Composed for voice, alto saxophone, violin, and cello after the melody from Madrigal by Vincent D’Indy with lyrics by Robert de Bonnieres.
The original musical material was used as a cantus firmus for the new composition, re-contextualizing D’Indy’s original in a postmodern minimalist musical framework. The melody and words are completely faithful to the original while all other accompanying elements are newly composed.
The original composition by D’Indy is a love song in the traditional Madrigal style. The minimalist musical framework in Chanson D’Amour plays on the suspension of time being lost in love. The vocal melody is repeatedly engaged by melodic interludes in the saxophone signifying the bliss of romantic engagement.
Composed for voice, alto saxophone, violin, and cello after the melody from Madrigal by Vincent D’Indy with lyrics by Robert de Bonnieres.
The original musical material was used as a cantus firmus for the new composition, re-contextualizing D’Indy’s original in a postmodern minimalist musical framework. The melody and words are completely faithful to the original while all other accompanying elements are newly composed.
The original composition by D’Indy is a love song in the traditional Madrigal style. The minimalist musical framework in Chanson D’Amour plays on the suspension of time being lost in love. The vocal melody is repeatedly engaged by melodic interludes in the saxophone signifying the bliss of romantic engagement.
Drew Schnurr is a film and concert music composer writing music in a wide range of styles, often blurring lines between musical genre. His wide-ranging experience in classical music, rock, electronic music, jazz, latin music, and other international music forms enlightens his diverse musical approach; as does his expertise in modern sound design, music production, and audio technology.
Drew is an expressive artist and performer exploring human experience and emotion through music and sound. Revered by his peers, industry professionals, and critics, Drew’s work has been called both “rare” and “remarkable.”
“This composer bends and stretches rules within his own aesthetic, weaving his musical ideas in harmonious waves that threaten to drown, yet gently tumble the listener forward with intrigue and anticipation.” -Adam Rosenthal on Persee: Orchestrated Perception
Drew currently lives and works in downtown Los Angeles.
Paul Chihara has had a long and distinguished career as a composer for film and concert stage. He is currently a Professor of Composition in the UCLA School of Music and Chair of the Visual Media Program. In this video interview I sit down with him to learn more about his life, garnish some advice, and to get his ideas about music in the 21st century. Recorded at UCLA on November 11, 2010.
IN MEDIAS RES for Clarinet, Cello, and Amplified Guitar was premiered at UCLA Schoenberg Auditorium on May 9, 2012.
Performers:
Bass Clarinet – Phil O’Connor
Cello – Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick
Amplified Guitar – Justin Smith
Program notes:
The composition in five movements, each one is inspired by a sculpture by the great artist Rodin. I love the movement in Rodin’s work. It may seem strange to describe statues as having “movement,” but I think it applies. Rodin’s works seem alive to me – reaching, breathing, groaning, and also in a state of suspended life. It is this feeling that inspires the music. It also inspires the title for the piece, which is a Latin expression meaning “…into the middle of things.” The phrase IN MEDIAS RES denotes a Greek literary technique where a dramatic tale is told starting not from the beginning, but rather from the middle or end of a story. This is just as Rodin’s statues seem to me. They are frozen in time, but alive in the midst of their own narratives.
This piece was a commission by clarinetist Phil O’Connor, and is dedicated to him with sincere gratitude for his friendship and inspiring musical collaboration.
May, 2012 by Drew Schnurr
Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis Ford Coppola is considered by many one of the greatest films in history. It’s a story about a Vietnam War Captain (played by a young Martin Sheen) who is sent deep into Cambodia to assassinate an out of control renegade American Green Beret Colonel (played by Marlon Brando) who has taken over an indigenous native tribe and is reigning as a kind of cruel and murderous deity.
This film has a powerful and surrealistic feeling to it. And that is due in no small part to it’s sound and music score. It was revolutionary on a number of levels. It utilized the largest team of expert electronic synthesist-composers ever assembled for a film at that time. And the overall relationship between sound and music is something that is artfully blurred throughout the film. This is somewhat more common today, but was pretty revolutionary in 1979. The film pushed industry technical sound standards as well, being the first film commercially released and advertised with stereophonic rear sound channels. Most importantly, the unique conceptual intention by Coppola and his team to use music and sound to create obscured juxtapositions of powerful moods and places helps to make this film one of the best in history.
CONFESSIONS OF AN ECO-TERRORIST, an environmental documentary produced and directed by Peter Brown with music by Drew Schnurr, premiered in the U.S. on Hulu, iTunes, Amazon VOD, and Cable Video-On-Demand on Earth Day, April 22.
Paul Chihara has had a long and distinguished career as a composer for film and concert stage. He is currently a Professor of Composition in the UCLA School of Music and Chair of the Visual Media Program. In this video interview I sit down with him to learn more about his life, garnish some advice, and to get his ideas about music in the 21st century. Recorded at UCLA on November 11, 2010.
New post! Part 3 of my interview with the great Paul Chihara. He is truly one of my favorites! http://t.co/2eD4GlXu
A review by Drew Schnurr of the great John Williams music score to Steven Spielberg’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A THIRD KIND.
@ drewschnurr.com (“NOW”)
PART 4 of Drew Schnurr’s interview with world renown composer Paul Chihara.
@ drewschnurr.com (“NOW”)
