video interview with Steven Stucky

Steven Stucky discusses his new work, "Aus der Jugendzeit," for bass-baritone Eric Owens and Dolce Suono Ensemble. Fascinating reflections on Mahler and Schoenberg!



Mahler in His Own Words

Hello friends,
We'd like to share the letter by Gustav Mahler to his concert manager Emil Gutmann, which composer Steven Mackey set in his song for bass-baritone Eric Owens and Dolce Suono Ensemble. Mahler was a prolific and expressive writer of letters, and this one shows perhaps a less-known side of the great composer. Here is the letter in the original German, followed by the English translation made by German scholar Giles R. Hoyt, Ph.D., which Steven Mackey set in his work.

Gustav Mahler Briefe, 1879-1911, edited by Alma Maria Mahler
(Berlin: P. Zsolnay, 1924)

___________________________________________________
Dear Gutmann!
My amazement is considerable. The whole time I have been saying, I cannot do without the third rehearsal day! Now you come in order to remove this impediment—Schalk and I talk ourselves hoarse in order to explain to everyone why that must be. You arrange everything; we discuss the unavoidable necessary rehearsal plan. You send out from Munich the final list. You now indicate to me that the Singing Society is so “enthused”, that therefore the third day for rehearsal is not necessary, and that instead of this day we have enthusiasm at our disposal. Probably you want to insert a fourth rehearsal between the present three rehearsals (which will last in total about fifteen hours—and thus I have insisted on an hour pause in each rehearsal). Indeed you even want to make possible an additional rehearsal on the day of performance. You are assuming a Singing Society’s enthusiasm for art makes the dead come to life, because after these two days the people would be dead. Please, once and for all! I have the three days in question completely booked with no alteration possible, the minimum, by the way, of what is necessary. Either our agreement stays intact in all its parts, or you may take this as my irrevocable resignation. There is to be no further discussion of this in the future.

With sincerest warm regards,

Mahler

Translation by Giles R. Hoyt, Ph.D.

Composer Fang Man discusses her commissioned work "Song of Sorrow"

Check out composer Fang Man's talk about the piece we commissioned her to write for our "Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60" project. Mandy selected one of the poems Gustav Mahler set in "Das Lied von der Erde" and set it in the original Chinese for Eric Owens, bass-baritone, and Dolce Suono Ensemble. We're excited to give the world premiere performances on May 11 & 15!

Interview with David Ludwig

Hi all,
See our new interview with composer David Ludwig about his commissioned piece, "Ewigkeit," to be given its world premiere as part of Dolce Suono Ensemble's "Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60" project in May 2011.

We're very excited about this project!

Cheers,
Mimi

Conversation with Steven Mackey

Check out our interview with composer Steven Mackey about his commissioned work for our "Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60 Project," to receive it world premiere performances on May 11 & 15, 2011. Steve's work is a song entitled "Herr Gutmann," a setting of a letter from Gustav Mahler to his concert manager Emil Gutmann. It's scored for bass-baritone, to be sung by Eric Owens, and Pierrot ensemble of flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion.

Sneak score peek!

Hello friends,

We're busy rehearsing the new works we'll be premiering at our "Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60 Project" concerts on May 11 & 15. The pieces by Steven Mackey, Steven Stucky, Fang Man, David Ludwig, and Stratis Minakakis are terrific! It's quite a thrill when you hear a commissioned piece for the first time.

Here's a sneak peek at the first page of the score of Steven Stucky's "Aus der Jugendzeit," his setting of a poem by Friedrich Rückert.



We'll post a rehearsal video clip with bass-baritone Eric Owens and the ensemble later on.

Cheers,

Mimi

Hunt for the Harmonium

We're looking for a harmonium to use in our "Mahler 100 / Schoenberg 60 Project" for Schoenberg's ensemble version of Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" ("Songs of a Wayfarer"). This keyboard instrument is a reed organ with a sound similar to an accordion. While rarely heard today, it was in vogue in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the composers who wrote for harmonium are Rossini, Franck, Dvorak, Guilmant, and Vierne. Mahler included harmonium in his Symphony #8, and Schoenberg used the instrument in his arrangements of works by Mahler and Bruckner, to fill out some of the textures missing in the reduced instrumentation.

In our performances of Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" on May 11 & 15, bass-baritone Eric Owens will sing with our Dolce Suono Ensemble. Jeremy Gill will be playing harmonium, so he and I have been testing out instruments that are sometimes used to replicate the sound of a harmonium. We're also tracking down the real thing. Then the trick will be moving it around to our rehearsal and concert locations!

I thought I'd share some of the instruments we've been trying. Here is Jeremy with the portative organ that lives in the basement of the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. This instrument works well for Baroque music but its range is just shy of what we need for the Mahler/Schoenberg.



Here we are at Cunningham Piano Company, where associates Milo and Tim showed us many instruments. This digital keyboard has accordion stops that sound a lot like a harmonium. This one's on the short list!

Until next time,

Mimi Stillman