Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Decoda

Performing New Works by:

• Leila Adu-Gilmore

• Gilad Cohen

• Elliot Cole

• Cenk Ergun

• David Molk

Performed by:

• Decoda

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Start time: 8:00 pm

____

PSK presents Decoda performing new works by Princeton composers Leila Adu-Gilmore, Gilad Cohen, Elliot Cole, Cenk Ergun, and David Molk on Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 at 8:00pm.

Dan Trueman, Director

Michael Pratt, Resident Conductor

Stream this concert live
on Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 at 8:00pm EDT, GMT - 4:00

PROGRAM

GILAD COHEN
Noonieland

ERGÜN
Obbligati

ELLIOT COLE
Three Wells

—INTERMISSION—

EDWARD T. CONE
Duo for Violin and ’Cello

LEILA ADU-GILMORE
Freedom Suite

DAVE MOLK
you can headbang, if you want

GILAD COHEN
Noonieland

Miranda Cuckson, violin
Decoda Ensemble

A kid is going through a literal and metaphorical journey in the Land of Noonie, during which she encounters a series of adventures, before facing the NoonieMaster for a final showdown. The piece is dedicated to my wife Erin, who has been introducing me to numerous Noonie Tunes over the last two years (especially in the mornings, preferably before I’m having my morning Chaga tea). I am grateful that instead of celebrating her birthday today out and about, she is yet again here at Taplin for some good ol’ 21st-century music. If you want to hear more of my music, please come to the Princeton Sound Kitchen concert next week (Tuesday, May 20) and check out new musical theatre songs I wrote with my collaborator Caleb Damschroder as part of the Advanced Class at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

CENK ERGÜN
Obbligati

What were we
We were where
Where we were

Decoda Ensemble

Appearing, disappearing, reappearing.

ELLIOT COLE
Three Wells

Well of Wishes
Well of Wheels
Well of Whales

Charlotte Mundy, soprano
Decoda Ensemble

i. Well of Wishes

ii. Well of Wheels

And all the while she stood vpon the ground,
The wakefull dogs did neuer cease to bay,
As giuing warning of th’vnwonted sound,
With which her yron wheeles did them affray,
And her darke griesly looke them much dismay;
The messenger of death, the ghastly Owle
With drearie shriekes did also her bewray;
And hungry Wolues continually did howle,
At her abhorred face, so filthy and so fowle.
– Edmund Spenser, from The Faerie Queene

iii. Well of Whales

o shard of bread
o rind of glass
o cup of rust
o bloom of brass

o well of whales
o open dome
o bed of scales
o bell of stones

EDWARD T. CONE
Duo for Violin and ’Cello

Anna Elashvili, violin
Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello

Edward T. Cone’s notes from the 1997 recording of Duo for Violin and ’Cello on Composers Recordings, Incorporated:

Writing music gives me special satisfaction when I have been asked to produce a composition for a performer or group. (I don’t say commissioned, because that implies a fee—which, I fear, is very rarely involved.) Most of the works on this disc owe their inceptions to such requests. Unfortunately, the expected performance doesn’t always take place. The Duo for Violin and ’Cello is a case in point. The idea was suggested to me by Felix Greissle back in 1963, when he was directing a radio program devoted to new music. Speaking frankly, he told me that he would like to do a chamber work of mine, but that for financial reasons I should keep the instrumentation to a minimum. So I produced the Duo—and his program promptly disappeared from the air. (That was not, I trust, an example of post hoc, propter hoc). Consequently the Duo was not played until 1966, at the American Academy in Rome.

It is in one roughly quadripartite movement, a free rhapsody based melodically and harmonically on a collection of related three-note cells. Each of these consists of two intervals differing by a half-tone, a perfect fourth plus a tritone, or a minor plus a major second. Both of those cells, in fact, can be heard in the opening octave statement, which acts as a kind of recurring motto. In the opening section, contrapuntal treatments of the motto sandwich a central passage featuring a quasi-improvisatory melody for each instrument in turn, punctuated by its partner’s pizzicato interjections. After a brief pause the second section attempts to be Tranquillo but is persistently interrupted by a Doppio movimento. That tempo takes over to produce an energetic duet in which a martellato theme (based on the “Fifth Symphony” rhythm) assumes control, leading to a big climax. The movement gradually subsides, and a transition leads to the third main section, a ruminative Adagio. It is followed by what might be termed a double interlude: first a dreamy Moderato that attempts twice to come to rest, once on a D-major and once on a C-major triad; then a tentative return to the motto, which gradually becomes more agitated until it opens into the finale, Allegro molto. When its dancing is ultimately broken by march-like presentation of the motto, the end is near. One last lyrical reminiscence is answered by a brief return to the Allegro to effect a decisive conclusion. (Incidentally, but probably not coincidentally, the final E flat completes a three-note cell initiated by the two previous cadences on D and C).

