The New Music Project at Indiana University Southeast seeks to discover, perform, record and distribute new music by both established and emerging composers of the 21st century. One of the goals of the project is to make the label into an all-IU Southeast produced line of CD recordings that will combine the talents of faculty and student performers, recording engineers, graphic artists, designers, Web developers and business majors.

After receiving a yearly financial commitment through the IU Commitment to Excellence Fund, the New Music Project has formed a new recording label, New Dynamic Records.

For more information, visit www.newdynamicrecords.com

The first release, entitled Influence, includes works by composers Joan Tower, Michael Torke, Perry Goldstein, Robert Gibson and local composer Lu Pei. Influence also features recorded performances by the critically acclaimed Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, Eighth Blackbird Ensemble and the Amelia Piano Trio.

Each piece incorporates some ‘influence’ from an outside source—such as other styles/genres of music like spirituals, Chinese folk music, the music of Igor Stravinsky and, in one case, the sound exploration of certain instruments.

Perry Goldstein: Motherless Child Variations
My Motherless Child Variations (2002) is based on this Spiritual. I have tried to stay out of the way of the tune and to present it in many guises, always careful to keep it recognizable. After a brief introduction, the melody occurs in six versions, in various characters. It is first presented in a somber duet between baritone and tenor saxes, alto and soprano joining in for a bluesier four-part version. After a spirited, mixed-meter interlude, the tune returns in a new and funkier manifestation, led by the baritone saxophone playing a repetitive bassline, as well as a chorale version in which an unexpected harmonization unfolds in the instruments’ highest registers. A subsequent gloss on the melody interpolates driving compound meter passages between piecemeal statements of the tune, in emulation of the “call and response” music so typical of the African American tradition. The harmonic structure implied by the melody supplies the backbone for three ensuing jazz swing choruses, alto, tenor, and soprano saxes soloing successively over the chord changes. The tune then resurfaces explicitly in one last straightforward and passionate rendition.

-Perry Goldstein

Robert Gibson: Three Etudes
My Three Etudes are “concert” etudes modeled somewhat in the tradition of the genre established by Chopin, Debussy, and more recently, Ligeti. The first is an abstraction based on corrente (“current,” i.e., flowing). The second is somewhat folk-like in places, although there are no actual quotations of folk music. The almost constant sound of fifths was inspired by the timbre of the organ stop quintadena, which has a very prominent twelfth above the fundamental. This organ stop seemed intriguing and appropriate to me in this context since the clarinet also has this prominent third partial that defines its distinctive timbre. The last etude is an obsession comprised of a few short motives that suggest a jazz improvisation.

-Robert Gibson

Michael Torke: July
When I am drawn to a particular rhythmic groove from an overheard pop song, I scratch my head and think: “I like that, how could I use it?” To me, it’s not worth trying to write another of the ten million songs out there. But I’ve found that if I take a small part of the drum track and assign it to the non-percussion instruments I’m writing for, then interesting things happen. You lose the original context (in this case the baritone sax does not sound like a kick drum), but you gain immediacy and a freshness in the instrumental writing. There will also be a cohesion of compositional intent if you have a strategy for those pitch assignments. When writing this piece, keeping in mind the incredible agility of the saxophone, I wrote a series of rapid notes which form a foundation, of a kind of “directory” from which I pull out pitches to assign to those original rhythms (as the notes fly by in real time). What fascinates me is that this act of translation seems to completely remove the original reference from my music; sometimes I can’t even remember what the original song was that inspired me and, if I do, it’s hard even to hear the connection. But what remains is the energy.

Like December for string orchestra- the piece that preceded July- I’m trying to incorporate contrasting themes and moods together in a single movement work. To me, this evokes a wider range of impressions. Instead of single-mindedly exploring one color, as in earlier pieces of mine, the music now corresponds to an experience of time- the energy and heat we find in the month of July, as well as cooling breezes of repose that come, perhaps, in the evening..

-Michael Torke

Lu Pei : Xiang He Ge
Xiang He Ge (pronounced as shian-heg-geg, “Song of Consonance,” for pipa, erhu, violin, cello and piano) was written immediately after the tragedy of 9/11 in New York City. In this piece, Lu Pei tries to depict his ideas about a dream of peace. Xiang He Ge is written in an ancient Chinese form (called Xiang He Da Qiu) and combines the western avant-garde spirit with the most traditional Confucian ideas of harmony or consonance, “He (peace).” Xiang He Da Qiu first appeared in the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) as an unaccompanied folk song. Eventually, these folk songs were combined with dance and instrumental performance to complete the form’s evolution. Xiang He Ge consists of three sections and a finale: Yan (prelude), Qiu (song), Qu (dance) and Luan (finale). The first section begins with a very quiet mood, the melodic lines mainly carried by the erhu and the pipa. After a struggle-like climax, the players begin to sing a melody in ancient Chinese musical style using vocal tones, and the whole piece ends in a quiet, peaceful and hopeful mood.

-Cynthia Rogers

Indiana University Southeast
Music Department
4201 Grant Line Road
New Albany, IN 47150
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