This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an in-depth analysis of the double bass orchestral excerpts most commonly requested at auditions. Double bassist (and regular Contrabass Conversations guest and co-host) John Grillo discusses each of these excerpts–stylistic considerations, differences in articulation and bow strokes, and suggestions for effectively learning them–and then performs them. I believe that this project will be a highly valuable resource for bassists worldwide, and I’d love your feedback on this project!

Learn more about John at his new blog ClassicalMusicNews.tv, and check out all of his older Contrabass Conversations appearances here.

Excerpts covered:

Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Brahms Symphony No. 1
Brahms Symphony No. 2
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Mozart Symphony No. 35
Mozart Symphony No. 39
Mahler Symphony No. 2
Schubert Symphony No. 9
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Britten Young Person’s Guide
Verdi Otello

CBC #41 Show Notes- Orchestral Excerpt Breakdown with John Grillo
Release Date: 9/30/07
Length: 48:22
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About John Grillo:

John started playing Double Bass at the age of 11. He attended The Julliard School during high school and was a scholarship student at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana where he studied with Lawrence Hurst. After graduating from IU, he attended the Manhattan School of Music completing his Masters Degree with Timothy Cobb.

Mr. Grillo performed at The Tanglewood Music Center from 1994 – 1996. Other festivals include the National Repertory Orchestra, Festival di Due Mondi in Italy, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan. John was a member of the New World Symphony from 1999-2002. His other professional engagements include performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Wheeling Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and the Sarasota Opera. John was a faculty member with The Pittsburgh Music Academy from 2002-2006. Future engagements include the Iris Orchestra, Philadelphia Virtuosi, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Princeton Festival, The Philly Pops and the Princeton Symphony.

Music Provided by:

John Grillo

I was flabbergasted today during a discussion in one of my teacher certification courses when the course instructor suggested…well, actually, the instructor flat out told this class of music education students that it was unwise and unrealistic to expect to be able to both perform and teach at a professional level. This instructor warned the students against pursuing a double major in performance and education, claiming that no one from the institution had ever successfully graduated from the program without dropping one of the two degrees (a fact about which I am extremely skeptical), and that it was impossible to put in the hours of practice required to be a successful music performance student while simultaneously doing school observations, instrumental methods classes, and education courses.

Here were some reasons this individual outlined as to why being a music performance and music education double degree student was unwise. I’ll give my own opinions regarding these statements in a bit, but let’s first take a look at them and chew them over mentally:

1. One cannot practice enough to satisfy the requirements of a music performance curriculum while remaining sufficiently committed to a music education curriculum.
2. Students who choose such a major often view the education degree as a “fallback” degree, which is unfair to their future students and themselves.
3. Professional performance ambitions are a distraction from becoming a good teacher.
4. Good K-12 teachers perform as an avocation, not a vocation - i.e. for relaxation and enjoyment; one should sort out their vocations and avocations.
5. If a student wants to perform, they should be a music performance major.
6. Teaching is a serious profession in its own right, and must be treated as such - people can’t dabble as teachers.
7. Teaching must be a calling, not a fallback.

One quick note before I proceed–I do not believe that the individual making these comments was being mean-spirited, and while I basically disagree with all seven of the above points, I think that considering them is good food for thought.

These statements reveal an attitude and outlook common among teachers:

Teaching is a serious profession, and few are qualified to really do it well.

And that I really do agree with.

______________

OK–now it’s time to dissect this business. I think that the above statements reveal a defensiveness and insecurity common among teachers, and not just music teachers, but teachers ranging from K-12 classroom teachers to golf pros, swimming instructors, personal trainers, instrumental instructors, middle school basketball coaches, and every other job associated with education. You all know this phrase….it produces smirks among regular (non-teacher) folk and raises the hair on the back of every teacher’s neck:

Those who can, do.

Those who can’t, teach.

This old saying, like many that have withstood the test of time, is 95% bunk and 5% truth. Most fields of study and activity do in fact have both a professional and pedagogical career track, although more often than not the two are hopelessly intermingled, with the “professional” frequently engaging in teaching activities and the “teacher” engaging in professional activities. Is a research scientist a professional? Of course. What if they also teach a course? Do they teach others their laboratory tasks and procedures? Professionals? Teachers?

At a high level, professional and teacher become one and the same. If this can happen in the sciences, why should music be any different?

It’s not.

