Works and Composer List

Program Notes
Notes on Composers

Notes on Composers

Homage to Villa Lobos: Writing a piece for a group of solo cellos was suggested to me by my friend and colleague, cellist Janet Anthony. The title came as the music developed, suggested by the medium of eight cellos (a combination used by Villa Lobos) and by the qualities in the music. There was no conscious attempt to imitate, but Villa Lobosí music is certainly related to the rich harmonies, irregular rhythms, and sinuous melodies of the opening and closing sections; and to the driving rhythmic style and soaring melodies of the middle part. As a final act of homage, the piece ends with a quotation from Villa Lobosí 5th Bachianas Brasileiras. Robert Below

My Three Episodes for Four Cellos was composed during the summer of 1992 at the invitation of my friend Janet Anthony. The medium of four cellos offered numerous opportunities for dialogues of various sorts, a feature of all three movements. The first movement alternates dry fragmentary episodes with longer lyric lines. In the second movement a slow swaying rhythmic figure gives rise to a gradually evolving melody which is interrupted by sustained full chords followed by rapid scurrying music using parts of the earlier melody; a greatly condensed reminiscence of the opening ends the movement quietly. The last movement presents the four cellos in unison, in pairs, in four-voice canons, in four-note chords, and in other combinations, alternating rhythmically charged music with a long arching melody. A slow enigmatic coda brings the piece to a quiet but definitive conclusion. Robert Below

Trois Pièces Brève was composed in 1995 for the Lawrence Cello Ensemble at the request of their director, Janet Anthony. The first piece, Méditation, is a dark and somber work very closely aligned with the tonality of d minor. Perpétuel Mobile, marked molto allegro e agitato, is filled with rhythmic energy, dynamic contrast, and utilizes some extended techniques. The final piece, Un Petit Chanson, is a simple folklike melody accompanied in siciliano rhythm and leans strongly towards the mixolydian mode. The three pieces, though different in character, show a likeness in their focus on vertical sonority and color. James Chaudoir

Underture: In the fall of 1995 Stephen Dobrogosz posted an e-mail message to the ASTA-List. As a result of that posting, he was contacted by Janet Anthony and, because he was looking for just such a challenge (having written for cello, but not for cello ensemble), he agreed to compose a piece for the Lawrence Cello Ensemble. Underture is the result of this communication. Dobrogosz says the following about his piece: "I write intuitively (for lack of a better word). This leads me to write music of the most diverse kinds. I like rich, deep colors, and tried to take advantage of that part of the cello in the main section of the piece. The Abm motif (as in the last bars) was, in a different form, one that I was unsuccessfully trying to use to get a string quartet started. As soon as I switched my mode to cello quintet, things immediately fell into place, and the rest of the first section more or less wrote itself." Stephen Dobrogosz

Angel Talk is an essay in communication. It tries to depict how spirits might converse with one another in the imagined dialect of angels. (A) This soon gives way to a suggestion of angels sighing, which is developed to a considerable extent. (B) A move into a faster tempo precipitates an angel dance. Here there is much interaction as the angels dialogue with one another. (C) Some micro-tone bending of pitches leads to a sudden declaration of war among the angels. Swirling sextuplet figures characterize the battling groups as they begin subdividing themselves into good versus bad angels. Ultimately, the angel war ends. Satan disperses his evil subjects to various domains throughout the universe while Godís remaining good angels contemplate their victory. (D) More Angel Talk. (A) This leads to a lyrical Song of the Angels celebrating their triumph. (E) Suddenly, angels sighing returns. (B) Once anew they quietly return to their Angel Talk. (A) A brief suggestion of the Song of the Angels (E) is reminisced upon before the angels build a final pyramid of sound bridging them to God and celestial realms. (Codetta). John Downey

Eagle Feathers. To the Native American all things of the natural world are sacred and connected. Moreover, both animate and inanimate things are endowed with a spirit that is real and, in some cases, very powerful. The eagle is a sacred symbol to the Native American, a noble creature invested with strong medicine or power. It was the eagle that became the inspiration for this piece. It begins gently with a reverential prayer section. The piece then bursts into a buoyant "celebration" that drives energetically through a series of melodic/rhythmic variations and ultimately winds its way back to a brief suggestion of the opening prayer completing the circular form of the work. In Eagle Feathers I have not tried to write "Indian Music," but have sought to find melodic ideas and sounds that, for me, reflect the depth and power of this great majestic bird. John Harmon

