Upcoming Concert in NYC

If you're in New York on November 22nd, please come and hear this marvelous trio (Eight Strings & a Whistle - flute, viola and 'cello) perform at the Tenri Cultural Institute. They will perform "... and nothing remains the same." More information about the concert is available at this link:

http://eightstringsandawhistle.com/in-concert/upcoming.html 

The philosophy of working that I strive for:

    Just sit there and see what happens.

Another Primitive YouTube Video

This is a digital demo performance of my recent work for orchestra, completed in early 2013. It is an eight minute piece in one movement. Samsara is a concept common to Hinduism and Buddhism; it is the realm or cycle of suffering in which all beings in the universe participate and which can be escaped only through enlightenment. Samsara is presided over by Yama, the wrathful god of death. Beings are driven by the three poisons: delusion (ignorance of their true nature, represented by a pig), attachment (desire or greed, represented by a bird), and aversion (anger or hatred, represented by a snake).

There are seventeen photos used in the video. As far as I can determine most are in the public domain and appear in numerous sites on the internet without attribution. Here is the list of exceptions, which are used under the indicated Creative Commons licenses:

Photos 5 & 6: BY-NC 3.0 by RigpaWiki.org, site of Rigpa Shedra  -- Nepal
Photo 7: BY-NC-ND 2.5 AU by ccdoh1 (Flickr name... can't determine the actual name) -- Australia
Photo 8: BY-NC 2.0 UK by Wllcome Library -- England
Photo 9: BY-NC-SA 2.0 by Maren Yumi Motamura -- Brazil

If anyone can demonstrate that a photo has been used improperly please contact me via my web site (johnnewellmusic.com). I will be happy to make any necessary changes.

Beautiful Performance.

It was a wonderful evening at the Machias Bay Chamber Concerts in Machias, Maine on Tuesday, July 2. The wonderful trio Eight Strings & a Whistle performed the work I composed for them last year, “...and nothing remains the same”. 
 
The short work is an essay on change and the ephemeral nature of our world. The opening unison note and apparently static chords feature the “white” sounds of string harmonics and non-vibrato flute. These evolve into individual instrumental lines, gradually becoming more expressive and distinct. The instruments take turns breaking away into their own short solo cadenzas, leading to a section of counterpoint of instrumental gestures. The work ends as the instrumental lines dissolve into fleeting, vaporous scale passages.
 
Click here for an mp3 audio file.

Another Busy Month, June.

I had a great time performing the American Landscapes program in Lubec as part of the SummerKeys faculty concert series. One addition: Roberto Pace’s A Dance in the Desert; for the occasion Roberto played the second piano part and Gene Nichols played percussion.

My son Spencer was also here; three days later he ran in the first Bay of Fundy International Marathon. Click here for a couple of photos.

Next up: Eight Strings & a Whistle will perform “...and nothing remains the same” at the Machias Bay Chamber Concerts in Machias, Maine on Tuesday, July 2. They are a wonder to work with!

Busy month, April was.

We had a wonderful trip to Aroostook County late last month. On the 24th and 25th I played two solo concerts, at the University of Maine branches at Presque Isle and Fort Kent. The program, which I titled American Landscapes, included:

Excursions    Samuel Barber

Thoreau (Mvt. IV of the Concord Sonata)    Charles E. Ives

Three Pieces for Piano   Morton Feldman

Three Preludes    George Gershwin

Mad Rush   Philip Glass

Seascape   Scott Brickman

Variations on Amazing Grace   John Newell

Scott Brickman is a wonderful composer who teaches at Fort Kent. I really enjoyed playing the first performances of Scott's Seascape, which he wrote for me.

The following week I participated in a concert by the University of Machias Chorale, under the direction of Gene Nichols. The group did a superb job in performing five of my choral works.

Eight Strings & a Whistle is a terrific trio (Suzanne Gilchrest, flute; Ina Litera, viola; and Matthew Goeke, 'cello). They recently premiered my work ...and nothing remains the same. Suzanne interviewed me for their web site and the resulting piece is at this link:

http://eightstringsandawhistle.com/the-music/our-featured-composer.html

Thanks!