Anyone involved in the world of professional music knows that these lines are blurry and of little consequence. I can count on one hand the number of colleagues I know who don’t teach. Most of my fellow Chicago classical music performers, in addition to teaching private lessons, also perform educational concerts for schools, conduct area youth orchestras, work in the local high schools as sectional and chamber music coaches. Heck, some of use even get stuck conducting the violas during a school-wide drug lock down!

_______________

Here are two somewhat disturbing realizations that I have had as a result of talking to hundreds of music performers and educators. These statements may not be accurate for other communities or other areas of the world, but they are based upon many conversations with performers and educators in all walks of life:

Almost all of my professional performer colleagues also teach.

Almost none of my professional educator colleagues also perform.

Why is this the case? Let’s take a closer look at the seven statements listed above and try to shine a light on this discrepancy:

1. One cannot practice enough to satisfy the requirements of a music performance curriculum while remaining sufficiently committed to a music education curriculum.

Hearing this statement couldn’t help but make me smile as I recalled my own activities during the previous day. This has been a typical day for me for the past eight years–just substitute university teaching (my old jobs at the University of Wisconsin and Trinity International University) for the classes listed below:

Jason’s Schedule for Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I am concurrently in school full-time, teaching 25 students, playing gigs every week, doing weekly podcasts, and writing and operating this blog, as well as editing double bass videos, doing interviews, writing and submitting articles, setting up websites for people, teaching in an elementary school, running orchestra sectionals, and learning three new instruments.

My point (besides whining about my ridiculous life)? Don’t presume to tell me what my limits are or the limits of any other student.

More importantly, don’t discourage musicians from becoming proficient performers! But more on that later.

2. Students who choose such a major often view the education degree as a “fallback” degree, which is unfair to their future students and themselves.

Aside from using the argument articulated in response to the previous statement (namely, keep your business out of my business and let me determine my own limits), this statement reveals an insecurity about being taken seriously as a teacher. Many of the best teachers I know, when asked why they went into teaching, state practical reasons like security, a steady paycheck, and good benefits for doing what they love to do. Such practical reasons alone are likely not enough justification for going into teaching, but they almost certainly enter into most people’s list of factors.

Also, many people, when pressed, are not comfortable expressing all of the reasons that they have chosen to teach. Many of these reasons can be quite personal and emotionally charged, and, like discussing a medical condition or a sensitive event, some people may just not want to get into such reasons with relative strangers. Don’t assume that a statement like “it’s a fallback degree” reveals the whole truth–there may be much more there.

And even if it is just a “fallback”, does that mean that the individual will not place sufficient importance in their training and education, will not be genuine in their relations with students, and will not be a successful educator? Understandably, lots of people choose their professions for practical reasons, and it is unreasonable to expect teachers to operate with purely altruistic motivations. Practical decisions are not necessarily bad decisions, and while teaching is certainly more of a “calling” than, say, investment banking (at least for most people–there are some very passionate investment bankers out there), just because it is not someone’s first career choice does not mean that they cannot be successful educators and make a meaningful impact.

Need an example? Just watch Mr. Holland’s Opus. It’s all about this issue.

Want another example of this circuitous route to a teaching career? Just look at me. I never wanted to teach when I was doing my undergraduate and masters degrees in the 1990’s, and it was only after teaching for a prolonged basis (and not especially liking it at first) that I began to grow into it. Now I love it. Go figure.

Don’t assume that a practical reason is an insincere reason, and don’t assume that initially viewing teaching as a “fallback” will mean that this attitude persists.

3. Professional performance ambitions are a distraction from becoming a good teacher.

This statement really gets my goat, because it represents a completely backwards set of priorities in a future music educator. There is a perception among music performance majors that music education majors are infantile performers, with abilities only slightly greater than the high school students that they may soon be teaching. This perception exists because, all too frequently, it’s true, and it’s true because of this “you’re a teacher, you’re a performer” split that statements like the above encourage.

I can’t count how many times I heard a poor performance in studio class which was shrugged off with a statement like, “it’s OK, they’re a music education major, after all”. Conversely, I have frequently witnessed surprise and astonishment among music performance students when they find out that the really excellent player they just heard was an……education major!

What’s the typical performer statement when they discover a highly instrumentally proficient music education major?

“How come you’re not a performance major?”

The typical response?

“Well, this education degree is just a fallback…..”