LEILA ADU-GILMORE
Freedom Suite

Different States
Ghost Lullaby
Negative Space

Lelia Adu-Gilmore, soprano
Decoda Ensemble

For over half of my life, I have written, performed and recorded songs and improvisations for piano and voice. At times the accompaniment is very simple. In Freedom Suite, I have arranged three songs in different ways, with a goal of capturing their initial simplicity in different ways for each song.

These three songs are on themes of America: The first, Different States, I wrote when I first visited the US for first time in 2007: it is my initial impression, told through a voice of “other”; a man, perhaps an African American or an immigrant from Latin America, who has lived, worked and gone to war for this country. The second, Ghost Lullaby, is a song I wrote when I came to the town of Princeton and realized that only a couple of people mentioned Native Americans and that no one spoke of the tribe of people who inhabited the actual space that we lived on while I was there. The third, Negative Space, is a song that I wrote upon hearing of the murder of Trayvon Martin and speaks to the vacuum created for many black people through continued effects of colonialism, slavery, prison and the justice system.

With the skills that I have been expanding through writing more instrumental music recently, I have found the attempt to capture this music a totally new and different challenge, especially to maintain the simplicity of the songs for such a large ensemble, and I am interested to see which techniques work the best. This project is especially helpful for the orchestral song cycle that I am to write next for Orchestra Wellington’s emerging-composer-in-residence (New Zealand). Thanks to Decoda for being kind enough to let me to sing along with them tonight.

DAVE MOLK
you can headbang, if you want

Decoda Ensemble

Not my best title, but feel free to headbang to the loud bits. I had to take a break in the middle of this piece to write my Pink Floyd medley and while I don’t deliberately quote any of the Floyd, influences from them and from co-organizing a conference at the same time are no doubt present. Catherine, Henry, Gilad, Erin, and Carolina, you are all best suited to pick out these moments. Thanks again for the substantial help.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Decoda is a chamber ensemble comprised of virtuoso musicians, entrepreneurs, and passionate advocates of the arts. Based in New York City, Decoda creates residencies, innovative performances, and engaging projects with partners around the world. The artists of Decoda have a background of shared training and experience as fellows in the two-year program known as Ensemble ACJW—The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. Since its inception in 2011, Decoda’s residencies have reached audiences in schools, hospitals, and prisons, as well as in renowned concert halls across the globe. Recent travels have taken Decoda to Abu Dhabi, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. In the 2013–14 season, Decoda will present residencies in the United Kingdom and Denmark, along with return engagements in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Decoda is the resident ensemble at Greenwich House Music School in NYC’s historic West Village, and its first season included engagements at the Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), Bay Chamber Concerts (Maine), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), Chelsea Music Festival (NYC), Carnegie Kids @ Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival (UAE), Við Djúpið Festival (Iceland), Programa de Educación Musical Fomento Cultural Banamex & Carnegie Hall (Mexico), and the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase. Since 2011, Decoda has participated in Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program, undertaking creative projects at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Beth Abraham Hospital and Valley Lodge Shelter. Decoda’s NYC offerings this season include a four-concert series at Trinity Wall Street, the Bulgarian Concert Evenings, the Kosciuszko Foundation, Lyrica Chamber Music Series, DROM, and a debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to return engagements in Abu Dhabi and Mexico, new international partnerships bring Decoda to Copenhagen to collaborate with the Danish String Quartet, as well as to the United Kingdom for residencies at the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, the Guildhall School of Music, and in Cornwall. Decoda was recently awarded grants from Chamber Music America and the Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation for an extended residency in Camden, South Carolina, presenting Interactive Performances at eleven middle and high schools and a creative songwriting workshop with members of the Young Offenders Program at Wateree Correctional Facility. To learn more about Decoda, please visit www.decodamusic.org.