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 mp3 (32kbps) audio
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| [ 1 ] That Old Song and Dance (1984) |
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| [String Quartet] |
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[ 2 ] Elegy (1989)
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| [Solo Cello] |
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| [ 3 ] Island Phantasy (1988) |
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| [String Quartet] |
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| Hellenic Triptych (1993 |
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| [Solo Viola & Electronics] |
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| [ 4 ] Hera"s Wrath |
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| [ 5 ] Nemesis"s Pleasure |
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| [ 6 ] Echo"s Farewell |
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| Spring Quartet (2004) |
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| [String Quartet] |
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| [ 7 ] Allegro ritmico |
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| [ 8 ] Allegretto |
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| [ 9 ] Adagio Espressivo ma non troppo |
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| [10] Rondo giocoso - Vivo alla breve |
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photos: © 2004 Chris Leck
Ayako Gamo (vln 2), Erin Furbee (vln 1),
Joël Belgique
and Phil Hansen.
( fEARnoMUSIC - Summer 2004 incarnation )
"Portland's venturesome new music ensemble surveys two decades of work
by one of the Northwest's finest composers. Anyone who treasures the
Japanese impressionism of the late composer Toru Takemitsu will admire
the ethereal "Island Phantasy", derived from a folk melody sung during
an ancestor worship festival on a Japanese island Gabel visited. "Elegy"
for solo cello is a powerful memorial for the composer's father.
In 1993's "Hellenic Triptych" for viola and electroacoustics, the haunting
third movement, "Echo's Farewell", which begins in a hesitation dance and
then floats away on a modal cloud, is one of the most rapturous musical
moments I've heard this year.
The major work is 2004's rhythmically charged "Spring Quartet",the most "classical"
sounding piece on the disk. Except for the drifting adagio movement, Gabel's
characteristic contemplative passages here give way to a more robust idiom,
including a decidedly Coplandish fourth movement. This propulsive style, perhaps
influenced by his recent collaborations with choreographer Agneiszka Laska and
her dance company, augurs an even brighter future for one of the Northwest's most
compelling composers.
--
Brett Campbell (Eugene Weekly)
Program Notes
That Old Song and Dance - 1984
This string quartet -- one movement in classical sonata allegro
form -- is, as the title suggests, infused with ancient songs and dances:
an untitled 14th century French estampie (originally for positif organ),
another estampie from the same period (the famous viol tune Lamento di Tristana)
and an Irish Gypsy song Fish and 'Taters.
Elegy - 1989
For solo cello, the work was composed as a paternal memoriam. It incorporates
a simple American popular song, the composer writes, "one my father played on
a mouth harp to my sisters at bedtime and a well-known symphonic theme which
holds a special meaning for me." The score comes with the accompanying poem:
Hands can say a lot,
can speak through simple things:
wood, cotton and cloth
can give a certain comfort.
I can say my dad was a man
who spoke with big hands...
all he took and all he gave
was with big hands.
Island Phantasy - 1988
A suite of reveries and dances -- a tone-poem, fantasy memoir of a summer visit
to Sadoh-ga-sheema, a small island in the Sea of Japan. In it are two remarkably
different versions of the melody,
Sadoh-ohkaysah, widely sung and danced
to around the island during the
O-bon festival, when most Japanese return
to their home towns to honor their ancestors at family burial sites. It is believed
that ancestral spirits return as well, and the welcoming festivities are for them too.
The single-movement score is in ten sections and includes the following annotations:
Like a flat calm sea,
static but for the occasional ripple
Like the rising of the sun
Like the work of farmers and fisher folk
Like the bustle of a busy shopping street
in late afternoon
Like the setting of the sun
Like an evening breeze
Like a solitary stroller, lost in thought beneath the night sky
Like the gathering of a crowd
Like a festive dance
Like ancestral spirits returning home
Hellenic Triptych - 1993
For solo viola and digital electroacoustics, the work is a dramatic tone-poem on the
classical Greek myth of Narcissus -- through the story's supporting personae:
- Hera's Wrath
- Nemesis' Pleasure
- Echo's Farewell
Spring Quartet - 2004
Free of external programmatic intent, vernal affectation in this quartet is simply
implied internally through the initial rising line in the melodic theme of each movement.
An additional cyclic element figures into the conclusive rondo.
- I. allegro ritmico
- II. allegretto
- III. adagio espressivo, ma non troppo
- IV. rondo giocoso, vivo alla breve
Credits
With RACC support and the artistic dedication of Erin Furbee, Ayako Gamo, Joel Belgique
and Phil Hansen of fEARnoMUSIC, this collection is finally available.
Others to credit: Portland State University, where we recorded; Paulo in the Pearl,
IFCC and Contemporary Crafts where fEARnoMUSIC gave free concerts while honing the
works for the recording sessions; Larry Tyrrell of Moonbridge for technical assistance
in mastering; Tessa Brinckman and Tomas Svoboda for tone meistering in session; the ensemble
for production assistance in editing; and last but not least, thanks to loving wife and
collaborator
Agnieszka Laska, who, upon
hearing
Spring Quartet in creation, insisted that she
choreograph and premiere it in her fall '04 concert
Songs of Eva, where also, from
the stage with Joel Belgique, her dancers wowed an audience that grew with every performance,
in a hair-raising
Hellenic Triptych -- a work that now
appears destined for many more fine performances, to which I'm looking forward --
Jackie T. Gabel
