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Music for: Bassoon, Cello, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Harp, Horn, Oboe, Harpsichord, Percussion-Keyboard, Multi-Percussion, Piano Solo, Two Pianos, Piano (Chamber), Prepared Piano, Electroacoustic, Electronic Instruments, Saxophone (All), Soprano Sax, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, String Bass (Double Bass), Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, Viola, Violin, Voice
Brass - Music for Brass Instruments
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion, 2002
Instrumentation, Program NotesFanfare for Brass and Percussion, 2002
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Instrumentation: 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 2 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 5:30 min.
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion (2002)
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion was written in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Michigan State University Orchestras and is dedicated to my talented MSU School of Music colleague, conductor Leon Gregorian, whose artistry, vision, and tireless efforts during the past two decades have contributed so much to the development of one of the truly great academic orchestras of North America. (January 2002)
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion, somewhat longer and more "intense" than a typical fanfare, features trumpet, trombone, and timpani solos and has some distinctive structural properties that relate to the occasion for which it was written. (July 24, 2002)
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets, 1996, rev. 1997
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets, 1996, rev. 1997
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Complete (ca. 7 min.) - Ruggiero's FANFARES, GROWLES, AND SHOUTS From - Recording Session, MSU College of Music Auditorium
The Trumpets of the MSU Wind Symphony, John Madden, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: 6 Bb Tpt, cond
Duration: ca. 6:30 min.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts - for Six Trumpets (1996)
Several years ago my colleague Richard Illman (Professor of Trumpet, Michigan State University) suggested that I consider composing a work for a small ensemble of trumpets; his suggestion piqued my interest and was one of the main factors that led me to compose Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets. Many times, both as a listener and as a jazz drummer, I've been particularly affected by the outstanding brass playing of skilled jazz improvisers. And at more than one point in my life I even have attempted-if only briefly!-to learn how to play rudimentary jazz on the trumpet. Consequently, although this is the first composition of mine that is for trumpets only, I began composing FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS feeling confident that I could use effectively many of the various sonorities that the trumpet is capable of producing, including those created via the special techniques developed and perfected by jazz improvisers and jazz arrangers.
Right from when Rich Illman first approached me about composing a trumpet piece, some general ideas for this composition began to percolate. But although I was enthusiastic about writing something for Rich and his talented students, other compositional projects delayed my writing of FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS for quite some time. Then, in the fall of 1993, John Whitwell (Director of Bands at Michigan State University) asked me to write a fanfare which would become part of a set of new works that he and the MSU Bands were commissioning to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the first official band at Michigan State. Delighted with John Whitwell's invitation, I proposed to write a piece for six solo trumpets, and he endorsed this plan.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts requires six very accomplished instrumentalists, all of whom are familiar with jazz trumpet styles and techniques. All six parts are approximately of the same difficulty, but the Trumpet 1 part calls for a high-note specialist, and the Trumpet 6 part needs a player with a very firm command of the bottom fifth of the instrument's range.
If two of the essences of jazz are improvisation and swing, then FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS cannot be considered a jazz composition, in that the score allows for no improvisation and is notated without the expectation of "swing" interpretation of its written rhythms. But jazz influences on certain aspects of this composition are so strong that it might be said the spirit of jazz permeates, even dominates, this work. Indeed, one of the primary artistic motivations of this composition is the trumpet virtuosi of the Duke Ellington big band, and, of course, the music written for them by Ellington and his collaborators.
One of the most galvanizing and thoroughly enjoyable musical experiences of my life came in the summer of 1965, when I heard the Duke Ellington Orchestra live at Weirs Beach in New Hampshire. The band played about three hours of music, starting with a concert set, and followed, after an intermission, by an extended dance set. In the band that night were many of the legendary soloists whom Ellington had cultivated throughout his long career as a band leader, including the fire-breathing and barely containable Cat Anderson, the always tasty and entertaining Ray Nance, and the inimitable master of the growl and mute, Cootie Williams. It is the wonderful trumpet stylings of these men and other Ellington trumpet stars like Bubber Miley, Rex Stewart, Shorty Baker, and Clark Terry, as well as some of the compositional and arranging techniques of Ellington and other jazz writers, that are the foundations of my Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts.
I have listened to at least 100 different Ellington CDs and LPs, but I've never heard a recording of the Ellington band that even comes close to representing the power and sonorous brilliance of the Ellington brass section as it sounded "live." Somewhat in the manner of Ellington's brass functioning at its peak, a good performance of FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS must be felt clearly and impressively, even by those members of the audience sitting in the last row of the auditorium!
FANFARES, Growls, and Shouts is not tonal in the sense that most of Ellington's music is (but Ellington did, from time to time, experiment with extreme chromaticism and dissonance, as well as other harmonic techniques associated with twentieth-century Western "classical" music). Although many of the sonorities found in FANFARES recall big-band jazz music, the "harmony" of this composition is based more on pitch-class sets and interactions of sets. However, it is rhythm, especially at the macro-level of structure, that is the fundamental organizing force of FANFARES. "Good proportion" in works of art has been a topic of considerable interest since at least the ancient Greeks. It is my intention to have created, in a rather systematic way, beautiful and meaningful proportions in this composition.
Kenneth Bloomquist, former head of the Michigan State University School of Music, Director of Bands at MSU until his retirement in 1993, past president of the American Bandmasters Association, nationally acclaimed clinician and conductor of wind ensembles, and trumpeter!, has been an inspiring educator, performer, mentor, and friend to many members of the Michigan State community for decades. It is with sincere appreciation and admiration that I dedicate this composition to him.
I wish to express my gratitude to my talented colleagues John Whitwell, Rich Illman, and John Madden for supporting the composition of this work and for helping to launch it on the concert stage. (August 5, 1996; rev. September 29, 1996 and May 31, 1997)
Fractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's FRACTURED MAMBOS
Recommended volume for this sample: High!
From - FRACTURED MAMBOS, Mark Recording CD MCD-1701Philip Sinder, tuba
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Tuba, Electroacoustic
Duration: ca. 10:10 min.
Fractured Mambos - for Tuba and Electronic Recording (1990)
Early in 1989 Philip Sinder asked me if I would be interested in writing a piece for tuba. I offered to write Phil a composition for solo tuba and electronic tape that would have a strong jazz flavor. Phil, who shares my interest in jazz, had been considering the same combination of performing forces, tuba with electronic sounds, so it was easy for us to agree on the broad outlines of the collaboration which has resulted in my composition Fractured Mambos.
While writing for tuba, and while preparing to write by listening to diverse recorded examples of tuba music, I was impressed by the wide range of sounds, moods, and emotions that this beast of an instrument is able to convey when being tamed by a performer as masterful as Philip Sinder. The tuba, I found, can be clumsy, comical, playful, lyrical, bold, dramatic . . . . It can be delicately expressive one second, and then magnificently intimidating the next.
Instead of using real-time electronic modification of tuba sounds, I decided to use a "classical" technique in this work, combining taped synthesized and digitally sampled sounds with the live unprocessed tuba performance. This approach was taken because, rather than try to turn the tuba into some sort of electronic trumpet or MIDI wind controller, I wanted the tuba to produce "natural" timbres and articulations. It was my intention to create a work that would be relatively easy to perform "on the road," with minimal hardware requirements and a simple setup. Furthermore, I did not want my new composition to become outdated as soon as the current generation of computer music hardware is replaced by the next wave of music technology.
A concept of the timbres and textures to be used in Fractured Mambos came to me soon after I decided to write the piece. At first there were to be four main "sound groups": the live acoustic tuba part, digitally sampled brass ensemble sounds, synthesized and sampled percussion sounds, and synthesized tuba sounds. Later, a fifth sound group was added: sampled muted trumpet sounds.
The textural and timbral models for Fractured Mambos should be familiar to many listeners, they include post-bop "big bands" (with their powerful trumpet and trombone sections) and, especially, Latin/jazz salsa groups (which typically combine "horns" with dynamic rhythm sections).
Eclectic in style, Fractured Mambos clearly shows the influence on my work of such leading twentieth-century American musicians as Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, and Miles Davis. Echoes (that sometimes are twisted and distorted, but which never are intentionally mocking) of the music of such Latin-jazz artists as Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri are pervasive in Fractured Mambos. What may be the main structural premise of Fractured Mambos, the transformation, reinterpretation, and disintegration of somewhat simple and familiar musical materials through juxtaposition, interruption, and interpolation, comes in no small part from that ancient and esteemed master, I.S. (1993)
Jazz Compositions and Arrangements, (ca. 75 works), 1965-2006
Bassoon - Music that Features Bassoon
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Blues, Time, Changes, for bassoon and string quartet, 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesBlues, Time, Changes, for bassoon and string quartet, 1999
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Instrumentation: Bsn, 2 Vln, Vla, Vlc, cond (optional)
Duration: ca. 15:00 min.
Blues, Time, Changes - for Bassoon and String Quartet (1999)
Blues, Time, Changes is the second in a projected series of compositions based substantially on blues (more precisely, blues elements as they are manifested in jazz). The first work in this series, Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet (written in 1981), inhabits a large niche in my compositional output where stylistic labels don't stick well. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle about a 1985 performance of the quartet, Robert Commanday opined:
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet by Charles Ruggiero was something of a misnomer; only the third piece really exploits blues ideas. No matter, it's a pleasing set, . . .Chances are that Blues, Time, Changes will be received with similar bafflement in some quarters, frustrating both blues purists and concertgoers intent upon finding apt musicological catch phrases to stick to the composition. Some may feel that Blues, Time, Changes is, like my saxophone quartet, stylistically adrift. The hard-core jazz fan might think Blues, Time, Changes is too complex, too dissonant, too diverse, too contrived, etc. to be a "true" blues or jazz composition, while the aficionado of advanced "art music" might consider Blues, Time, Changes to be too simple, too tonal, too conventionally shaped, too straightforward to be a "serious" work. To put it succinctly: Blues, Time, Changes may be too much like a simple blues for some, and not enough like an authentic blues for others.
Aware as I am of the potential pitfalls of writing a piece that might be called a "misnomer," I'm willing to risk it, especially if I can offer up a "pleasing set." Jazz and blues music, especially the latter, are pervasive in twentieth-century world culture. Few musical genres of any time have found such wide and enthusiastic acceptance around the globe as blues. Live and recorded blues performances, by such masterful artists as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and countless other talented singers and instrumentalists, as well as blues pieces by such distinctive composers as W. C. Handy, Maurice Ravel, Duke Ellington, Samuel Barber, and Thelonious Monk (not to mention the tens of thousands of blues tunes written by waves of rural blues, R&B, soul, pop, etc. writers over the decades), have had a constant presence in American culture throughout the twentieth century. One consequence of this is that probably most people raised in North America in this century (and many people from other parts of the world) have some seemingly innate feeling for blues.
I believe that nearly every American, trained in music or not (including those who are disdainful of blues styles), can hear (perceive) certain aspects of blues music. It is as a common thread in an otherwise disjointed musical culture, that blues music interests me. In Blues, Time, Changes I rely upon the listener's familiarity with blues to build moderately complex structures that, it is hoped, are subtly expressive and relatively accessible (not dirty words, in my lexicon).
The title Blues, Time, Changes is intended to be suggestive. The three words, of course, have common meanings and uses that I hope will have relevance to someone trying to develop an understanding of aspects of my composition. For instance, one connotation of the ordering of these three words is that a blues form (involving varied repetitions of a harmonic progression) might change over time during the piece. That is, certain blues materials (including rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic elements) might be transformed as the composition unfolds. Another connotation of the title suggests that listening to blues music, including this piece, might be capable of having an effect on one's perception of time in interesting ways-a matter for speculation.
In addition to their common meanings, blues, time, and changes each has a fairly well-defined technical meaning (or set of meanings) for a jazz musician. Blues (or the blues) often refers to standardized forms and harmonic progressions used by jazz musicians as bases for improvisation. And the term has other meanings-blue note, for example, is a phrase used by many jazz musicians to refer to special tones and certain pitches that fall outside the standard equal temperament of Western classical music.
Time, an elusive jazz term, refers to the unique rhythmic framework of a jazz performance, including such interrelated variables as meter, tempo, rhythmic vocabulary, swing, etc. In Blues, Time, Changes, which is in one continuous movement, each of the two main sections of the piece is delineated primarily by its distinct embodiment of time, or, in jazz parlance, by its own time feel.
To a jazz musician, changes refers to the progression of chords upon which a jazz performance or arrangement is based. These chords often are taken from a popular song and typically change at the pace of one or two chords per measure. In Blues, Time, Changes two fundamental, though often obscured, sets of changes are essential in creating the architectonics and formal processes of the composition.
Blues, Time, Changes was composed for bassoonist Barry Stees, my talented colleague at Michigan State University; it was written during the summers of 1998 and 1999. (2000)
Brass - Chamber Music that Includes Brass Instruments
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets, 1996, rev. 1997
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets, 1996, rev. 1997
CloseSamples:
Complete (ca. 7 min.) - Ruggiero's FANFARES, GROWLES, AND SHOUTS From - Recording Session, MSU College of Music Auditorium
The Trumpets of the MSU Wind Symphony, John Madden, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: 6 Bb Tpt, cond
Duration: ca. 6:30 min.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts - for Six Trumpets (1996)
Several years ago my colleague Richard Illman (Professor of Trumpet, Michigan State University) suggested that I consider composing a work for a small ensemble of trumpets; his suggestion piqued my interest and was one of the main factors that led me to compose Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets. Many times, both as a listener and as a jazz drummer, I've been particularly affected by the outstanding brass playing of skilled jazz improvisers. And at more than one point in my life I even have attempted-if only briefly!-to learn how to play rudimentary jazz on the trumpet. Consequently, although this is the first composition of mine that is for trumpets only, I began composing FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS feeling confident that I could use effectively many of the various sonorities that the trumpet is capable of producing, including those created via the special techniques developed and perfected by jazz improvisers and jazz arrangers.
Right from when Rich Illman first approached me about composing a trumpet piece, some general ideas for this composition began to percolate. But although I was enthusiastic about writing something for Rich and his talented students, other compositional projects delayed my writing of FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS for quite some time. Then, in the fall of 1993, John Whitwell (Director of Bands at Michigan State University) asked me to write a fanfare which would become part of a set of new works that he and the MSU Bands were commissioning to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the first official band at Michigan State. Delighted with John Whitwell's invitation, I proposed to write a piece for six solo trumpets, and he endorsed this plan.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts requires six very accomplished instrumentalists, all of whom are familiar with jazz trumpet styles and techniques. All six parts are approximately of the same difficulty, but the Trumpet 1 part calls for a high-note specialist, and the Trumpet 6 part needs a player with a very firm command of the bottom fifth of the instrument's range.
If two of the essences of jazz are improvisation and swing, then FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS cannot be considered a jazz composition, in that the score allows for no improvisation and is notated without the expectation of "swing" interpretation of its written rhythms. But jazz influences on certain aspects of this composition are so strong that it might be said the spirit of jazz permeates, even dominates, this work. Indeed, one of the primary artistic motivations of this composition is the trumpet virtuosi of the Duke Ellington big band, and, of course, the music written for them by Ellington and his collaborators.
One of the most galvanizing and thoroughly enjoyable musical experiences of my life came in the summer of 1965, when I heard the Duke Ellington Orchestra live at Weirs Beach in New Hampshire. The band played about three hours of music, starting with a concert set, and followed, after an intermission, by an extended dance set. In the band that night were many of the legendary soloists whom Ellington had cultivated throughout his long career as a band leader, including the fire-breathing and barely containable Cat Anderson, the always tasty and entertaining Ray Nance, and the inimitable master of the growl and mute, Cootie Williams. It is the wonderful trumpet stylings of these men and other Ellington trumpet stars like Bubber Miley, Rex Stewart, Shorty Baker, and Clark Terry, as well as some of the compositional and arranging techniques of Ellington and other jazz writers, that are the foundations of my Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts.
I have listened to at least 100 different Ellington CDs and LPs, but I've never heard a recording of the Ellington band that even comes close to representing the power and sonorous brilliance of the Ellington brass section as it sounded "live." Somewhat in the manner of Ellington's brass functioning at its peak, a good performance of FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS must be felt clearly and impressively, even by those members of the audience sitting in the last row of the auditorium!
FANFARES, Growls, and Shouts is not tonal in the sense that most of Ellington's music is (but Ellington did, from time to time, experiment with extreme chromaticism and dissonance, as well as other harmonic techniques associated with twentieth-century Western "classical" music). Although many of the sonorities found in FANFARES recall big-band jazz music, the "harmony" of this composition is based more on pitch-class sets and interactions of sets. However, it is rhythm, especially at the macro-level of structure, that is the fundamental organizing force of FANFARES. "Good proportion" in works of art has been a topic of considerable interest since at least the ancient Greeks. It is my intention to have created, in a rather systematic way, beautiful and meaningful proportions in this composition.
Kenneth Bloomquist, former head of the Michigan State University School of Music, Director of Bands at MSU until his retirement in 1993, past president of the American Bandmasters Association, nationally acclaimed clinician and conductor of wind ensembles, and trumpeter!, has been an inspiring educator, performer, mentor, and friend to many members of the Michigan State community for decades. It is with sincere appreciation and admiration that I dedicate this composition to him.
I wish to express my gratitude to my talented colleagues John Whitwell, Rich Illman, and John Madden for supporting the composition of this work and for helping to launch it on the concert stage. (August 5, 1996; rev. September 29, 1996 and May 31, 1997)
Fractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's FRACTURED MAMBOS
Recommended volume for this sample: High!
From - FRACTURED MAMBOS, Mark Recording CD MCD-1701Philip Sinder, tuba
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Tuba, Electroacoustic
Duration: ca. 10:10 min.
Fractured Mambos - for Tuba and Electronic Recording (1990)
Early in 1989 Philip Sinder asked me if I would be interested in writing a piece for tuba. I offered to write Phil a composition for solo tuba and electronic tape that would have a strong jazz flavor. Phil, who shares my interest in jazz, had been considering the same combination of performing forces, tuba with electronic sounds, so it was easy for us to agree on the broad outlines of the collaboration which has resulted in my composition Fractured Mambos.
While writing for tuba, and while preparing to write by listening to diverse recorded examples of tuba music, I was impressed by the wide range of sounds, moods, and emotions that this beast of an instrument is able to convey when being tamed by a performer as masterful as Philip Sinder. The tuba, I found, can be clumsy, comical, playful, lyrical, bold, dramatic . . . . It can be delicately expressive one second, and then magnificently intimidating the next.
Instead of using real-time electronic modification of tuba sounds, I decided to use a "classical" technique in this work, combining taped synthesized and digitally sampled sounds with the live unprocessed tuba performance. This approach was taken because, rather than try to turn the tuba into some sort of electronic trumpet or MIDI wind controller, I wanted the tuba to produce "natural" timbres and articulations. It was my intention to create a work that would be relatively easy to perform "on the road," with minimal hardware requirements and a simple setup. Furthermore, I did not want my new composition to become outdated as soon as the current generation of computer music hardware is replaced by the next wave of music technology.
A concept of the timbres and textures to be used in Fractured Mambos came to me soon after I decided to write the piece. At first there were to be four main "sound groups": the live acoustic tuba part, digitally sampled brass ensemble sounds, synthesized and sampled percussion sounds, and synthesized tuba sounds. Later, a fifth sound group was added: sampled muted trumpet sounds.
The textural and timbral models for Fractured Mambos should be familiar to many listeners, they include post-bop "big bands" (with their powerful trumpet and trombone sections) and, especially, Latin/jazz salsa groups (which typically combine "horns" with dynamic rhythm sections).
