​Thomas Piercy and the New York Women Composers 2023

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Thomas Piercy, clarinet   Daniel Hass, cello   Tengku Irfan, piano

Trios for clarinet, cello, and piano
Beth Anderson "Trio: Dream in 'd'" (Clarinet version World Premiere)
Chen Yi “Night Thoughts” (US Premiere)
Jane Leslie “Romance”
Alla Pavlova  "The Broadway Song" and "The Ferry to My Dream"
Joelle Wallach “After Alcyon’s Dream”
Rain Worthington “Just Beyond Reach” (World Premiere)
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Duos for clarinet and piano
JinHee Han “90 Away”
Stefania de Kenessey “Microvids” (selections)
Faye-Ellen Silverman “Tides” (selections)
Judith Lang Zaimont “Reflective Rag”

Thomas Piercy and the New York Women Composers 2023
Tuesday,  June 27, 2023 at 7pm
Scorca Hall at National Opera Center
330 7th Ave 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001

​Tickets: $25 (Students/Seniors $15)
Payment by cash or credit at the ticket desk. Doors open at 6:30pm.
Information/Reservations: [email protected]​
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​www.thomaspiercy.com/thomaspiercy-newyorkwomencomposers-2023

This concert is made possible in part through funding from the New York Women Composers organization.
We'd like to thank The Puffin Foundation for their support of this project.
The mission of the New York Women Composers, Inc. is to support the creation, promotion and performance of music by women.
https://newyorkwomencomposers.org/about-nywc/

PROGRAM NOTES / BIOS

Thomas Piercy, clarinet http://www.thomaspiercy.com/
Daniel Hass, cello http://danielhass.ca/​
Tengku Irfan, piano https://www.tengkuirfan.com/​

Beth Anderson “Trio: dream in ‘d’ “ for clarinet, cello, and piano (Clarinet version Premiere) 9”
Trio: dream in 'd' is rhapsodic and centered around the key of d-minor (hence the sub-title).  Parts of this piece were written when I dreamt music and woke up in the middle of the night desperate to write down what I had just ‘heard’.  I was improvising for modern dance classes then, and I used to write down what I had just improvised while waiting for the next steps to be taught.  Consequently, the rhythm within sections or swatches is quite regular and there is a certain physicality to it.  The harmony is related to rock harmony.  The primary cadence pattern is “i”- “flat-VI”-“flat-VII”-”i”.  A friend of mine  says that parts of it sound like a drunken Irish person wandering around in Mexico.  It certainly has folk related material and times when the music seems to be waiting for the next melody to appear.  At the end, several musical ideas heard previously in the piece return and are layered with one another as duple and triple meters compete. 
www.beand.com/

Chen Yi “Night Thoughts” for clarinet, cello, and piano (US Premiere) 9”

Stefania de Kenessey “Microvids” for clarinet and piano (selections) 5”
Isolated and alone during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, sitting at my piano, I was thinking more and more often about young musicians of every age, background and ability, trying to imagine their anxiety, their worry, their sense of confusion. What were they doing? What were they thinking? What were they feeling? More importantly, what could I do to help? The result was Microvids, 19 miniatures for piano, intended for beginner students of all ages.
The title is a nod to Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, fondly remembered from my childhood, but the music is transposed to our own age and culture, with short pieces that are rhythmically compelling, musically tuneful, and – more importantly – emotionally uplifting. Microvids also features an interesting theatrical touch: each piece comes with a descriptive title and a short accompanying poem, penned by this composer; the set concludes with a longer poem written by Eloisa Amezcua, and all the texts are available in both Spanish and English. While I originally wrote Microvids for solo piano, I have also created four different
arrangements for duos with flute, clarinet, French horn and cello. I am honored to have the amazing clarinetist Thomas Piercy premiere selections from the duo version on June 27, 2023 in a concert sponsored by New York Women Composers.
Scores and parts (digital or hard copy) are available through DeKenessey Productions at [email protected].
www.stefaniadekenessey.com

JinHee Han “90 Away” for clarinet and piano 9”

Jane Leslie “Romance” for clarinet, cello, and piano 4”
Jane Leslie’s “Romance” (trio for clarinet, cello, and piano) features a beautiful lyrical melody, inspired by the expressive style of the nineteenth-century Romantic Era of music.  The lush, romantic melody and harmonies are presented in an arrangement with elements of a modern crossover genre, creating a pleasing blend of styles.
www.janelesliemusic.com

Alla Pavlova "The Broadway Song" and "The Ferry to My Dream" for clarinet, cello, and piano 7"
"Old New York Nostalgia” Suite was written first for piano solo in 1994-1995 and first performed in March 1996 at the Weill Recital hall. Since then the suite has been performed many times in United States. and abroad in Russia, Bulgaria. Canada and Australia. The first version of the orchestration was made in 1998 and recorded in 1999 for Albany Records. The second version of the orchestration was made and recorded for Naxos Label in 2002.  Also there are several chamber versions of the “Nostalgia” ( for violin and piano, trumpet and piano, clarinet and piano ). The present version for Clarinet, cello and piano is dedicated to Thomas Piercy.
www.allapavlova.com/

