David Keberle

Caught in Time

Innova 807

1. Soundings II (2003) 8:35

Tara Helen O’Connor, solo flute & The Pittsburgh Flute Club Flute Choir

Four To Go (1999)

Daniel Meyer, conductor

Alberto Almarza, flute David Premo, violoncello

Jack Howell, clarinet Rodrigo Ojeda, piano

Sarah O’Boyle, violin Paul Evans, percussion

2. I. Intro 2:21

3. II. Steady like a watch 2:21

4. III. Caught in time 3:49

5. IV. Relentlessly yet always rockin’ 2:51

6. Percorsi d’anima (2007) 9:32

Trio Johannes: Francesco Manara, violin, Massimo Polidori, violoncello

Claudio Voghera, piano; with David Keberle, clarinet

7. Incroci (2000) 14:51

David Keberle, clarinet; Eric Moe, piano

8. Quattro chiacchiere ed un aperitivo (2003) 10:28

Anteprima – Preludio - Dialogo: tempo turbato - Aria: sempre piano e delicato - Finale

Trio Johannes

Three Songs on the Poetry of Yeats (1997)

9. I. Those Images 4:00

10. II. The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart 5:29

11. III. The Ragged Wood 3:40

Robert Frankenberry, tenor; Eric Moe, piano

Total: 68:00

1. Soundings II for Solo Flute and

Flute Ensemble (2003) 8:35

Tara Helen O’Connor, solo flute

Pittsburgh Flute Club Flute Choir,

Wendy Webb Kumer, director

1st flute: Lizzie McGlinchey, Katy McKinney, Michelle Regan, Julie Seftick

2nd flute: Alison Crossley, Nicki Kuhn, Stacy Schermann

3rd flute: Craig Johnson,

Elisabeth La Foret, Aisha Sharif

Alto flute: Pamela Foster,

Wendy Webb Kumer

Bass flute: Ruthie Riethmuller,

Stacey Steele

Recorded September 23, 2003 and February 7, 2004

Alumni Concert Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Recording Engineer: Riccardo Schulz Editing: Greg DiCrosta at Firehouse 12 New Haven, CT

Four To Go for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Violoncello, Piano & Percussion (1999)

2. I. Intro 2:21

3. II. Steady like a watch 2:21

4. III. Caught in time 3:49

5. IV. Relentlessly yet always rockin’ 2:51

Daniel Meyer, conductor

Alberto Almarza, flute Jack Howell, clarinet

Sarah O’Boyle, violin

David Premo, violoncello

Rodrigo Ojeda, piano

Paul Evans, percussion

Recorded May 19, 2003 Alumni Concert Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Recording Engineer: Riccardo Schulz Editing: Greg DiCrosta at Firehouse 12

6. Percorsi d’anima for Violin, Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano (2007) 9:32

Trio Johannes:

Francesco Manara, violin

Massimo Polidori, violoncello

Claudio Voghera, piano;

David Keberle, clarinet

Recorded live March 7, 2007

Merkin Concert Hall, New York NY

7. Incroci for B^b Clarinet and Piano (2000) 14:51

David Keberle, clarinet

Eric Moe, piano

Recorded live December 7, 2000,

North River Music, Greenwich House, New York, NY

8. Quattro chiacchiere ed un aperitivo for Violin, Violoncello and Piano (2003) 10:28

Anteprima – Preludio - Dialogo: tempo turbato - Aria: sempre piano e delicato - Finale

Trio Johannes:

Francesco Manara, violin

Massimo Polidori, violoncello

Claudio Voghera, piano

Recorded live February 18, 2003

Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh

Recording Engineer: Paul Johnston

Three Songs on the Poetry of Yeats

for Tenor and Piano (1996 -1997)

9. I. Those Images 4:00

10. II. The Lover tells of the Rose

in His Heart 5:29

11. III. The Ragged Wood 3:40

Robert Frankenberry, tenor Eric Moe, piano

Recorded April 29, 1999

Bellefield Hall Auditorium,

University of Pittsburgh.

Recording Engineer: Riccardo Schulz

TOTAL: 68:00

CREDITS

Mastered by Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering, Minneapolis, MN.

Cover Photographs from:

On the Rocks – Landscape of Greenland by Beatrix Reinhardt.

Funded in part by a PSC-CUNY award.

Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation.

Philip Blackburn: director, design.

Chris Campbell: operations manager.

www.innova.mu

Soundings II for Solo Flute and Flute Ensemble is the second in a series of pedagogical works, each utilizing a different instrument, that provide students and professional instrumentalists of varying backgrounds and levels of achievement, an opportunity to meet and explore in a master class setting, the relatively uncharted world of extended techniques. Like an iceberg, classical flute study, contains many unexplored sonic possibilities that lie under the surface. After a demonstration session and hours of rehearsal with the master flutist, all of the participants gather together with the guest artist to share the stage in a performance of the new work. The flute ensemble is scored for 3 flutes in C, Alto flute in G and Bass flute in C. It utilizes extended techniques such as jet whistles, whistle tones, microtonal glissandi, key clicks, breath sounds, harmonics, as well as singing-while-playing.

Soundings II for Solo Flute and Flute Ensemble was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society and The Pittsburgh Flute Club especially for Tara Helen O’Connor and her masterclass, “The Flute Effect,” which was held on Sunday April 13, 2003 at Kresge Theatre, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. This studio recording was captured on September 23, 2003 & February 7, 2004 in Alumni Concert Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA by recording engineer Riccardo Schulz. Special thanks go to Wendy Webb Kumer for her abounding enthusiasm in making this project so successful and to Alberto Almarza for his kind suggestions in the preparation of this work.

Four to Go is a group of four contrasting miniatures scored for the standard “Pierrot” ensemble plus percussion, meant to be played without pause. The number “4”, is present on many different levels including the number of pitches in each cell, the interval content, the transpositions, and the month of the year when the work was completed.

I. Intro

Extremes of register and counterpoint expose elements of the intervallic set. Harmony and rhythm of the work are launched, foreshadowing things to follow.

II. Steady like a watch

A simple ostinato propels this movement as the work gradually builds to a climax. The piano eventually breaks away from the group, exploding with a highly charged solo.

III. Caught in time

Everything suddenly slows down as if the performers are in a state of suspended animation. A brief microtonal cadenza for clarinet utilizing my “Fast and Easy Microtonal Fingerings,” as well as some choice multiphonics appear during a short clarinet cadenza near the end, anticipating what is to come in the final movement.

IV. Relentlessly yet always rockin’

The pitch material is heard at various transpositions in a simultaneous, syncopated, homophonic style. My hat goes off to this select group of Pittsburgh instrumentalists under the direction of Daniel Meyer in this studio version of work for this highly charged performance which was captured May 19, 2003 in Alumni Concert Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh by recording engineer Riccardo Schulz.

Percorsi d’anima translates from Italian into “Pathways of the soul.” It was written especially for the Italian piano trio, Trio Johannes plus clarinet, with a musical wink towards Messiaen and his classic 20th century masterpiece (Quartet for the End of Time) scored for the same instruments. This live recording is taken from the premiere in Merkin Concert Hall in New York on March 7, 2007 with the Trio Johannes and myself on clarinet. After an extended unison exposition, the piece unfolds as a series of highly contrasting episodes for the clarinet, violin, and then cello where the initial material ends up moving into diverse, unexpected and unfamiliar places. Ultimately, all of the paths lead to a unified “tutti” and pleasurable conclusion. Support for this project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.

Incroci for B^b Clarinet and Piano. In Italian, Incroci literally means crossroads or intersection and is the closest term in that language that exists to describe the idea of “crossover” in music. The entire piece is a multicultural celebration of many styles of music and is constructed using a mosaic compositional technique where the vertical and horizontal sounds are based on a simple four-note melodic/harmonic cell. The cell, reflecting the title of the work, intersects with different transpositions of itself producing similar related collections. The clarinet, rich in expressive capabilities, fits very easily into many diverse styles of music. New extended techniques for the instrument are employed depending on the ambiance I am depicting. For example in the middle of the piece I have used my series of “Fast and Easy Microtonal Fingerings” that allow the clarinetist to shift suddenly between a tempered Western-sounding music to a soundscape akin to that found in the Far East. I would like to thank both the MacDowell and Millay artist colonies for their generous hospitality and support during the Fall of 2000 during the composition of this work. The New York premiere of the work was captured on this live recording, December 7, 2000 on a extremely cold winter night as part of an entire concert entitled “Intercultural Music, Crossovers and New Works for the Clarinet” with myself on clarinet and Eric Moe on piano, on the Greenwich House series, North River Music.

Quattro chiacchiere ed un aperitivo (Four chats and an aperitif). This multisection, one-movement work for piano trio was also commissioned by the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society and is dedicated to the Trio Johannes. The fact that violinist Francesco Manara, and cellist Massimo Polidori hold principal positions in the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra in Milan inspired me to utilize something from the world of the 19th-century bel canto tradition. As a result, a couple of well-known Verdi arias have been transformed or “distilled” and utilized as underlying material. The scenario of “quattro chiacchiere” also appealed to me. In Italian “chiacchiere,” refers to chat or small talk. The expression, “facciamo quattro chicacchiere”‚ is a commonly used phrase that indicates an invitation to pause and have a brief conversation about the latest gossip. Although the work should not be considered programmatic in nature, it does reflect on a certain level, an interplay or discourse between three distinct personalities. It may conjure up images of a casual meeting of between three friends over bubbly aperitifs at the bar/cafe of a theater, minutes before the opening night of an operatic performance. Pittsburgh’s legendary WQED recording engineer Paul Johnston captured this live, premiere recording at the University of Pittsburgh’s Frick Fine Arts Auditorium also on a cold, snowy, wintry night to a standing-room-only crowd on February 18, 2003.

Three Songs on the Poetry of Yeats are dedicated to my wife Natalie and were initially intended to be a part of our wedding ceremony in Sydney. The texts utilized are from three different periods of William Butler Yeats’s creative output. I selected them not only because they resonated with elements of my personal life, but because they seem to complement each other while also providing a unifying thread. My main objective in setting the text was to parody the rich imagery of the poetry in both the tenor and piano parts. In fact, the piano is given a major role in expressing the tremendous energy contained in Yeats’ texts. This studio version was captured April 29, 1999 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Bellefield Hall Auditorium, by recording engineer Riccardo Schulz.

I. Those Images

WHAT if I bade you leave

The cavern of the mind?

There’s better exercise

In the sunlight and wind.

I never bade you go

To Moscow or to Rome.

Renounce that drudgery,

Call the Muses home.

Seek those images

That constitute the wild,

The lion and the virgin,

The harlot and the child.

Find in middle air

An eagle on the wing,

Recognise the five

That make the Muses sing.

Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from THE COLLECTED WORKS OF W. B. YEATS, VOLUME I: THE POEMS, REVISED by W. B. Yeats, edited by Richard J. Finneran. Copyright © 1940 by Georgie Yeats, renewed 1968 by Bertha Georgie Yeats, Michael Butler Yeats, and Anne Yeats. All rights reserved.

II. The Lover tells of the Rose in His Heart

ALL things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,

The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,

The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould,

Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;

I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart,

With the earth and the sky and the water, remade, like a casket of gold

For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

III. The Ragged Wood

O HURRY where by water among trees

The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,

When they have but looked upon their images,—

O that none ever loved but you and I!

Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed

Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky,

When the sun looked out of his golden hood,—

O that none ever loved but you and I!

O hurry to the ragged wood, for there

I will drive out all those lovers out and cry—

O my share of the world, O yellow hair!

No one has ever loved but you and I.

Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from THE COLLECTED WORKS OF W. B. YEATS, VOLUME I: THE POEMS, REVISED by W. B. Yeats, edited by Richard J. Finneran. Copyright © 1924 by The Macmillan Company, renewed 1952 by Bertha Georgie Yeats. All rights reserved.

David Keberle

David Keberle belongs to a generation of composer/performers whose musical background consists not only of a thorough classical conservatory training, but is augmented by extensive experience and understanding of today’s contemporary music and performance techniques. After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship in composition to Italy in 1979, Keberle remained in Rome for seventeen years and worked as a free-lance composer and clarinetist specializing in new music. In addition, he was one of the founders of ElectraVox Ensemble, a live electronics performance group based in Rome. His “Soundings”, a series of pedagogical compositions utilizing extended techniques for soloists and student ensembles, have been premiered by numerous illustrious soloists. La Stampa (Turin, Italy) wrote: “the United States composer has a profound understanding of the modern musical language and moves with ease between styles, succeeding in a convincing manner to fuse memories of the recent past, with the acquisitions of the avant guard and influences on the highest levels from the school of jazz.”

As a clarinetist he has performed in concerts and music festivals in North America, South America, China, Europe and the Middle East. He has also participated in recording sessions at IRCAM in Paris and the, Italian National Radio (RAI) in both Rome and Naples. “The Clarinet Journal” of the International Clarinet Association, noted in a review, “a wonderful example of what the clarinet is capable of doing in a master’s hands.”

He has been awarded a New England Foundation for the Arts/NEFA grant, an Astral Career Grant from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, a Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Award, an Individual Artist Grant from the A.W. Mellon Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, Meet the Composer awards, and numerous fellowships from the MacDowell and Millay Colonies. His compositions are published and recorded by EDIPAN, Rome and BMG-Ricordi, Rome.

Keberle holds a Ph.D. in Composition and Music Theory from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master’s Degree in Composition from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston and Bachelor’s Degrees with distinction in Composition and Music Education from Indiana University, Bloomington. He is Coordinator for Music in the Performing and Creative Arts Department at the College of Staten Island/The City University of New York, where he teaches composition, music theory music technology, performance with computer and electronics, and clarinet.

PERFORMERS

Flutist Tara Helen O’Connor is a charismatic performer sought after for her unusual artistic depth, brilliant technique and colorful tone in music of every era. A current artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Tara is a member of the woodwind quintet WINDSCAPE, the 1995 Naumburg Award winning New Millennium Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and is the flute soloist of the world renowned Bach Aria Group. Tara performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA, Chamber Music Northwest and Music from Angel Fire. A 2001 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and two-time Grammy nominee, Tara has appeared on A&E’s “Breakfast for the Arts” and Live from Lincoln Center. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Koch International and Bridge Records. Recent collaborations include performances with the Orion String Quartet, Jaime Laredo, Dawn Upshaw, Elliott Fisk, Jeremy Denk, Ida Kavafian, Ransom Wilson and David Shifrin. Tara is Professor of Flute at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, Bard College Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music Contemporary Music Program and teaches summer masterclasses at the Banff Centre in Canada. An avid photographer, she has photo credits in Time Out, Strad, and Chamber Music America magazines. Tara lives with her violinist husband Daniel Phillips on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Pittsburgh Flute Club Flute Choir, Wendy Webb Kumer, Director. The Pittsburgh Flute Club (PFC) is one of the oldest flute clubs in America—over 75 years. Flutists of all ages and levels gather for special events and to perform, study, attend recitals, master classes and workshops, to compete, to be adjudicated, and just to play. PFC premiered Keberle’s Soundings II in 2003 in Pittsburgh and also gave the New York premiere at the National Flute Association convention in 2009.

Daniel Meyer is currently the musical director of the Erie Philharmonic, artistic director of the Westmoreland Symphony and director of the Asheville Symphony in Asheville, North Carolina. He was also the former resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and former music director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. He holds degrees from Denison University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He studied conducting at Boston University, where he won the Orchestral Conducting Honors Award. He also studied conducting at the Vienna School of Art and Music as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

Trio Johannes has won many prizes at important international competitions: the 50th Concert Artists Guild International Competition (2001), the Third International Chamber Music Competition (1999) in Osaka, and Italy’s Trio di Trieste Competition (1998), as well as a special merit diploma from the Trieste Superior Chamber Music School. European concert engagements include performances for the Music Societies of Padua, Vicenza, Florence, Bologna, Turin, and Milan, and for Suisse Romande Radio of Geneva. Trio Johannes has performed in the United States, with appearances at Weill Recital Hall-Carnegie Hall, the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, the Savannah International Music Festival, and the Market Square Concerts in Harrisburg, PA. Their concerts have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on New York’s WQXR and WNYC. In March of 2007 Trio Johannes was invited to perform Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” with the New Haven Symphony. Recordings include the complete Brahms Trios, recorded for “Amadeus.” Italy’s leading classical musical magazine, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, and Dimitri Shostakovich’s Trio, opus 67. In 2011 “Amadeus” released the first of the Trio’s two Cds of the complete Brahms Piano Quartets and the Trio op. posthumous in A major.

Francesco Manara, violin, is concertmaster of the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra in Milan, chosen for that post by Riccardo Muti in 1992. He has played as a soloist with more than fifty orchestras, including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Wiener Kammerorchester (Vienna), and the Tokyo Symphony. He was awarded first prize at the prestigious Concours International de exécution musicale in Geneva.

Massimo Polidori became principal cellist with the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra in 2000, before which he served in the same position with the Camerata Bern, performing and recording with this fine chamber orchestra throughout Europe. He is the winner of the Geneva Conservatory’s Virtuosité competition.

Claudio Voghera, piano, a student of Aldo Ciccolini, met Francesco Manara at the Italian National Conservatory at Turin, where both players were students. The two formed a duo that performed at major music societies in Italy and abroad (Frankfurt, Tokyo, Madrid). Together they won the Grand Prix de Sonates Violon et Piano at the Lausanne Academy in Switzerland. Mr. Voghera is currently on the faculty at the Turin Conservatory.

Robert Frankenberry leads a multi-faceted career as a tenor, pianist, and conductor. Although he began his vocal career as an actor singing comic roles, he has more recently performed such roles as Don Jose in Carmen, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann and Don Carlo. Also active as a vocal recitalist, he performs regularly in New York for the Phoenix Concerts and PRISM Projects. His credits in musical direction range from Sweeney Todd to La Clemenza di Tito, including the staged premiere of Daron Hagen’s Vera of Las Vegas. He has been assistant conductor for productions of Don Carlo, Poliuto, La Forza del Destino and Aida for Chicago’s DaCorneto Opera, and assisted Julius Rudel on Opera Theater of Pittsburgh’s 2008 production of Lost in the Stars. As a pianist, he is a member of IonSound, the Music On the Edge Chamber Orchestra, and New York’s Phoenix Players. He has premiered more than 150 works by living composers.

Eric Moe, composer and pianist, has received numerous grants and awards for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by some of the finest ensembles and performers of our time. All-Moe CDs are available on Naxos, Albany, bmop/sound, Koch International Classics, and Centaur. Fanfare magazine described his work as “wonderfully inventive, often joyful, occasionally melancholy, highly rhythmic, frequently irreverent, absolutely eclectic, and always high-octane music”. As a pianist and keyboardist, Moe’s playing can be heard on Koch, CRI, New World, Mode, Albany, and other labels. The Waltz Project Revisited - New Waltzes for Piano, his solo recording of waltzes by two generations of American composers, was released in 2004 by Albany Records to critical acclaim. He teaches at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is Professor of Composition and Theory.