Defensive posturing or genuine disinterest in their education program? You know what I think.

Here’s a scary fact:

I am playing in the university symphony orchestra at which I am doing this teacher certificate program. There are two orchestras–this is the top orchestra, and I’m playing principal bass.

I am the only music education student in the entire symphony orchestra.

I repeat–I am the only music education student in the entire symphony orchestra.

4. Good K-12 teachers perform as an avocation, not a vocation - i.e. for relaxation and enjoyment; one should sort out their vocations and avocations.

Good musicianship is a skill (like pitching), not an attribute (like having brown hair), and, like sports, it must constantly be practiced or it will atrophy. For most musicians, the conduit through which they explore and develop their musicianship is an instrument. Those who continue to work at their craft and strive to achieve the highest levels of proficiency (not just “pretty good for an education major” proficiency) have more doors open to them, resulting in more and higher quality experiences and, therefore, more to teach.

It can be hard to keep up performance chops as an orchestra director, band director, or other full-time educator, and for many people allowing those performance skills to recede into the background does not detract from their musicianship. For them, the act of conducting replaces the act of performing in their musical development.

But the good conductors almost without exception previously attained a high level of proficiency on a specific instrument, then moved behind the podium into an educational/directorial role. They didn’t just magically become a good conductor without paying their dues.

How can a music education student reasonably expect to attain a high level of musical proficiency without paying their performance dues in some way, shape, or form as well?

Like it or not, there is an attitudinal and experiential difference between musicians who have played professionally, whether in a jazz, classical, rock, or other setting, and those who have just “played for fun”.

And students can smell it. They know if you’re the real deal or not. And they are more likely to respond to you if you can back it up with life experience.

Working hard instrumentally –> more doors open –> higher quality experiences –> more to teach

5. If a student wants to perform, they should be a music performance major.

Yo-Yo Ma was a history major. Enough said. If you’d like to delve deeper into my thoughts on music performance degrees, just read Road Warrior Without an Expense Account Part IX - Rethinking Music Performance Degrees.

6. Teaching is a serious profession in its own right, and must be treated as such.

This statement is reflective of the insecurity many teachers feel which we earlier discussed–the “those who can, do…those who can’t, teach syndrome. I agree with #6. It is serious. Teaching, to me, is a much more “serious” profession than performing.

The complicating factor with teaching music is how our own performing experiences inform and direct our teaching, and how a wealth of foundational and significant (and I don’t consider playing in your high school band foundational and significant–maybe that makes me a snob, but that’s how I see it) performing experiences makes for a more interesting, deeper, and perhaps better respected and more motivating teacher.

Does this mean that you have to play with the Chicago Symphony? No, although it would be a great experience for you as a future teacher. If you’re planning on teaching instrumental or choral music, practice, take lessons, go to festivals, take auditions, and do something on your instrument. In the long run, you’ll be happy you did.

7. Teaching must be a calling, not a fallback.

My observations have shown that people usually figure out whether or not they have the “teaching bug”. Some do, some don’t–it’s fine either way. If, after teaching some lessons or working on education degree, you feel like you aren’t into it, don’t like working with students, are impatient, or daydream through each pedagogical encounter, get out of teaching! Although I basically disagree with all of the above seven statements, I somewhat agree with the sentiment of the statements. Teaching is serious business, and a lackluster teacher will do infinitely more damage (or, at the very least, fail to do good) to young minds, to the next generation of citizens and musicians. Now this is serious business. If you don’t like it, get out! Trust me, there are much easier ways to make a living.

For those of you who are in it for the long haul and committed to improving your craft, don’t let misguided statements like the seven articulated above muddy the waters for you. There are misperceptions and suspicions on both sides of the teacher/performer divide.

__________

For more on this topic, please check out my post Advice for Aspiring Music Performance Majors.

Phillip W. Serna Doctoral Recital from 2002 at Northwestern University

Angel of Dusk, Concerto for Double Bass (1980/1993) by Einojuhani Rautavaara (b.1928)
For Double Bass, Two Pianos and Percussion

His First Appearance
His Monologue
His Last Appearance

Dr. Phillip W. Serna, Double Bass
Joseph Francavilla, Piano
J. David Štech, Piano
Robert Dillon, Percussion

For more information, visit Dr. Phillip W. Serna at http://www.phillipwserna.com/.

Part I - Movement I - His First Appearance

PLEASE NOTE - The original video was nonexistant for the first minute of the three movement work. It has to be resynchronized to the audio from a CD recording in 2002. Please forgive a few minutes where there is only a black screen. This problem could not be avoided.

Part II - Movement II - His Monlogue

Part III - Movement III - His First Appearance

Program Notes from Doctoral Recital from 2002 at Northwestern University:

“It is my belief that music is great if, at some moment, the listener catches a glimpse of eternity through the window of time,’ if the experience is one which Arthur Koestler might call ‘the oceanic feeling.’ This, to my mind, is the only true justification for all art. All else is of secondary importance.”

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Born in Helsinki, Finland, Einojuhani Rautavaara has most recently gained popularity in the United States in the last decade, particularly with the Symphony No. 7, Angel of Light. He studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki from 1948 to 1952, and began studies in 1955 at the Juilliard School in New York with Vincent Persichetti. He also worked at Tanglewood with Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions. Rautavaara has composed seven operas, eight symphonies, seven concerti for various instruments, including three piano concerti, and numerous chamber and vocal works.

According to the composer, ‘the fantasy world of this series has often been misunderstood. These angels do not stem from any children’s tale; they are an archetype, one of mankind’s oldest traditions and perennial companions. As C.G. Jung says, “Nobody can stand the total loss of the archetype.” It must follow us and we must follow it, even today, if we wish to control our lives and understand the world.’ The imagery that Rautavaara employs in relating his thoughts on angels harks back to his childhood as he notes that “again and again in my dreams, an enormous, grey, powerful, silent creature would approach me and clasp me in its arms so I feared its mighty presence would suffocate me. I struggled for dear life…until I awoke. The figure came back night after night, and I spent the days fearing its return. Finally, after dozens of these battles, I learned to surrender, to become part of it, and after a while, the nocturnal visits ended.” Later in his writings on the subject he made connections to the poetry of William Blake and Rainer Maria Rilke’s images of angels: “…ein jeder Engel ist schrecklich…” (‘…every angel is terrible…”). The impetus, as the composer notes, for the 1st of his ‘Angels’ works was in Rilke’s verses ‘…es nähme einer mich plötzlich ans Herz: ich verginge von seinem stärkeren Dasein” (”…should one suddenly press me to his heart: I would perish by his more powerful presence…”) Such is the dark imagery associated to these series of works on the subject. The Angel of Dusk, Concerto for Double Bass (1980/1993) is the 2nd piece in Rautavaara’s ‘Angel Series’ beginning with his Angels and Visitations (1978), Playgrounds for Angels (1981), and his Angel of Light, Symphony #7 (1994). The following are the composer’s own notes on the Angel of Dusk, Concerto for Double Bass, Two Pianos and Percussion:

This concerto was initially requested by Olga Koussevitzky, who had been my patron while I was a student, when I met her in New York in 1977, two decades after my study in New York.. While Returning to Helsinki I was reflecting over this new challenge when, looking out of the window of the plane, I saw a strikingly shaped cloud, grey but pierced with colour, rising above the Atlantic horizon. Suddenly the words ‘Angel of Dusk’ came to mind. These words remained with me and returned to me, like a mantra, when I heard of the news of Olga Kousevitzky’s death the following year and the project had to be postponed. A couple of years later the idea of such a concerto resurfaced when the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation commissioned the work. The help of double bass virtuoso Olli Kosonen was quite indispensable during my work on the piece and, by borrowing a double bass and experimenting at home, I also worked out new types of playing technique for this unusual but captivating solo instrument. In the first movement the double bass’s songful cantilena is interrupted time after time by dissonant outbursts from the orchestra. These grow and compel the solo instrument to participate in a dialogue which eventually displaces the original theme. This sort of so-called ‘disturbance technique’ occurs frequently in my works from the 1970’s. The second movement is a solo cadenza, in which the fantastic tonal colours and techniques only provoke passing comments from the orchestra. The final movement begins with a gradually rising, peaceful swaying theme. This gives way to rapid figurations from the double bass, frames by strokes from the orchestra, until eventually the soloist and orchestra join together in a final catharsis.

Angel of Dusk, concerto for double bass, two pianos, and percussion instruments (1993) is an independent version of the concerto for double bass and orchestra (1980), intended for performance in its own right.

For more information, visit Dr. Phillip W. Serna at http://www.phillipwserna.com/.

I have been a bit concerned by the throwaway usage of the term ‘bass viol’ recently mostly in regards to John Harbison’s Concerto for Bass Viol. I am actually pleased that by the use of the term, double bassists are recognizing the connection between the double bass and the viol (or viola da gamba) family. I would however like to offer a few thoughts on this euphamistic colloqiualism. The term bass viol often refers to the 8′ bass instrument in the viol family. Now there are two sizes larger that travers the 8′ and 16′ ranges. If you are confused by the term ‘8 foot’ range - these are universal descriptions given to range as they apply to the length of organ pipes in regard to register. With this in mind, the double bass or string bass (referred to as Kontrabass, Contrebasse, Contrabasso, Contrabajo in numerous European languages) is a contrabass instrument - meaning it exists an octave lower than the actual bass register. This would then be better to refer to our favorite instrument as a ‘contrabass viol.’ This is not just an issue of symantics, but of proper labelling.

The ranges for instruments in the viol family are as follows:

Pardessus de Viole (specialized solo literature: g”, d”, a’,e,c, (g))
Treble viol (d”,a’,e’,c’,g,d)
Alto viol (historically very rarely used: c”,g’,d’,b-flat,f,c)
Tenor viol (g’,d’,a,f,c,G)
Consort Bass viol (d’.a,e,c,G,D)
Lyra viol - smaller than consort bass viol (more than 50 different tunings
in solo & consort literature)
Division viol (d’.a,e,c,G,D)
G-Violone/ Great bass viola da gamba (g,d,A,F,C,GG)
D-Violone/ Double bass viola da gamba (d,a,e,C,GG,DD)

Much of the seventeenth century (especially English) solo literature is for two styles of performance, the division style (a highly ornamented and improvisational style) and the
lyra-way. The majority of the literature for this lyra-viol was printed or
written in what is referred to as French lute tablature notation:

This would incorporate six lines, representing the strings on a lute or viol, with rhythm placed above the score. This system used letters to represent the location of which fret to play. An a represented an open string, b the first fret, c the second, d the third, e the fourth, f the fifth, and so on.

The two types of literature cultivated for the viol in Europe during the instrument’s history were solo literature and consort, or chamber music literature. Chamber music composers for viol include William Byrd (1542-1623), Alfonso Ferrabosco II (1543-1574), John Coprario (c1570-1626), Thomas Lupo (1571-1627), John Ward (1571-1638), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), John Jenkins (1592-1678), William Lawes (1602-1645) and Henry Purcell (1659-1695). Composers of solo literature for viol include Tobias Hume (c1569-1645), Christopher Simpson (c1605-1669), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), Johann Schenck (1660 - c1712), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Jean de Sainte-Colombe (d. 1691-1701), Marin Marais (1656-1728), Georg Philipp Telemann, (1681-1767), C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) and Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787).

For more information on the viola da gamba family, please visit http://www.vdgsa.org/.

Example of Chamber Music for Viols from Doctoral Recital from 2002 at Northwestern University

Selections from the Complete Viol Consort Music by Christopher Tye
(b. c1505; d before 15 March 1573)

In nomine VII: Follow Me
In nomine III: Rachell’s Weepinge
In nomine XX: Crye

Mary Springfels, Treble Viol
Lynn Donaldson, Treble Viol
Russell Wagner, Tenor Viol
Dr. Phillip W. Serna, Bass Viol
Anne Lazarides, Bass Viol

Program Notes from Doctoral Recital from 2002 at Northwestern University:

Dr. Tye was a peevish and humoursome man, especially in his latter dayes, and sometimes playing on ye organ in ye chap.[el] of qu. Elizab. wh.[ich] contained much musick but little delight to the ear, she would send ye verger to tell him yt he play’d out of tune: whereupon he sent word yt her eares were out of Tune.

Although Chistopher Tye’s origins are ambiguous at best, it has been established that Christopher Tye spent the majority of his professional life in Cambridge, Ely, and the surrounding parishes. It has been postulated that Tye may have originated in England’s eastern counties, where his family name was common. Documentation shows that Tye took a Bacchaleareate of Music at Cambridge, later becoming a lay clerk at King’s College in 1537. Although correlation of any musical activity prior to his Baccaleareate and Doctorate at Cambridge exists, the Grace for his degree suggests a ten year study of the art of music with studies in composition and teaching boys.