Gentle Breezes was composed in 1987 expressly for Janet Anthony and the Lawrence University cello ensemble. The work allows for solo opportunities for all eight players. Largely in an expressive style, the music uses some aleatoric elements, a virtuosic solo cello cadenza, and cello duet. Robert Levy

Haiti Chérie was written for the Lawrence Cello Ensemble in 1997. It is based on a popular Haitian folk song with a text noting the bittersweet recognition that people often realize how beautiful their country is only after they have left home. The piece can be performed effectively with the addition of conga drums and maracas. Jean Montés

Commissioned by the Fox Valley Arts Alliance, Variations for Eight Cellos was written in 1994 for Janet Anthony and the Lawrence University Cello Ensemble. The composition revolves around the first cello, presenting a tragic theme in an opening monologue, ending in despair. The other cellos enter in the first variation, gradually reviving the despondent soloist through a variety of means: sympathy, patience, provocation, entreaty. By the third and final variation, the supportive seven cellos have achieved some measure of success. Ken Schaphorst

Optionz was written in January 1995 for the Lawrence Cello Ensemble. This piece has a non-Western flavor and is inspired by various African, Bulgarian and jazz styles. My intent is not to imitate these styles, but to produce an individual sound drawing from these musical examples. The main thrust of the piece is the rhythmic ostinato or groove supplied by five cellists. This groove lays the foundation upon which one or more members improvise a solo using different scales, possibly including mixolydian, microtonal and Arabian modes. The soloists are not given any written information to use as solo material, but are encouraged to use their ear as a basis for constructing the improvisations. Matt Turner

Hoy Mondongo is a piece written in a Tango Nuevo, post-Piazzollian aesthetic.It draws on rhythmic idioms and extended technique practices taken from both the classic tango tradition and the tradition of various groups led by Astor Piazzolla, and particularly the playing and arranging of violinist Fernando Suarez Paz and cellist José Bragato. It includes an opportunity for soloists to stretch and ornament the second theme in a tradition in keeping with these same predecessors. Michael O'Brien

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Program Notes

Robert Below received much of his musical training at the University of Louisville, graduating with highest honors in 1954 and earning his MM in 1958. A Fulbright fellowship resulted in a year abroad with study at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany, where he received the Concert-Diploma. For five years a professor at the University of California, Davis, he joined the faculty of Lawrence University in 1964 where he teaches studio piano, history and literature of music, and theory and analysis. An active performer, he has toured Latin America under the auspices of the United States Department of State and has been heard in Germany and throughout the United States. His lively interest in contemporary has led him to program many local first hearings of works by Carter, Chavez, Berger, Fine, Perle, Musgrave and others. Below has composed more that sixty works of all types, is published by Augsburg, Concordia and the National Cello Institute, and has published articles in the Music Review and Clavier.

James Chaudoir is Oshkosh Foundation Endowed Professor of Music Composition at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and is a highly published and internationally performed composer. Included among his honors are ten consecutive ASCAP awards and commissions,grants and awards from Arts/Midwest, Meet the Composer, Wisconsin Arts Board, Ohio Arts Council, Texas Composers Commission Fund, and various grants from the University of Wisconsin system. In 1989 he received a Citation by the Assembly of the State of Wisconsin for his work in the field of music composition. He serves as a member of the National Council of the Society of Composers, Inc. and is a charter member and immediate past president of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, Inc.

Stephen Dobrogosz, a composer/pianist, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and was educated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. Since 1978 he has been living in Sweden with his wife and three children, where he is an active writer and performer. His over 300 compositions include music for chamber ensembles, vocalists, solo piano and choral groups. His, to date, 9 albums have recieved critical acclaim (including the international success "Fairy Tales" with Norwegian jazz singer Radka Toneff, from 1982), as have his numerous radio and TV recordings in Europe. His "Mass" for choir,string orchestra and piano, recently set up in Sweden and recorded by the Swedish NPR, has also been performed in the US and in Brazil. Much of his production is available in scores and music books in Scandinavia.