Faye-Ellen Silverman  Selections from “Tides” for clarinet and piano
Prologue 3:30” and Shared Waters 2:30”
Water has always been an essential aspect of life. The Greek philosopher Empedocles felt that all matter was composed of four “roots” – earth, air, fire, and water. He saw water (and earth) as turning inward. Water is not only a philosophical construct (the Greeks saw these elements contributing to personality), but also a concrete substance necessary to life itself. As I learned during my residency at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, where I got to know the President of the Jordan Valley Authority, some of the most important treaty negotiations in the Middle East have involved the distribution of water, a scarce and precious commodity in that part of the world.  I have always had an affinity for the sea. I need to go to the ocean – with sand and sea – at least once a year. But the sea has dual aspects – both positive and negative. Perhaps this is why water has played an important role as inspiration for classical musical compositions. These are paid tribute to via various quotes. All of this has informed this work.
     Tides is a five-movement work. The first, Prologue, introduces the motive that will run through several parts of this work  - the notes Eb E A. This motive (SEA in English) is present in several of the compositions of Takemitsu. I quote him both in tribute to a musical tradition (just as he quotes Debussy), but also to show the universality of water in different parts of the world. This movement weaves the sea motive, transposed, un-transposed, in retrograde, with the second interval (the fourth) expanded and contracted throughout the movement, as well as having the minor second appear within the perfect fourth. The specific notes, as well as component intervals of half step, perfect fourth, and tritone, also continue in later movements. This movement also uses the augmented second – prominent in Jewish and Arabic countries.  The undulating motion of the sea is also represented. It will be used again, as will the descending motion. There is a quotation written into the score at the start of the first movement - "Like the sea stroked by the hand of nightfall”. It is from The Song of the Rain.by El-Sayyab, written from exile in Kuwait. The movement slows to connect with the tempo of the next movement, to emphasize the interconnection of the work as a whole.
     The second movement is called Calm Seas. It starts and returns to static motion. I had originally thought of calm as a positive aspect of the ocean – one that allowed for swimming.  But in researching musical references, I discovered that calm seas were considered a negative force, before the advent of steam, since a ship needed wind for its sails. The dual aspects of a calm sea seemed to fit in with the duality of this work. Much of this movement plays with the alternation (or duality) of dividing the beat into two and then into three. “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” is the title of an overture by Mendelssohn that is quoted by Elgar in his thirteenth Enigma Variation. The Mendelssohn was inspired by the same Goethe poems that inspired Beethoven’s cantata. I quote the excerpt used by Elgar, but moved down a whole tone. This links the idea of the sea with the European musical tradition. The main part of the movement uses the undulating motion of the sea, and many half step references.
     The third movement is Drowned at Sea. In the twentieth century, the main characters of Berg’s Wozzeck, Britten’s Peter Grimes, and Smyth’s The Wreckers die by drowning. The connection to tradition in this movement lies in this idea rather than in any specific quotes. The movement relies heavily on descending motions. The actual opening pitches come from my quote of the Mendelssohn in the previous movement. This connection is made explicit after the first few phrases. The motion of the sea increases until, towards the end, the clarinet has a flurry of movement as if trying to save itself before finally sinking down. The movement ends at the bottom of the ocean.
     The fourth movement is called Shared Waters. One place where water is scarce is in the Middle East. The Jordan-Israeli peace treaty calls for sharing the waters of the Jordan River. So this movement is based on the very popular Arabic song – “Ah Ya Zein” – chosen in consultation with a Lebanese friend, and the Jewish song “Mayim-Mayim”, which talks about “drawing water out of the wells of salvation”. Both are popularly used for dance, and are upbeat. The movement starts with opening chords that include the Middle Eastern augmented second. Fragments of both tunes emerge, and combine in counterpoint, and finally join together to form a new tune – my personal plea for peace for this troubled region. Both of these quoted tunes also use the half step prominently, and thus connect with the other movements of this piece. The tempo keeps accelerating, and the movement ends joyously.
     The fifth movement – Epilogue – returns to the opening tempo. The work ends with the sea motive.
This work also exists in an orchestral version as “Orchestral Tides.”
https://www.fayeellensilverman.com/

Joelle Wallach “After Alcyon’s Dream” for clarinet, cello, and piano 9”
Ovid first recorded the myth of Ceyx and Alcyone: While Ceyx, was away at sea, Alcyone, his young wife, had a nightmare-premonition of his death. From that night on, she slept on shore hoping for Ceyx’s return. One night, his body washed up beside her. Alcyone’s grief was so great and her desire to be with Ceyx so intense, that she threw herself into the sea to join him. Out of compassion, the gods transformed Alcyone and Ceyx into a pair of kingfishers so that they could be together again forever, flying just above the water. Alcyone’s father - Aeolus or Neptune - decreed that, to protect the couple’s annual nest, the winds were forbidden to blow for a week around the winter solstice. And so the brooding time of the kingfisher is a time of calm seas called the "Halcyon Days," an expression which has come more generally to mean a peaceful time. Although some years a winter respite does not come, and kingfishers do not really nest right on water; the story of Ceyx and Alcyone is a myth with a truth of its own. Joelle Wallach’s trio After Alcyon’s Dream takes us into that private mythological realm where serene communion arrives as balm for nightmarish loss.
joellewallach.com/

Rain Worthington “Just Beyond Reach” for clarinet, cello, and piano (World premiere) 7”
"Composed near the end of my mother’s long descent into dementia, in bearing witness to the widening gap extending beyond reach, I sought an emotional release through music – in wordless reflection and acceptance." – RW 
https://rainworthington.com
 
Judith Lang Zaimont “Reflective Rag” for clarinet and piano 3’30”
Reflective Rag dreams introspectively throughout, and keeps largely in mid-range. The main tune draws its melody in dashed, hesitant strokes, and the two trios hint at whole-tone harmonies. This slow rag is one of a slow-fast pair of rags composed in the mid-‘70s as a private piano-solo work just for the composer herself to play. It has become so popular over time that Zaimont has been commissioned to re-cast it for various instrumental combinations - each one slightly varied – as the version for clarinet and piano.
www.judithzaimont.com/