Eclectic in style, Fractured Mambos clearly shows the influence on my work of such leading twentieth-century American musicians as Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, and Miles Davis. Echoes (that sometimes are twisted and distorted, but which never are intentionally mocking) of the music of such Latin-jazz artists as Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri are pervasive in Fractured Mambos. What may be the main structural premise of Fractured Mambos, the transformation, reinterpretation, and disintegration of somewhat simple and familiar musical materials through juxtaposition, interruption, and interpolation, comes in no small part from that ancient and esteemed master, I.S. (1993)
Chamber Music
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Intimate Recollections, for violin, viola, cello, and piano, 2008
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesIntimate Recollections, for violin, viola, cello, and piano, 2008
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Instrumentation: Vln, Vla, Vlc, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
INTIMATE RECOLLECTIONS was commissioned by the Atlantic Ensemble and is dedicated to its members: Wei Tsun Chang, Violin; Seanad Dunigan Chang, Viola; Kirsten Cassel, Cello; and, Leah Bowes, Piano
* * *Intimate Recollections (2008)
Program Notes
In 2005, the Atlantic Ensembles leader, violinist Wei Tsun Chang, invited me to compose a quartet for the Ensemble. Although in 2005 I had not yet heard the Atlantic Ensemble, I was delighted to accept this commission, knowing that Wei Tsun is an exceptionally talented and accomplished performer who seems to have an ear for my music, based on his response to a work I composed for the Verdehr Trio, Collage-1912. Walter Verdehr, a co-founder of the Verdehr Trio, was Wei Tsuns violin teacher at Michigan State University.
* * *
Intimate Recollections is a very personal and intensely felt work. The title is meant to be suggestive and somewhat vague. Recollections of what? Although the music of Intimate Recollections is quite varied in mood and style, with some passages that must be performed with great emotional intensity and others that are lighter (even playful) in nature, this work is essentially serious and reflective. Parts of Intimate Recollections are meant to have qualities that might be described as nostalgic, sorrowful, and even emotionally wrenched. In experiencing a performance of this composition, I hope the listener will sense that the intimate recollections explored in this work (and which, ideally, the listener will partially construct and experience for him- or herself) are renewed and made more vivid through this music. Musical recollections (or hints of Western art music from earlier centuries) are pervasive in Intimate Recollections, but no specific composition is quoted in this quartetat least not consciously!
Charles Ruggiero September 18, 2008
Variations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesVariations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Ob, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
Variations On and By - for Flute, Oboe and Piano (2006)
The Ruggiero bass is part of a melodic-harmonic formula that was very popular among Italian musicians during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Grove Music Online dictionary lists more than 30 renaissance and early baroque composers who wrote vocal or instrumental pieces on the Ruggiero formula. In the late 1960s, upon reading about the Ruggiero bass, I decided that someday I would compose a set of variations on itnot thinking, of course, that it would be some 27 years before I would begin and complete the project!
The most characteristic form of the Ruggiero bass is an eight-measure diatonic melody in G major, but for Variations On and By, I have used a Mixolydian version of the bass. The Ruggiero-bass theme is not stated literally at any point in this composition; hence, the beginning of the work is labeled Variation 1. But anyone familiar with the Ruggiero bass will recognize fragments of it in each of the 12 variations. Those listeners who do not know the theme will (I hope) mentally construct a version of it as they hear a performance of the composition. Variations 1 and 11, both of which are hockets (i.e., pieces based on what is sometimes described as a musical hiccupping effect), serve as bookends for the composition. In the final variation, parts of several earlier variations are reprised.
Many of the techniques used in Variations On and By come from medieval and renaissance music (hocket, canon, etc.), but a few of the variations are fashioned primarily by the manipulation of pitch-class sets that have been derived from the Ruggiero bass. I hope, however, that the listener will perceive Variations On and By as a unified and stylistically consistent whole, despite its mix of ancient and modern elements. (July 30, 2006)
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNight Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 1From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 2From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 3From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 4From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20:00 min.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy - for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2005)
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy was written for Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okada, two immensely talented performers with whom I have had the good fortune to collaborate several times during the past two decades. In the music Ive written for Joe and Jun, I have tried to exploit and enhance their unique synergy, especially the rhythmic energy and momentum that some of their best performances have.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy is inspired by four songs and short instrumental pieces from the vast repertoire of American popular music and jazz of the 1930s and 40smusic that Ive been interested in for most of my life and that continues to provide me with much enjoyment, especially when performed by masterful jazz improvisers. While the listener need not recognize hints of the four source works to comprehend and enjoy this composition, for those who are familiar with these mid twentieth-century popular songs and instrumental pieces, Nights Songs and Flights of Fancy may contain enriching associations, connections, and layers of meaning.
Each of the four movements of Night Songs and Flights of Fancy begins with more or less song-like material and is followed by freer and more complex music that develops the opening material but also introduces contrasting ideas, sometimes in ways that may seem fanciful, surprising, or even mildly perplexing.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 10:05 min.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel - for Clarinet and Piano (2004)
I had admired the music of Maurice Ravel years before I began my composition lessons at the New England Conservatory in the mid 1960s. As a teenager, I remember spending hours listening to a Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe; certainly, that listening experience helped shape my concept of what the power of music could be. But it wasn't until 2002, when I gave a composition seminar in the music of Ravel at Michigan State University, that I developed a deeper understanding of the French master's art.
I had not yet given the Ravel seminar at MSU, when the talented clarinetist, Suzanne Tirk, asked me to write something for clarinet and piano. I agreed to accept Suzanne's invitation, having, at first, no intention to incorporate anything Ravelian into the new piece. But by the time the composition was started, I felt almost compelled to draw upon my studies of Ravel's music in writing this duo for clarinet and piano. I'm not sure why, but I feel that the timbres of the clarinet are particularly well suited to articulate some of Ravel's melodic ideas.
Soon after I had decided to base my composition for clarinet and piano on melodic material by Ravel, I settled upon the main theme from the recapitulation of the first movement of Ravel's string quartet. Although Ravel's theme never appears verbatim, it is the basis for almost everything in my duo. And although I have not tried to "quote" elements of Ravel's style in Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, much of this composition's harmony, texture, rhythm, etc. is indebted to Ravel's music. Fantasy is, then, offered in homage to the master, but offered with the hope that both the performer and listener will find in it more than just an attempt to mimic a well-known style. (June 2004)
Dig: JSB-1, for saxophone quartet (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 2003
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig: JSB-1, for saxophone quartet (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 2003
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Instrumentation: Sax Quartet (SATBari)
Duration: ca. 7:00 min.
Dig: JSB-1, A Transmogrification of the 4th Movement of J. S. Bach's Sonata in G Minor for Violin Solo - for Saxophone Quartet (2003)
Commissioned by the Capitol Quartet
David Lewis, Baritone Saxophone
Joe Lulloff, Soprano Saxophone
Anjan Shah, Alto Saxophone
David Stambler, Tenor SaxophoneDig: JSB-1 for saxophone quartet, is about confluence and transmogrification (defined in one dictionary as: a changing "into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre"). Dig plausibly could be called an arrangement of the last movement of Bach's solo violin sonata in G minor. However, instead of arrangement or transcription, I use the word transmogrification to categorize this work, because in the second half of Dig the degree to which I've changed Bach's music, and the aesthetic criteria I have employed in making those changes, transform the work, in my view. What starts as an arrangement ends as a composition. Consequently, this work explores relationships between tradition and innovation, translation and creation, presentation and origination.
The Capitol Quartet's ability to play different styles of music extremely well, their capacity for making rapid yet coherent stylistic transformations during their performances, and their dedication to bringing a wide variety of rich and challenging music to their audiences, is inspiring. Shortly after the quartet's delightful performance at Michigan State University in February of 2003, Anjan Shaw, the Capitol Quartet's alto saxophonist, invited me to write a piece for the group's upcoming CD. After attending their MSU performance and discussing the commission with Anjan, it became clear to me that a serious goal of the Capitol Quartet is to enrich the repertoire of the saxophone quartet in innovative ways. Furthermore, they are committed to fashioning recital programs and recording projects that will infuse the performance of music from the baroque and classical periods of European art music with a vitality that is, in part, borrowed from jazz. In the Capitol Quartet's performances and recordings one finds an appealing convergence of classical music, popular American music, and jazz, a convergence that resonates with me.
In the fall of 2002, before hearing the Capitol Quartet's MSU performance and before Anjan raised the possibility of me writing something for the quartet, I had thought about writing a saxophone quartet based on the last movement of Bach's Sonata in G Minor for Violin Solo, a piece that I had played on marimba when I was Vic Firth's student at the New England Conservatory in the 1960s. I had enjoyed playing the piece, and neither I nor my teacher had any qualms about playing it on marimba-after all, Bach himself had arranged a number of his works, including some for solo violin, for performance on other instruments!
One November or December morning, while listening to the local PBS FM radio station, I heard a recording of the Bach G-minor sonata and decided that I would enjoy turning it into a piece for saxophone quartet. I can't explain exactly why, but as I was listening to the broadcast, the piece seemed to beg to be "translated" into a saxophone quartet piece. However, being busy with other projects, I didn't begin writing the piece until after learning from Anjan that the Capitol Quartet was interested in doing a CD focusing on classical music, particularly the music of J. S. Bach, and that they wanted me to write something for the group. What a nice confluence of interests and opportunities!
The first part of the title of this composition, Dig, is a play on words. Everything in this piece is based, more or less, on Bach's violin sonata movement. Parts of the composition are little more than arrangements of chunks of Bach's solo violin music for saxophone quartet; however, in much of the quartet, Bach's melodic lines, rhythms, and implied harmonies are rearranged, deranged, displaced, elaborated upon, etc. I've transformed Bach's music in ways, some of which I hope are pleasantly unexpected, that reflect my interests in and experiences with jazz and twentieth-century European and American composition.
This kind of "borrowing" and metamorphosing has been done by many composers (Bach himself, Ives, Stravinsky, Berio, and many others), but some distinguished musicians have frowned upon the practice. Pierre Boulez, for example, in his essay "Bach's Moment," has characterized composers who have borrowed material from other composers as "grave robbers." I prefer to think of such borrowings as musical archaeology; hence my title Dig (as in archaeological dig). But since in this piece I'm attempting to transform Bach's violin piece, using, in part, jazz harmonies, instrumental techniques, and rhythmic concepts, the title also is intended to suggest that I "dig" (i.e., admire, like, respect, etc., in jazz parlance) Bach's music and would like, through the Capitol Quartet, to bring it to the attention of many performers and listeners who otherwise might not encounter it.
Dig: JSB-1 is dedicated to the memory of Theodore O. Johnson, who was my friend and colleague at Michigan State University for more than 30 years and who wrote two books on the music of J. S. Bach. (November 2003)
Collage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesCollage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's COLLAGE, Mvts. at 280 and 360 From - COLLAGE, Crystal Records CD947
The Verdehre Trio: Walter Verdehr, violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet, Silvia Roederer, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 9:40 min.
Collage-1912 (2001)
Several times during the 1990s Walter Verdehr, my Michigan State University colleague, invited me to write a piece for the renowned Verdehr Trio, the clarinet-violin-piano trio that he founded with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, in 1972 (just one year, coincidentally, before I joined the MSU faculty). I regret that it took me so long to compose something for the Verdehrs, but the delay wasn't due to lack of interest. I've been a great admirer of Elsa and Walter as solo performers and of their superb trio for many years, and I'm honored that they asked me to contribute to the distinctive repertoire that their talents and hard work have brought to life during the past three decades, but a variety of other exigent projects during the 1990s prevented me from working on a piece for the Verdehr Trio until the fall of 2001.
For years now both Elsa and Walter have been attracted to the paintings of my daughter Maria Fiorenza Ruggiero Sidiropoulos. Not only have the Verdehrs purchased several of Maria's paintings for their home, but they also have used a few of her images on Verdehr Trio posters and as part of their website. Every now and then, when I'd run into Walter in the halls of MSU's School of Music or chat with him after one of the trio's summer performances at MSU's Wharton Center, he would say something like, "About that piece we'd like you to write, . . . wouldn't it be wonderful if you could tie it in with some of Maria's paintings." And at one point Walter suggested that it would be delightful to have a number of Maria's paintings exhibited at the site of the premiere of my composition for the Verdehr Trio.
I liked Walter's idea that I relate my composition in some way to my daughter's work, but I did not want to write a "pictures-at-an-exhibition" type of piece. And I especially did not want to try to convey my impressions of Maria's depiction of some idyllic landscape located in a region of the world I'd never set foot in. After considerable thought I decided to try to develop a musical composition using techniques or procedures analogous to those Maria has been using in some of her recent (2000-2001) paintings.
Collage-1912 isn't based on any particular painting or paintings, nor is it intended to impart my musical impressions of, or responses to, the things and places represented in any of Maria's paintings; rather, this musical composition was created using steps analogous to those my daughter has used to transform some of her smaller still-life paintings into larger, more abstract landscapes. Maria's still-life paintings, like many traditional still-lifes, are representations of more-or-less common household objects-glasses, dishes, candlesticks, vases, pieces of fruit, etc.-arranged in a very "artificial" manner. That's to say, arranged not as they would be if someone were preparing for a dinner party, but arranged as a composition of shapes, colors, shadings, etc. Quite often in Maria's still-life paintings compositional motifs take precedence over "reality." For example, in one painting the pattern of a tablecloth is imprinted upon objects that sit on top of the cloth instead of being obscured by them. Although these small still-life paintings are already somewhat abstract, a more marked abstraction takes place in the next phase of the process, where various elements from some of these still-life paintings are used in the development of enlarged companion works.
Maria has produced a series of works in which she has attempted, quite successfully I believe, to transform original but somewhat conventional still-life paintings into bold landscapes that can (should?) be viewed in multiple ways. For example, a large piece might be perceived as an autonomous, rather loose, rhythmic, and intense post-impressionistic landscape and simultaneously seen as a radical permutation of the still-life painting with which it is paired.
How did the creation of Collage-1912 relate to the process outlined above? I started my piece for the Verdehr Trio by fashioning a musical still-life of sorts. I snipped many passages from a dozen compositions (all of which were either composed or published in 1911 or 1912-hence the title) and rather "artificially" arranged them into a musical "still-life." This part of the process took about two months-much more time than I had anticipated! In the next step of the compositional process, I modified the musical still-life by rearranging, supplementing, subtracting from, distorting, overlapping, fusing, etc. the snippets to create the final composition.
Every measure of Collage-1912 is based on one or more snippets (including a few fairly substantial excerpts) taken from one composition by each of the following twelve composers: Béla Bartók, Irving Berlin, Claude Debussy, W.C. Handy, Charles Ives, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, James Scott, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Joaquín Turina. A diverse group of snippets, to be sure, but perhaps not as diverse as one might guess from reading any standard college textbook on the history of Western music! The use of existing music to create a new work is, of course, nothing new. Not only were numerous European medieval, renaissance, and baroque pieces constructed with borrowed materials, but many twentieth-century composers, including some of the twelve composers whose music is used in Collage-1912 (particularly Ives and Stravinsky), have quoted and parodied music from various sources extensively in certain compositions.
Collage-1912, which is approximately eleven minutes in duration, consists of two parts that are performed with no pause between them. This work is dedicated to the Verdehr Trio, to my daughter Maria, and to all twelve of the composers whose raw materials I mined for the "still-life" and consequent collage (or "abstract musical landscape") by which, I must admit, I've attempted to depict a significant chunk of the Western music world circa 1912. (November 29, 2001)
SizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's SIZZLESAX II From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, tenor saxophone, Jon Weber, percussion
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: T Sax, Perc
Duration: ca. 14:45 min.
SizzleSax II - for Tenor Saxophone and Percussion (2001)
SizzleSax, the original version of this composition, was given its premiere by Joseph Lulloff at the 12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal on July 8, 2000, at the University of Quebec's Salle Pierre-Mercure. In the original SizzleSax, the tenor saxophonist was called upon to play five cymbals by hand and at times to alternate rapidly between playing the saxophone and the cymbals-both of which requirements, especially the former, proved to be problematic.
While Lulloff's brilliant performance of SizzleSax was received with some enthusiasm at the Congress, several of the saxophonists who heard (and saw) the premiere commented that they wouldn't even consider trying to learn the piece because of the possible stress and even serious injury to their hands that playing the cymbals might cause. Their concerns, unfortunately, were justified.
After playing SizzleSax at the Brevard Music Center later in the summer of 2000, Joseph Lulloff (who is both a Michigan State University colleague and close friend of mine) told me that as much as he had enjoyed playing the cymbals in his two performances of SizzleSax, the toll that these performances had taken on his hands was too great for him to continue playing the composition. Joe decided to cancel the Michigan premiere of SizzleSax, and I regretfully concurred. I certainly didn't want Joe's hands to be damaged playing my music. But having invested too much time and creative energy in SizzleSax to let it die such a quick death, I was determined to come up with a benign (at least non-injurious!) transformation of the composition that retained and further developed much of its original musical content-even if some of SizzleSax's theatrics had to be sacrificed.
In July and August of 2001 SizzleSax II, the phoenix of SizzleSax, was reborn, still a work inspired by Joseph Lulloff, but now a duo for tenor saxophone and percussion. The original cymbals of SizzleSax have been augmented in SizzleSax II with other metallic instruments (triangles, sizzle-gong, and tam-tam) and various "skins" percussion instruments (bongos, tom-tom, congas, and bass drum). It is hoped that this new version may be performed without injury to either player. (August 12, 2001)
Blues, Time, Changes, for bassoon and string quartet, 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesBlues, Time, Changes, for bassoon and string quartet, 1999
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Instrumentation: Bsn, 2 Vln, Vla, Vlc, cond (optional)
Duration: ca. 15:00 min.
Blues, Time, Changes - for Bassoon and String Quartet (1999)
Blues, Time, Changes is the second in a projected series of compositions based substantially on blues (more precisely, blues elements as they are manifested in jazz). The first work in this series, Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet (written in 1981), inhabits a large niche in my compositional output where stylistic labels don't stick well. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle about a 1985 performance of the quartet, Robert Commanday opined:
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet by Charles Ruggiero was something of a misnomer; only the third piece really exploits blues ideas. No matter, it's a pleasing set, . . .Chances are that Blues, Time, Changes will be received with similar bafflement in some quarters, frustrating both blues purists and concertgoers intent upon finding apt musicological catch phrases to stick to the composition. Some may feel that Blues, Time, Changes is, like my saxophone quartet, stylistically adrift. The hard-core jazz fan might think Blues, Time, Changes is too complex, too dissonant, too diverse, too contrived, etc. to be a "true" blues or jazz composition, while the aficionado of advanced "art music" might consider Blues, Time, Changes to be too simple, too tonal, too conventionally shaped, too straightforward to be a "serious" work. To put it succinctly: Blues, Time, Changes may be too much like a simple blues for some, and not enough like an authentic blues for others.
Aware as I am of the potential pitfalls of writing a piece that might be called a "misnomer," I'm willing to risk it, especially if I can offer up a "pleasing set." Jazz and blues music, especially the latter, are pervasive in twentieth-century world culture. Few musical genres of any time have found such wide and enthusiastic acceptance around the globe as blues. Live and recorded blues performances, by such masterful artists as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and countless other talented singers and instrumentalists, as well as blues pieces by such distinctive composers as W. C. Handy, Maurice Ravel, Duke Ellington, Samuel Barber, and Thelonious Monk (not to mention the tens of thousands of blues tunes written by waves of rural blues, R&B, soul, pop, etc. writers over the decades), have had a constant presence in American culture throughout the twentieth century. One consequence of this is that probably most people raised in North America in this century (and many people from other parts of the world) have some seemingly innate feeling for blues.
I believe that nearly every American, trained in music or not (including those who are disdainful of blues styles), can hear (perceive) certain aspects of blues music. It is as a common thread in an otherwise disjointed musical culture, that blues music interests me. In Blues, Time, Changes I rely upon the listener's familiarity with blues to build moderately complex structures that, it is hoped, are subtly expressive and relatively accessible (not dirty words, in my lexicon).
