Where Does Love Go?  --  chamber music by Mark Engebretson

Innova 645

 

1. Where Does Love Go? (2003)

                  for viola, interactive electronics and digital media

                  Scott Rawls, viola

                  Duration; 5:29

 

2. Duo Concertante (2002)

                  for two alto saxophones and piano

                  adapted from original for two saxophones and orchestra by

                  Adam C. Murphy

                  Steve Stusek, Susan Fancher, alto saxophone, Inara Zandmane, piano

                  Duration: 12:07

                                   

3. Events (1995)

                  for violoncello and digital media

                  Brooks Whitehouse, violoncello

                  Duration: 11:46

 

4. Energy Drink II (2000)

                  for solo flute

                  Alexander Wagendristel, flute

                  Duration: 6:11

 

5. Say a Prayer, But the Sea Wind Blows Them Out (1996)

                  for soprano voice, string quartet and digital media

                  poem by Dina Elenbogen

                  Lorena GuillŽn, soprano, John Fadial, Janet Orenstein, violin, Scott

                  Rawls, viola, Brooks Whitehouse, violoncello

                  Duration: 20:46

                                   

6-9. Four Short Songs: a certain sadness (1991)

                  for alto saxophone and violoncello

                  Susan Fancher, saxophone, Ingrid Wagner-Kraft, violoncello

                  6. Duration: 1:37

                  7. Duration: 1:18

                  8. Duration: 2:02

                  9. Duration: 2:53

 

Recording Engineers: Dennis Hopson (track 1); Bernd Gottinger (track 5), Mark Engebretson (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6-9).

Recorded at UNCG School of Music and on location in Austria, 2004-2005.

Produced by Mark Engebretson

 

This recording was made possible in part by a New Faculty Grant from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Special thanks to UNCG School of Music Dean John J. Deal for ongoing support.

 

Notes and Poems:

 

The pieces on this recording reflect first and foremost my interest in melody. It seems to me that thinking about melody is not particularly in vogue these days, at least among composers such as myself who have been raised and trained as Òmodernists.Ó  But I do think that melody is at the heart of what we all do and to lose sight of that is to lose perhaps the most attractive, endearing and memorable element of musical composition.  Of course, there is a lot more here than just nice tunes: all kinds of extended performance techniques, electronic elements, quarter-tones, complicated formal procedures like Òinfective motivic development,Ó interval expansion and other process-oriented thinking, and so forth.

 

Most importantly, this collection of pieces was written for my friends, and I am indebted to them and their hard work not only for their performances here, but also for their steadfast dedication to my music. There is a sense of multiple-connectedness that permeates the recording. Events, for example, is performed here by my current colleague Brooks Whitehouse.  The piece was written for Ingrid Wagner-Kraft, who is performing on the Four Short Songs. Ingrid is also a dedicatee of Say a Prayer, which was written for my friend, the Austrian soprano Katharina Ršssner. The Four Short Songs were written for Susan Fancher, a long-time champion of my music, who performs that piece and the Duo Concertante (with our colleagues Steve Stusek and Inara Zandmane) as well.  The Duo was written for our mutual saxophone teacher, Frederick L. Hemke and his son (more connections), Fred Jr.  I wrote Energy Drink II for Alexander Wagendristel, an Austrian friend, composer and flutist.  The piece Where Does Love Go? is full of many multi-level connections that span from the poet Dana Richardson to soprano Lorena GuillŽn to Susan Fancher (listen for LorenaÕs and SusanÕs voices in the electronics) to Javier Garavaglia, the violist/composer for whom I wrote the piece. At this writing, I have just completed Energy Drink III, for solo viola, which is dedicated to Scott Rawls, and the circle of connections continues.

 

 

Where Does Love Go? (2003) for viola and live electronics

Scott Rawls, viola

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                  To Maria

Conservation of Energy

 

Where does love go

when love is  gone?

