Search results for: 'edmund jolliffe'

From the composer:

Although there are approximately 60 arrangements and compositions for bass clarinet quartet from the Edmund Welles Library, there is currently (October 2011) only one piece from zeroth Law that departs from this four bass clarinet instrumentation, and that is the bass clarinet duo piece written in 2008 for Sqwonk (Jeff Anderle and Jonathan Russell, also members of Edmund Welles).

This was a chance to write more transparent textures, more sincere melodic gestures, and more blazingly virtuosic, high-speed material than appears in the quartet compositions: a piece that was both more concise and intimate while also being adventurous and ambitious. The result was 5 vignettes connected together to form a close-up and personal journey, hence, Sojourn of the Face.

Ideally the players will forge an intimate and precise renditions of each section that reflects, in some way, the part of the face to which it corresponds. The clues to which section goes with which part of the face are in the rehearsal letters: M = mouth; E = ears; H = head/frontal lobe/neo-cortex; I = eyes; N = nose. There is a correspondence to the moods of each section and the functions of these parts of the face, but each player/duo should explore that personally and interpret accordingly. That being said, the recording of “Sojourn of the Face” on the Sqwonk album “Black” is an excellent reference for how effectively this piece can be performed.

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unaccompanied

This piece is inspired by the Mechanicals from Shakespeare’s 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'.

Bottom is perhaps the most well-known of the Mechanicals and is a comic character whose head is turned into an ass in the play. Flute is a bellows maker. Quince is the director of the play within the play ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ that the Mechanicals put on and often struggles to fit his lines into the correct meter and make rhymes. Snug plays 

the lion in ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’. He is keen to assure the audience that he is not an actual lion in case they get scared. Snout plays the wall that the lovers speak through and has only two lines. Starveling plays the moonshine and is utterly derided by the audience. 

 

The Mechanicals should be played with a brief pause between each movement, except for Snout, which should lead straight into Starveling.

 

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3 Flutes (3rd FLute doubles on Alto Flute)

The third part of the Chthonic Flute Suite commissioned by Areon Flutes in 2012. This suite has two main inspirations: ideologically it draws guidance from the book The Dream and the Underworld (1979)by James Hillman (1926-2011) and musically it explores the textural possibilities of a flute ensemble within the context of the “heavy chamber music” style I have developed with Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet since 1996. This style draws virtuosic precision from the classical realm; innovation and texture from jazz; and power, rhythm and overall perspective from rock and metal. The term “chthonic” [thon-ik] generally means “underworld.” However, Hillman thoroughly elaborates that its true meaning extends “below the earth and beyond it” into invisible, non-physical and far distant psychic realms: the deeper mysteries of the invisible.

The trio is divided into three sections: The Way We Descend–Reflection of Narcissus–Below Nature.

Taking a break from Greek myth-nerd terms, this movement introduces chthonic-flavored phrases that elaborate on our descent into the underworld, specifically through dreams. The realm of the underworld can be such a shock to our dayworld, limited, egoic consciousness that it can seem like a “violation” as Hillman points out, referencing the Greeks: “This style of the underworld experience is overwhelming, it comes as violation, dragging one out of life and into the Kingdom that the Orphic Hymn to Pluto describes as ‘void of day.’ So it often says on Greek epitaphs that entering Hades is ‘leaving the sweet sunlight.’” (p.49) He elaborates on the differences between dayworld and underworld perspectives: “The dream is not compensation but initiation. It does not complete ego-consciousness, but voids it. So it matters very much the way we descend.” (p.112) He goes on to describe the various modes in which mythical figures have descended: Ulysses and Aenas to learn; Hercules to take and to test, for example. To act like Hercules, like the hero, in the underworld is to miss the point and cause more problems, “the villain in the underworld is the heroic ego, not Hades.” (p.113)

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Cornelius Boots writes: The second part of the Chthonic Flute Suite commissioned by Areon Flutes in 2012. This suite has two main inspirations: ideologically it draws guidance from the book The Dream and the Underworld (1979)by James Hillman (1926-2011) and musically it explores the textural possibilities of a flute ensemble within the context of the “heavy chamber music” style I have developed with Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet since 1996. This style draws virtuosic precision from the classical realm; innovation and texture from jazz; and power, rhythm and overall perspective from rock and metal. The term “chthonic” [thon-ik] generally means “underworld.” However, Hillman thoroughly elaborates that its true meaning extends “below the earth and beyond it” into invisible, non-physical and far distant psychic realms: the deeper mysteries of the invisible.