Christopher Tye was a contemporary of Thomas Tallis (1505 - 1585), and contributed to the English compositional assimilation of newer continental structural principles during the first half of the sixteenth century, representing synthesis of English florid style and the continental techniques of structural imitation and syllabic text setting in the surviving examples of his sacred choral music. Tye is most renown as a composer of instrumental ensemble music for viol consort. He left thirty-one such compositions including twenty-one polyphonic settings of the “In Nomine” type. In nomines were 16th and 17th century compositions that use the Sarum antiphon Gloria tibi Trinitas as their cantus firmus (listen for the cantus part below the treble line). The In Nomine was the most signifigant single formal structure in the early development of consort music, with over 150 examples surviving by some 58 English composers from John Taverner (c. 1490-1545) to Henry Purcell (1659-1695).

For more information, visit Dr. Phillip W. Serna at http://www.phillipwserna.com/ & http://www.spiritofgambo.org/.

For more information on the viola da gamba family, please visit http://www.vdgsa.org/.

Phillip W. Serna Doctoral Recital from 2002 at Northwestern University

Quest (1990, revised 1994) by George Crumb (b.1929)
For Guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and two percussionists

Refrain I
I. Dark Paths
II. Fugitive Sounds
Refrain 2
III. Forgotten Dirges
IV. Fugitive Sounds
Refrain 3
V. Nocturnal

Dr. Phillip W. Serna, Double Bass
Jeff Lambert, Guitar
Jessica Schaeffer, Harp
Joshua Aldorisio, Percussion
Mathew Coley, Percussion and Appalachian Hammered Dulcimer
Lars Mlekusch, Saxophone and Chromatic Harmonica
Robert Taylor, Conductor

For more information, visit Dr. Phillip W. Serna at http://www.phillipwserna.com/.

Part I - Refrain I

Part II - I - Dark Paths

Part III - II - Fugitive Sounds

Part IV - Refrain 2

Part V - III - Forgotten Dirges

Part VI - IV - Fugitive Sounds

Part VII - Refrain 3 - V - Nocturnal

Program Notes from Doctoral Recital from 2002 at Northwestern University:

Quest was composed at the request of the guitarist David Starobin and was commissioned by Albert Augustine, Ltd. The final revised version of the work was completed in February, 1994 and is dedicated to David and Speculum Musicae.
Over the years David had played virtually all the various parts I had composed for plucked instruments — mandolin (in Ancient Voices of Children), electric guitar (in Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death), sitar (in Lux Aeterna) and banjo (in Night of the Four Moons). In requesting this new piece David specified only that I write for acoustic guitar and that the guitar part be treated soloistically.

I initially toyed with the idea of a piece for guitar alone, but feelings of insecurity in regard to guitar technique and idiom led me quickly to the conception of an ensemble work. Within the chosen sextet of players the guitar remains the principal protagonist, but other instruments (especially the soprano saxophone) can also take over the principal “voice”. The inclusion of a wide variety of percussion instruments gave me an exceptionally colorful palette of timbral and sonoric possibilities. I would specifically cite rather unusual instruments such as the Appalachian hammered dulcimer, the African talking drum, and the Mexican rain stick.
The poetic basis for Quest was never very clearly articulated in my thinking. I recall pondering images such as the famous incipit of Dante’s Inferno (”In the midway of this our mortal life, I found me in a gloomy mood, astray …”) and a line from Lorca (”The dark paths of the guitar”); also the concept of a “quest” as a long tortuous journey towards an ecstatic and transfigured feeling of “arrival” became associated with certain musical ideas during the sketching process. But although the movement titles are poetic and symbolic, there is no precise programmatic meaning implied. There is one use of musical quotation in the work: phrases from the famous hymn tune Amazing Grace are played by the soprano saxophone — initially, at the conclusion of Dark Paths (over a delicate web of percussion sonority), and finally, in Nocturnal (over a sequentially slowing ostinato of bare fifths in the harp and contrabass). On the very last page of the score a distant echo of the tune is intoned by a harmonica, or, as in this recording, a concertina.

The composition of Quest turned out to be much more of an arduous “quest” than I could ever have imagined! An incomplete version was first performed in Amsterdam as early as 1989 (as a work-in-progress). But only after several more years of constant revision did the work reach its present form.

George Crumb

For more information, visit Dr. Phillip W. Serna at http://www.phillipwserna.com/.