New Works by Ann Cleare

by Ted Gordon on April 7, 2016, 3:59 p.m.

PSNY is happy to announce that two new works by Ann Cleare, one of which is in two arrangements, are newly available this week on PSNY.

Cleare's work has often explored concepts of presence, becoming, and immanence, dwelling in sound-worlds made manifest by her maserful use of instruments and electronics. Cleare's Inner, in a new version for violin and piano, "probes the subcutaneous space within sound", positing sound as a body with porous boundaries. Inspired by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, Cleare writes: "the internal is given a multidimensional quality, fragmenting the outer surface", a metaphor for her compositional interplay between instruments and sound. 

(page 1 from Inner) 

In Cleare's On Magnetic Fields, the ensemble is split up spatially and sonically on stage: two "whirling" ensembles, featuring violins, flank the left and right sides, while a separate ensemble of harp, piano, and percussion creates a "box of light" in the center. We have published both this version for full ensemble, as well as a version for two violins and loudspeaker. The interplay between the two magnetically-charged ensembles on either side and the "piercing, alien light" of the center ensemble forms the basis of the composition. Check out a recording excerpt below. 

PSNY Around America

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 5, 2015, 3:53 p.m.

It's an exciting week for new music in America. Though plenty of concerts will be happening on both coasts, this week boasts three events in Nebraska, Chicago, and Miami that showcase the works of PSNY Composers outside of their normal haunts. Premieres of new works, master classes, and presentations will be given by five PSNY composers over the next several days in both the urban centers of Chicago and Miami, as well as the regional center of Kearney, Nebraska. Who says new music only happens in New York? 

Kicking off this weekend of new music in America's heartland is a performance on November 6th by pianist Karl Larson at the University of Nebraska, Kearney. Larson, who has premiered several works by PSNY composers, will perform Scott Wollschleger's Secret Machines No. 6 and Adrian Knight's Death of Paneloux, alongside Morton Feldman's Palais de Mari. Larson recently premiered Wollschleger's Meditation on Dust with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and has played all of Wollschleger's works for piano. The University of Nebraska Kearny recently wrote a preview of the concert, which calls Larson's playing "adventurous," and includes a short interview with Dr. Anthony Donofrio, UNK assistant professor in music theory and composition. Get a taste of Larson's program with a sample of Adrian Knight's Death of Paneloux: 

The following evening, Adrian Knight's hour-long piece Obsessions will be performed by pianist R. Andrew Lee at the FETA Foundation in Miami, Florida. Obsessions, commissioned by Lee, will be heard again at the University of Central Florida on November 10th. The piece is described as "a fifty-minute work which explores stubborn habits, routines, patterns, and, well, obsessions."

During the same weekend, Northwestern University's second annual New Music Conference and Festival will take place at the Bienen School of Music. This hybrid conference and festival brings together scholars, composers, performers, and students for a free weekend of workshops, performances, master classes, and presentations. Participating ensmebles include Ensemble Dal Niente and Third Coast Percussion, and participating composers include PSNY composers Ann Cleare, Kate Soper, and Ted Hearne, among others. 

On Saturday, November 7th, Northwestern's Contemporary Music Ensemble (co-directed by Alan Pierson) will perform excerpts from Ted Hearne's Katrina Ballads, as well as Ann Cleare's on magnetic fields, which will be published soon on PSNY. The following afternoon, Hearne, Cleare, and fellow PSNY composer Kate Soper will present on their work as a part of the conference. A complete schedule of events is available here.

New Works and Performances by Ann Cleare

by Ted Gordon on Oct. 22, 2015, 10:44 a.m.

The music of Ann Cleare speaks to the heart of the problem with "new music": what counts as "new"? Really, truly new? And why must it be that way? Cleare's compositions rethink the possibilities created by instruments: both the sounds that they produce and their configuration within performing ensembles. And even more than this re-tooling, her works also organize these sounds in ways that create spatial, narrative, and timbral tension while keeping the sound-worlds of each composition unified and organic.

For example, take luna (the eye that opens the other eye). This composition for solo saxophone reimagines the instrument as "a dragonfly with eyes so big they cover almost its entire head, giving it a helmeted appearance and a full 360-degree field of vision." Or, take her mire |...| veins for brass quintet: 

Three works by Cleare, including the world premiere of eyam iii for bass flute (with Richard Craig, flute), will be featured in a dual portrait concert on October 25th at Spectrum, shared with composer Timothy McCormack. McCormack's amplified bassoon solo BODY MATTER will be performed by bassoonist Chris Watford, and William Lang performs works for trombone by both composers, alongside trios for trombone, trumpet and clarinet. 

In addition to these performances of her chamber works, Cleare's opera, rinn, recently premiered at Salzburg's Pocket Opera Festival. rinn takes the first two pages of Episode 11 from Joyce's Ulysses, and was performed alongside four other "pocket operas" that take inspiration from Joyce. Check out a clip below: