KAMRAN INCE

passion and dreams

 

Present Music

Kevin Stalheim,

artistic director

 

innova 931

UPC: 726708693121

 

1. Dreamlines (2008)  15:11

Kamran Ince, conductor

Eric Segnitz, violin & vocals

Margot Schwartz, violin & vocals

Erin Pipal, viola & vocals

Peter Thomas, cello & vocals

Collins Trier, bass

Jennifer Clippert, flute & vocals

William Helmers, bass clarinet

Carl Storniolo, percussion

Cory Smythe, piano

Ann Lobotzke, harp & vocals

 

Zamboturfidir (2013)

Kamran Ince, conductor

Margot Schwartz, violin

Naha Greenholtz, violin

Eric Segnitz, violin

Erin Pipal, viola

Wendy Richman, viola

Adrien Zitoun, cello

Peter Thomas, cello

Collins Trier, double bass

Cory Smythe, piano

Carl Storniolo, percussion

William Helmers, baritone saxophone

Mark Hoelscher, bass trombone

2.         I           1:16

3.         II         1:35

4.         III        1:14

5.         IV        0:56

6.         V         2:09

7.         VI        0:25

8.         VII       1:05

9.         VIII     1:57

10.       IX        4:29

 

 

 

11. Asumani (2012)  10:28

Peter Thomas, cello

Mehmet ali Sanlikol, ney

 

12. Fortuna Sepio Nos (2013)  13:55

Version for clarinet, cello, and piano.

Adrien Zitoun, cello

William Helmers, clarinet

Cory Smythe, piano

 

Partita in E (2007)

Eric Segnitz, violin

Carl Storniolo, percussion

13.       I           8:45

14.       II         4:27

15.       III        7:56

 

16. Two Step Passion (2011)  3:46

Version for large ensemble.

Kamran Ince, conductor

Naha Greenholtz, violin

Margot Schwartz, violin

Eric Segnitz, violin

Erin Pipal, viola

Wendy Richman, viola

Adrien Zitoun, cello

Peter Thomas, cello

Collins Trier, bass

Jennifer Clippert, piccolo

Cory Smythe, piano

Carl Storniolo, percussion

William Helmers, baritone saxophone

Mark Hoelscher, bass trombone

 

-—79:37—-

 

 

Dreamlines

An architect’s prayer, recited in hushed tones over trembling, irregular unisons in harp, piano and vibraphone, opens the 15-minute Dreamlines. Mimar Sinan blessed the Blue Mosque with this prayer, a fitting introduction to music that would cast the ineffable spell of the charged well of air in a great mosque or cathedral.  Within such space, the violin and flute commence a murmuring that intensifies then dissolves into a sonic ether. The ensemble sings, along with flute and bass clarinet, a dreamy little tune that takes an unexpected monumental turn. Sparks of metal percussion introduce and later interrupt a pounding folk dance. The prayer returns as a bridge to the trembling unisons and free-floating gestures heard at the outset.

• Commission: Turkish Chamber of Architects, for their 100th Anniversary, 2008.

 

Zamboturfidir

Ince invented the title of this ambitious 15-minute work. The word represents “the edgy sounds of strings, wild baritone saxophone, tenor trombone and certain percussion instruments.” Even by Ince’s standards, Zamboturfidir is a wild ride. Pauses just long enough to become uneasy demark its nine episodes, including two evocative of the irregular thump and grind of heavy industry; the honk-and-scramble of a violent dance that can’t keep its feet; a woozy opium dream of a seductive tune; a soothing chorale that slowly comes unhinged, and more -- welcome to Wonderland.

• Commission: Arts Council of Ireland, for the Irish group Yurodny and the Turkish group Hezarfen, 2011.

 

Asumani

Ince directs the cellist to play his main theme “like a whisper.” Peter Thomas heeds the composer’s words, and makes the tune hang in the air like a ghost, translucent but intensely present. In this, Thomas matches the natural voice of Mehmet ali Sanlikol’s ney, a breathy, traditional Turkish flute associated with Sufi mysticism. The title means “according to the skies,” as in yearning toward the celestial. Though Ince spells out every rhythm specifically, the music feels utterly unmoored from both bar lines and earthly concerns. The music lasts just over 10 minutes, but never mind; Asumani makes time stand still.

• Commission: Hakan Erdogan Productions, 2012.

 

Fortuna Sepio Nos

Or, “Lady Luck, Protect Us.” Ince thought of seamen and the images of Fortuna they brought aboard ships since ancient times. He places this music in the mind of a sailor considering all that might befall him even as he prays to Fortune. He knows her to be capricious. Catastrophic storms, debilitating doldrums and perfect trade winds rise from the page as the clarinet, cello and piano go to extremes of wave and wind to calm seas in about equal measure. Fortuna and the music inspire not only fear, but also awe and reverence.

• Commission: Arkas Trio, 2013

 

Partita in E

Ince strives to mix the spiritual qualities of Bach’s violin music with the rawness of percussion and of Turkish folk and court music. Violinist Eric Segnitz launches this hallucinatory musical journey with three wan, poignant notes. Carl Storniolo punctuates them with low tom-tom strokes from the center of the earth. In the next 19 minutes, they take us through seven sonic regions. Savagery reigns in some of them. Others are sparse and lonely or aboil with wild parties or desperate chases. Yet the music coheres; it grows organically from a handful of modest gestures.

• Commission: Violinist Cihat Askin, 2007.

 

Two Step Passion

This violently syncopated, relentlessly driving Turkish danse macabre begins with an ominous, weighty ostinato in the low strings and piano. An insistent, primal tune barges to the top of the mix. Metallic percussion suggests the clatter and bang of spurs and buckles and then hammering clangs during what might be a wild dash through a medieval iron foundry. This brief, wild ride makes you want to shout Hey! at the end.

• Commission: Spark, 2011.

 

—Tom Strini, October 2015

 

Kamran Ince

 

The music of Turkish/American composer Kamran Ince bridges Anatolia and the Balkans to the West. The energy and rawness of Turkish and Balkan folk music, the spirituality of Byzantium and Ottoman court music, the tradition of European art music and American popular music ground his sound world.

 

Ince was born in Montana in 1960 to American and Turkish parents. He holds a Doctorate from Eastman School of Music. He currently is Professor of Composition at the University of Memphis and at MIAM Center for Advanced Research in Music at the Istanbul Technical University.

 

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and such ensembles as the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Chanticleer Choir and the Los Angeles Piano Quartet have performed his works. Concerts of his music have been heard at the Holland Festival, CBC Encounter Series (Toronto), the Istanbul International Music Festival, Estoril Festival (Lisbon), TurkFest (London), and Cultural Influences in Globalization Festival (Ho Chi Minh City).

 

The Ford Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Koussevitzky Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Reader’s Digest, Pew Charitable Trust and innumerable prestigious funding and performing organizations have commissioned works.

 

Schott Music Corporation is his exclusive publisher. In addition to orchestral, choral and chamber music, Ince’s catalogue includes music for film and ballet. Judgment of Midas, an opera commissioned by Crawford Greenewalt to mark the 50th anniversary of Sardis/Lydia excavations, premiered in April 2013 in Milwaukee, with Present Music and Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Ince conducting (released by Albany Records). His vast recording catalogue includes the Five Naxos CDs devoted to his work.

 

His numerous prizes include the Rome Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lili Boulanger Prize and the Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chamber Music Magazine named his Waves of Talya one of the best chamber works of the 20th century by a living composer.

 

Present Music

Kevin Stalheim, Artistic Director

 

Present Music is one of the nation’s leading ensembles specializing in the commissioning and performance of new music. Founded in 1982 in Milwaukee by Kevin Stalheim, Present Music has worked closely with many of the nation’s most exciting and important composers, and has firmly established one of the largest audiences for new music in the country.

 

Adding to the national catalog of innovative new music, Present Music has commissioned more than fifty major new works in the 25 years. Among the numerous important national grants Present Music has received are awards from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Multi-Arts Production Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Reader’s Digest / Meet the Composer Commissioning Program, and the Aaron Copland Fund for American Music.  Present Music is also the unprecedented, six-time winner of ASCAP/Chamber Music America’s Adventurous Programming Award, including first place for the 2009-2010 season. The ensemble has been broadcast on National Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Radio, and Counterstream Radio, a project of the American Music Center.

 

Present Music can be heard on 10 compact disc recordings that include the composers Kamran Ince, Michael Torke, Jerome Kitzke, Kimmo Hakola, Daniel Lentz, Joseph Koykkar, Randall Woolf, Armando Luna and Elena Kats-Chernin on the Naxos, Argo, Innova, Albany, and Northeastern labels.

 

CREDITS

 

All the music on this recording is published by Schott.

 

This recording was made possible by the generous support of John Shannon and Jan Serr.

 

Additional funding for this recording has been provided by the United Performing Arts Fund, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., ASCAP, BMI Foundation, Inc., the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin, and the National Enowment for the Arts, along with the generosity of foundations, corporations, individuals, and the Present Music Commission Club.

Asumani, Dreamlines, Zamboturfidir and Two-Step Passion

Recorded: August 29, 2014 – Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Brookfield, WI

Recording Engineers: Ric Probst, Matthew Tucker

Producers: Kamran Ince, Kevin Stalheim

Editing: Kamran Ince

Mixing & Mastering: Pieter Snapper

 

Fortuna Sepio Nos

Recorded February 22, 2015 – Helen Bader

Concert Hall, Milwaukee, WI

Recording Engineer: Ric Probst

Producer: Kevin Stalheim

Editing & Mixing: Eric Segnitz

Mastering: Pieter Snapper

 

Partita in E

Recorded: September 15, 2014 – Helen Bader

Concert Hall, Milwaukee, WI

Recording Engineer: Ric Probst

Producer: Kevin Stalheim

Editing: Kamran Ince

Mixing & Mastering: Pieter Snapper

 

Present Music

www.presentmusic.org

newmusic@presentmusic.org

Tel: (414) 271-0711

158 N Broadway

Milwaukee, WI 53202

 

Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation.

Philip Blackburn, director, design;

Chris Campbell, operations director;

Steve McPherson, publicist.