It all seemed so simple...
A commission for a composition featuring a solo bassoon, accompanied by a wind
ensemble, from a respected soloist and conductor. Stipulations: length (not to exceed
twenty minutes), participants (the ensemble not to exceed one dozen players), and a
performance date. Other than that, I was free to do as I pleased. My initial impulse was to
write a work of an "up" nature, and one that would take advantage of the bassoon's
considerable lyrical qualities.
I decided on an ensemble of warm-toned instruments – three each flutes (one doubling
piccolo), clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet) and horns, plus two contrabasses to ensure
the ensemble's weight. To this group was added a single oboe, whose role was to back up
the bassoon as a "supporting lead." Some themes were fashioned, their instrumental
colors assigned, and I was off and running.
But the ever-surprising creative process had some distinctly bizarre twists in store for me.
Undoubtedly, the biggest surprise had to do with the sudden swerve into darkness that
Partita Concertante made midway through the second of its three sections. The cause for
this was doubly surprising: I am not a believer in an afterlife, nor in a "spirit world" of
any kind; and yet I was beset by thoughts and remembrances of two dear friends who
died within a year of one another during the years 1983-84: singer Jeffrey Aulbach and
American composer Gail Kubik. Without prior intent, Partita Concertante became a sort
of double memorial to these friends, which explains some of the quotations from their
works (Jeffrey was also a budding composer) and others' works I associate with them. In
addition, the particularly painful memories associated with Jeffrey's death (he was a 23-
year-old suicide) – the sudden shock, my emotional implosion that never really found a
release, the hazy recollections of the boozy wake held on a stiflingly hot Los Angeles
afternoon – all of these things combined with a vengeance and bade me give them voice.
I complied.
Partita Concertante, commissioned by Rainier Chamber Winds, is a work of
approximately eleven minutes' duration. It is in three clearly discernible sections: an
introductory exposition; a march-like section with fugal aspirations that falls prey to the
spectres of death and loss; and a funereal conclusion that makes several attempts – all
futile – at reconciliation.
– Notes by Adam Stern at the time of the 1996 premiere
John Heins composed his Octet for Wind Instruments in 1985 when he was a staff
composer/arranger, clarinetist, and pianist with the U.S. Air Force Band in Tacoma,
Washington. Most of his work from this period is dark and moody, probably owing to the
prevailing weather in the region. In the Octet, however, there is a rare burst of good
humor. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reviewed a Rainier Chamber Winds performance,
calling it "a cheery work of undisputed charm."
During this period, the composer customarily produced a new work for most Tacoma Air
Force chamber music concerts, as well as many symphonic band performances. Many
included himself as soloist, such as the Concerto for Clarinet and the Rhapsody for Piano
and Wind Ensemble. The Octet was composed for one of these occasions and the
premiere performance took place in Olympia, Washington in 1985, with the composer
playing clarinet.
The Octet is cast in three movements and employs traditional forms and techniques with
Neoclassic and Neoromantic sensibilities. The piece combines past and present,
producing works that appeal to the performer as well as the listener.
– From notes by John Heins
Gordon Jacob was born in London on July 5, 1895 and died in Saffron Waldon, England,
on June 8, 1984. He was well known as a composer, writer, and teacher, spending most
of his teaching career on the faculty of the Royal College of Music, from which he retired
in 1966. His books delve into the techniques of composition, score reading, and
orchestration. Compositionally, his style is one of clarity, economy, and directness. He
composed mainly chamber and orchestral pieces and was more interested in the
development of the musical material than in the expression of sentiment or non-musical
ideas.
The Divertimento in Eb opens with a comical march that uses chromaticism, contrasting
rhythms, and contrasting dynamics to achieve its lighthearted effect. The second
movement, "Sarabande on a Ground," is created from a baroque technique using a short
melodic phrase ("ground") repeatedly while varying the other instrumental parts. ( A
sarabande is a 17th-18th century dance in slow triple meter and dignified style.) The final
movement, "Rondo," requires virtuostic technique on the part of all the players. The
refrain, heard four times in the upper woodwinds, provides the framework in which the
episodes are arrayed. The central episode features intricate horn passages and lyric
clarinet solos. The coda arrives with a quasi-cadenza played by the horns, resolving
quickly into the final few chords.
The modern French musician Eugéne Bozza studied at the Paris Conservatoire where he
won prizes in violin, conducting, and composing. He received the Grand Prix de Rome in
1934. In the forties he conducted at the Opéra Comique in Paris, and in 1951 was made
director of the Ecole Nationale de Musique, Valenciennes. As a composer, his output
includes operas, ballets, choral masses, symphonies, and concertos. Though his large-
scale works have been performed with success in France, his international reputation
rests upon his prolific output of chamber music for winds.