Ice Clouds  

Here's a little project involving photos I took of our porch windows recently, coupled with the first movement from my work Sky Music, for flute, clarinet and harp. The music is titled River of Clouds. More information at www.johnnewellmusic.com/Chamber_Ensemble.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spmcLOAfMtw

News & Upcoming Events

Upcoming concerts

I look forward to playing a series of solo piano recitals in Maine this spring... Fort Kent and    Presque Isle in late April, and Lubec in June (Summerkeys faculty concert series). The program is titled American Landscapes, and includes works by Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, George Gershwin, Philip Glass, Scott Brickman, Roberto Pace and myself. 

First performances   

On March 2 the ensemble Eight Strings & a Whistle will premiere my latest chamber work “... and nothing remains the same.” The NYC-based trio will perform at La Grua Center in Stonington, Connecticut. In July they will perform it on the Machias Bay Chamber Concert series in Maine. What wonderful players they are, and how rewarding to work with them in finishing the work! Trio members are Suzanne Gilchrest (flute), Ina Litera (viola) and Matthew Goeke (‘cello).

Suzanne plans to perform my Preludes for solo flute in July in Lubec, Maine as part of the Summerkeys faculty concert series.  

     

Samsara Breakdown

Just completed a digital demo performance of my new one-movement work for orchestra. The effort was quite time-consuming and full of learning opportunities. One could even call it an exercise in obsessive-compulsive behavior. I tried something new: First, I completed a four 

stave piano reduction score then input that into Finale (notation software). I used the full orchestra template, but inserted an additional 4 staves for the piano reduction. Honestly, I had not thought much about the orchestration, except for opening violin melody, the brass fragments and a few wind licks. After completing the piano reduction staves I then used copy and paste to fill out the instrumental parts. This worked well for me, I think... it made me focus on the details

of the orchestration. 

Then I saved the Finale file as a MIDI file and imported it into Digital Performer (my sequencer software), then went to work on editing and fine tuning each instrumental part (e.g. tempo changes, expression, dynamics, phrasing). I used Garritan Personal Orchestra software for the orchestral sounds and had great fun choosing the GPO instruments.  

Actually, listening so intensely to the piece helped me to make decisions on a number of orchestration issues (percussion, flute doublings, some string registers), and I often worked back and forth between the score and DP. I rather enjoyed the process, as it called upon my experience as a performer. This was my first attempt at such a big production project, and I learned a great deal from members of the Garritan online forum. Here is the link to the performance on SoundCloud:  

https://soundcloud.com/john-l-newell/samsara-breakdown-mix-1-26-13

God is Love 

In November 2012, my small choir at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Machias, Maine performed my just-completed choral work. My working thesis that a piece isn’t finished until at least the first performance. There is something to the idea of reality-based composing. The piece is based on a wonderful poem by Steve Colhoun, a fellow member at St. Aidan’s. Upon seeing his words I knew instantly that I must set to music. Thanks to all involved!

Creation and Creating

Here are a few thoughts I have picked up over the years that 
say something about my approach to composing music:

“What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason 
why I compose.”

         - Ludwig van Beethoven

“I myself having been created, I cannot help having the desire
 to create.”

         - Igor Stravinsky  

“You must do something to make the world more beautiful.”

         - from Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney

“Soli deo gloria”  

         - Johann Sebastian Bach would write the initials SDG 
           (Glory to God alone) at the end of a completed score. 

“Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps
 of sub-consciousness. I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the
antithesis of self-consciousness.”

         - Aaron Copland

 “The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks 

his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him.” 

         - Carl Gustave Jung

A very insightful article by composer Robert Beaser

I highly recommend Beaser's article on the NY Times web site, at:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/the-reconstruction-of-rome/?hp

Roughly a contemporary of mine, he discusses his training, the evolution of his thoughts as a composer, and the world that composers live in today.

Passamaquoddy Symphony Orchestra Review

Here's a review I wrote for the Quoddy Tides (it appeared in the Novemeber 23 edition):

Great music with a personal touch

The Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra has just completed its round of Fall concerts. I’m sure the players are exhausted after their weekend circuit from Machias to Eastport to St. Andrews. Their program consisted of two great Romantic works and a classic work by the American master Aaron Copland. 

I attended the Saturday night performance in Eastport. As much as I like hearing orchestral music in some large symphony hall, I’ve always enjoyed smaller venues such as the Eastport Arts Center. The clear, dry acoustics help you hear things more clearly. Everything is right in front of you; so much is happening for you to see, as well as to hear.   

