Watch

 Bald Mountain Breakdown (2013), 5 min.

Tyler Capp (b. 1983)

Zsolt Eder, violin, Sascha Groschang, cello, Charles Dickinson, piano

On Isolation or an affirmation in solidarity, assata shakur (2019), 4 min.

Derek Douglas Carter (b. 1994)
Text by Assata Shakur (b. 1947)

Sharra Wagner, clarinet, Zsolt Eder, violin,  Sascha Groschang, cello, Charles Dickinson, piano

limestone & felt (2012), 6 min.

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)

Boris Vayner, viola and Sascha Groschang, cello

Cineshape 3 (2008), 7 min.

Amy Williams (b. 1969)

Christina Webster, flute, Sascha Groschang, cello, Kevin Clarke, percussion

The Companion Guide to Rome (2006), 30 min.

Andrew Norman (b. 1979)

I. Teresa

II. Benedetto

III. Susanna

IV. Pietro 

V. Ivo 

VI. Clemente

VII. Lorenzo

VIII. Cecilia

IX. Sabina
Zsolt Eder, violin, Boris Vayner, viola, Sascha Groschang, cello

About the Works

Bald Mountain Breakdown, Tyler Capp

This work was composed for CULTIVATE 2013, Copland House’s emerging composers’ institute, and was premiered by the Music from Copland House ensemble at the Merestead estate in Mount Kisco, NY on June 9, 2013.

From the composer: Bald Mountain Breakdown was conceived in the days and weeks following the death of Earl Scruggs, a banjo innovator who pioneered the intricate three-finger picking style which has characterized bluegrass music for nearly 70 years. Anyone who knows me, even casually, probably knows that I play the 5-string banjo and am deeply indebted to American folk music traditions, particularly bluegrass, in my approach to composition. After Scruggs’ death I found myself playing every day; spending lots of time with his massive catalog of tunes and thinking about all the things I value about his music. Eventually these thoughts coalesced into an idea for an homage of sorts: a brief, exhilarating piece paying tribute to Scruggs’ influence by exploring how elements of his playing manifest themselves in my music. As the title suggests, the work takes as its point of departure “breakdowns,” traditionally instrumental songs in which multiple players take solo breaks on the same basic tune. While my piece shares the driving, rhythmic exuberance of many Scruggs breakdowns, elements of his style are used solely to generate compositional ideas without relying on direct quotation (saving me a ton of money on royalties in the process). Still, bluegrass-savvy listeners will hopefully be able to discern the chromatic kickoffs, rolling arpeggios, relentless syncopations, slides, pull-offs, hammer-ons, harmonic chimes, on-the-fly tunings, up-the-neck solos, and stop-times permeating the musical fabric of my breakdown. This is for Uncle Earl.

On Isolation or an affirmation in solidarity, assata shakur, Derek Douglas Carter

From the composer:

“Reward: The FBI is offering a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information directly leading to the apprehension of Joanne Chesimard. 

Remarks: Chesimard may wear her hair in a variety of styles and dress in African tribal clothing. 

Caution: Joanne Chesimard is wanted for escaping prison in Clinton, New Jersey, while serving a life sentence for murder. On May 2, 1973, Chesimard, who was part of a revolutionary extremist organization known as the Black Liberation Army, and two accomplices were stopped for a motor vehicle violation on the New Jersey Turnpike by two troopers with the New Jersey State Police. At the time, Chesimard was wanted for her involvement in several felonies, including bank robbery. Chesimard and her accomplices opened fire on the troopers. One trooper was wounded and the other was shot and killed execution-style at point-blank range. Chesimard fled the scene, but was subsequently apprehended. One of her accomplices was killed in the shoot-out and the other was also apprehended and remains in jail. 

In 1977, Chesimard was found guilty of first degree murder, assault and battery of a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to kill, illegal possession of a weapon, and armed robbery. She was sentenced to life in prison. On November 2, 1979, Chesimard escaped from prison and lived underground before being located in Cuba in 1984. She is thought to currently still be living in Cuba. SHOULD BE CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS” 

— https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists 

The composer would like to note that Assata Shakur was acquitted on the charges of armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping. During her trial for first degree murder, a neurologist, neurosurgeon, and pathologist testified that she was shot in the back, with her arms raised above her head. The bullet damaged her median nerve, making her unable to pull a trigger. There was no gunpowder residue found on her fingers, nor were her fingerprints found on any weapon at the crime scene. While awaiting trial, she was kept in solitary confinement for 21 months.

limestone & felt, Caroline Shaw

Written for cellist Hannah Collins and violist Hannah Shaw; premiered in Holland in 2012.

Caroline Shaw is a New York-based musician - vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer - who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for Partita for 8 Voices, written for the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, of which she is a member. Once she got to sing in three part harmony with Sara Bareilles and Ben Folds at the Kennedy Center, and that was pretty much the bees’ knees and elbows. Caroline has studied at Rice, Yale, and Princeton, currently teaches at NYU, and is a Creative Associate at the Juilliard School. Caroline loves the color yellow, otters, Beethoven opus 74, Mozart opera, Kinhaven, the smell of rosemary, and the sound of a janky mandolin.

Cineshape 3, Amy Williams

From the composer: The five works in the Cineshape series, each with a different instrumental combination of one to seven players, are based on a close and selective reading of an existing film. The compositional process involved identifying elements that are not exclusive to the films, such as motifs, atmospheric qualities and abstract structural models. In an attempt to create something original out of an existing artwork, without appropriation, quotation, or much narrative reference, unique relationships have been developed between those technical and formalistic elements that are shared between films and music. The complete Cineshape series is intended to be performed with live music and a new visual component developed through a close collaboration with artist Aaron Henderson. 

Cineshape 3 (2008) is based on The Lives of Others by German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Perhaps more programmatic than other pieces in the series, the translation of the three main characters of the film into three instruments is evident. The piece is concerned, just as the film is, with the manipulation and transformation of established identities. The soloistic cello at the beginning is subtly enhanced by the percussion/piano and flute. The flute becomes more interfering, affecting the cello’s thematic materials. The percussion conforms to and supports the other two, but is eventually assertive and independent.  

The Companion Guide to Rome, Andrew Norman

From the composer: During my year as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome I made it my goal to visit every church in the city. Though I did not come even close to achieving this goal, I did discover many unique spaces that I came to know well over the course of the year. This piece is a series of portraits of some of my favorite Roman churches. The music is, at different times and in different ways, informed by the proportions of the buildings, the qualities of their surfaces, the patterns in their floors, the artwork on their walls, and the lives and legends of the saints whose names they bear. The more I worked on these miniatures, the less they had to do with actual buildings and the more they became character studies of imaginary people, my companions for my year abroad.