“Underworld images are ontological statements about the soul, how it exists in and for itself beyond life.”

The duo is divided into two sections: Nekyia and Hypnoia. Each of these is a Greek myth-nerd term for some key aspect of an archetypal descent into the underworld. In fact, nekyia is a term that specifically means “archetypal descent” as one finds in myths across the ages from Dante to the Greeks and beyond. Hillman sees a lack of sufficient nekyiamyths in our modern culture, “yet our popular heroes in films and music are shady underworld characters. Dante’s underworld was our culture’s last, and it was imagined even before the Renaissance had properly begun. Our ethnic roots reach back to great underworld configurations: the Celtic Dagda or Cerunos, the Germanic Hel, and the Biblical Sheol. All have faded…” (p.64)

Hyponoia is a more subtle term used by Plato that refers to an “undersense” or a “deeper meaning.” “The search for undersense is what we express in common speech as the desire to understand. We want to get below what is going on and see its basis, its fundamentals, how and where it is grounded.” (p. 137) This deeper understanding is one of the motivations and constant characteristics of the underworld descent: but the discoveries made and experiences experienced are not always as they seem to be. Hillman recommends over and over that we “see and see into each thing for what it is,” and not force a dayworld perspective onto dream images and occurrences.

As a duo movement, the term enantiodromia (“counter” enantio, and “running” dromia) is particularly appropriate as it is a grounding principle by which Jung understands the “regulative function of opposites.” As Hillman tends to turn things on their metaphorical heads, he fleshes out dualism and oppositionalism in such a way that in the underworld this actually becomes a unifying principle: “If you go far enough with any one movement, a countermovement will set in…The way up and the way down are one and the same: the manifestation of one power by opposite forces.” (p. 76) This implies a union of the two opposites, a conjunction as contrasted with an opposition. There are two voices but they are both flutes; there are two contrasting halves to the piece, yet they balance each other even in their differences.

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2 Flutes, Alto Flute and Bass Flute

The fourth part of the Chthonic Flute Suite commissioned by Areon Flutes in 2012. This suite has two main inspirations: ideologically it draws guidance from the book The Dream and the Underworld (1979)by James Hillman (1926-2011) and musically it explores the textural possibilities of a flute ensemble within the context of the “heavy chamber music” style I have developed with Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet since 1996.

The quartet is divided into three sections: Thymos—Phrenes—Chthonios.

Thymos means “blood vapour” and is one of the elements that souls of the dead in the underworld completely lack, therefore they crave it and seek it out; they also lack “breath consciousness” or phrenes.

The term “chthonic” [thon-ik] generally means “underworld.” However, Hillman thoroughly elaborates that its true meaning extends “below the earth and beyond it” (p.36) into invisible, non-physical and far distant psychic realms as opposed to being limited to a “primitive earthiness” that limits us to the physical and fertile “underground.” Hillman weaves a captivating and expanded perspective on “chthonic” and the deeper mysteries of the invisible, drawing from such sources as Greek and Egyptian mythology, Freud, Nietzsche, and more. “The underworld is a realm of only psyche, a purely psychical world…underworld is the mythological style of describing a psychological cosmos. Put more bluntly: underworld is psyche.” (p.46)

 

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unaccompanied

The first part of the Chthonic Flute Suite commissioned by Areon Flutes in 2012. This suite has two main inspirations: ideologically it draws guidance from the book The Dream and the Underworld (1979)by James Hillman (1926-2011) and musically it explores the textural possibilities of a flute ensemble within the context of the “heavy chamber music” style I have developed with Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet since 1996. This style draws virtuosic precision from the classical realm; innovation and texture from jazz; and power, rhythm and overall perspective from rock and metal. The term “chthonic” [thon-ik] generally means “underworld.” However, Hillman thoroughly elaborates that its true meaning extends “below the earth and beyond it” into invisible, non-physical and far distant psychic realms: the deeper mysteries of the invisible.