As Paul Griffiths has written, Octanphonie displays at a high level "the qualities
characteristic of mid-20th century French chamber music: melodic fluency, elegance of
structure and a consistently sensitive concern for instrumental capabilities." Scored for
pairs of oboes, clarinets, French horns, and bassoons, Octanphonie is a musical odyssey
of textures, styles and emotions. Its energy and passion have the power to enchant and
intoxicate its listeners.
Out and Back Again was commissioned and premiered by Rainier Chamber Winds with
soloists Walter and Ella Gray in 1993. It is a chamber work in three movements,
featuring violin and cello with twelve wind players, which celebrates a long and fruitful
working relationship between Benshoof and the Grays. The piece is blatantly
"Americana" in its first movement; lyrical and reflective in the second. The third
movement begins with larger dramatic shapes and gradually finds its way back to
thoughts from the first and second movements. This movement also contains a substantial
cadenza for the strings which begins in a conversational tone and eventually leads to a
dance.
While much of Benshoof's other writing displays an interest in jazz, Out and Back Again
is closer to a barn dance than a jam session, with a variety of characters and social
interactions. One reviewer wrote of the work, "Out and Back Again is... a tone painting
with thoughts of Charles Ives in the number of ideas he weaves in, but with more feeling
of Copland in its harmonies and a delightful flavor of the American West." Benshoof
notes that these similarities may stem from the years in which he worked with American
folk music, mixed with his childhood years spent in the farm country of Nebraska and
Iowa, and in central Alaska.
– From notes by Ken Benshoof
A native of Los Angeles, Adam Stern has become one of Seattle's busiest musicians
since moving there in 1992. He was the Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony
from 1996-2001 (having served as Assistant Conductor from 1992-1996), and the Music
Director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra from 1994-2000. During these concurrent
tenures, he introduced dozens of works to these orchestras' repertoires, particularly in the
realm of English music, one of Stern's specialties. Stern has composed original works for
Rainier Chamber Winds, Seattle Symphony, A Contemporary Theatre, and Seattle
Repertory Theatre. As a pianist, Stern has performed numerous solo and chamber works
with both Seattle Symphony and Northwest Chamber Orchestra, including concertos by
Bach, Mozart, and Gershwin. Stern resides in Seattle with his wife, Seattle Symphony
violinist Kathleen Stern. He is the proud father of two beautiful children, Ella and Oscar.
Ann Kosanovic-Brown received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin
Conservatory. She has also studied at the Mozarteum Hochschule in Salzburg and the
Karajan Akademie in Berlin.
Ms. Kosanovic-Brown was the Principal Bassoonist with the Natal Philharmonic in
Durban, South Africa; Das Symphonie Orchester in Berlin; and the Camerata Akademica
in Salzburg. She has also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Deutsche Oper
Berlin, the Mozarteum Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared
as soloist with the Philharmonia Northwest, Rainier Symphony, Natal Philharmonic
Orchestra in South Africa, Jeunesse Orchester Linz, Capella Salisburgensis, Round Top
Festival Orchestra-Texas, and the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Kosanovic-Brown is a founding member of the clarinet, bassoon, and piano trio
Ensemble Vindobona, and the Principal Bassoonist of the Bellevue Philharmonic.
John Heins' neoromantic compositions have garnered considerable praise over the past
three decades. Nationally, Heins' compositions have been performed throughout the
Pacific Northwest, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Montana, and Washington, D.C. In
Canada, his Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon was featured at the International Double-
Reed Convention. Heins has also been commended for his piano and clarinet
performances, as featured in his own compositions.
Heins' compositional output includes works for symphonic band and orchestra, as well as
chamber music, concertos, and works for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trombone, piano,
organ, violin, and voice.
Heins received a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from the University of
Montana and a Master of Music degree in Composition and Performance from the
University of Colorado, Boulder. He studied composition with Donald O. Johnston, Cecil
Effinger, and Karel Husa.
Heins has taught at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT; and he served as composer,
arranger, pianist, and clarinetist in the U.S. Air Force Band. He is the 2001-2002 MTNA
Commissioned Composer for the State of Colorado.
Heins' discography includes numerous works recorded on CD by several Air Force
Bands; his compositions have also been published by Southern Music and KJOS Music.
Recorded pieces include his Overture for Band, Rhapsody for Piano and Winds,
Concerto for Clarinet and Band, and his Christmas pieces Variants on a Bell Carol and
The Shepherd's Tale for Narrator and Nine Instruments.