John Downey received his B.M. from De Paul University where he studied music theory with Hans Lieberson and Leon Stein, and his M.M. from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University where he studied advanced composition with Alexander Tcherepnin, Ernst Krenek and Vitorio Rieti. In 1956 Downey was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study in Paris where he worked with Nadia Boulanger, Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger. His stay in Paris was crowned with a Prix de Composition from the Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris, and a Docteur ès Lettres from the Sorbonne. Downeyís music is characterized by its concern with organic structure evolving in free-flowing sections (identified as facets), which are imbued with what he calls "undercurrent jazz," and contain a rich harmonic palette and a strong feeling for instrumental color. His large output encompasses music for a variety of media, from abstract chamber music and symphonic modules, to electronic tape with light sculpturing and partially controlled improvisation. Dr. Downer is currently Distinguished Professor of Theory-Composition at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee where he maintains a vigorous schedule of teaching, composing, performing and conducting.

John Harmon received his B. Mus. cum laude from Lawrence University in 1957 and his M.M. from the State University of New York at Buffalo where he studied with Belgian composer Henri Pousseur. From 1971 to 1974, Harmon was director of jazz studies, a program he founded, at Lawrence University and, in 1974, was co-founder of the critically acclaimed, contemporary nonet, "Matrix," with whom he has recorded five albums. Harmon has been commissioned by such diverse groups as the Foundation of New American Music, the Duluth Symphony, the Wisconsin Academy of Science and Letters, Harnell College in California, the Wisconsin String Teachers Association, the Fox Valley Arts Alliance, the Society for Commissioning New Music, Ripon College, Gustavus Adolphus College, the Trumpet Consortium of Wisconsin, Opus One Music,and the Eastern Montana Music Festival. Harmon has also received commissions for chamber music from the Mirecourt Trio, the Empire Brass and the Interlochen Arts Academy faculty. Harmonís music is available from several publishers, including Hal Leonard, Nichols Music, Alliance Publishers Inc., Art Masters Studios Inc., UNC Jazz and the National Cello Institute.

Robert Levy is professor of music at Lawrence where he is director of bands and trumpet professor. One of the countryís more diverse musicians, he has been at the forefront of contemporary music for more than twenty years and has premiered more than one hundred works, many written expressly for him. He has recorded more than twenty recordings on twelve labels as conductor, trumpet soloist, and with brass chamber groups.

Jean Montés, originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is currently orchestra conductor in the Kaukauna public schools. He also teaches at the Lawrence Arts Academy, and is a free-lance cellist in the central Wisconsin area. He received his music degrees from Dusquene University in Pittsburgh, PA and from the University of Ohio in Akron, Ohio.

Ken Schaphorst is a composer, performer, and educator living in Appleton,Wisconsin where he directs the jazz studies program at Lawrence University. Schaphorst has studied at Swarthmore College, New England Conservatory, and Boston University, where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts in 1990. His composition teachers have included Thomas Oboe Lee, Gerald Levinson, William Thomas McKinley, and Bernard Rands. Schaphorst has been awarded Composition Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988 and 1991, a Meet the Composer Grant in 1987, and was a Music Composition Finalist in the Massachusetts Fellowship Program in 1986. Schaphorst is also a founding member of the Jazz Composers Alliance, a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of new music in the jazz idiom. Schaphorst has made several critically acclaimed recordings with the 18-piece Ken Schaphorst Big Band. The latest of these, "When the Moon Jumps" (released on Accurate Records in 1994) received four stars from Downbeat magazine and features the three movement Concerto for for John Medeski, commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991.

Matt Turner studied cello, jazz piano and composition at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, where he received his B.M. degree cum laude in 1989. His M.M. degree in Third Stream Studies (1991) is from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dave Holland, Geri Allen and Joe Maneri, and where he was the recipient of a Distinction in Performance Award. Turner has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada with various avant-garde and jazz groups including, in 1994, a guest performance with CUBE (Contemporary Music Ensemble, Chicago) and, in 1992, performances at the International Cello Festival in Montreal, Quebec. He has recorded with various artists on several labels including O.O. Discs, Asian Improv, Rastascan, Zoning, TrueMedia, and others. His compositions have been recorded on O.O. Discs and Asian Improv Records. He currently teaches at Lawrence University in the jazz studies program.

Michael obrien, a five year member of the Lawrence Cello Ensemble, will graduate from Lawrence in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education. In the summer of 1999 he was the recipient of a J. Bruce Brackenridge Student Travel Grant, which allowed him to spend the summer living in Buenos Aires, Argentina and studying tango performance, history, theory, composition and arranging with bassist Ciro Daniel Buono and bandoneón player and composer Juan D'Argenton. After graduation, he will return to Buenos Aires, where he plans to teach cello. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Outagamie County Coroner in November 2000 and vows to run again and win, no matter what.

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