The title Blues, Time, Changes is intended to be suggestive. The three words, of course, have common meanings and uses that I hope will have relevance to someone trying to develop an understanding of aspects of my composition. For instance, one connotation of the ordering of these three words is that a blues form (involving varied repetitions of a harmonic progression) might change over time during the piece. That is, certain blues materials (including rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic elements) might be transformed as the composition unfolds. Another connotation of the title suggests that listening to blues music, including this piece, might be capable of having an effect on one's perception of time in interesting ways-a matter for speculation.
In addition to their common meanings, blues, time, and changes each has a fairly well-defined technical meaning (or set of meanings) for a jazz musician. Blues (or the blues) often refers to standardized forms and harmonic progressions used by jazz musicians as bases for improvisation. And the term has other meanings-blue note, for example, is a phrase used by many jazz musicians to refer to special tones and certain pitches that fall outside the standard equal temperament of Western classical music.
Time, an elusive jazz term, refers to the unique rhythmic framework of a jazz performance, including such interrelated variables as meter, tempo, rhythmic vocabulary, swing, etc. In Blues, Time, Changes, which is in one continuous movement, each of the two main sections of the piece is delineated primarily by its distinct embodiment of time, or, in jazz parlance, by its own time feel.
To a jazz musician, changes refers to the progression of chords upon which a jazz performance or arrangement is based. These chords often are taken from a popular song and typically change at the pace of one or two chords per measure. In Blues, Time, Changes two fundamental, though often obscured, sets of changes are essential in creating the architectonics and formal processes of the composition.
Blues, Time, Changes was composed for bassoonist Barry Stees, my talented colleague at Michigan State University; it was written during the summers of 1998 and 1999. (2000)
Strayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStrayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
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Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 14:00 min.
STRAYHORN - A Concert Arrangement of Billy Strayhorn Compositions for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000)
STRAYHORN was written for my friends Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okadaduring the seven days from December 26, 1999, to New Year's Day, 2000. Although I hadn't planned on spending that week writing music, when Joe asked me (late in November) to arrange "some jazz" for his appearance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on January 26, 2000, I just couldn't say no. The sponsors of Joe's recital, the New York Pro Musicis association, had suggested that he include some jazz on his program, and when Joe contacted me I immediately proposed an extended concert arrangement based on several songs and instrumental pieces of Billy Strayhorn. The choice of Strayhorn's music was easy; it was stimulated in part by my interest in Strayhorn's compositions and in part by Joe's admiration for the distinctive alto saxophone playing of Johnny Hodges, one of Strayhorn's colleagues in the Duke Ellington enterprise. (The attentive listener may recognize a brief reference to Strayhorn's musical tribute to Hodges, "Johnny Come Lately," at the very end of the arrangement.)
Although their emotional expressiveness and melodic beauty are quite captivating, it is the harmonic sophistication of Billy Strayhorn's compositions that is most intriguing to me. As José Hosiasson states in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Strayhorn's "ballads . . . are harmonically and structurally among the most sophisticated in jazz." This sophistication is not surprising, considering the excellent early musical training that Strayhorn received, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary gift for composition.
After spending nearly three decades as Duke Ellington's closest musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn died somewhat in the shadow of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader. During his lifetime, some of Strayhorn's music, like the well-known theme song of Ellington's band, "Take the 'A' Train," was assumed by many to be Duke's work. But recently a number of performers and scholars have begun to better understand the significance of Strayhorn's contributions to Ellington's output and to reappraise Strayhorn's independent work.
This arrangement for alto saxophone and piano of Strayhorn works is intended to pay homage to Billy Strayhorn by helping to bring his music to the recital stage. It's my hope that in this piece two different performance practices (one involving improvisation, the other not) are blended effectively, resulting in a work that can be presented convincingly by musicians who are at ease with fully notated "art music" but not averse to improvisation. This approach seems appropriate, since Strayhorn was rooted in the traditions of both jazz and European "classical" music.
He was my listener, my most dependable appraiser, and as a critic he would be the most clinical, but his background--both classical and modern--was an accessory to his own good taste and understanding, so what came back to me was in perfect balance.Duke Ellington (from his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress)
STRAYHORN is based on the following compositions (listed in order of their appearance in the arrangement):
Day Dream (Ellington/Strayhorn, 1941)
Rain Check (Strayhorn, 1942)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, 1941)
Blood Count (Strayhorn, 1967)
Upper Manhattan Medical Group--also known as "U.M.M.G." (Strayhorn, 1956)
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn, 1941)
Johnny Come Lately (Strayhorn, 1942)
(December, 2000)
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets, 1996, rev. 1997
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets, 1996, rev. 1997
CloseSamples:
Complete (ca. 7 min.) - Ruggiero's FANFARES, GROWLES, AND SHOUTS From - Recording Session, MSU College of Music Auditorium
The Trumpets of the MSU Wind Symphony, John Madden, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: 6 Bb Tpt, cond
Duration: ca. 6:30 min.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts - for Six Trumpets (1996)
Several years ago my colleague Richard Illman (Professor of Trumpet, Michigan State University) suggested that I consider composing a work for a small ensemble of trumpets; his suggestion piqued my interest and was one of the main factors that led me to compose Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts for Six Trumpets. Many times, both as a listener and as a jazz drummer, I've been particularly affected by the outstanding brass playing of skilled jazz improvisers. And at more than one point in my life I even have attempted-if only briefly!-to learn how to play rudimentary jazz on the trumpet. Consequently, although this is the first composition of mine that is for trumpets only, I began composing FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS feeling confident that I could use effectively many of the various sonorities that the trumpet is capable of producing, including those created via the special techniques developed and perfected by jazz improvisers and jazz arrangers.
Right from when Rich Illman first approached me about composing a trumpet piece, some general ideas for this composition began to percolate. But although I was enthusiastic about writing something for Rich and his talented students, other compositional projects delayed my writing of FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS for quite some time. Then, in the fall of 1993, John Whitwell (Director of Bands at Michigan State University) asked me to write a fanfare which would become part of a set of new works that he and the MSU Bands were commissioning to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the first official band at Michigan State. Delighted with John Whitwell's invitation, I proposed to write a piece for six solo trumpets, and he endorsed this plan.
Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts requires six very accomplished instrumentalists, all of whom are familiar with jazz trumpet styles and techniques. All six parts are approximately of the same difficulty, but the Trumpet 1 part calls for a high-note specialist, and the Trumpet 6 part needs a player with a very firm command of the bottom fifth of the instrument's range.
If two of the essences of jazz are improvisation and swing, then FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS cannot be considered a jazz composition, in that the score allows for no improvisation and is notated without the expectation of "swing" interpretation of its written rhythms. But jazz influences on certain aspects of this composition are so strong that it might be said the spirit of jazz permeates, even dominates, this work. Indeed, one of the primary artistic motivations of this composition is the trumpet virtuosi of the Duke Ellington big band, and, of course, the music written for them by Ellington and his collaborators.
One of the most galvanizing and thoroughly enjoyable musical experiences of my life came in the summer of 1965, when I heard the Duke Ellington Orchestra live at Weirs Beach in New Hampshire. The band played about three hours of music, starting with a concert set, and followed, after an intermission, by an extended dance set. In the band that night were many of the legendary soloists whom Ellington had cultivated throughout his long career as a band leader, including the fire-breathing and barely containable Cat Anderson, the always tasty and entertaining Ray Nance, and the inimitable master of the growl and mute, Cootie Williams. It is the wonderful trumpet stylings of these men and other Ellington trumpet stars like Bubber Miley, Rex Stewart, Shorty Baker, and Clark Terry, as well as some of the compositional and arranging techniques of Ellington and other jazz writers, that are the foundations of my Fanfares, Growls, and Shouts.
I have listened to at least 100 different Ellington CDs and LPs, but I've never heard a recording of the Ellington band that even comes close to representing the power and sonorous brilliance of the Ellington brass section as it sounded "live." Somewhat in the manner of Ellington's brass functioning at its peak, a good performance of FANFARES, GROWLS, AND SHOUTS must be felt clearly and impressively, even by those members of the audience sitting in the last row of the auditorium!
FANFARES, Growls, and Shouts is not tonal in the sense that most of Ellington's music is (but Ellington did, from time to time, experiment with extreme chromaticism and dissonance, as well as other harmonic techniques associated with twentieth-century Western "classical" music). Although many of the sonorities found in FANFARES recall big-band jazz music, the "harmony" of this composition is based more on pitch-class sets and interactions of sets. However, it is rhythm, especially at the macro-level of structure, that is the fundamental organizing force of FANFARES. "Good proportion" in works of art has been a topic of considerable interest since at least the ancient Greeks. It is my intention to have created, in a rather systematic way, beautiful and meaningful proportions in this composition.
Kenneth Bloomquist, former head of the Michigan State University School of Music, Director of Bands at MSU until his retirement in 1993, past president of the American Bandmasters Association, nationally acclaimed clinician and conductor of wind ensembles, and trumpeter!, has been an inspiring educator, performer, mentor, and friend to many members of the Michigan State community for decades. It is with sincere appreciation and admiration that I dedicate this composition to him.
I wish to express my gratitude to my talented colleagues John Whitwell, Rich Illman, and John Madden for supporting the composition of this work and for helping to launch it on the concert stage. (August 5, 1996; rev. September 29, 1996 and May 31, 1997)
Fractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's FRACTURED MAMBOS
Recommended volume for this sample: High!
From - FRACTURED MAMBOS, Mark Recording CD MCD-1701Philip Sinder, tuba
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Tuba, Electroacoustic
Duration: ca. 10:10 min.
Fractured Mambos - for Tuba and Electronic Recording (1990)
Early in 1989 Philip Sinder asked me if I would be interested in writing a piece for tuba. I offered to write Phil a composition for solo tuba and electronic tape that would have a strong jazz flavor. Phil, who shares my interest in jazz, had been considering the same combination of performing forces, tuba with electronic sounds, so it was easy for us to agree on the broad outlines of the collaboration which has resulted in my composition Fractured Mambos.
While writing for tuba, and while preparing to write by listening to diverse recorded examples of tuba music, I was impressed by the wide range of sounds, moods, and emotions that this beast of an instrument is able to convey when being tamed by a performer as masterful as Philip Sinder. The tuba, I found, can be clumsy, comical, playful, lyrical, bold, dramatic . . . . It can be delicately expressive one second, and then magnificently intimidating the next.
Instead of using real-time electronic modification of tuba sounds, I decided to use a "classical" technique in this work, combining taped synthesized and digitally sampled sounds with the live unprocessed tuba performance. This approach was taken because, rather than try to turn the tuba into some sort of electronic trumpet or MIDI wind controller, I wanted the tuba to produce "natural" timbres and articulations. It was my intention to create a work that would be relatively easy to perform "on the road," with minimal hardware requirements and a simple setup. Furthermore, I did not want my new composition to become outdated as soon as the current generation of computer music hardware is replaced by the next wave of music technology.
A concept of the timbres and textures to be used in Fractured Mambos came to me soon after I decided to write the piece. At first there were to be four main "sound groups": the live acoustic tuba part, digitally sampled brass ensemble sounds, synthesized and sampled percussion sounds, and synthesized tuba sounds. Later, a fifth sound group was added: sampled muted trumpet sounds.
The textural and timbral models for Fractured Mambos should be familiar to many listeners, they include post-bop "big bands" (with their powerful trumpet and trombone sections) and, especially, Latin/jazz salsa groups (which typically combine "horns" with dynamic rhythm sections).
Eclectic in style, Fractured Mambos clearly shows the influence on my work of such leading twentieth-century American musicians as Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, and Miles Davis. Echoes (that sometimes are twisted and distorted, but which never are intentionally mocking) of the music of such Latin-jazz artists as Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri are pervasive in Fractured Mambos. What may be the main structural premise of Fractured Mambos, the transformation, reinterpretation, and disintegration of somewhat simple and familiar musical materials through juxtaposition, interruption, and interpolation, comes in no small part from that ancient and esteemed master, I.S. (1993)
Interplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesInterplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's INTERPLAY, Mvt. 1, 'Octaves' From - INTERPLAY, Channel Crossing CD CCS 10497
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, Philip Hosford, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 19:00 min.
Interplay - for Soprano Saxophone and Piano (1988)
This composition for soprano saxophone and piano was written during the period of July 1987 through April 1988 and was one of three works commissioned by saxophonists Joseph Lulloff, Allen Rippe, and Cynthia Sikes as part of a 1987-89 National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commissioning Project sponsored by Tulane University. William Russo and Ralph Shapey, the two other composers who participated in the project, were commissioned to write compositions that feature the alto saxophone.
* * *
Interplay is in three movements: "Octaves," "Night Song," and "Departures." The title "Interplay" refers to the sometimes playful, sometimes combative, interactions that occur between the saxophone and piano parts throughout the composition, but especially in the work's outer movements.
In the first and second movements of Interplay two essentially distinct sets of musical materials are presented; in the third movement these two sets of materials are synthesized and transformed. The use, in the first two movements, of certain stylistic models and materials borrowed from modern jazz is confirmed in the final movement as it departs from its opening style and moves toward a blatantly boppish idiom.
"Octaves" is organized into seven main sections. Passages consisting of spun-out generative lines in octaves (i.e., with perfect octave or multiple-octave doublings between the saxophone and piano parts and between the two hands of the piano part) occur three times over the course of the movement and collectively serve as a source of materials for the movement's other sections.
Both perfect octaves and augmented octaves figure conspicuously in the melodic and harmonic palette of the first movement, and "Octaves" begins and ends with a juxtaposition of these two intervals. In the second and the sixth sections of the movement, perfect octaves are used prominently in the eighteenth-century derived accompaniment figures of the piano part. The classical keyboard style of these two sections serves as a foil to the volatile jazz "comping" that dominates the middle of the movement.
"Night Song" is an atmospheric "after-hours tune" in a harmonic style that is more explicitly tonal than that of "Octaves." Jazz-like pitch and timbre inflections, which for the most part are absent from the first movement, are introduced in "Night Song" and then are used more prominently in "Departures," the final movement of the work.
The form of "Departures" is the result of a process in which tempos, textures, repetitive figurations, harmonic progressions, etc. are established and then negated in ways so as to set up arrival points at new musical territories. "Departures" might be thought of as a voyage that ultimately takes the listener back to the two primary musical environments out of which were generated the materials of the first two movements: namely, the milieu of modern jazz (especially bop and bop-related jazz), and that of the neoclassic music of Igor Stravinsky. (June 6, 1989)
Dances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCES AND OTHER MOVEMENTS, Mvt. 9, 'Finale'From - Faculty Recital
I-Fu Wang, violin, James Forger, alto saxophone, Deborah Moriarty, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dances and Other Movements - for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano (1983)
Dances . . . is a suite of nine short movements three of which are solos: "Soliloquy" (for saxophone), "Interlude" (for piano), and "Violin Tune" (featuring, of course, violin). In several of the movements, especially in the dances, simple ostinatos and more-or-less familiar meters and rhythms are employed. In the last movement, "Finale," motives, themes, and other elements of the first eight movements are juxtaposed and further developed.
Although Dances and Other Movements is partially based on a 12-tone set, the style of this composition is indebted primarily to such diverse sources as the music of Bartok and Stravinsky, Latin-American popular music, traditional and modern jazz, and Eastern-European folk music.
The 12-tone set of Dances . . . is derived from part of the melody of a well-known jazz "standard"; this borrowing is a hidden tribute to one of the leading creative forces of modern jazz.
In Dances and Other Movements I have explored and tried to integrate contrasting rhythmic styles. Extensive portions of this composition are notated in "traditional" meters . . . , and the beat in these passages is often very easily distinguishable. In several movements, however, the beat is sometimes obscured by a variety of non-traditional rhythmic techniques and notational devices. It is hoped that the listener will hear transformations or "modulations" from one rhythmic style to another in certain passages; the most extended example of rhythmic transformation in this work can be heard in "Finale."
The basic 12-tone set of Dances and Other Movements is rotated (i.e., systematically reordered) and otherwise used rather freely throughout the composition. Less primitive than the 12-tone structure of this work is its use of registral and timbral constants as prime referential elements. Pitch classes tend to be associated with only one or two specific octave locations in each of the three instruments. It is hoped that the listener will perceive and, without much special effort, aurally remember the registral locations of pitch classes and that this will enhance the listener's understanding and enjoyment of the work. (1983)
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet, (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 1981 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesThree Blues for Saxophone Quartet, (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 1981 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's THREE BLUES FOR SAXOPHONE QUARTET, Mvt. 2, 'Delicately...'From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. V
AUR CD 3111
The Great Lakes Saxophone Quartet: James Forger, Donell Snyder, Joseph Lulloff, Eric Lau
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, A Sax, T Sax, Bari Sax
Duration: ca. 12:20 min.
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet (1981)
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet was composed in 1981 for James Forger and the Michigan State University Saxophone Quartet. Stylistic and formal elements from traditional jazz are pervasive in this work, but Three Blues is virtually devoid of improvisation except that the performers are expected, in much of the work, to play the given notes, rhythms, and dynamics in a style that sounds improvisational. A fine performance of Three Blues will capture the spirit of good jazz improvisation.
The structure of Three Blues is an arch form in three movements. The central movement is the longest and most complex of the three. After a brief introduction, the second movement begins with a "neo-bop" section featuring the alto and tenor saxophones. After the first statement of a short ritornello that punctuates the second movement, an extended contrapuntal passage leads to the apex of the arch for the entire composition, after which a variant of the "neo-bop" section ends the movement.
Both of the framing movements are shorter and lighter in style than the second. The first movement, marked "Charliechaplinesque," evokes the enthusiastic and lighthearted mood of some '20s and '30s jazz (although it uses the harmonic and rhythmic style of more modern jazz). Movement I is based on a repeated harmonic progression that is systematically shortened and then restored to its original length as the movement evolves. This progression is derived in part from the first two measures of the third movement (incidentally, these measures of the third movement contain the first ideas to be composed for the entire composition).
The last movement ("relaxed but not sloppy"!) caricatures, in a friendly way, some blues idioms that jazz enthusiasts will recognize easily. Two functions of this movement are to provide an architectonic balance to the first movement, and to develop some of the rhythmic ideas of the previous two movements. In this last movement, although the prevailing meter is 4/4, beats frequently get displaced, lengthened, or shortened by unexpected durations creating, it is hoped, a controlled elasticity of meter and tempo. The wellsprings of these rhythmic ideas are jazz and, to a lesser extent, the music of Igor Stravinsky. (1981; rev. in 2000)
Studies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStudies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
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Instrumentation: Cl Bb, Vibe
Duration: Mvt. 1-ca. 3:30; Mvt. 2 ("Jeanjean") ca. 5:50 min.
Jeanjean - from Studies for Clarinet and Vibe (1979-80)
In "Jeanjean,". . . I have tried to write a very flexible and expressive, but sometimes vague and understated, clarinet melody over a static and rigidly steady accompaniment in the vibe. The quality of rhythmic "rightness" (for lack of a better word) always found in good jazz, is the main inspiration for this movement. The melodic-harmonic style of this piece, however, stems not at all from jazz but from other twentieth-century sources-including the clarinet etudes of the French composer, Paul Jeanjean." (1980)
Hocket Variations, for piano and prepared piano, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesHocket Variations, for piano and prepared piano, 1978
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Instrumentation: Pn, Prepared Pn
Duration: ca. 30:00 min.
Hocket Variations - for Piano and Prepared Piano (1978)
"Hocket Variations for Two Pianos" was commissioned by the Michigan Music Teachers Association and was composed during August and September, 1978.
