CANCELLED : Rethinking Reductions: Concertante by Marius Constant
Liz Ames and Timothy Mac Allister / classical
Website(s) : http://www.lizames.com
The Constant Concertante is a fabulous piece for orchestra and saxophone; its current state is a reduced score for piano and saxophone. Liz Ames has added missing parts with extended techniques.
Biography
Liz Ames is passionate about collaborating with instrumentalists, vocalists and composers. As a pianist who specializes in working with saxophonists, she frequently performs at saxophone competitions, festivals, symposiums, and conferences around the world. Liz is located in Michigan where she works as a staff pianist at the University of Michigan. She continues to work with saxophonists throughout the US on recording projects and recitals.
In addition to specializing in performing, Liz is constantly writing concerto reductions for composers such as John Mackey, Steven Bryant, and Joel Puckett among others. Liz received her doctorate in collaborative piano from Arizona State University where she studied with Russell Ryan.
More informations
The orchestration of the Concertante by Marius Constant involves a lot of effects produced by the orchestra that most composers and concerto reducers/arrangers would not know how or be able to transfer over to a piano reduction. Constant leaves much room for interpretation in this reduction- i.e. tie markings that last for 37 measures, thick lines representing how long a note is theoretically sustained, dashed lines, parentheses surrounding notes- these are all notations that can be interpreted differently based on the pianist’s familiarity of the piece in addition to their experience with improvisation and producing different sounds from the piano. This notation eludes to the flexibility a pianist has in determining how to execute the piano part. Without a full score, I have made all of these decisions based on my aural skills and perfect pitch. I.e. in the first movement, there are many bars with no notation in the left hand. Rather than keeping the left hand silent, I added many notes specifically chosen by listening to recordings. Due to the nature of the piece and not knowing exact entrances of these notes, perfect rhythmic integrity was not maintained in these additions.
I also added plucking high pitched strings to represent sounds from the percussion section and strumming for string glissandi. All extended techniques vary based on the instrumentation, dynamic, and character of these sections.
In this project, I will only be performing the first and third movements of the piece. This is in order to be able to provide a short explanation of the additions along with time for questions if any arise.
Programming
13/07/2015 15:30 - 16:00
Cité de la musique et de la danse - Salle 19
Musicians / speakers
- Ames Liz / Amplified Piano (United States)
- Mc Allister Timothy / Soprano saxophone
Program
- Concertante pour alto saxophone alto et orchestre mvts 1 Raga and 3 Passacaglia (Marius Constant)
