of prog-rock, jazz instrumentals and explores these genres rhythmically and musically. — S H A N N O N W O O D

PERFORMERS

Mark Suter INSTRUMENTATION

Drum Set, Electronics COMPOSED BY

Shannon Wood malletshopcom shannonvwood malletshop

ASIAN PREMIERE

Dane Lane

Written on a piano that my great grandmother moved into a living room heated only by fireplace in the early part of last century, the piece was composed over a week’s time. Every year for my 48 years, I have made a pilgrimage to this living room and played this piano. The home is located in Door County Wisconsin, USA. It was built by my great-grandfather in 1908 and sits atop a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The piece tries to capture family in all its beauty, turbulence, joy and sadness. — N A T E S H A W

PERFORMERS

Nate Shaw, Tony Makarome, Mark Suter INSTRUMENTATION

Piano, Bass, Berimbau COMPOSED BY

Nate Shaw

ASIAN PREMIERE

Who’s To Blame Nate: This multi-movement piece is glued together by a meditative opening and close. It is meant to be minimal in its melodies and harmonies with the momentum coming from the shifting grooves.

The composition was featured on the final recording by the New Power Trio and highlights the group’s movement away from world music and towards through-composed works.

Kevork: The piece will be in my city-scape style and is about not learning from our mistakes. We are constantly destroying what we have and then needing to rebuild. This idea of collapsing and rebuilding occurs three times over and then leads to a reflourishing of the city. — N A T E S H A W A N D K E V O R K M O U R A D

PERFORMERS

Nate Shaw, Tony Makarome, Mark Suter INSTRUMENTATION

Piano, Bass, Surdo, Congas, Cymbals, Mini Snare Drum COMPOSED BY

Nate Shaw and New Power Trio VIDEO BY

Kevork Mourad kevork_mo www.kevorkmourad.com

We Never Left Written for this concert, the piece honors friendship and cooperative creative pursuit. It tackles the simple idea that there is no beginning, middle and end to friendships or the pursuit of art. Life moves in chapters and we must stay open to the opportunities within each.

—NATE SHAW

PERFORMERS

Nate Shaw, Tony Makarome, Mark Suter INSTRUMENTATION

Piano, Bass, Wood Bongo, Cajon COMPOSED BY

Nate Shaw

UPCOMING CONCERTS 5–7 OCT

Baroque Festival

13-14 OCT

Borodin Quartet

23 OCT

Master of Violin: James Ehnes

17 NOV

A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY

AT VICTORIA CONCERT HALL