Although no theme is stated at any point in the composition, certain rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, textural, and formal elements are introduced, repeated, and varied throughout. Some of the more important of these elements are: hocket (a compositional device perfected in the middle ages consisting of the rapid alternation of two or more voices or instruments with single notes or groups of notes) and pointillism (a twentieth-century manner of composition in which single notes or small groups of notes are separated or isolated by musical space, timbre, dynamics, rests, etc.)-the two of which should be regarded as closely related in this composition; the opening chords of Variation 1 (which, incidentally, is only one measure in duration); the long series of pitches which is first stated in Variation 2; repeated notes and chords played accelerando (first found at the end of Variation 2) . . . ; the melodic and harmonic material first stated in Variation 3; the pitch class B-natural and the E major triad; and, trills and grace notes (first stated in Variation 6). It is hoped that even on first hearing a careful listener will recognize most of these elements much of the time when they are present in the work. As a successful performance of this composition unfolds, a creative and sensitive listener should intuitively or subconsciously construct an abstract "theme" (i.e., collection of compositional constants). So this work is, in a sense, a theme and variations.
Most of the variations are for two pianos, Piano I being "prepared" (i.e., physically modified, in this case by placing plastic screw anchors between the wires of all of the double and triple strings) to help clarify the hocket passages and provide timbral richness. Of the 20 variations three (5, 10, and 16) are for one piano. These solo variations not only provide some timbral and textural contrast, but also serve to introduce and recapitulate materials for two groups of variations.
In homage to the Goldberg Variations Variations 11, 14, and part of 15 of "Hocket Variations" are canons. However, the canons in Variations 11 and 15 are unmetered, and all three canons are as much timbral-textural-rhythmic "effects" as examples of strict counterpoint. (October, 1978)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Clarinet - Music for Solo Clarinet
Spirit and Flesh, for solo clarinet, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSpirit and Flesh, for solo clarinet, 2006
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl
Spirit and Flesh - for Clarinet (2006)
Duration: ca. 7:20 min.
SPIRIT AND FLESH is a musical representation of (or, perhaps more accurately, a musical speculation on) how the spirit, the vital principle and animating force of a human being, interacts with human physicality (the flesh or body). SPIRIT AND FLESH is based on three musical styles or characters. Each of these characters has some distinct musical materials (i.e., motives, harmonic progressions, quotations, etc.), but all three also share material.The spirit character is associated primarily with trills, tremolos, and softer dynamics. The flesh character is represented by music that might be thought of as typical clarinet art musicpatterns and gestures that one might hear in a classical (or neoclassical) sonata or concerto for clarinet. The third character, or the transformational character, is marked by volatile, jazzy, and often loud utterances that mediate between the other two characters. (December 28, 2006)
Clarinet - Music for Clarinet and Piano
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 10:05 min.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel - for Clarinet and Piano (2004)
I had admired the music of Maurice Ravel years before I began my composition lessons at the New England Conservatory in the mid 1960s. As a teenager, I remember spending hours listening to a Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe; certainly, that listening experience helped shape my concept of what the power of music could be. But it wasn't until 2002, when I gave a composition seminar in the music of Ravel at Michigan State University, that I developed a deeper understanding of the French master's art.
I had not yet given the Ravel seminar at MSU, when the talented clarinetist, Suzanne Tirk, asked me to write something for clarinet and piano. I agreed to accept Suzanne's invitation, having, at first, no intention to incorporate anything Ravelian into the new piece. But by the time the composition was started, I felt almost compelled to draw upon my studies of Ravel's music in writing this duo for clarinet and piano. I'm not sure why, but I feel that the timbres of the clarinet are particularly well suited to articulate some of Ravel's melodic ideas.
Soon after I had decided to base my composition for clarinet and piano on melodic material by Ravel, I settled upon the main theme from the recapitulation of the first movement of Ravel's string quartet. Although Ravel's theme never appears verbatim, it is the basis for almost everything in my duo. And although I have not tried to "quote" elements of Ravel's style in Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, much of this composition's harmony, texture, rhythm, etc. is indebted to Ravel's music. Fantasy is, then, offered in homage to the master, but offered with the hope that both the performer and listener will find in it more than just an attempt to mimic a well-known style. (June 2004)
Clarinet - Chamber Music that Includes Clarinet
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 10:05 min.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel - for Clarinet and Piano (2004)
I had admired the music of Maurice Ravel years before I began my composition lessons at the New England Conservatory in the mid 1960s. As a teenager, I remember spending hours listening to a Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe; certainly, that listening experience helped shape my concept of what the power of music could be. But it wasn't until 2002, when I gave a composition seminar in the music of Ravel at Michigan State University, that I developed a deeper understanding of the French master's art.
I had not yet given the Ravel seminar at MSU, when the talented clarinetist, Suzanne Tirk, asked me to write something for clarinet and piano. I agreed to accept Suzanne's invitation, having, at first, no intention to incorporate anything Ravelian into the new piece. But by the time the composition was started, I felt almost compelled to draw upon my studies of Ravel's music in writing this duo for clarinet and piano. I'm not sure why, but I feel that the timbres of the clarinet are particularly well suited to articulate some of Ravel's melodic ideas.
Soon after I had decided to base my composition for clarinet and piano on melodic material by Ravel, I settled upon the main theme from the recapitulation of the first movement of Ravel's string quartet. Although Ravel's theme never appears verbatim, it is the basis for almost everything in my duo. And although I have not tried to "quote" elements of Ravel's style in Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, much of this composition's harmony, texture, rhythm, etc. is indebted to Ravel's music. Fantasy is, then, offered in homage to the master, but offered with the hope that both the performer and listener will find in it more than just an attempt to mimic a well-known style. (June 2004)
Collage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesCollage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's COLLAGE, Mvts. at 280 and 360 From - COLLAGE, Crystal Records CD947
The Verdehre Trio: Walter Verdehr, violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet, Silvia Roederer, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 9:40 min.
Collage-1912 (2001)
Several times during the 1990s Walter Verdehr, my Michigan State University colleague, invited me to write a piece for the renowned Verdehr Trio, the clarinet-violin-piano trio that he founded with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, in 1972 (just one year, coincidentally, before I joined the MSU faculty). I regret that it took me so long to compose something for the Verdehrs, but the delay wasn't due to lack of interest. I've been a great admirer of Elsa and Walter as solo performers and of their superb trio for many years, and I'm honored that they asked me to contribute to the distinctive repertoire that their talents and hard work have brought to life during the past three decades, but a variety of other exigent projects during the 1990s prevented me from working on a piece for the Verdehr Trio until the fall of 2001.
For years now both Elsa and Walter have been attracted to the paintings of my daughter Maria Fiorenza Ruggiero Sidiropoulos. Not only have the Verdehrs purchased several of Maria's paintings for their home, but they also have used a few of her images on Verdehr Trio posters and as part of their website. Every now and then, when I'd run into Walter in the halls of MSU's School of Music or chat with him after one of the trio's summer performances at MSU's Wharton Center, he would say something like, "About that piece we'd like you to write, . . . wouldn't it be wonderful if you could tie it in with some of Maria's paintings." And at one point Walter suggested that it would be delightful to have a number of Maria's paintings exhibited at the site of the premiere of my composition for the Verdehr Trio.
I liked Walter's idea that I relate my composition in some way to my daughter's work, but I did not want to write a "pictures-at-an-exhibition" type of piece. And I especially did not want to try to convey my impressions of Maria's depiction of some idyllic landscape located in a region of the world I'd never set foot in. After considerable thought I decided to try to develop a musical composition using techniques or procedures analogous to those Maria has been using in some of her recent (2000-2001) paintings.
Collage-1912 isn't based on any particular painting or paintings, nor is it intended to impart my musical impressions of, or responses to, the things and places represented in any of Maria's paintings; rather, this musical composition was created using steps analogous to those my daughter has used to transform some of her smaller still-life paintings into larger, more abstract landscapes. Maria's still-life paintings, like many traditional still-lifes, are representations of more-or-less common household objects-glasses, dishes, candlesticks, vases, pieces of fruit, etc.-arranged in a very "artificial" manner. That's to say, arranged not as they would be if someone were preparing for a dinner party, but arranged as a composition of shapes, colors, shadings, etc. Quite often in Maria's still-life paintings compositional motifs take precedence over "reality." For example, in one painting the pattern of a tablecloth is imprinted upon objects that sit on top of the cloth instead of being obscured by them. Although these small still-life paintings are already somewhat abstract, a more marked abstraction takes place in the next phase of the process, where various elements from some of these still-life paintings are used in the development of enlarged companion works.
Maria has produced a series of works in which she has attempted, quite successfully I believe, to transform original but somewhat conventional still-life paintings into bold landscapes that can (should?) be viewed in multiple ways. For example, a large piece might be perceived as an autonomous, rather loose, rhythmic, and intense post-impressionistic landscape and simultaneously seen as a radical permutation of the still-life painting with which it is paired.
How did the creation of Collage-1912 relate to the process outlined above? I started my piece for the Verdehr Trio by fashioning a musical still-life of sorts. I snipped many passages from a dozen compositions (all of which were either composed or published in 1911 or 1912-hence the title) and rather "artificially" arranged them into a musical "still-life." This part of the process took about two months-much more time than I had anticipated! In the next step of the compositional process, I modified the musical still-life by rearranging, supplementing, subtracting from, distorting, overlapping, fusing, etc. the snippets to create the final composition.
Every measure of Collage-1912 is based on one or more snippets (including a few fairly substantial excerpts) taken from one composition by each of the following twelve composers: Béla Bartók, Irving Berlin, Claude Debussy, W.C. Handy, Charles Ives, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, James Scott, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Joaquín Turina. A diverse group of snippets, to be sure, but perhaps not as diverse as one might guess from reading any standard college textbook on the history of Western music! The use of existing music to create a new work is, of course, nothing new. Not only were numerous European medieval, renaissance, and baroque pieces constructed with borrowed materials, but many twentieth-century composers, including some of the twelve composers whose music is used in Collage-1912 (particularly Ives and Stravinsky), have quoted and parodied music from various sources extensively in certain compositions.
Collage-1912, which is approximately eleven minutes in duration, consists of two parts that are performed with no pause between them. This work is dedicated to the Verdehr Trio, to my daughter Maria, and to all twelve of the composers whose raw materials I mined for the "still-life" and consequent collage (or "abstract musical landscape") by which, I must admit, I've attempted to depict a significant chunk of the Western music world circa 1912. (November 29, 2001)
Studies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStudies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
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Instrumentation: Cl Bb, Vibe
Duration: Mvt. 1-ca. 3:30; Mvt. 2 ("Jeanjean") ca. 5:50 min.
Jeanjean - from Studies for Clarinet and Vibe (1979-80)
In "Jeanjean,". . . I have tried to write a very flexible and expressive, but sometimes vague and understated, clarinet melody over a static and rigidly steady accompaniment in the vibe. The quality of rhythmic "rightness" (for lack of a better word) always found in good jazz, is the main inspiration for this movement. The melodic-harmonic style of this piece, however, stems not at all from jazz but from other twentieth-century sources-including the clarinet etudes of the French composer, Paul Jeanjean." (1980)
Clarinet - All Music that Features Clarinet
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Close
Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
Spirit and Flesh, for solo clarinet, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSpirit and Flesh, for solo clarinet, 2006
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl
Spirit and Flesh - for Clarinet (2006)
Duration: ca. 7:20 min.
SPIRIT AND FLESH is a musical representation of (or, perhaps more accurately, a musical speculation on) how the spirit, the vital principle and animating force of a human being, interacts with human physicality (the flesh or body). SPIRIT AND FLESH is based on three musical styles or characters. Each of these characters has some distinct musical materials (i.e., motives, harmonic progressions, quotations, etc.), but all three also share material.The spirit character is associated primarily with trills, tremolos, and softer dynamics. The flesh character is represented by music that might be thought of as typical clarinet art musicpatterns and gestures that one might hear in a classical (or neoclassical) sonata or concerto for clarinet. The third character, or the transformational character, is marked by volatile, jazzy, and often loud utterances that mediate between the other two characters. (December 28, 2006)
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 10:05 min.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel - for Clarinet and Piano (2004)
I had admired the music of Maurice Ravel years before I began my composition lessons at the New England Conservatory in the mid 1960s. As a teenager, I remember spending hours listening to a Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe; certainly, that listening experience helped shape my concept of what the power of music could be. But it wasn't until 2002, when I gave a composition seminar in the music of Ravel at Michigan State University, that I developed a deeper understanding of the French master's art.
I had not yet given the Ravel seminar at MSU, when the talented clarinetist, Suzanne Tirk, asked me to write something for clarinet and piano. I agreed to accept Suzanne's invitation, having, at first, no intention to incorporate anything Ravelian into the new piece. But by the time the composition was started, I felt almost compelled to draw upon my studies of Ravel's music in writing this duo for clarinet and piano. I'm not sure why, but I feel that the timbres of the clarinet are particularly well suited to articulate some of Ravel's melodic ideas.
Soon after I had decided to base my composition for clarinet and piano on melodic material by Ravel, I settled upon the main theme from the recapitulation of the first movement of Ravel's string quartet. Although Ravel's theme never appears verbatim, it is the basis for almost everything in my duo. And although I have not tried to "quote" elements of Ravel's style in Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, much of this composition's harmony, texture, rhythm, etc. is indebted to Ravel's music. Fantasy is, then, offered in homage to the master, but offered with the hope that both the performer and listener will find in it more than just an attempt to mimic a well-known style. (June 2004)
Collage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesCollage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's COLLAGE, Mvts. at 280 and 360 From - COLLAGE, Crystal Records CD947
The Verdehre Trio: Walter Verdehr, violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet, Silvia Roederer, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 9:40 min.
Collage-1912 (2001)
Several times during the 1990s Walter Verdehr, my Michigan State University colleague, invited me to write a piece for the renowned Verdehr Trio, the clarinet-violin-piano trio that he founded with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, in 1972 (just one year, coincidentally, before I joined the MSU faculty). I regret that it took me so long to compose something for the Verdehrs, but the delay wasn't due to lack of interest. I've been a great admirer of Elsa and Walter as solo performers and of their superb trio for many years, and I'm honored that they asked me to contribute to the distinctive repertoire that their talents and hard work have brought to life during the past three decades, but a variety of other exigent projects during the 1990s prevented me from working on a piece for the Verdehr Trio until the fall of 2001.
For years now both Elsa and Walter have been attracted to the paintings of my daughter Maria Fiorenza Ruggiero Sidiropoulos. Not only have the Verdehrs purchased several of Maria's paintings for their home, but they also have used a few of her images on Verdehr Trio posters and as part of their website. Every now and then, when I'd run into Walter in the halls of MSU's School of Music or chat with him after one of the trio's summer performances at MSU's Wharton Center, he would say something like, "About that piece we'd like you to write, . . . wouldn't it be wonderful if you could tie it in with some of Maria's paintings." And at one point Walter suggested that it would be delightful to have a number of Maria's paintings exhibited at the site of the premiere of my composition for the Verdehr Trio.
I liked Walter's idea that I relate my composition in some way to my daughter's work, but I did not want to write a "pictures-at-an-exhibition" type of piece. And I especially did not want to try to convey my impressions of Maria's depiction of some idyllic landscape located in a region of the world I'd never set foot in. After considerable thought I decided to try to develop a musical composition using techniques or procedures analogous to those Maria has been using in some of her recent (2000-2001) paintings.
Collage-1912 isn't based on any particular painting or paintings, nor is it intended to impart my musical impressions of, or responses to, the things and places represented in any of Maria's paintings; rather, this musical composition was created using steps analogous to those my daughter has used to transform some of her smaller still-life paintings into larger, more abstract landscapes. Maria's still-life paintings, like many traditional still-lifes, are representations of more-or-less common household objects-glasses, dishes, candlesticks, vases, pieces of fruit, etc.-arranged in a very "artificial" manner. That's to say, arranged not as they would be if someone were preparing for a dinner party, but arranged as a composition of shapes, colors, shadings, etc. Quite often in Maria's still-life paintings compositional motifs take precedence over "reality." For example, in one painting the pattern of a tablecloth is imprinted upon objects that sit on top of the cloth instead of being obscured by them. Although these small still-life paintings are already somewhat abstract, a more marked abstraction takes place in the next phase of the process, where various elements from some of these still-life paintings are used in the development of enlarged companion works.
Maria has produced a series of works in which she has attempted, quite successfully I believe, to transform original but somewhat conventional still-life paintings into bold landscapes that can (should?) be viewed in multiple ways. For example, a large piece might be perceived as an autonomous, rather loose, rhythmic, and intense post-impressionistic landscape and simultaneously seen as a radical permutation of the still-life painting with which it is paired.
How did the creation of Collage-1912 relate to the process outlined above? I started my piece for the Verdehr Trio by fashioning a musical still-life of sorts. I snipped many passages from a dozen compositions (all of which were either composed or published in 1911 or 1912-hence the title) and rather "artificially" arranged them into a musical "still-life." This part of the process took about two months-much more time than I had anticipated! In the next step of the compositional process, I modified the musical still-life by rearranging, supplementing, subtracting from, distorting, overlapping, fusing, etc. the snippets to create the final composition.
Every measure of Collage-1912 is based on one or more snippets (including a few fairly substantial excerpts) taken from one composition by each of the following twelve composers: Béla Bartók, Irving Berlin, Claude Debussy, W.C. Handy, Charles Ives, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, James Scott, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Joaquín Turina. A diverse group of snippets, to be sure, but perhaps not as diverse as one might guess from reading any standard college textbook on the history of Western music! The use of existing music to create a new work is, of course, nothing new. Not only were numerous European medieval, renaissance, and baroque pieces constructed with borrowed materials, but many twentieth-century composers, including some of the twelve composers whose music is used in Collage-1912 (particularly Ives and Stravinsky), have quoted and parodied music from various sources extensively in certain compositions.
Collage-1912, which is approximately eleven minutes in duration, consists of two parts that are performed with no pause between them. This work is dedicated to the Verdehr Trio, to my daughter Maria, and to all twelve of the composers whose raw materials I mined for the "still-life" and consequent collage (or "abstract musical landscape") by which, I must admit, I've attempted to depict a significant chunk of the Western music world circa 1912. (November 29, 2001)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's CONCERTO FOR SOPRANO SAXOPHONE AND ORCHESTRA, Mvt. 3, 'Time Shifts...'From - JOSEPH LULLOFF PLAYS THE SAXOPHONE MUSIC OF COLGRASS, DAHL, RUGGIERO
AUR CD 3099
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Leon Gregorian, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Picc (doubling Fl), 3 Fl, 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 2 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Hrn, C Tpt, 2 Bb Tpt, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 3 Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), S Sax, 16-18 Vln 1, 14-16 Vln 2, 10-12 Vla, 10-12 Vlc, 8-10 DB, cond
Duration: ca. 21:30 min.
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra (1995)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra is the culmination to date of my long creative association with the remarkable saxophone artist Joseph Lulloff, for whom I have written several chamber works, and with whom I have performed jazz on many occasions. It was Joe's "voice" as a saxophonist (especially the timbral qualities of his soprano saxophone playing), his prodigious technique, and his rich musicality that in no small part instigated this composition.
If a work of art cannot but reflect the time, place, and persona-not to mention the innermost self-of its creator, then what does this composition reflect? Certainly this concerto is an "American" product, not only because its composer is a native of the United States, but largely because it contains many intended stylistic references to various kinds of American music, especially to jazz. The study of this unique American musical idiom has been a preoccupation of mine for much of the past 40 years, and it is my intention to continue to try to find and develop in my compositions significant and subtle connections between jazz and other kinds of music that I am interested in.
Composers now, at the end of the twentieth century, have a rich legacy of music that has in one way or another combined jazz elements with non-jazz elements: the music of Ellington, Still, Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Nancarrow, Schuller, Coleman, Reich, and many others. For those of us who care about the art of jazz and who are compelled to explore new territory in our compositions, it is a bit daunting to think of all that already has been accomplished by such luminaries as Ellington, and all that, with decidedly mixed results, has been attempted by others.