The journey to the underworld is a solo undertaking of the self, towards the unknown, yet still rooted within. The low bass tones invoke mystery and point the direction.

As an explorer, licensed teacher of and composer for the shakuhachi (an ancient Zen flute crafted from the thicker root-end of bamboo) I have become initiated into the sense-characteristics of playing a flute that has actual roots as part of its structure. Physically this changes the balance, sonically it presents certain “deepening” qualities, and aesthetically it alters your connection to the dead and dried piece of nature. I have composed 27 solo pieces and études for Taimu (a very thick, bass variant on the traditional shakuhachi flute) and tapped into the same dense, slow, timbral approach for this movement. However, the chromatic, metal, modern bass flute offers a whole new set of possibilities and so the movement explores a wide realm of sounds and tempos. Being rooted in the actual ground is an appropriate starting point for the underworld exploration of the whole suite that only goes deeper from this point downwards. The primacy of the “root pitch” in tonal music is another contributing facet to the root aspect of this title.

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with Clarinet Ensemble:

E-flat Clarinet, 4 B-flat Clarinets, 2 Bass Clarinets and Contrabass Clarinet

Composer Jonathan Russell writes, “My basic idea when I conceived of the Bass Clarinet Double Concerto was the Weber Clarinet Concertos meet heavy metal music. On the one hand, I have spent many hours over the years practicing Weber’s clarinet concertos and have always enjoyed the over-the-top virtuosity and flashiness of these pieces. On the other, I have been a fan since middle school of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and other hard rock and heavy metal bands, and I already channel heavy metal through the bass clarinet as a member of the Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet. When it came to writing a bass clarinet double concerto, it thus seemed logical (to me) to try and combine the heaviness and raw power of heavy metal with the dancing virtuosity and lyricism of Weber’s concertos… The piece was composed for my bass clarinet duo Sqwonk, and was premiered in December 2007 by Sqwonk and the San Francisco Composers’ Chamber Orchestra.”

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Runion was composed for the Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet, and it is heavily inspired by the music of its bandleader and composer Cornelius Boots. Boots’ music, due to his heavy metal roots and many years of experience with the rich, depp sound of four bass clarinets, has a visceral and sonic directness and intensity that I much admire and that I sought to capture in my own way in Runion.

– Jonathan Russell, composer

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Great Lakes Tableau was composed in 2013 after another of many vacations to northern Michigan. It is divided into three movements, each focusing on a different and unique vista of the great lakes. Movement one is a picture of the Sleeping Bear Dunes in northwest Michigan on Lake Michigan. The dunes are massive, upwards of 400 feet high and many miles long, some as far as the eye can see. The movement captures the grandeur and power of these awesome dunes. The second movement is Whitefish Point on Lake Superior and more specifically the tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald. “The Mighty Fitz” was one of the largest iron ore ships on the great lakes when it capsized in November of 1975. All 29 crew members perished in the disaster. As the song by Canadian Gordon Lightfoot states “ they would have made Whitefish Bay if they had put 15 more miles behind them.” Whitefish Point is the home of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum but also one of the most desolate and beautiful places I have seen. The movement captures the isolation of the area, the storm, and the cries for help of the crewmen.

The last movement is a picture of Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-aw) Island in Lake Huron. The island, reachable only through private boat or commercial ferry, is automobile-free. The only transportation on the island is horse drawn buggy, bicycle or foot. It has been a tourist destination since the early 20th century when the Grand Hotel was first constructed. Landing on the island is a step back in time to a simpler era. The hustle and bustle of the ferry port, the quaint shops along the boardwalk, and of course, the fudge shops. The movement is a picture postcard of a tour of the island beginning with the ferry crossing, the landing at Main Street and the old homes and hotels. As you move toward the backside of the island the tourist numbers decline and a calmness of being one with nature takes over. Beautiful rock formations, lovely flora and the soft sound of the waves lapping at the shore accompany you through the far side of the island. As you return to the front of the island the hustle and bustle returns accompanied always by the joyful feel of a vacation paradise. Enjoy! Learn More