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Indigenous Music II (1984)
| composer |
Stephen L. Mosko (1947-2005) |
| performers |
California EAR Unit:
Dorothy Stone, flute
Stuart Horn, oboe
Gary Ginstling, clarinet
Robin Lorentz, violin
Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello, voice
Amy Knoles, percussion
Arthur Jarvinen, percussion
M.B. Gordy III, percussion
Vicki Ray, piano, keyboard
Lorna Eder, piano, keyboard
Stephen L. Mosko, conductor |
| publisher |
Leisure Planet Music (ASCAP)http://www.leisureplanetmusic.com
|
| label |
oodiscs 39
|
| duration |
26:42 |
Stephen L. Mosko:
"Indigenous Music II was completed in March 1984, specifically written for a new music group that had just formed: the California EAR Unit. [The work] is dedicated to them.
"I moved to a small rural town of 600 [called] Green Valley several years before. One day I realized the town had no music of its own, and I was the only 'composer' in the area. Just beginning a choral work intended for the Christmas season, I decided to call it Indigenous Music, appropriate since I have lived most of my creative life in southern California. [This is] the second work of the series which was begun in 1980.
"'Indigenous' is a complicated term these days, as our influences are so multifarious. At the time I was extremely interested in Icelandic folk music, Sufi ceremonies, Morton Feldman, Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Indian music, the Carter Family, Janis Joplin, the Repercussion Unit, particle physics, etc. I cared neither to avoid nor imitate these influences ...
"I was also influenced by a piece I experienced at a show called 'Art and Technology'. Entering a dark room, there was an extremely intense flash of very bright light, and for the next ten minutes you witnessed intense visions that were only afterimages in your mind. Indigenous Music II is about these kinds of afterimages, articulated by large percussion attacks transforming melody into rhythm or chords in the shadow of the decay.
"'Het Wapen van Amsterdam' was a ship from Holland that sank off the coast of Iceland with an enormous amount of gold on board. It has never been found. This seemed appropriate, since the EAR Unit solidified on a concert tour of Holland. The text for the cello cadenza [in this movement] summarizes much of the intent of the work:
"'Chord, as mass, must merge with pulse
Making quantum leaps convulse,
And the energy repulse
Any chance of cheap song.'"
Composer and conductor Stephen L. Mosko (1947-2005) was born in Denver, Colorado, where his early musical education was fostered by conductor Antonia Brico. He studied composition with Donald Martino and Gustav Meier at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and with Mel Powell, Leonard Stein, and Morton Subotnick at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. He joined the faculty of CalArts in 1972.
Mosko's compositions have been performed by the California EAR Unit, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, La Camerata of Mexico, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York New Music Ensemble, San Francisco Symphony, SONOR, and at the June in Buffalo, Ojai, and Tanglewood Festivals. He received awards and commissions from the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, Chicago Society of Composers, Fromm Foundation, International Society of Bassists, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Percussion Group of Cincinnati, and Southwest Chamber Music Society. He was the featured composer at the 1989 Sacramento New American Music Festival.
An active conductor, Mosko served as music director of the Chicago Contemporary Players and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, principal conductor of the Griffin Ensemble of Boston, and guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. He also led ensembles such as Collage New Music, Dinosaur Annex, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and Schoenberg Ensemble, and appeared at the Aspen, Holland, Ojai, and Olympic Arts Festivals, as well as the Foro International de Musica Nueva in Mexico City. Mosko's music and performances can be found on many labels including Cambria, Crystal, GM, New Albion, New World, oodiscs, Opus One, and Tzadik.
related websites
http://www.leisureplanetmusic.com/composer/mosko/bio.htm
Founded in 1981, the California EAR Unit is among the United States' most prominent contemporary music chamber ensembles. Its repertoire of over 500 compositions ranges from the most demanding concert works to multimedia collaborations with artists in other disciplines. The EAR Unit has performed at major venues and festivals worldwide, including Amsterdam, Aspen, Boston, Brussels, Cologne, Kiev, London, Minneapolis, New York, Paris, Reykjavik, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, and many others. It has been featured in documentaries for the BBC and Japanese television, and radio broadcasts in the US, Canada, and Europe. Since 1987 the EAR Unit has been ensemble-in-residence at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; in 2005 it began a new residency at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) in Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall. The group has recorded for the Bridge, Cambria, Crystal, Echograph, New Albion, New World, Nonesuch, oodiscs, Tzadik, and Voyager labels. In 1999 the EAR Unit received the Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center.
related websites
http://www.earunit.org
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