Some attentive listeners may hear this concerto as teetering on the brink of atonality, or, viewed from the other side of the divide, tonality. This ambiguity is intended, and in no small part, I suppose, reflects some of the ambiguities and teeterings of my culture and my particular existence. Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra might be thought of as a latter-day third-stream work (perhaps "neo-third-stream" would pigeonhole it too succinctly!), but unlike such third-stream compositions as Gunther Schuller's Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1959), which combine small-group improvisational tonal jazz with composed post-World War II atonal orchestral techniques, this concerto, in part, attempts to integrate late-'50s "free-jazz" linear harmony (anti-harmony?) with an eclectic orchestral style that references mostly pre-World War II American and European music.
It could be argued that this concerto has a fairly conventional tonal structure: namely, in the simplest of terms, that it begins in E minor and ends in G major. There's something to this analytical distillation, but not much. While I was conceiving and developing this composition, it was rhythmic matters (including large-scale temporal relationships) that dominated my musings on the structural landscape of the work.
The title "ST*IT*T" derives from "stasis-interpolation-transformation," a formulation which describes the main formal process of the first of the concerto's four movements. After a brief introduction that presents certain fundamental motivic, harmonic, and timbral materials for the concerto, two "ideas" (i.e., linear-textural-gestural-harmonic building blocks), one primarily in the bassoons, piano, and low strings, the other in a "concertino" group consisting of soprano saxophone, piccolo, flute, and marimba, are each stated several times. These iterations create stasis at one structural level, even as they create motion on the "surface" of the music. Gradually, interpolated brass interjections break down the two "stasis ideas," leading to an extended interpolation, a cadenza for saxophone, brass and percussion instruments, flute, and clarinet. After this disintegration, the two stasis ideas (i.e., the bassoon-piano-low strings and concertino materials) return but are harmonically and timbrally transformed. Much of the momentum of this movement, ironically, is created by the cumulative effect of the repeating stasis ideas; for this effect to come off as intended, the stasis ideas must be performed with graceful and elegant precision.
"ST*IT*T," of course, also pays homage to the jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who, like many bebop masters, used interpolation (quotations of popular tunes, personal motives and figures, themes from "classical" music, fragments of famous improvised solos, etc.) as a structural device in his improvisations, sometimes to break the tension, often in a humorous way, of an intense solo flight.
The second movement, "Antique Sentiments," uses suspensions, shifting and unexpected accents, and other rhythmic, textural, and harmonic devices to create a blur suggestive of the blurred emotions and memories of distant events. The harmony of this movement is highly chromatic but explicitly tonal throughout.
Perhaps the most subtle elements of classic jazz are "swing" (characteristic rhythmic inflections) and the complex layering of rhythms which occurs in almost all masterly jazz performances. All of the components, for example, of a standard jazz quartet performance (the soloist's improvised melodies, the "comping" in the piano or guitar, the "walking" bass line, and the "time" and rhythmic counterpoint expressed via the drum set), rely on the steady pulse of the composite rhythm-section part and the typically uniform meter and regular harmonic changes of the song or blues form which serves as a foundation for the music. In jazz performances at the highest level of artistry, what may at first glance seem to be a simplistic and well-worn format is actually an efficient springboard for an extremely variable and nuanced mix of improvised swing, syncopation, rubato, polyrhythm, and what might be called "time shifting"-a mix that is well perceived and fully appreciated by only the most experienced and astute listeners. Jazz rhythm, especially in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s (and much music created since the 1960s which is closely related to classic jazz styles), reflects a uniquely urban American sense of time. Much of jazz rhythm echoes the complex bustle of activity experienced in many American cities and the speech rhythms and conversational pacing of urban Americans, especially of urban African Americans.
"Time Shifts-Remembrances," the last of the concerto's movements, attempts to develop, in an orchestral setting, something like the layering of rhythms referred to above. While the score of "Time Shifts-Remembrances" calls for no improvisation and no "swing" interpretation of written melodic lines by the soloist or orchestral players, various textures in the movement are developed in which the rhythms of some melodic lines are shifted ahead of or behind the prevailing meter in a way that may sound loose or even somewhat chaotic. This time shifting has an emotional parallel in the human psyche; the multitude of memories that we accumulate during our lives, many of which refer to strongly felt experiences, are recalled from time to time, in confusing, lucid, playful, ironic, orderly, random, pleasing or painful successions. These recollections sometimes overlap with each other, and one remembrance may dissolve into another. I view this as a kind of time shifting; a human ability that, among other things, may help us to cope with lost or keenly anticipated opportunities, triumphs and defeats of the past, and uncertainties of the future. (October 28, 1995)
Studies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStudies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
Close
Instrumentation: Cl Bb, Vibe
Duration: Mvt. 1-ca. 3:30; Mvt. 2 ("Jeanjean") ca. 5:50 min.
Jeanjean - from Studies for Clarinet and Vibe (1979-80)
In "Jeanjean,". . . I have tried to write a very flexible and expressive, but sometimes vague and understated, clarinet melody over a static and rigidly steady accompaniment in the vibe. The quality of rhythmic "rightness" (for lack of a better word) always found in good jazz, is the main inspiration for this movement. The melodic-harmonic style of this piece, however, stems not at all from jazz but from other twentieth-century sources-including the clarinet etudes of the French composer, Paul Jeanjean." (1980)
Concertos
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCE COMPULSIONS From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. XII
AUR CD
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano, MSU Wind Symphony, John Whitwell, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: One player per part: Picc (doubling Fl), 2 Fl, A Fl (doubling Fl), 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 3 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Sax (SATBari), 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Euph,Tuba, A Sax (Solo), Pn (Solo), 5 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Dance Compulsions - Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Piano, Winds, and Percussion (2004)
The instrumentation of the American "concert band" is not as standardized as that of the developed symphony orchestra. Rather than viewing this as a weakness, many composers and band conductors currently are enthusiastically exploring a full range of wind and percussion instrumentation possibilities. Today, a "band concert" at a major American university is likely to include music for small, uniquely configured chamber groups, works for massive symphonic ensembles, and compositions for bands that call for only one player per part. Dance Compulsions falls into the last of these three categories.
When John Whitwell, Director of Bands at Michigan State University, commissioned me to write a large work for the MSU Wind Symphony, he suggested that I write a concerto, but he gave me latitude to write for an ensemble consisting of virtually any combination of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. His only suggestion was that I consider writing for one player per part (that is, without the doubling of parts that is normal in performances of traditional band music). John Whitwell's concept of (or vision for) band literature is inclusive and adventuresome; consequently, during his tenure at Michigan State, he has commissioned a steady stream of works that runs the stylistic gamut. This concerto, Dance Compulsions, is my contribution to what might be termed the new flexible instrumentation and stylistic inclusiveness of American band music, a trend championed by conductors like John Whitwell.
My long and happy artistic association with Joseph Lulloff, who is both a friend and an MSU colleague, prompted me immediately to choose alto saxophone as one of the solo instruments for this concerto-Joe's technique, musical intelligence, and emotional depth have inspired me in the past to write some of my most successful music. When Joe and I first discussed this project, we quickly decided that the piece should feature both Joe and Jun Okada, the very talented pianist whom Joe and I have had the good fortune to work with for some two decades. John Whitwell was quick to endorse our plan.
Dance Compulsions attempts to cultivate the supercharged energy that Lulloff-Okada performances often have. It is a 14-minute, one-movement work that consists of a long chain of short dance-like episodes the duration and sequence of which are calculated to create a sense of logically increasing momentum and inevitability of form. Although there are no conscious musical quotations in Dance Compulsions, the piece borrows from a number of traditional styles of popular twentieth-century North American, South American, and Caribbean dance music. The listener might think of the solo instruments of the concerto as representing two dancers who have an insatiable appetite to dance, mostly together, but sometimes as solo dancers; their compulsion to dance being a sometimes joyous, sometimes sensual, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes calculated, and sometimes desperate affirmation of life. (January 2004)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's CONCERTO FOR SOPRANO SAXOPHONE AND ORCHESTRA, Mvt. 3, 'Time Shifts...'From - JOSEPH LULLOFF PLAYS THE SAXOPHONE MUSIC OF COLGRASS, DAHL, RUGGIERO
AUR CD 3099
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Leon Gregorian, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Picc (doubling Fl), 3 Fl, 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 2 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Hrn, C Tpt, 2 Bb Tpt, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 3 Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), S Sax, 16-18 Vln 1, 14-16 Vln 2, 10-12 Vla, 10-12 Vlc, 8-10 DB, cond
Duration: ca. 21:30 min.
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra (1995)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra is the culmination to date of my long creative association with the remarkable saxophone artist Joseph Lulloff, for whom I have written several chamber works, and with whom I have performed jazz on many occasions. It was Joe's "voice" as a saxophonist (especially the timbral qualities of his soprano saxophone playing), his prodigious technique, and his rich musicality that in no small part instigated this composition.
If a work of art cannot but reflect the time, place, and persona-not to mention the innermost self-of its creator, then what does this composition reflect? Certainly this concerto is an "American" product, not only because its composer is a native of the United States, but largely because it contains many intended stylistic references to various kinds of American music, especially to jazz. The study of this unique American musical idiom has been a preoccupation of mine for much of the past 40 years, and it is my intention to continue to try to find and develop in my compositions significant and subtle connections between jazz and other kinds of music that I am interested in.
Composers now, at the end of the twentieth century, have a rich legacy of music that has in one way or another combined jazz elements with non-jazz elements: the music of Ellington, Still, Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Nancarrow, Schuller, Coleman, Reich, and many others. For those of us who care about the art of jazz and who are compelled to explore new territory in our compositions, it is a bit daunting to think of all that already has been accomplished by such luminaries as Ellington, and all that, with decidedly mixed results, has been attempted by others.
Some attentive listeners may hear this concerto as teetering on the brink of atonality, or, viewed from the other side of the divide, tonality. This ambiguity is intended, and in no small part, I suppose, reflects some of the ambiguities and teeterings of my culture and my particular existence. Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra might be thought of as a latter-day third-stream work (perhaps "neo-third-stream" would pigeonhole it too succinctly!), but unlike such third-stream compositions as Gunther Schuller's Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1959), which combine small-group improvisational tonal jazz with composed post-World War II atonal orchestral techniques, this concerto, in part, attempts to integrate late-'50s "free-jazz" linear harmony (anti-harmony?) with an eclectic orchestral style that references mostly pre-World War II American and European music.
It could be argued that this concerto has a fairly conventional tonal structure: namely, in the simplest of terms, that it begins in E minor and ends in G major. There's something to this analytical distillation, but not much. While I was conceiving and developing this composition, it was rhythmic matters (including large-scale temporal relationships) that dominated my musings on the structural landscape of the work.
The title "ST*IT*T" derives from "stasis-interpolation-transformation," a formulation which describes the main formal process of the first of the concerto's four movements. After a brief introduction that presents certain fundamental motivic, harmonic, and timbral materials for the concerto, two "ideas" (i.e., linear-textural-gestural-harmonic building blocks), one primarily in the bassoons, piano, and low strings, the other in a "concertino" group consisting of soprano saxophone, piccolo, flute, and marimba, are each stated several times. These iterations create stasis at one structural level, even as they create motion on the "surface" of the music. Gradually, interpolated brass interjections break down the two "stasis ideas," leading to an extended interpolation, a cadenza for saxophone, brass and percussion instruments, flute, and clarinet. After this disintegration, the two stasis ideas (i.e., the bassoon-piano-low strings and concertino materials) return but are harmonically and timbrally transformed. Much of the momentum of this movement, ironically, is created by the cumulative effect of the repeating stasis ideas; for this effect to come off as intended, the stasis ideas must be performed with graceful and elegant precision.
"ST*IT*T," of course, also pays homage to the jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who, like many bebop masters, used interpolation (quotations of popular tunes, personal motives and figures, themes from "classical" music, fragments of famous improvised solos, etc.) as a structural device in his improvisations, sometimes to break the tension, often in a humorous way, of an intense solo flight.
The second movement, "Antique Sentiments," uses suspensions, shifting and unexpected accents, and other rhythmic, textural, and harmonic devices to create a blur suggestive of the blurred emotions and memories of distant events. The harmony of this movement is highly chromatic but explicitly tonal throughout.
Perhaps the most subtle elements of classic jazz are "swing" (characteristic rhythmic inflections) and the complex layering of rhythms which occurs in almost all masterly jazz performances. All of the components, for example, of a standard jazz quartet performance (the soloist's improvised melodies, the "comping" in the piano or guitar, the "walking" bass line, and the "time" and rhythmic counterpoint expressed via the drum set), rely on the steady pulse of the composite rhythm-section part and the typically uniform meter and regular harmonic changes of the song or blues form which serves as a foundation for the music. In jazz performances at the highest level of artistry, what may at first glance seem to be a simplistic and well-worn format is actually an efficient springboard for an extremely variable and nuanced mix of improvised swing, syncopation, rubato, polyrhythm, and what might be called "time shifting"-a mix that is well perceived and fully appreciated by only the most experienced and astute listeners. Jazz rhythm, especially in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s (and much music created since the 1960s which is closely related to classic jazz styles), reflects a uniquely urban American sense of time. Much of jazz rhythm echoes the complex bustle of activity experienced in many American cities and the speech rhythms and conversational pacing of urban Americans, especially of urban African Americans.
"Time Shifts-Remembrances," the last of the concerto's movements, attempts to develop, in an orchestral setting, something like the layering of rhythms referred to above. While the score of "Time Shifts-Remembrances" calls for no improvisation and no "swing" interpretation of written melodic lines by the soloist or orchestral players, various textures in the movement are developed in which the rhythms of some melodic lines are shifted ahead of or behind the prevailing meter in a way that may sound loose or even somewhat chaotic. This time shifting has an emotional parallel in the human psyche; the multitude of memories that we accumulate during our lives, many of which refer to strongly felt experiences, are recalled from time to time, in confusing, lucid, playful, ironic, orderly, random, pleasing or painful successions. These recollections sometimes overlap with each other, and one remembrance may dissolve into another. I view this as a kind of time shifting; a human ability that, among other things, may help us to cope with lost or keenly anticipated opportunities, triumphs and defeats of the past, and uncertainties of the future. (October 28, 1995)
Electroacoustic Music
Fractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFractured Mambos, for tuba and computer-realized recording, 1990
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's FRACTURED MAMBOS
Recommended volume for this sample: High!
From - FRACTURED MAMBOS, Mark Recording CD MCD-1701Philip Sinder, tuba
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Tuba, Electroacoustic
Duration: ca. 10:10 min.
Fractured Mambos - for Tuba and Electronic Recording (1990)
Early in 1989 Philip Sinder asked me if I would be interested in writing a piece for tuba. I offered to write Phil a composition for solo tuba and electronic tape that would have a strong jazz flavor. Phil, who shares my interest in jazz, had been considering the same combination of performing forces, tuba with electronic sounds, so it was easy for us to agree on the broad outlines of the collaboration which has resulted in my composition Fractured Mambos.
While writing for tuba, and while preparing to write by listening to diverse recorded examples of tuba music, I was impressed by the wide range of sounds, moods, and emotions that this beast of an instrument is able to convey when being tamed by a performer as masterful as Philip Sinder. The tuba, I found, can be clumsy, comical, playful, lyrical, bold, dramatic . . . . It can be delicately expressive one second, and then magnificently intimidating the next.
Instead of using real-time electronic modification of tuba sounds, I decided to use a "classical" technique in this work, combining taped synthesized and digitally sampled sounds with the live unprocessed tuba performance. This approach was taken because, rather than try to turn the tuba into some sort of electronic trumpet or MIDI wind controller, I wanted the tuba to produce "natural" timbres and articulations. It was my intention to create a work that would be relatively easy to perform "on the road," with minimal hardware requirements and a simple setup. Furthermore, I did not want my new composition to become outdated as soon as the current generation of computer music hardware is replaced by the next wave of music technology.
A concept of the timbres and textures to be used in Fractured Mambos came to me soon after I decided to write the piece. At first there were to be four main "sound groups": the live acoustic tuba part, digitally sampled brass ensemble sounds, synthesized and sampled percussion sounds, and synthesized tuba sounds. Later, a fifth sound group was added: sampled muted trumpet sounds.
The textural and timbral models for Fractured Mambos should be familiar to many listeners, they include post-bop "big bands" (with their powerful trumpet and trombone sections) and, especially, Latin/jazz salsa groups (which typically combine "horns" with dynamic rhythm sections).
Eclectic in style, Fractured Mambos clearly shows the influence on my work of such leading twentieth-century American musicians as Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, and Miles Davis. Echoes (that sometimes are twisted and distorted, but which never are intentionally mocking) of the music of such Latin-jazz artists as Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri are pervasive in Fractured Mambos. What may be the main structural premise of Fractured Mambos, the transformation, reinterpretation, and disintegration of somewhat simple and familiar musical materials through juxtaposition, interruption, and interpolation, comes in no small part from that ancient and esteemed master, I.S. (1993)
Flute - Music for Solo Flute
Il foco, for solo flute, 1997, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesIl foco, for solo flute, 1997, rev. 1999
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's IL FOCOFrom - Faculty Recital
Danilo Mezzadri, flute
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Duration: ca. 8:40 min.
Il foco - for Flute (1997)
The modern composer of music will not need to have any notion of the rules of good composition, apart from a few universal principles of practice. . . . He will use the major and minor accidentals at his own free will, confounding their signs at random. . . . It will do no harm, however, if the modern composer should have been for many years a player . . . and also copyist for some noted composer, and should have kept the original manuscripts of his operas, serenades, etc., stealing from them and still others ideas. . . . He will quicken or retard the tempo of the arias to suit the genius of the virtuosi, covering up whatever bad judgement they show with the reflection that his own reputation . . . [is] in their hands. . . . If the modern composer should give lessons to some virtuosa of the opera house, let him . . . teach her a great number of divisions and of graces, so that not a single word will be understood, and by this means the music will stand out better and be appreciated. . . . If the impresario should later complain about the music, the composer will protest that he is unjust in so doing, as the opera contains a third more than the usual number of notes and took almost fifty hours to compose. If some aria should fail to please the virtuose or their protectors, he will say that it needs to be heard in the theatre with the costumes, the lights, the supernumeraries, etc.
Benedetto Marcello (from Il teatro alla moda, 1720; as translated in Oliver Strunk's Source Readings in Music History)
Thousands-perhaps tens of thousands-of singers who have studied voice at colleges or conservatories in the past 100 years, have performed, practiced, or heard their classmates offer renditions of Benedetto Marcello's recitative and aria, Il mio bel foco.* This music has held up remarkably well under the strain of such prolonged pedagogical attention. As a student at the New England Conservatory, I studied Il mio bel foco in voice class and heard it butchered by several other non-singers in the class. This was during the 1960s, and although I considered myself to be one of those "advanced" musical thinkers who was interested in the music of Varèse, Webern, Ives, and Thelonious Monk, I couldn't deny the attractions of Marcello's ancient recitative and aria-especially their quintessentially bel canto attributes and direct emotionality.
When my daughter Susan expressed some interest in having a piece written for her by her father, it was almost inevitable that I should turn to Il mio bel foco for material, since Susie had, by that time, given several fine performances of this music at various vocal recitals and competitions, performances which had planted some kind of seed in my composer's ear and imagination.
Given his satirical commentary on the music of some of his lesser contemporaries, I'm sure that Marcello would have been flabbergasted and more than a little miffed to hear my "variations" on Il mio bel foco, for I've done many of the things that he ridicules in the above passages from his famous Il teatro alla moda. I have indeed used the major and minor intervals rather freely, and have plagiarized extensively-from none other than maestro Marcello himself. I have used accelerandi and ritardandi plentifully and have thrown in "a great number of divisions and graces." And, yes, I caution both the player and listener that Il foco will sound better when performed in a large hall ("in the theatre") rather than in a small space that has dry acoustics. . . . Why, one might muse, have I followed Marcello's mock advice so faithfully?