Composer/pianist Ken Benshoof was born January 3, 1933, and has been a resident of
Seattle since 1960. He received his Master of Arts degree from San Francisco State
College, then attended the Guildhall School of Music as a Fulbright scholar in 1965. In
1976, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Primarily a composer of chamber works, Benshoof has received commissions from a
wide variety of sources including the Pacific Brass Quintet, Alaska Pro Musica, and the
Kronos Quartet. Formerly composer in residence at San Diego's Old Globe Theater and
the Seattle Repertory Theater, Benshoof currently teaches composition at the University
of Washington, a position he has held since 1966.
Ella Marie Gray has been praised by the press as having "great panache." After her
performance in Lou Harrison's Concerto in Slendro, a reviewer wrote "violinist Ella
Gray and the music triumphed." With her husband, Walter, she has performed the
Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple concertos as well as the world premiere of Out and
Back Again by Ken Benshoof.
Ms. Gray began her career in New York as a member of the Kronos Quartet. She is
currently a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and frequently performs
with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. She has also performed with the Northwest
Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Symphony, and the Dallas Chamber
Orchestra.
A founding member of the Rainier String Quartet and the newly formed Quake ensemble,
Ms. Gray makes regular appearances in recital series in the Northwest. She has been a
faculty member at Western Washington University and Cornish College of the Arts. Ms.
Gray has also been featured in concerts and recordings as solo violinist with the New
Performance Group in Seattle and across the country.
Ms. Gray is a member of the New Hampshire Music Festival, where she has performed
as soloist and Concertmaster. In the summer of 2000, she toured the Midwest with fellow
musicians from the Festival in a series of chamber music recitals. She has previously
participated in the Cabrillo, Tidewater, Olympic, and Waterloo Music Festivals.
Walter Gray, a member of the Seattle Symphony for 22 years, recently presented the
premier of a new concerto by David Kechley. A Seattle Times critic wrote, "Gray played
with his usual intensity and flair... the cello's lyrical possibilities are realized." Other solo
performances include Alfred Schnittke's Dialogue, Ibert's Cello Concerto, Brahms'
Double Concerto, Beethoven's Triple Concerto, and the world premiere of Ken
Benshoof's Out and Back Again. A student of Orlando Cole at the Curtis Institute of
Music, Mr. Gray was a founding member of the Kronos Quartet. He is currently
performing in the Rainier String Quartet and the Quake ensemble.
Recent recordings featuring Mr. Gray include the works of composers Janice Giteck and
Bun-Ching Lam with the New Performance Group. He has also served as producer for
recordings of the Seattle Symphony, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, New Hampshire
Music Festival Orchestra, New Performance Group, and the London Symphony
Orchestra. Mr. Gray has been a member of the Artist Faculty at the University of North
Texas and also on the faculty of Western Washington University and Cornish College of
the Arts.
Mr. Gray is Principal Cello with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and
recently premiered the revised version of Voice of the Wood, a concerto for cello quartet
and orchestra by Russell Peck. Mr. Gray has also participated in the Waterloo, Mostly
Mozart, Mt. Gretna, Olympic, Cabrillo, and Tidewater Music Festivals.
Kathleen Macferran is known in Seattle for her "programming flair" and "performances
of elegance and distinction." According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Macferran
knows precisely how to extract the maximum juice from any work, without appearing to
do much of anything." Macferran was one of nineteen conductors chosen from the United
States and Germany to conduct in the Oregon Bach Festival under the direction of
Helmut Rilling in June 1989, and one of seventeen conductors chosen to attend the
Sandpoint Music Festival under the direction of Gunther Schuller in 1991. She is Music
Director of Rainier Chamber Winds, the Bainbridge Orchestra, and former conductor of
the Eastside Youth Symphony. She is also active as a guest conductor in the Puget Sound
area. Macferran appears on the Delos recording label with the Seattle Symphony Chorale.
She also appears with Rainier Chamber Winds on the MMC Recordings, Ltd. and
RCWinds Recording labels. She is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts
and Sciences, the Conductors' Guild, and the American Symphony Orchestra League.
Macferran holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance and Education from
Whitworth College and a Master of Music in Instrumental and Choral Conducting from
Western Washington University. She has taught instrumental and choral music in the
Mead, North Kitsap, and Edmonds School Districts.
2002 Out and Back Again CD Notes
NOTES ON THE PIECES
Partita Concertante, Adam Stern (b. 1955)
Octet for Wind Instruments, John Heins (b. 1956)
Divertimento in Eb for Wind Octet, Gordon Jacob (1895-1984)
Octanphonie, Eugéne Bozza (1905-1991)
Out and Back Again, Ken Benshoof (b. 1933)
Biographical Background Information
ADAM STERN, composer
ANN KOSANOVIC-BROWN, bassoon soloist
JOHN HEINS, composer
KEN BENSHOOF, composer
ELLA MARIE GRAY, violin soloist
WALTER GRAY, cello soloist
KATHLEEN MACFERRAN, conductor