Huzuni [2018] *premiere                                                           Bernard SHORT [b.1979]

A City Called Heaven [1988]                                                 Olly WILSON [1937-2018]

Treetop Studio [2012]                                    Laura Elise SCHWENDINGER [b.1962]

Sinfonietta [2012]

Huzuni is a single movement musical composition for sinfonietta ensemble that formally reflects the five stages of grief. Using the Swahili word for sadness or sorrow and research from the Kübler-Ross Model, Huzuni lays out each of the five stages in the following order: denial and bargaining [section 1], depression and anger [section 2], and acceptance [section 3]. In section 1 the tonal center of g minor is implied but never fully realized, thereby providing a sense of the denial of truth. In section 2, dissonance is emphasized to suppress a clear sense of direction in order to project a state of depression. It functions as a bridge section that slowly simulates depression in real life. When juxtaposed against the first section we see that the piece shows us that consciousness can be related to tonality and unconsciousness to atonality.
     In section 3 the principal melody returns, but within the key of B Major. Even here we see a denial of what the true tonal center is, but it is handled in a way that creates a sense of this reality being adequate, suitable, or acceptable. When juxtaposed against the first sections, an ascending 3rd relationship is created giving the sense of climbing out of the valley and onto higher ground. The third and final section exposes the idea of acceptance and is achieved by juxtaposing the keys of the first and third sections The ascending relationship between these two keys suggests the triumphant climb from a depressed state into a state of acceptance that is finally resolved, in the conclusion, in the key of E major.
     Throughout the composition we tap into the natural continuum found in harmonic intervals, between consonance and dissonance. This continuum is then used to reflect each of the emotions as part of the grief model.

A City Called Heaven was commissioned by the Boston Musica Viva ensemble and given its world premiere in April 1989. The title of the composition is taken from a traditional Black American spiritual whose principal theme serves as the musical inspiration for the central slow movement of the piece. The chorus of this spiritual has the following text:

     Sometimes I am tossed and driven -- Lord
     Sometimes don't know where to roam --
     I've heard of a city called heaven
     I'm trying to make it my home.

     The composition contains three movements in a fast-slow-fast arrangement, each of which is inspired by different genres of African-American music transformed by my own contemporary musical language. The first movement is based on a reinterpretation of a blues "riff" -- a short definitive melodic motive which, in traditional practice, is repeated against a changing harmonic background. The piece opens with a somewhat rhetorical statement of a riff, whose inherent "swing" qualities gradually take on greater importance as the piece progresses. The movement utilizes a great deal of unison writing, cross rhythms and blues-like melodic patterns, that collectively create a composed realization of an abstract blues improvisation. After the first movement builds to a climax, there is a short, contrasting, harmonically static section before the return of an altered version of the opening blues riff.
     The second movement seeks to evoke the character and sensibilities associated with the original spiritual in a new musical context. After a brief introduction featuring the clarinet, there ensues a series of short sections which, while sharing similar musical ideas, contrast with each other in character, texture and tempo. There gradually emerges an altered version of the first line of the spiritual stated cantabile in the viola and violin. This music is then commented upon, expanded and modified by the entire ensemble. In a broad sense, the entire movement is a contemporary reflection on the original spiritual.
     The last movement, which opens with an aggressive percussion solo, is dominated by virtuoso passages for the piano in the lower register and percussion. The basic musical gestures associated with these two prominent instruments are inspired by rhythmic dynamism of the African-American music genre "Boogie-Woogie." The entire ensemble, beginning with pizzicato strings, shares in the development of this basic musical material that leads to several episodes whose distinct musical ideas grow out of previous sections. Ultimately, a series of duets between the percussion and piano culminate in a riff-like ensemble statement that brings closure to the movement. —Olly Wilson

The title of "Treetop Studio" is a reference to Andrew Imbrie's beautiful little studio overlooking the treetops of the Berkeley hills. A place where Olly Wilson visited often along with UC Berkeley Graduate Composers working with Olly and Andrew.
Treetop studio was commissioned for a memorial concert for Andrew Imbrie at UC Santa Cruz and premiered there by John Sackett- Clarinet and Jean-Michel Fonteneau-Cello

Laura Elise Schwendinger’s Sinfonietta was commissioned by Joel Sachs for his New Julliard Ensemble, and had its world premiere performance at Alice Tully Hall, under the direction if Joel Sachs at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in 2012. The title both refers to the length of the work, which is a short or simple symphony and to the classical idea of a short symphony and to the size of the orchestra. The Sinfonietta is just under 13 minutes and in three movements. The first movement blossoms just a little and uses simple material. The second movement, a waltz-styled scherzando, seems to fall apart just enough at the end-so that all that's left is the accompaniment. This is my nod to Haydn, a little joke between players and audience, how does one dance when the melody decides to leave the texture? The third movement is fast paced music with an expressive violin line interwoven, which becomes increasingly more dramatic with use of brass.