Somewhat in the manner of Mahler's view of the Viennese waltz, I both am captivated by the charms of Marcello's music, and, at the same time, fully realize that his time is long past, and that his music, despite our nostalgic musical yearnings, cannot be the music of our time and our culture ("our" referring to that vaguely defined group of people, worldwide, who are interested in "classical art music"). So in Il foco Marcello's beautiful vocal melodies are stated, revised, stretched, chopped up, interrupted, intensified, obliterated in a way, it is hoped, that reflects forcefully our stylistically diverse and rapidly malleable world culture. Just as, when watching TV, we can instantly switch channels (for better or worse) to view vividly contrasting images and hear dramatically divergent sounds emanating from almost any part of our planet (and even from the outer space surrounding our planet), in Il foco the flutist presents the listener with changing materials and musical styles, both of which sometimes transform rapidly, even abruptly and impetuously.
Benedetto Marcello, like all Western composers of the past millennia, certainly understood the expressive power of dissonance, dissonant melodic and harmonic intervals such as the ninth, seventh, tritone, etc. that can delay-sometimes rather unexpectedly-and therefore strengthen and make more interesting the progression of musical events in a composition. So it's not inconceivable that Marcello, were he able to come back to visit us at the end of the twentieth century, could understand one of the major premises of this composition: that stylistic dissonance can allow the "modern composer" (Marcello's phrase) to satirize and distort, but also to transform, intensify, and even enhance, musical materials borrowed from the vast and still alive tradition of Western art music.
* Some scholars now claim that all of Marcellos operas actually were written by other composers. See Eleanor Selfridege-Field, Marcello, Benedetto, Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 1992). http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?from=search&session search id=679351099&hitnum=1§ion=opera.004480 (accessed June 4, 2007).
(July 3, 1997; rev. June 4, 2007)
Flute - Chamber Music that Includes Flute
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Variations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesVariations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Ob, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
Variations On and By - for Flute, Oboe and Piano (2006)
The Ruggiero bass is part of a melodic-harmonic formula that was very popular among Italian musicians during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Grove Music Online dictionary lists more than 30 renaissance and early baroque composers who wrote vocal or instrumental pieces on the Ruggiero formula. In the late 1960s, upon reading about the Ruggiero bass, I decided that someday I would compose a set of variations on itnot thinking, of course, that it would be some 27 years before I would begin and complete the project!
The most characteristic form of the Ruggiero bass is an eight-measure diatonic melody in G major, but for Variations On and By, I have used a Mixolydian version of the bass. The Ruggiero-bass theme is not stated literally at any point in this composition; hence, the beginning of the work is labeled Variation 1. But anyone familiar with the Ruggiero bass will recognize fragments of it in each of the 12 variations. Those listeners who do not know the theme will (I hope) mentally construct a version of it as they hear a performance of the composition. Variations 1 and 11, both of which are hockets (i.e., pieces based on what is sometimes described as a musical hiccupping effect), serve as bookends for the composition. In the final variation, parts of several earlier variations are reprised.
Many of the techniques used in Variations On and By come from medieval and renaissance music (hocket, canon, etc.), but a few of the variations are fashioned primarily by the manipulation of pitch-class sets that have been derived from the Ruggiero bass. I hope, however, that the listener will perceive Variations On and By as a unified and stylistically consistent whole, despite its mix of ancient and modern elements. (July 30, 2006)
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Flute - All Music that Features Flute
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Close
Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Variations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesVariations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
Close
Instrumentation: Fl, Ob, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
Variations On and By - for Flute, Oboe and Piano (2006)
The Ruggiero bass is part of a melodic-harmonic formula that was very popular among Italian musicians during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Grove Music Online dictionary lists more than 30 renaissance and early baroque composers who wrote vocal or instrumental pieces on the Ruggiero formula. In the late 1960s, upon reading about the Ruggiero bass, I decided that someday I would compose a set of variations on itnot thinking, of course, that it would be some 27 years before I would begin and complete the project!
The most characteristic form of the Ruggiero bass is an eight-measure diatonic melody in G major, but for Variations On and By, I have used a Mixolydian version of the bass. The Ruggiero-bass theme is not stated literally at any point in this composition; hence, the beginning of the work is labeled Variation 1. But anyone familiar with the Ruggiero bass will recognize fragments of it in each of the 12 variations. Those listeners who do not know the theme will (I hope) mentally construct a version of it as they hear a performance of the composition. Variations 1 and 11, both of which are hockets (i.e., pieces based on what is sometimes described as a musical hiccupping effect), serve as bookends for the composition. In the final variation, parts of several earlier variations are reprised.
Many of the techniques used in Variations On and By come from medieval and renaissance music (hocket, canon, etc.), but a few of the variations are fashioned primarily by the manipulation of pitch-class sets that have been derived from the Ruggiero bass. I hope, however, that the listener will perceive Variations On and By as a unified and stylistically consistent whole, despite its mix of ancient and modern elements. (July 30, 2006)
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
Il foco, for solo flute, 1997, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesIl foco, for solo flute, 1997, rev. 1999
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's IL FOCOFrom - Faculty Recital
Danilo Mezzadri, flute
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Duration: ca. 8:40 min.
Il foco - for Flute (1997)
The modern composer of music will not need to have any notion of the rules of good composition, apart from a few universal principles of practice. . . . He will use the major and minor accidentals at his own free will, confounding their signs at random. . . . It will do no harm, however, if the modern composer should have been for many years a player . . . and also copyist for some noted composer, and should have kept the original manuscripts of his operas, serenades, etc., stealing from them and still others ideas. . . . He will quicken or retard the tempo of the arias to suit the genius of the virtuosi, covering up whatever bad judgement they show with the reflection that his own reputation . . . [is] in their hands. . . . If the modern composer should give lessons to some virtuosa of the opera house, let him . . . teach her a great number of divisions and of graces, so that not a single word will be understood, and by this means the music will stand out better and be appreciated. . . . If the impresario should later complain about the music, the composer will protest that he is unjust in so doing, as the opera contains a third more than the usual number of notes and took almost fifty hours to compose. If some aria should fail to please the virtuose or their protectors, he will say that it needs to be heard in the theatre with the costumes, the lights, the supernumeraries, etc.
Benedetto Marcello (from Il teatro alla moda, 1720; as translated in Oliver Strunk's Source Readings in Music History)
Thousands-perhaps tens of thousands-of singers who have studied voice at colleges or conservatories in the past 100 years, have performed, practiced, or heard their classmates offer renditions of Benedetto Marcello's recitative and aria, Il mio bel foco.* This music has held up remarkably well under the strain of such prolonged pedagogical attention. As a student at the New England Conservatory, I studied Il mio bel foco in voice class and heard it butchered by several other non-singers in the class. This was during the 1960s, and although I considered myself to be one of those "advanced" musical thinkers who was interested in the music of Varèse, Webern, Ives, and Thelonious Monk, I couldn't deny the attractions of Marcello's ancient recitative and aria-especially their quintessentially bel canto attributes and direct emotionality.
When my daughter Susan expressed some interest in having a piece written for her by her father, it was almost inevitable that I should turn to Il mio bel foco for material, since Susie had, by that time, given several fine performances of this music at various vocal recitals and competitions, performances which had planted some kind of seed in my composer's ear and imagination.
Given his satirical commentary on the music of some of his lesser contemporaries, I'm sure that Marcello would have been flabbergasted and more than a little miffed to hear my "variations" on Il mio bel foco, for I've done many of the things that he ridicules in the above passages from his famous Il teatro alla moda. I have indeed used the major and minor intervals rather freely, and have plagiarized extensively-from none other than maestro Marcello himself. I have used accelerandi and ritardandi plentifully and have thrown in "a great number of divisions and graces." And, yes, I caution both the player and listener that Il foco will sound better when performed in a large hall ("in the theatre") rather than in a small space that has dry acoustics. . . . Why, one might muse, have I followed Marcello's mock advice so faithfully?
Somewhat in the manner of Mahler's view of the Viennese waltz, I both am captivated by the charms of Marcello's music, and, at the same time, fully realize that his time is long past, and that his music, despite our nostalgic musical yearnings, cannot be the music of our time and our culture ("our" referring to that vaguely defined group of people, worldwide, who are interested in "classical art music"). So in Il foco Marcello's beautiful vocal melodies are stated, revised, stretched, chopped up, interrupted, intensified, obliterated in a way, it is hoped, that reflects forcefully our stylistically diverse and rapidly malleable world culture. Just as, when watching TV, we can instantly switch channels (for better or worse) to view vividly contrasting images and hear dramatically divergent sounds emanating from almost any part of our planet (and even from the outer space surrounding our planet), in Il foco the flutist presents the listener with changing materials and musical styles, both of which sometimes transform rapidly, even abruptly and impetuously.
Benedetto Marcello, like all Western composers of the past millennia, certainly understood the expressive power of dissonance, dissonant melodic and harmonic intervals such as the ninth, seventh, tritone, etc. that can delay-sometimes rather unexpectedly-and therefore strengthen and make more interesting the progression of musical events in a composition. So it's not inconceivable that Marcello, were he able to come back to visit us at the end of the twentieth century, could understand one of the major premises of this composition: that stylistic dissonance can allow the "modern composer" (Marcello's phrase) to satirize and distort, but also to transform, intensify, and even enhance, musical materials borrowed from the vast and still alive tradition of Western art music.
* Some scholars now claim that all of Marcellos operas actually were written by other composers. See Eleanor Selfridege-Field, Marcello, Benedetto, Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 1992). http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?from=search&session search id=679351099&hitnum=1§ion=opera.004480 (accessed June 4, 2007).
(July 3, 1997; rev. June 4, 2007)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Oboe - Music that Features Oboe
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Variations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesVariations On and By, for flute, oboe, and piano, 2006
Close
Instrumentation: Fl, Ob, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
Variations On and By - for Flute, Oboe and Piano (2006)
The Ruggiero bass is part of a melodic-harmonic formula that was very popular among Italian musicians during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Grove Music Online dictionary lists more than 30 renaissance and early baroque composers who wrote vocal or instrumental pieces on the Ruggiero formula. In the late 1960s, upon reading about the Ruggiero bass, I decided that someday I would compose a set of variations on itnot thinking, of course, that it would be some 27 years before I would begin and complete the project!
The most characteristic form of the Ruggiero bass is an eight-measure diatonic melody in G major, but for Variations On and By, I have used a Mixolydian version of the bass. The Ruggiero-bass theme is not stated literally at any point in this composition; hence, the beginning of the work is labeled Variation 1. But anyone familiar with the Ruggiero bass will recognize fragments of it in each of the 12 variations. Those listeners who do not know the theme will (I hope) mentally construct a version of it as they hear a performance of the composition. Variations 1 and 11, both of which are hockets (i.e., pieces based on what is sometimes described as a musical hiccupping effect), serve as bookends for the composition. In the final variation, parts of several earlier variations are reprised.
Many of the techniques used in Variations On and By come from medieval and renaissance music (hocket, canon, etc.), but a few of the variations are fashioned primarily by the manipulation of pitch-class sets that have been derived from the Ruggiero bass. I hope, however, that the listener will perceive Variations On and By as a unified and stylistically consistent whole, despite its mix of ancient and modern elements. (July 30, 2006)
Orchestral and Band Music - Music for Orchestra, Band, or Other Large Ensemble
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Close
Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Dance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCE COMPULSIONS From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. XII
AUR CD
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano, MSU Wind Symphony, John Whitwell, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: One player per part: Picc (doubling Fl), 2 Fl, A Fl (doubling Fl), 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 3 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Sax (SATBari), 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Euph,Tuba, A Sax (Solo), Pn (Solo), 5 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Dance Compulsions - Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Piano, Winds, and Percussion (2004)
The instrumentation of the American "concert band" is not as standardized as that of the developed symphony orchestra. Rather than viewing this as a weakness, many composers and band conductors currently are enthusiastically exploring a full range of wind and percussion instrumentation possibilities. Today, a "band concert" at a major American university is likely to include music for small, uniquely configured chamber groups, works for massive symphonic ensembles, and compositions for bands that call for only one player per part. Dance Compulsions falls into the last of these three categories.
When John Whitwell, Director of Bands at Michigan State University, commissioned me to write a large work for the MSU Wind Symphony, he suggested that I write a concerto, but he gave me latitude to write for an ensemble consisting of virtually any combination of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. His only suggestion was that I consider writing for one player per part (that is, without the doubling of parts that is normal in performances of traditional band music). John Whitwell's concept of (or vision for) band literature is inclusive and adventuresome; consequently, during his tenure at Michigan State, he has commissioned a steady stream of works that runs the stylistic gamut. This concerto, Dance Compulsions, is my contribution to what might be termed the new flexible instrumentation and stylistic inclusiveness of American band music, a trend championed by conductors like John Whitwell.
My long and happy artistic association with Joseph Lulloff, who is both a friend and an MSU colleague, prompted me immediately to choose alto saxophone as one of the solo instruments for this concerto-Joe's technique, musical intelligence, and emotional depth have inspired me in the past to write some of my most successful music. When Joe and I first discussed this project, we quickly decided that the piece should feature both Joe and Jun Okada, the very talented pianist whom Joe and I have had the good fortune to work with for some two decades. John Whitwell was quick to endorse our plan.
Dance Compulsions attempts to cultivate the supercharged energy that Lulloff-Okada performances often have. It is a 14-minute, one-movement work that consists of a long chain of short dance-like episodes the duration and sequence of which are calculated to create a sense of logically increasing momentum and inevitability of form. Although there are no conscious musical quotations in Dance Compulsions, the piece borrows from a number of traditional styles of popular twentieth-century North American, South American, and Caribbean dance music. The listener might think of the solo instruments of the concerto as representing two dancers who have an insatiable appetite to dance, mostly together, but sometimes as solo dancers; their compulsion to dance being a sometimes joyous, sometimes sensual, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes calculated, and sometimes desperate affirmation of life. (January 2004)
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion, 2002
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFanfare for Brass and Percussion, 2002
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Instrumentation: 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 2 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 5:30 min.
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion (2002)
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion was written in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Michigan State University Orchestras and is dedicated to my talented MSU School of Music colleague, conductor Leon Gregorian, whose artistry, vision, and tireless efforts during the past two decades have contributed so much to the development of one of the truly great academic orchestras of North America. (January 2002)
Fanfare for Brass and Percussion, somewhat longer and more "intense" than a typical fanfare, features trumpet, trombone, and timpani solos and has some distinctive structural properties that relate to the occasion for which it was written. (July 24, 2002)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's CONCERTO FOR SOPRANO SAXOPHONE AND ORCHESTRA, Mvt. 3, 'Time Shifts...'From - JOSEPH LULLOFF PLAYS THE SAXOPHONE MUSIC OF COLGRASS, DAHL, RUGGIERO
AUR CD 3099
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Leon Gregorian, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Picc (doubling Fl), 3 Fl, 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 2 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Hrn, C Tpt, 2 Bb Tpt, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 3 Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), S Sax, 16-18 Vln 1, 14-16 Vln 2, 10-12 Vla, 10-12 Vlc, 8-10 DB, cond
Duration: ca. 21:30 min.
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra (1995)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra is the culmination to date of my long creative association with the remarkable saxophone artist Joseph Lulloff, for whom I have written several chamber works, and with whom I have performed jazz on many occasions. It was Joe's "voice" as a saxophonist (especially the timbral qualities of his soprano saxophone playing), his prodigious technique, and his rich musicality that in no small part instigated this composition.
If a work of art cannot but reflect the time, place, and persona-not to mention the innermost self-of its creator, then what does this composition reflect? Certainly this concerto is an "American" product, not only because its composer is a native of the United States, but largely because it contains many intended stylistic references to various kinds of American music, especially to jazz. The study of this unique American musical idiom has been a preoccupation of mine for much of the past 40 years, and it is my intention to continue to try to find and develop in my compositions significant and subtle connections between jazz and other kinds of music that I am interested in.
Composers now, at the end of the twentieth century, have a rich legacy of music that has in one way or another combined jazz elements with non-jazz elements: the music of Ellington, Still, Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Nancarrow, Schuller, Coleman, Reich, and many others. For those of us who care about the art of jazz and who are compelled to explore new territory in our compositions, it is a bit daunting to think of all that already has been accomplished by such luminaries as Ellington, and all that, with decidedly mixed results, has been attempted by others.
Some attentive listeners may hear this concerto as teetering on the brink of atonality, or, viewed from the other side of the divide, tonality. This ambiguity is intended, and in no small part, I suppose, reflects some of the ambiguities and teeterings of my culture and my particular existence. Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra might be thought of as a latter-day third-stream work (perhaps "neo-third-stream" would pigeonhole it too succinctly!), but unlike such third-stream compositions as Gunther Schuller's Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1959), which combine small-group improvisational tonal jazz with composed post-World War II atonal orchestral techniques, this concerto, in part, attempts to integrate late-'50s "free-jazz" linear harmony (anti-harmony?) with an eclectic orchestral style that references mostly pre-World War II American and European music.
It could be argued that this concerto has a fairly conventional tonal structure: namely, in the simplest of terms, that it begins in E minor and ends in G major. There's something to this analytical distillation, but not much. While I was conceiving and developing this composition, it was rhythmic matters (including large-scale temporal relationships) that dominated my musings on the structural landscape of the work.
The title "ST*IT*T" derives from "stasis-interpolation-transformation," a formulation which describes the main formal process of the first of the concerto's four movements. After a brief introduction that presents certain fundamental motivic, harmonic, and timbral materials for the concerto, two "ideas" (i.e., linear-textural-gestural-harmonic building blocks), one primarily in the bassoons, piano, and low strings, the other in a "concertino" group consisting of soprano saxophone, piccolo, flute, and marimba, are each stated several times. These iterations create stasis at one structural level, even as they create motion on the "surface" of the music. Gradually, interpolated brass interjections break down the two "stasis ideas," leading to an extended interpolation, a cadenza for saxophone, brass and percussion instruments, flute, and clarinet. After this disintegration, the two stasis ideas (i.e., the bassoon-piano-low strings and concertino materials) return but are harmonically and timbrally transformed. Much of the momentum of this movement, ironically, is created by the cumulative effect of the repeating stasis ideas; for this effect to come off as intended, the stasis ideas must be performed with graceful and elegant precision.
"ST*IT*T," of course, also pays homage to the jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who, like many bebop masters, used interpolation (quotations of popular tunes, personal motives and figures, themes from "classical" music, fragments of famous improvised solos, etc.) as a structural device in his improvisations, sometimes to break the tension, often in a humorous way, of an intense solo flight.
The second movement, "Antique Sentiments," uses suspensions, shifting and unexpected accents, and other rhythmic, textural, and harmonic devices to create a blur suggestive of the blurred emotions and memories of distant events. The harmony of this movement is highly chromatic but explicitly tonal throughout.
Perhaps the most subtle elements of classic jazz are "swing" (characteristic rhythmic inflections) and the complex layering of rhythms which occurs in almost all masterly jazz performances. All of the components, for example, of a standard jazz quartet performance (the soloist's improvised melodies, the "comping" in the piano or guitar, the "walking" bass line, and the "time" and rhythmic counterpoint expressed via the drum set), rely on the steady pulse of the composite rhythm-section part and the typically uniform meter and regular harmonic changes of the song or blues form which serves as a foundation for the music. In jazz performances at the highest level of artistry, what may at first glance seem to be a simplistic and well-worn format is actually an efficient springboard for an extremely variable and nuanced mix of improvised swing, syncopation, rubato, polyrhythm, and what might be called "time shifting"-a mix that is well perceived and fully appreciated by only the most experienced and astute listeners. Jazz rhythm, especially in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s (and much music created since the 1960s which is closely related to classic jazz styles), reflects a uniquely urban American sense of time. Much of jazz rhythm echoes the complex bustle of activity experienced in many American cities and the speech rhythms and conversational pacing of urban Americans, especially of urban African Americans.