Does the exploded sun

forever glow

 

through further reaches

of galactic space,

its light crashing on beaches

of unknown planets

as it congeals to ice,

 

invisible

in endless night,

fragmented, desolate,

jagged, small?

 

Does a fallen tear

fall as snow

on some Himalayan slope,

drip from a pear,

 

or is it squeezed

as the bitter hope

of limes that lie

on tropical beaches

shriveling in despair?

 

Does the heartbeat stilled

pound out the years

with the music of the spheres,

thunder on the field

 

before the rain,

or crash on the sand,

curling without end,

again and again?

 

Where does love go

when love is gone?

It goes to the acorn in the sun.

It goes to the cardinal and the crow.

                                                                                                         Dana Richardson 2000

                                                                                  Reprinted by permission of the author.

 

 

 

Say a Prayer, But the Sea Wind Blows Them Out       poem by Dina Elenbogen

 

You say it's easiest to embrace the dead,

easier to stand next to your grandmother's grave,

easier to light her a candle, toss a flower

across her eyes, easier to tell her why you must leave,

easier than your mother crying over dinner,

your mother with black wicked hair, your mother without

teeth. It is easier to turn your back on

your grandmother's silence than your mother standing

at the doorway, watching her oldest mistake walk away.

She throws stones at the moon which will not shatter.  

 

You leave me with the heaviness of your grandmother

sunk in the earth of Tarshiha, where sheep pass

and the sun sets slowly behind white roofs.

You leave me with the spaces in your mother's mouth,

the darkness behind her eyes, the strap of her black

brassiere. You leave me with your father who has not spoken

since you threw him against the wall for hitting

your mother. His eyes are lost, his jaws clench

with each movement of your arm. You leave me with your father

selling na'nna on the street, the insufferable sun.

 

You leave me, my sun, alone on this bed we pressed

into, this narrow space you once shared with three

brothers and a sister. Then, there was only darkness,

reading books over candle. There are still things

I can't imagine. You leave me with the Breasts

of MaÕa lot, the sun setting an orange ball sinking past

the windmill, beyond the Arab villages, sinking

into the sea on one side of the sky, the moon up

on the other. You leave me with these heavy roads

that once were gravel. You leave me with your childhood

steps, your madness.

 

You leave me, walking alone past the shul                                                    

where you went as a boy with your skull-covered friends                                                                                                                       

and all of the other men pulled out of bed late night to pray.

It was the fruit you wanted, the cake you devoured,

this month before the Day of Atonement.  I walk, still,                                                             

the staircase to your room. There is no light just

a few slats of open space to let the moon in.

You said once, the world is mostly darkness, that is why

we need these things: candles, menorahs and bulbs;

that is why you tell me just before the first three stars

appear to light the candles for the Sabbath.

I press them in the sand,

say a prayer, but the sea wind blows them out.

 

 


Tarshiha is an Arab village in the Western Galil.

NaÕnna is mint leaves.

MaÕa lot is a Jewish development town in the Western Galil.

 

                                                                                                                                  Copyright Dina Elenbogen. Reprinted by permission.

                                                                            Say a Prayer, But the Sea Wind Blows Them Out appears in a collection of her poetry,

                                                                                                                                           Apples of the Earth, Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2005

Composer and Performer Biographies:

 

Mark Engebretson

Melody...complexityÉvirtuosity for both the players and the composerÉinteractivityÉmulti-dimensionalityÉelectronic and acoustic instrumentsÉthis disc: early chamber worksÉand, melodyÉ

 

Lived in Minneapolis, Bordeaux, Chicago, Stockholm, Vienna, Chicago, Buffalo, Gainesville, GreensboroÉconcerts at ICMC, SCI, CMS, Bowling Green Festival, Wien Modern, Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), Indiana State University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, Indiana), FEMF (Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival) and ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan), Carnegie HallÉ

 