Conductor Trond Saeverud is a master at programming. Of course he chooses the repertoire carefully for the orchestra, respecting the range of abilities while providing growth opportunities. But he also makes each program a satisfying musical experience for the audience. This concert, one of vivid contrasts, was a prime example.  

Opening the program was the Piano Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann. Piano soloist Gregory Biss did a marvelous job of catching the shifting moods of this great work. This was especially true in the first movement, which in typical romantic fashion veers from dramatic declamatory statements to moments of reflection and lyricism. 

Greg’s sensitive and nuanced playing came through especially in the piano’s solo cadenza. He also understands how to play with an ensemble; he and Trond achieved a terrific balance of piano and orchestra. 

The orchestra’s playing throughout was outstanding. Especially notable was the second movement where the piano introduces a playful, almost childlike phrase which is answered by broad lyrical phrases introduced very effectively by the cello section. (Don’t cellists live for such moments?)

Throughout the work the strings achieved the lush romantic sound that I’m sure Trond was after. In the concluding movement, the bouyant and tricky rhythms were handled well by all. and the ending was an exciting barn-burner, with measure after measure of rapid passage work for the pianist.  

Completed in 1936, Copland’s El Salon Mexico was inspired by the composer’s visit to a popular dance hall of the same name a few years before. It is a kind of musical collage based on several popular Mexican folk tunes.

The rapidly shifting rhythmic patterns are a challenge for any orchestra. Toward the end we are caught up in a frenetic whirl in which different folk tune fragments are played in rapid succession and even simultaneously. The orchestra did a fine job of catching the bright spirit of the dance hall.

The stars in this work were the winds and brass. The contrast with the mellow orchestration of the Schumann work couldn’t have been greater. Of note: a terrific trumpet solo and great work on the high E flat clarinet – not to mention the four french horns who got turned loose. The rhythm section provided just the right boistrous but accurate playing that held things together.  

From the dance hall we were taken immediately to the open seas of the North Atlantic, with Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. The work’s opening was one of the highlights of the evening. What a contrast!

The strings quite effectively captured the unease of the swirling ocean currents and dark grandeur of the scene, well supported by the winds and brass. I particularly enjoyed the clarinets’ fine duet just before the dramatic return of the initial theme and the quiet ending by the winds and brass.   

We are indeed fortunate to have the PBSO in our midst. They prove that “classical” music is not in the least stodgy, but exciting, colorful, and full of contrasts. It’s a joy to experience committed and intense music-making in such an up-close and personal way.   

John Newell is a composer and pianist living in Lubec. His web site is www.johnnewellmusic.com.

Early November.

The nor'easter's wind hurls the rain (and possibly sleet) against the windows at night. Combined with the continual low roar of the winds from further away, sleep is difficult. In the morning we find that the maple leaves are finally down.

An exciting time, a time for closing in.

More on inspiration and work, contributed by others 

(LinkedIn -- Contemporary Music Professionals Group): 

"I sit down to the piano regularly at nine-o'clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous," said by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and quoted in Schafer, British Composers in Interview (1963).  -- David Kosviner

Your Matisse citation about work and inspiration reminds me of the anecdote you probably have heard, about Paul Hindemith. A student at one of his Tanglewood seminars asked him 'What's your inspiration?' Hindemith wordlessly replied by raising his pencil in his hand -- indicating that the juices commence flowing in the physical (somatic) act of setting down notes on paper.  -- David Owens

Edgard Varese & Morton Feldman: What did I learn?

I studied with Morton Feldman at SUNY Buffalo (1975 - 77) as the first holder of the Edgard Varese Fellowship in composition. I'm sure that Feldman named the fellowship himself, and know that he regarded Varese very highly.

How can I express the essence of what I learned in those years? A few years ago I came across this passage by Paul Griffiths in the program notes for the CD Boulez Conducts Varese (on the Deutsche Grammophon label). Griffiths sums it up beautifully:

"After the explosion of Ameriques Varese honed his technique in pieces for smaller groupings - Hyperprism, Octandre, Integrales - before returning to the large orchestra to create Arcana (1925-27). This was a closer approach to his ideal of music in which the sounds themselves, by virtue of their force and energy, would create structural demands - for repetition, calming, change, recollection - quite independently of any pre-ordained scheme: music as a play of sheer, vital sonority."

Many thanks.