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This work for narrator and large wind ensemble uses Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s own words in a dramatic script written by Dr. Myles Lee. |
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On October 11, 2023, the brilliant Nightingale String Quartet gave the Europena premiere of Victoria Bond's "Blue and Green Music" |
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BUZZ
One of the things that strike me in particular about the insect sounds is that they are so unexpectedly expressive. In the past I had thought of insects as being creatures without true emotions, but these “songs” are deeply emotional. Maybe it’s just anthropomorphic to identify human emotions with those of insects, but I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt. This is what I am really after with the piece – bringing out what is most expressive in the language of these beasts. I have not manipulated the sounds in any way, being averse to making them sound even more “strange” and exotic than they already are. The commentary on the viola is a dialogue, a conversation suggesting a reaction to those emotions.
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A saxophone plays on a subway platform, his music being periodically drown out by the passing trains.
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I am fascinated with the music of the Far East and in my travels I have had ample opportunity to participate both as performer and composer in the music of China. Although I have never been to Japan, I am attracted to its music and to its culture. For many years have had a strong desire to compose a work related to Rashomon. The story was adapted by Akutagawa Ry?nosuke from the Konjaku Monogatarish?, an anonymous 12th Century collection of folk tales. The story tells of a murder witnessed by a group of people who have gathered under the dilapidated Rashomon gate to escape the rain. Rashomon literally means “the castle gate” and is the name of a large gate that stood between Kyoto and Nara in Japan. All of their accounts of the crime differ radically, but we are never told which account is the truth.
The form of the story is intrinsically musical, being a theme and variations, but the emotional context gives this classical form a new perspective. I divided the work into four movements, and within the larger theme and variations, each movement has its own form:
I. The Gate - Theme
II. The Murder: A Crime of Violence – Variations
III. The Murder: A Cold Calculation – Passacaglia
IV. The Murder: A Crime of Passion - Rondo |
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Using original tropes notated in A. W. Binder's Biblical Chant for Esther and Ruth, Bond invented her own for Judith as the story comes from the apocrypha and not from the Torah. The stories of these three biblical women share a willingness to defy the conventions of their day to save their people
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Theme and variations on the Brazilian samba, emphasizing the earthy qualities of the flute and percussive aspects of the piano.
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Contains an element common to both Chinese music and American jazz
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The Voices of Air
What does air sound like? Because the trombone is an instrument that depends on air, it made me think about the many voices of air and how we experience it as musicians. The first movement, “Breath,” focuses on the contrast between meditative long, deep breaths and agitated short breaths and how our breathing expresses our emotional states. The second movement, “Airplay,” is an homage to two great jazz trombonists and their recorded works: Urbie Green’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” and Carl Fontana’s “Beautiful Friendship.” I was fascinated with their virtuoso playing and the playful spirit of their music. The title of the third movement, “Floating on Air,” describes a serene and weightless sensation, and the fourth movement, “Breathless,” is just the opposite – turbulent, vigorous and unsettled.
“The Voices of Air” is dedicated to trombonist JoDee Davis, with gratitude to her and to the Curators of the University of Missouri who commissioned this work.
-----Victoria Bond, October 2019
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Musicians are traditionally called upon to entertain at important functions, the most common being weddings, familiar to all cultures, and Bar Mitzvahs, the Jewish coming of age celebration. The ambiguity of these occasions prompted the choice of a Yiddish folk song Hat ein Man eine Weibele
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Jack Larsen’s fabric designs are the inspiration for Woven. The work applies the principle of interwoven strands of colored thread to interwoven musical lines. Texture, color and design are the governing elements.
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