Taught at Eastman, University of Florida, SUNY FredoniaÉStudied at Northwestern University (D.M.), University of Minnesota, Conservatoire de Bordeaux...Composition teachers: Michel Fuste-Lambezat, M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan YimÉSaxophone teachers: Ruben Haugen, Frederick L. Hemke, Jean-Marie LondeixÉcurrently on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at GreensboroÉ

 

Lorena GuillŽn

Stockhausen (Indianerlieder)ÉBerio (Sequenza)ÉBritten-Pears InstituteÉPh.D., Univ. at BuffaloÉResident Artist, Hartwick CollegeÉUniversity of Arizona RecordingsÉMusica ApertaÉ

 

John Fadial

USIA Artistic AmbassadorÉperformances at Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center, the Sale Poirel in Nancy, France, the American University in Blagoevgrad, BulgariaÉconcertmaster of the Greensboro Symphony OrchestraÉChesapeake TrioÉMcIver EnsembleÉ

 

Janet Orenstein

Founding member, Guild TrioÉtours in Canada, Europe and the United StatesÉrecitals and master classes in seven African countriesÉprizewinner, Philadelphia Orchestra Concerto Competition, West Palm Beach Invitational Concerto CompetitionÉsoloist, Salisbury Symphony OrchestraÉ

 

Scott Rawls

Member of Steve Reich and MusiciansÉpremieres of The Cave and Three TalesÉWiener Festwochen, Festival d'Automne a Paris, Holland Festival, Berlin Festival, Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center FestivalÉperformances in London, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, Los Angeles, Chicago and New YorkÉrecordings with Centaur, CRI, Nonesuch, Capstone, and PhilipsÉprincipal violist of the Greensboro Symphony OrchestraÉ

 

Brooks Whitehouse

Guild TrioÉmaster classes throughout the United States and CanadaÉNorway, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Portugal, France and AustraliaÉ

 

Steven Stusek

Founding member, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, UNCG Quatuor dÕAnchesÉDutch Chamber Music Competition winner with duo 2Track with accordionist Otine van ErpÉstudied at the Paris Conservatoire, Conservatoire de la Region de ParisÉfounder, Carolina Saxophone SymposiumÉ

 

Susan Fancher

Dozens of commissioned worksÉpublished transcriptions of Josquin Desprez and Steve Reich...hundreds of concerts internationallyÉRed Clay, Amherst, Vienna and RollinÕ Phones saxophone quartetsÉcollaborations with Terry Riley, Charles Wuorinen, Philip Glass, Hilary Tann, Friedrich Cerha, Ben Johnston, M. William Karlins, Perry Goldstein, Olga Neuwirth, David Stock, Michael Torke, Ed Campion and Robert CarlÉrecordings on Innova, New World, PhillipsÉ

 

Alexander Wagendristel

Austrian composer and flute virtuoso..first compositions at age fourÉprinciple flutist with Vereinigten BŸhnen WienÉawards from Ministry of Culture, the Theodor Kšrner Award, ISCMÉimprov group Things of NowNowÉcompositions performed at HšrgŠnge, Klangbogen, Steirischer Herbst, Wien Modern, Zeitgenšssischer Herbst, and in Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the USAÉ

 

Ingrid Wagner-Kraft

German-born, Vienna residentÉdebut at the Gro§er Musikvereinssaal (Vienna)Épremiered Wolfram Wagner«s Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra...radio, TV and CD productions in Germany, Austria, England, Ireland and Denmark...viola da gamba.

 

Inara Zandmane

From Riga, LatviaÉrecitals in St. Paul, Kansas City, Cleveland, St. Louis, and New York, many Republics of the former Soviet UnionÉsoloist, Latvian National Orchestra, Liepaja Symphony, Latvian Academy of Music Student Orchestra, SIU Symphony, and UMKC Conservatory Symphony and Chamber orchestras...Chamber Music Festivals in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Helsinki (Finland), and Norrtelje (Sweden)É