"Time Shifts-Remembrances," the last of the concerto's movements, attempts to develop, in an orchestral setting, something like the layering of rhythms referred to above. While the score of "Time Shifts-Remembrances" calls for no improvisation and no "swing" interpretation of written melodic lines by the soloist or orchestral players, various textures in the movement are developed in which the rhythms of some melodic lines are shifted ahead of or behind the prevailing meter in a way that may sound loose or even somewhat chaotic. This time shifting has an emotional parallel in the human psyche; the multitude of memories that we accumulate during our lives, many of which refer to strongly felt experiences, are recalled from time to time, in confusing, lucid, playful, ironic, orderly, random, pleasing or painful successions. These recollections sometimes overlap with each other, and one remembrance may dissolve into another. I view this as a kind of time shifting; a human ability that, among other things, may help us to cope with lost or keenly anticipated opportunities, triumphs and defeats of the past, and uncertainties of the future. (October 28, 1995)
From Two Ramparts, for large wind ensemble, 1992, rev. 2002
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFrom Two Ramparts, for large wind ensemble, 1992, rev. 2002
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Instrumentation: 2 Picc, 2 Fl 1, 2 Fl 2, 2 Ob, 2 Eb Cl, 3 Bb Cl 1, 3 Bb Cl 2, 3 Bb Cl 3, 2 Eb Alto Cl, 2 B Cl, 1 Eb Contra Alto Cl, 2 Bsn, 4 Sax (SATBari), 2 Eb Tpt, 2 Bb Tpt 1, 2 Bb Tpt 2, 2 Bb Tpt 3, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb 1, 2 Trb 2, 3 Euph, 2 Tuba, Elec Bass Gtr, Timp, 3 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
From Two Ramparts (1992, 2002)
FROM TWO RAMPARTS WAS COMMISSIONED BY KENNETH G. BLOOMQUIST AND THE MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BANDS FOR THE MSU WIND SYMPHONY AND IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY PARENTS, FLORENCE M. (WYLLIE) AND CHARLES F. RUGGIERO.
* * *
The initial sketches for FROM TWO RAMPARTS were completed during the summer and early fall of 1990, and the full score was completed in November 1991. Immediately before and during the writing of this composition the world political scene changed radically. Democratic ideals, the promise of "free markets" (for both goods and ideas), and the dangerously double-edged sword of nationalism were inspiring many people to action throughout the world, and totalitarianism with its allied economic ideologies was threatened in some countries and began to crumble in others.
Following political and economic movements that sparked and sputtered in Poland during the 1980s, and unleashed by glasnost and perestroika, dramatic events took place in China, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. The Berlin Wall came down. Then came the putsch in the Soviet Union which, in its failure, transformed the world in an historic instant. The Cold War had ended, proclaimed the President of the United States, and many Americans of my generation, who had considered the Cold War to be a permanent fixture of world politics, found ourselves wondering what would replace it, and what might happen next.
During this same period, a high-tech war was fought in Kuwait and Iraq, and a civil war erupted in Yugoslavia. And, of course, while all of these events were taking place, much of the population of our world continued to struggle with such ravages as poverty, disease, and racism. What volatile and variously triumphant and hideous times have been these recent years.
FROM TWO RAMPARTS is, in part, my response to the political events and social conditions of our world at the end of the millennium. While the work is not programmatic in the sense that a specific narrative supplements the music, the composition explores the human condition as viewed symbolically from two ramparts (i.e., defensive walls): the Great Wall of China and the now defunct Berlin Wall. These walls, though contrasting in size, chronology, and defensive intent, both attempted to isolate those who were being "defended" from anticipated military, economic, or cultural assaults. Now, although most of the Berlin Wall has been dismantled, each of these walls remains a powerful symbol that affords us a global perspective.
FROM TWO RAMPARTS, is not exclusively about the struggles, triumphs, defeats, etc. of the German and Chinese people, and there are no quotes from German masterworks or conscious borrowings from Chinese musical materials or styles in this composition. Instead, the work is intended, as stated above, to explore the human condition, or at least a significant part of it, and the clear imprint of jazz on FROM TWO RAMPARTS is not so much a conscious borrowing of stylistic elements, as it is a natural, perhaps inevitable, consequence of my lifelong interest in jazz as a listener, performer, and composer. (The aesthetic questions raised by the claim that a composer can in some sense through his or her artistic creation "explore the human condition," as important, perplexing, and potentially rewarding as they might be, cannot be addressed here.)
A simple plan was used to structure the first movement, COMPULSION (A CHACONNE). In this movement a long melodic-harmonic ostinato is stated five times, although in the third (and longest) statement this ostinato is considerably obscured by melodic embellishment and other means. Clearly, a compulsion (i.e., an irresistible impulse to perform some act or to behave in a certain manner) might lead to a result that is evil, good, neutral, trivial, etc.; this end might be of significance primarily to one's family, friends, and self (such as when a person experiences an overpowering impulse to engage in self-destructive behavior), or it might profoundly affect millions of people (such as when a tyrant thrusts his country into a war). What is it that creates and feeds the compulsion that some people have to gain power seemingly at any cost, and why have so many world leaders in our century gone to such horrendous extremes in the pursuit of power?
The form of PLAINT, the second movement, is more complex than that of the first movement. The music of PLAINT, while based on some of the same materials (i.e., motives and other constructs) as the other two movements, is quite varied harmonically and incorporates the most overtly tonal passages in FROM TWO RAMPARTS. This lamentation is not limited to expressing sorrow for the victims of Tiananmen Square or the casualties of recent wars. PLAINT is a plea for peace and sanity in the world and for an improvement in the conditions of the least prosperous among the world's inhabitants.
FACTIONS . . . LIBERATIONS is hopeful. In the music of this concluding movement I have tried to express the dynamics of liberation; that is, I have tried to create "competing factions" (groupings of instruments associated by timbre, register, articulation, motive, etc.) that sometimes collide, sometimes coalesce, and sometimes disintegrate, but which ultimately result in liberating situations and experiences.
Finally, all three movements of FROM TWO RAMPARTS are as much about the interior world, the human psyche and human emotions, as they are about, or a reflection of, the external social and political events and circumstances described above. As a totality, COMPULSION (A CHACONNE), PLAINT, and FACTIONS . . . LIBERATIONS can be understood as a journey through three states of mind and soul.
Charles Ruggiero (Nov. 1991)
Percussion - Solo Pieces and Works for Small Chamber Groups that Feature Percussion
SizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's SIZZLESAX II From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, tenor saxophone, Jon Weber, percussion
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: T Sax, Perc
Duration: ca. 14:45 min.
SizzleSax II - for Tenor Saxophone and Percussion (2001)
SizzleSax, the original version of this composition, was given its premiere by Joseph Lulloff at the 12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal on July 8, 2000, at the University of Quebec's Salle Pierre-Mercure. In the original SizzleSax, the tenor saxophonist was called upon to play five cymbals by hand and at times to alternate rapidly between playing the saxophone and the cymbals-both of which requirements, especially the former, proved to be problematic.
While Lulloff's brilliant performance of SizzleSax was received with some enthusiasm at the Congress, several of the saxophonists who heard (and saw) the premiere commented that they wouldn't even consider trying to learn the piece because of the possible stress and even serious injury to their hands that playing the cymbals might cause. Their concerns, unfortunately, were justified.
After playing SizzleSax at the Brevard Music Center later in the summer of 2000, Joseph Lulloff (who is both a Michigan State University colleague and close friend of mine) told me that as much as he had enjoyed playing the cymbals in his two performances of SizzleSax, the toll that these performances had taken on his hands was too great for him to continue playing the composition. Joe decided to cancel the Michigan premiere of SizzleSax, and I regretfully concurred. I certainly didn't want Joe's hands to be damaged playing my music. But having invested too much time and creative energy in SizzleSax to let it die such a quick death, I was determined to come up with a benign (at least non-injurious!) transformation of the composition that retained and further developed much of its original musical content-even if some of SizzleSax's theatrics had to be sacrificed.
In July and August of 2001 SizzleSax II, the phoenix of SizzleSax, was reborn, still a work inspired by Joseph Lulloff, but now a duo for tenor saxophone and percussion. The original cymbals of SizzleSax have been augmented in SizzleSax II with other metallic instruments (triangles, sizzle-gong, and tam-tam) and various "skins" percussion instruments (bongos, tom-tom, congas, and bass drum). It is hoped that this new version may be performed without injury to either player. (August 12, 2001)
Studies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStudies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
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Instrumentation: Cl Bb, Vibe
Duration: Mvt. 1-ca. 3:30; Mvt. 2 ("Jeanjean") ca. 5:50 min.
Jeanjean - from Studies for Clarinet and Vibe (1979-80)
In "Jeanjean,". . . I have tried to write a very flexible and expressive, but sometimes vague and understated, clarinet melody over a static and rigidly steady accompaniment in the vibe. The quality of rhythmic "rightness" (for lack of a better word) always found in good jazz, is the main inspiration for this movement. The melodic-harmonic style of this piece, however, stems not at all from jazz but from other twentieth-century sources-including the clarinet etudes of the French composer, Paul Jeanjean." (1980)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Percussion - All Chamber Works that Include Percussion
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
SizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's SIZZLESAX II From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, tenor saxophone, Jon Weber, percussion
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: T Sax, Perc
Duration: ca. 14:45 min.
SizzleSax II - for Tenor Saxophone and Percussion (2001)
SizzleSax, the original version of this composition, was given its premiere by Joseph Lulloff at the 12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal on July 8, 2000, at the University of Quebec's Salle Pierre-Mercure. In the original SizzleSax, the tenor saxophonist was called upon to play five cymbals by hand and at times to alternate rapidly between playing the saxophone and the cymbals-both of which requirements, especially the former, proved to be problematic.
While Lulloff's brilliant performance of SizzleSax was received with some enthusiasm at the Congress, several of the saxophonists who heard (and saw) the premiere commented that they wouldn't even consider trying to learn the piece because of the possible stress and even serious injury to their hands that playing the cymbals might cause. Their concerns, unfortunately, were justified.
After playing SizzleSax at the Brevard Music Center later in the summer of 2000, Joseph Lulloff (who is both a Michigan State University colleague and close friend of mine) told me that as much as he had enjoyed playing the cymbals in his two performances of SizzleSax, the toll that these performances had taken on his hands was too great for him to continue playing the composition. Joe decided to cancel the Michigan premiere of SizzleSax, and I regretfully concurred. I certainly didn't want Joe's hands to be damaged playing my music. But having invested too much time and creative energy in SizzleSax to let it die such a quick death, I was determined to come up with a benign (at least non-injurious!) transformation of the composition that retained and further developed much of its original musical content-even if some of SizzleSax's theatrics had to be sacrificed.
In July and August of 2001 SizzleSax II, the phoenix of SizzleSax, was reborn, still a work inspired by Joseph Lulloff, but now a duo for tenor saxophone and percussion. The original cymbals of SizzleSax have been augmented in SizzleSax II with other metallic instruments (triangles, sizzle-gong, and tam-tam) and various "skins" percussion instruments (bongos, tom-tom, congas, and bass drum). It is hoped that this new version may be performed without injury to either player. (August 12, 2001)
SizzleSax, for tenor saxophone and five cymbals played by the saxophonist, 2000
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax, for tenor saxophone and five cymbals played by the saxophonist, 2000
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SizzleSax - for Tenor Saxophone and Five Cymbals (2000)
During my long musical association with Joseph Lulloff, I've been fascinated with and inspired by many aspects of his performer's talents, his musical personality, and his on-stage mannerisms. One of Joe's signatures as a saxophone soloist is his proclivity to move around while playing. Nearly at the very inception of this compositional project, I decided to write SizzleSax for tenor saxophone and cymbals, with the cymbals to be played by the saxophonist. The image of Joe playing the tenor saxophone, surrounded by, tapping, dodging, and sometimes colliding with cymbals of various sizes and timbres (some of which would be "sizzle" cymbals) was one of the first generating ideas of the composition.
Having a wind player play percussion instruments certainly is not a new idea, but as I began to think about writing this piece, I was excited by the possibilities of mixing the sounds of the tenor saxophone with those of cymbals. Particularly the diverse articulations, volumes, and washes of sound of a set of cymbals, combined with the many exotic timbral, articulative, and dynamic shadings of saxophone multiphonics, seemed to have much potential for the creation of quite distinctive (and even new) sax-cymbal textures, colors, rhythms, and gestures. It's my hope that the attentive listener will judge I've succeeded in realizing that potential.
SizzleSax is written in memory of John Coltrane, who, during his short but brilliant career, played many a sizzling solo. (March 2000; rev. June 2000)
Studies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStudies for Clarinet and Vibe, 1979-1980
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Instrumentation: Cl Bb, Vibe
Duration: Mvt. 1-ca. 3:30; Mvt. 2 ("Jeanjean") ca. 5:50 min.
Jeanjean - from Studies for Clarinet and Vibe (1979-80)
In "Jeanjean,". . . I have tried to write a very flexible and expressive, but sometimes vague and understated, clarinet melody over a static and rigidly steady accompaniment in the vibe. The quality of rhythmic "rightness" (for lack of a better word) always found in good jazz, is the main inspiration for this movement. The melodic-harmonic style of this piece, however, stems not at all from jazz but from other twentieth-century sources-including the clarinet etudes of the French composer, Paul Jeanjean." (1980)
Now Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNow Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
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Instrumentation: Chorus consisting of S (I-IV, 14 singers), A (I-II, 9 singers), T (4 to 6 singers), B (6 to 10 singers), Perc (8 Chrotale parts that may be performed by percussionists or non-singing members of the chorus), Pn (2 players), cond
Duration: ca. 10:00 min.
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Softe - for Chorus, 8 Crotales, and Piano (1979)
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Soft is a composition for chorus, percussion, and piano, based on a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer. "Roundel" is a Middle English word which identifies the poetic form often called "rondeau," one of the formes fixes.
The composition is constructed in two large sections. In both of these sections, the first 17 members of the harmonic series on G unfold.
The work is based on two medieval musical ideas: "music of the spheres" and isorhythm. The former, a philosophical concept developed by ancient Greek philosophers and promulgated by medieval musical authorities, links musical harmony, as reflected in the proper tuning of musical intervals, with the harmony of the universe (i.e., the proper organization and workings of the planets, stars, days, seasons, etc.). The latter, isorhythm, is a compositional technique which was used during Chaucer's lifetime. In isorhythmic structure, a repeating rhythmic pattern, the talea, is applied to a repeating pitch pattern, the color. Generally, the talea is shorter than the color.
Chaucer's roundel welcomes the return of summer and reminds us of the eternal rotation of the seasons. Early in my creative process, the poem stimulated thoughts that led to the establishment of the following goal: to express musically the unity in such seeming opposities as timelessness and flowing time, permanence and flux, and eternity and temporality. This aesthetic goal accounts for the treatment of materials in the composition. Textural, dynamic, and rhythmic changes throughout create constantly fluctuating tension levels, but tonally, the composition is completely static.
The text of Chaucer's poem provides the main timbral resources of this work. Eleven vowels and 21 consonants have been isolated from the roundel and arranged into two ordered sets; these sets, comparable to the talea and color respectively, are linked in a manner analogous to isorhythm. Furthermore, the movement of the soprano and alto melodic lines is governed by a contour set. This set limits the directions in which a melodic line may move from one vowel to the next. For example, in the highest soprano part, the pitch of the vowel "e" always must be approached from below.
The length of the composition is determined by the isorhythmic plan. After 21 statements of the vowel set, the work ends.
This composition is dedicated to H. Owen Reed. (1979)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Piano - Music for Solo Piano or Two Pianos
After Midnight, for piano, 1985
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesAfter Midnight, for piano, 1985
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Duration: ca. 11:00 min.
After Midnight - for Piano (1985)
The music of Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) has been an inspiration to me since the early 1960s, when I started listening to Monk's recorded performances. Monk's mature artistic output began in the mid-1940s (coinciding with the birth of modern jazz) and lasted for only slightly longer than two decades. Today, a quarter of a century after the apex of Monk's artistic achievement, the stimulating freshness and vigor of his music seem undiminished.
Most of Thelonious Monk's compositions are not well known outside jazz circles, and such unique gems as Epistrophy, Four in One, and Pannonica pose technical and conceptual problems for even the most sophisticated jazz performers. But there is one Monk composition that is better understood and more widely performed than any of his other works: 'Round Midnight. This classic Monk composition, with its evocative blues-influenced harmony and its hauntingly beautiful melody, is the foundation for my one-movement work for solo piano, After Midnight.
After Midnight is a tonal but highly chromatic composition in what might be called a neo-romantic style; its hybrid structure exhibits aspects of both sonata form and theme and variations. Considered as a theme and variations, After Midnight consists of five continuous variations followed by the theme (which is a slightly altered version of Monk's 'Round Midnight).
In After Midnight, as in many other of my compositions, I have attempted to create the illusion of improvisation; that is, I am trying to achieve something like the spontaneity and rhythmic flexibility of an improvised jazz performance without actually calling for improvisation by the performer. In one sense, of course, every performance of written-out music (except for some taped electronic music and computer-realized music!) involves some degree of "improvisation" of tempo, dynamics, articulation, etc., but in After Midnight all of the pitches and most of the rhythms and other musical information are precisely notated. After Midnight might be thought of as a condensed and finely controlled frozen improvisation created by the composer and executed by the performer.
After Midnight is subtitled "In Homage: Thelonious Monk" and is dedicated to Deborah Moriarty for whom it was written in 1985. (February, 1986)
Hocket Variations, for piano and prepared piano, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesHocket Variations, for piano and prepared piano, 1978
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Instrumentation: Pn, Prepared Pn
Duration: ca. 30:00 min.
Hocket Variations - for Piano and Prepared Piano (1978)
"Hocket Variations for Two Pianos" was commissioned by the Michigan Music Teachers Association and was composed during August and September, 1978.
Although no theme is stated at any point in the composition, certain rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, textural, and formal elements are introduced, repeated, and varied throughout. Some of the more important of these elements are: hocket (a compositional device perfected in the middle ages consisting of the rapid alternation of two or more voices or instruments with single notes or groups of notes) and pointillism (a twentieth-century manner of composition in which single notes or small groups of notes are separated or isolated by musical space, timbre, dynamics, rests, etc.)-the two of which should be regarded as closely related in this composition; the opening chords of Variation 1 (which, incidentally, is only one measure in duration); the long series of pitches which is first stated in Variation 2; repeated notes and chords played accelerando (first found at the end of Variation 2) . . . ; the melodic and harmonic material first stated in Variation 3; the pitch class B-natural and the E major triad; and, trills and grace notes (first stated in Variation 6). It is hoped that even on first hearing a careful listener will recognize most of these elements much of the time when they are present in the work. As a successful performance of this composition unfolds, a creative and sensitive listener should intuitively or subconsciously construct an abstract "theme" (i.e., collection of compositional constants). So this work is, in a sense, a theme and variations.
Most of the variations are for two pianos, Piano I being "prepared" (i.e., physically modified, in this case by placing plastic screw anchors between the wires of all of the double and triple strings) to help clarify the hocket passages and provide timbral richness. Of the 20 variations three (5, 10, and 16) are for one piano. These solo variations not only provide some timbral and textural contrast, but also serve to introduce and recapitulate materials for two groups of variations.
