Notes for: July 28, 2009
Born in western Massachusetts in a musical family, Edward Brown received his first piano, horn and trumpet lessons at an early age and started composing at 16. He studied French horn with the legendary John Barrows at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and also presented his own compositions on recitals and radio programs.
At 19 Brown was invited to Lima, Peru, to play as solo horn in the National Symphony and to teach at the Conservatory of Music. As Artistic Director of the Camerata de Lima, he mentored young Peruvian musicians, many of whom have gone on to outstanding international careers. In Lima, he also performed a great variety of Peruvian music, both classical and popular, as well as his own compositions.
In 1984 he moved to Santiago, Chile, where, as solo horn in the Orquesta Filarmonica, he has performed the principal operas and works of the symphonic repertory. Many of his compositions have been performed and recorded in Chile. He was awarded the Charles Ives Commission from the Chilean-American Cultural Institute, and was invited to be a member of the Chilean Association of Composers, a rare honor for a foreigner.
In Chile, his pieces have been played by the Orquesta Filarmonica and the Orquesta Sinfonica as well as the National Youth Orchestra, the Orchestra of the University of Santiago, the Filarmonica Brass, Ensemble XXI, Ensemble Bartok and the Ars Viva Chorus. Outside Chile, his music has been performed by the Mexico City Philharmonic, at the Teatro Colon in Argentina, at the United Nations and Weill Recital Hall in NYC, at Yale University and the Eastman School of Music. His works have also been performed in Uruguay, Venezuela, Brazil and Spain.
In addition to his musical activities, Brown has, throughout his life, produced a large number of paintings, drawings, woodcuts, and collages. He is the brother of Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival music director, Laurie Brown Kennedy.
This evening we hear the world premiere of a new work, Beyond My Mind’s Eye for flute, viola, cello, percussion and wind octet. The work originated as the first of seven “canzonas”, a term used during the 16th century for an instrumental arrangement of a French vocal chanson. Brown’s canzonas also originated as vocal compositions, which he then arranged for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal combinations. Further, they also reflect Brown’s considerable interest in the use of brass and percussion instruments in chamber music, another characteristic of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
Brown has provided the following program note about the work we hear this evening:
“I have written seven canzonas, based on varied texts and themes. The reason for calling them canzonas is that the canzonas of Frescobaldi, Gabrieli and others were also performed by diverse combinations of string and wind instruments. Also, canzona suggests the vocal origin or character that is always present in these pieces. In using my own vocal phrases in later instrumental versions, I was influenced by other composers who have done this successfully, for example, Mahler`s symphonies, Schubert`s chamber music and Haydn´s “Seven Last Words”.
“Beyond My Mind`s Eye is a new version of Canzona I, but it is not a transcription. There is much new material which was not present in the previous incarnations. However, the main themes and ideas are the same.
“Actually this is the fourth version of Canzona I. The first version was scored for full chorus, brass and percussion. The second (recorded on CD) is for a capella chorus. The third is for brass alone. The version to be premiered today is for wind octet (two oboes, two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons) with the optional addition of flute, viola, cello and percussion.
“The texts, sung by the chorus in the first version, are by Nicholas Minski, a 20th century Russian poet, and Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher. These short texts, originally sung alternatively in Spanish and English, translated from Russian and Greek, serve as a starting point for the overall feeling of the music, which is generally mystical and meditative. Minski’s verse: ‘Beyond my mind`s eye, I long for something vague and strange’ is answered from Heraclitus ‘For those who are awake, the Cosmos is one.’
“At one point in the first version, the chorus members create the impression of a furious mob by shouting diverse sayings of Heraclitus. In the instrumental version heard today, the instruments take on the role of the furious mob, and then, gradually, the mystical calm of the beginning returns.”
The three movements, played without pause, are: Entrance, Dance and Chorale.