In homage to the Goldberg Variations Variations 11, 14, and part of 15 of "Hocket Variations" are canons. However, the canons in Variations 11 and 15 are unmetered, and all three canons are as much timbral-textural-rhythmic "effects" as examples of strict counterpoint. (October, 1978)
Piano - Chamber Music that Includes Piano
Tenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES - for Tenor Saxophone and Piano (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions)
The Modular Form of this Work:
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself, or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version):
1. Disciples
1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts"):
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations:
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
xTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesxTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation:T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
Modular Form
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version)
1. Disciples 1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts")
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Intimate Recollections, for violin, viola, cello, and piano, 2008
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesIntimate Recollections, for violin, viola, cello, and piano, 2008
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Instrumentation: Vln, Vla, Vlc, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
INTIMATE RECOLLECTIONS was commissioned by the Atlantic Ensemble and is dedicated to its members: Wei Tsun Chang, Violin; Seanad Dunigan Chang, Viola; Kirsten Cassel, Cello; and, Leah Bowes, Piano
* * *Intimate Recollections (2008)
Program Notes
In 2005, the Atlantic Ensembles leader, violinist Wei Tsun Chang, invited me to compose a quartet for the Ensemble. Although in 2005 I had not yet heard the Atlantic Ensemble, I was delighted to accept this commission, knowing that Wei Tsun is an exceptionally talented and accomplished performer who seems to have an ear for my music, based on his response to a work I composed for the Verdehr Trio, Collage-1912. Walter Verdehr, a co-founder of the Verdehr Trio, was Wei Tsuns violin teacher at Michigan State University.
* * *
Intimate Recollections is a very personal and intensely felt work. The title is meant to be suggestive and somewhat vague. Recollections of what? Although the music of Intimate Recollections is quite varied in mood and style, with some passages that must be performed with great emotional intensity and others that are lighter (even playful) in nature, this work is essentially serious and reflective. Parts of Intimate Recollections are meant to have qualities that might be described as nostalgic, sorrowful, and even emotionally wrenched. In experiencing a performance of this composition, I hope the listener will sense that the intimate recollections explored in this work (and which, ideally, the listener will partially construct and experience for him- or herself) are renewed and made more vivid through this music. Musical recollections (or hints of Western art music from earlier centuries) are pervasive in Intimate Recollections, but no specific composition is quoted in this quartetat least not consciously!
Charles Ruggiero September 18, 2008
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNight Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 1From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 2From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 3From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 4From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20:00 min.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy - for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2005)
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy was written for Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okada, two immensely talented performers with whom I have had the good fortune to collaborate several times during the past two decades. In the music Ive written for Joe and Jun, I have tried to exploit and enhance their unique synergy, especially the rhythmic energy and momentum that some of their best performances have.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy is inspired by four songs and short instrumental pieces from the vast repertoire of American popular music and jazz of the 1930s and 40smusic that Ive been interested in for most of my life and that continues to provide me with much enjoyment, especially when performed by masterful jazz improvisers. While the listener need not recognize hints of the four source works to comprehend and enjoy this composition, for those who are familiar with these mid twentieth-century popular songs and instrumental pieces, Nights Songs and Flights of Fancy may contain enriching associations, connections, and layers of meaning.
Each of the four movements of Night Songs and Flights of Fancy begins with more or less song-like material and is followed by freer and more complex music that develops the opening material but also introduces contrasting ideas, sometimes in ways that may seem fanciful, surprising, or even mildly perplexing.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesFantasy on a Theme by Ravel, for clarinet and piano, 2004-2009
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Instrumentation: Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 10:05 min.
Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel - for Clarinet and Piano (2004)
I had admired the music of Maurice Ravel years before I began my composition lessons at the New England Conservatory in the mid 1960s. As a teenager, I remember spending hours listening to a Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe; certainly, that listening experience helped shape my concept of what the power of music could be. But it wasn't until 2002, when I gave a composition seminar in the music of Ravel at Michigan State University, that I developed a deeper understanding of the French master's art.
I had not yet given the Ravel seminar at MSU, when the talented clarinetist, Suzanne Tirk, asked me to write something for clarinet and piano. I agreed to accept Suzanne's invitation, having, at first, no intention to incorporate anything Ravelian into the new piece. But by the time the composition was started, I felt almost compelled to draw upon my studies of Ravel's music in writing this duo for clarinet and piano. I'm not sure why, but I feel that the timbres of the clarinet are particularly well suited to articulate some of Ravel's melodic ideas.
Soon after I had decided to base my composition for clarinet and piano on melodic material by Ravel, I settled upon the main theme from the recapitulation of the first movement of Ravel's string quartet. Although Ravel's theme never appears verbatim, it is the basis for almost everything in my duo. And although I have not tried to "quote" elements of Ravel's style in Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel, much of this composition's harmony, texture, rhythm, etc. is indebted to Ravel's music. Fantasy is, then, offered in homage to the master, but offered with the hope that both the performer and listener will find in it more than just an attempt to mimic a well-known style. (June 2004)
Collage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesCollage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's COLLAGE, Mvts. at 280 and 360 From - COLLAGE, Crystal Records CD947
The Verdehre Trio: Walter Verdehr, violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet, Silvia Roederer, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 9:40 min.
Collage-1912 (2001)
Several times during the 1990s Walter Verdehr, my Michigan State University colleague, invited me to write a piece for the renowned Verdehr Trio, the clarinet-violin-piano trio that he founded with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, in 1972 (just one year, coincidentally, before I joined the MSU faculty). I regret that it took me so long to compose something for the Verdehrs, but the delay wasn't due to lack of interest. I've been a great admirer of Elsa and Walter as solo performers and of their superb trio for many years, and I'm honored that they asked me to contribute to the distinctive repertoire that their talents and hard work have brought to life during the past three decades, but a variety of other exigent projects during the 1990s prevented me from working on a piece for the Verdehr Trio until the fall of 2001.
For years now both Elsa and Walter have been attracted to the paintings of my daughter Maria Fiorenza Ruggiero Sidiropoulos. Not only have the Verdehrs purchased several of Maria's paintings for their home, but they also have used a few of her images on Verdehr Trio posters and as part of their website. Every now and then, when I'd run into Walter in the halls of MSU's School of Music or chat with him after one of the trio's summer performances at MSU's Wharton Center, he would say something like, "About that piece we'd like you to write, . . . wouldn't it be wonderful if you could tie it in with some of Maria's paintings." And at one point Walter suggested that it would be delightful to have a number of Maria's paintings exhibited at the site of the premiere of my composition for the Verdehr Trio.
I liked Walter's idea that I relate my composition in some way to my daughter's work, but I did not want to write a "pictures-at-an-exhibition" type of piece. And I especially did not want to try to convey my impressions of Maria's depiction of some idyllic landscape located in a region of the world I'd never set foot in. After considerable thought I decided to try to develop a musical composition using techniques or procedures analogous to those Maria has been using in some of her recent (2000-2001) paintings.
Collage-1912 isn't based on any particular painting or paintings, nor is it intended to impart my musical impressions of, or responses to, the things and places represented in any of Maria's paintings; rather, this musical composition was created using steps analogous to those my daughter has used to transform some of her smaller still-life paintings into larger, more abstract landscapes. Maria's still-life paintings, like many traditional still-lifes, are representations of more-or-less common household objects-glasses, dishes, candlesticks, vases, pieces of fruit, etc.-arranged in a very "artificial" manner. That's to say, arranged not as they would be if someone were preparing for a dinner party, but arranged as a composition of shapes, colors, shadings, etc. Quite often in Maria's still-life paintings compositional motifs take precedence over "reality." For example, in one painting the pattern of a tablecloth is imprinted upon objects that sit on top of the cloth instead of being obscured by them. Although these small still-life paintings are already somewhat abstract, a more marked abstraction takes place in the next phase of the process, where various elements from some of these still-life paintings are used in the development of enlarged companion works.
Maria has produced a series of works in which she has attempted, quite successfully I believe, to transform original but somewhat conventional still-life paintings into bold landscapes that can (should?) be viewed in multiple ways. For example, a large piece might be perceived as an autonomous, rather loose, rhythmic, and intense post-impressionistic landscape and simultaneously seen as a radical permutation of the still-life painting with which it is paired.
How did the creation of Collage-1912 relate to the process outlined above? I started my piece for the Verdehr Trio by fashioning a musical still-life of sorts. I snipped many passages from a dozen compositions (all of which were either composed or published in 1911 or 1912-hence the title) and rather "artificially" arranged them into a musical "still-life." This part of the process took about two months-much more time than I had anticipated! In the next step of the compositional process, I modified the musical still-life by rearranging, supplementing, subtracting from, distorting, overlapping, fusing, etc. the snippets to create the final composition.
Every measure of Collage-1912 is based on one or more snippets (including a few fairly substantial excerpts) taken from one composition by each of the following twelve composers: Béla Bartók, Irving Berlin, Claude Debussy, W.C. Handy, Charles Ives, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, James Scott, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Joaquín Turina. A diverse group of snippets, to be sure, but perhaps not as diverse as one might guess from reading any standard college textbook on the history of Western music! The use of existing music to create a new work is, of course, nothing new. Not only were numerous European medieval, renaissance, and baroque pieces constructed with borrowed materials, but many twentieth-century composers, including some of the twelve composers whose music is used in Collage-1912 (particularly Ives and Stravinsky), have quoted and parodied music from various sources extensively in certain compositions.
Collage-1912, which is approximately eleven minutes in duration, consists of two parts that are performed with no pause between them. This work is dedicated to the Verdehr Trio, to my daughter Maria, and to all twelve of the composers whose raw materials I mined for the "still-life" and consequent collage (or "abstract musical landscape") by which, I must admit, I've attempted to depict a significant chunk of the Western music world circa 1912. (November 29, 2001)
Strayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStrayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
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Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 14:00 min.
STRAYHORN - A Concert Arrangement of Billy Strayhorn Compositions for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000)
STRAYHORN was written for my friends Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okadaduring the seven days from December 26, 1999, to New Year's Day, 2000. Although I hadn't planned on spending that week writing music, when Joe asked me (late in November) to arrange "some jazz" for his appearance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on January 26, 2000, I just couldn't say no. The sponsors of Joe's recital, the New York Pro Musicis association, had suggested that he include some jazz on his program, and when Joe contacted me I immediately proposed an extended concert arrangement based on several songs and instrumental pieces of Billy Strayhorn. The choice of Strayhorn's music was easy; it was stimulated in part by my interest in Strayhorn's compositions and in part by Joe's admiration for the distinctive alto saxophone playing of Johnny Hodges, one of Strayhorn's colleagues in the Duke Ellington enterprise. (The attentive listener may recognize a brief reference to Strayhorn's musical tribute to Hodges, "Johnny Come Lately," at the very end of the arrangement.)
Although their emotional expressiveness and melodic beauty are quite captivating, it is the harmonic sophistication of Billy Strayhorn's compositions that is most intriguing to me. As José Hosiasson states in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Strayhorn's "ballads . . . are harmonically and structurally among the most sophisticated in jazz." This sophistication is not surprising, considering the excellent early musical training that Strayhorn received, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary gift for composition.
After spending nearly three decades as Duke Ellington's closest musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn died somewhat in the shadow of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader. During his lifetime, some of Strayhorn's music, like the well-known theme song of Ellington's band, "Take the 'A' Train," was assumed by many to be Duke's work. But recently a number of performers and scholars have begun to better understand the significance of Strayhorn's contributions to Ellington's output and to reappraise Strayhorn's independent work.
This arrangement for alto saxophone and piano of Strayhorn works is intended to pay homage to Billy Strayhorn by helping to bring his music to the recital stage. It's my hope that in this piece two different performance practices (one involving improvisation, the other not) are blended effectively, resulting in a work that can be presented convincingly by musicians who are at ease with fully notated "art music" but not averse to improvisation. This approach seems appropriate, since Strayhorn was rooted in the traditions of both jazz and European "classical" music.
He was my listener, my most dependable appraiser, and as a critic he would be the most clinical, but his background--both classical and modern--was an accessory to his own good taste and understanding, so what came back to me was in perfect balance.Duke Ellington (from his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress)
STRAYHORN is based on the following compositions (listed in order of their appearance in the arrangement):
Day Dream (Ellington/Strayhorn, 1941)
Rain Check (Strayhorn, 1942)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, 1941)
Blood Count (Strayhorn, 1967)
Upper Manhattan Medical Group--also known as "U.M.M.G." (Strayhorn, 1956)
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn, 1941)
Johnny Come Lately (Strayhorn, 1942)
(December, 2000)
Interplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesInterplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's INTERPLAY, Mvt. 1, 'Octaves' From - INTERPLAY, Channel Crossing CD CCS 10497
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, Philip Hosford, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 19:00 min.
Interplay - for Soprano Saxophone and Piano (1988)
This composition for soprano saxophone and piano was written during the period of July 1987 through April 1988 and was one of three works commissioned by saxophonists Joseph Lulloff, Allen Rippe, and Cynthia Sikes as part of a 1987-89 National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commissioning Project sponsored by Tulane University. William Russo and Ralph Shapey, the two other composers who participated in the project, were commissioned to write compositions that feature the alto saxophone.
* * *
Interplay is in three movements: "Octaves," "Night Song," and "Departures." The title "Interplay" refers to the sometimes playful, sometimes combative, interactions that occur between the saxophone and piano parts throughout the composition, but especially in the work's outer movements.
In the first and second movements of Interplay two essentially distinct sets of musical materials are presented; in the third movement these two sets of materials are synthesized and transformed. The use, in the first two movements, of certain stylistic models and materials borrowed from modern jazz is confirmed in the final movement as it departs from its opening style and moves toward a blatantly boppish idiom.
"Octaves" is organized into seven main sections. Passages consisting of spun-out generative lines in octaves (i.e., with perfect octave or multiple-octave doublings between the saxophone and piano parts and between the two hands of the piano part) occur three times over the course of the movement and collectively serve as a source of materials for the movement's other sections.
Both perfect octaves and augmented octaves figure conspicuously in the melodic and harmonic palette of the first movement, and "Octaves" begins and ends with a juxtaposition of these two intervals. In the second and the sixth sections of the movement, perfect octaves are used prominently in the eighteenth-century derived accompaniment figures of the piano part. The classical keyboard style of these two sections serves as a foil to the volatile jazz "comping" that dominates the middle of the movement.
"Night Song" is an atmospheric "after-hours tune" in a harmonic style that is more explicitly tonal than that of "Octaves." Jazz-like pitch and timbre inflections, which for the most part are absent from the first movement, are introduced in "Night Song" and then are used more prominently in "Departures," the final movement of the work.
The form of "Departures" is the result of a process in which tempos, textures, repetitive figurations, harmonic progressions, etc. are established and then negated in ways so as to set up arrival points at new musical territories. "Departures" might be thought of as a voyage that ultimately takes the listener back to the two primary musical environments out of which were generated the materials of the first two movements: namely, the milieu of modern jazz (especially bop and bop-related jazz), and that of the neoclassic music of Igor Stravinsky. (June 6, 1989)
Hocket Variations, for piano and prepared piano, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesHocket Variations, for piano and prepared piano, 1978
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Instrumentation: Pn, Prepared Pn
Duration: ca. 30:00 min.
Hocket Variations - for Piano and Prepared Piano (1978)
"Hocket Variations for Two Pianos" was commissioned by the Michigan Music Teachers Association and was composed during August and September, 1978.
Although no theme is stated at any point in the composition, certain rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, textural, and formal elements are introduced, repeated, and varied throughout. Some of the more important of these elements are: hocket (a compositional device perfected in the middle ages consisting of the rapid alternation of two or more voices or instruments with single notes or groups of notes) and pointillism (a twentieth-century manner of composition in which single notes or small groups of notes are separated or isolated by musical space, timbre, dynamics, rests, etc.)-the two of which should be regarded as closely related in this composition; the opening chords of Variation 1 (which, incidentally, is only one measure in duration); the long series of pitches which is first stated in Variation 2; repeated notes and chords played accelerando (first found at the end of Variation 2) . . . ; the melodic and harmonic material first stated in Variation 3; the pitch class B-natural and the E major triad; and, trills and grace notes (first stated in Variation 6). It is hoped that even on first hearing a careful listener will recognize most of these elements much of the time when they are present in the work. As a successful performance of this composition unfolds, a creative and sensitive listener should intuitively or subconsciously construct an abstract "theme" (i.e., collection of compositional constants). So this work is, in a sense, a theme and variations.
Most of the variations are for two pianos, Piano I being "prepared" (i.e., physically modified, in this case by placing plastic screw anchors between the wires of all of the double and triple strings) to help clarify the hocket passages and provide timbral richness. Of the 20 variations three (5, 10, and 16) are for one piano. These solo variations not only provide some timbral and textural contrast, but also serve to introduce and recapitulate materials for two groups of variations.
In homage to the Goldberg Variations Variations 11, 14, and part of 15 of "Hocket Variations" are canons. However, the canons in Variations 11 and 15 are unmetered, and all three canons are as much timbral-textural-rhythmic "effects" as examples of strict counterpoint. (October, 1978)
Now Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNow Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
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Instrumentation: Chorus consisting of S (I-IV, 14 singers), A (I-II, 9 singers), T (4 to 6 singers), B (6 to 10 singers), Perc (8 Chrotale parts that may be performed by percussionists or non-singing members of the chorus), Pn (2 players), cond
Duration: ca. 10:00 min.
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Softe - for Chorus, 8 Crotales, and Piano (1979)
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Soft is a composition for chorus, percussion, and piano, based on a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer. "Roundel" is a Middle English word which identifies the poetic form often called "rondeau," one of the formes fixes.
The composition is constructed in two large sections. In both of these sections, the first 17 members of the harmonic series on G unfold.
The work is based on two medieval musical ideas: "music of the spheres" and isorhythm. The former, a philosophical concept developed by ancient Greek philosophers and promulgated by medieval musical authorities, links musical harmony, as reflected in the proper tuning of musical intervals, with the harmony of the universe (i.e., the proper organization and workings of the planets, stars, days, seasons, etc.). The latter, isorhythm, is a compositional technique which was used during Chaucer's lifetime. In isorhythmic structure, a repeating rhythmic pattern, the talea, is applied to a repeating pitch pattern, the color. Generally, the talea is shorter than the color.
Chaucer's roundel welcomes the return of summer and reminds us of the eternal rotation of the seasons. Early in my creative process, the poem stimulated thoughts that led to the establishment of the following goal: to express musically the unity in such seeming opposities as timelessness and flowing time, permanence and flux, and eternity and temporality. This aesthetic goal accounts for the treatment of materials in the composition. Textural, dynamic, and rhythmic changes throughout create constantly fluctuating tension levels, but tonally, the composition is completely static.
The text of Chaucer's poem provides the main timbral resources of this work. Eleven vowels and 21 consonants have been isolated from the roundel and arranged into two ordered sets; these sets, comparable to the talea and color respectively, are linked in a manner analogous to isorhythm. Furthermore, the movement of the soprano and alto melodic lines is governed by a contour set. This set limits the directions in which a melodic line may move from one vowel to the next. For example, in the highest soprano part, the pitch of the vowel "e" always must be approached from below.
The length of the composition is determined by the isorhythmic plan. After 21 statements of the vowel set, the work ends.
This composition is dedicated to H. Owen Reed. (1979)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Piano - Vocal Music that Includes Piano
Now Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNow Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
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Instrumentation: Chorus consisting of S (I-IV, 14 singers), A (I-II, 9 singers), T (4 to 6 singers), B (6 to 10 singers), Perc (8 Chrotale parts that may be performed by percussionists or non-singing members of the chorus), Pn (2 players), cond
Duration: ca. 10:00 min.
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Softe - for Chorus, 8 Crotales, and Piano (1979)
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Soft is a composition for chorus, percussion, and piano, based on a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer. "Roundel" is a Middle English word which identifies the poetic form often called "rondeau," one of the formes fixes.
The composition is constructed in two large sections. In both of these sections, the first 17 members of the harmonic series on G unfold.
The work is based on two medieval musical ideas: "music of the spheres" and isorhythm. The former, a philosophical concept developed by ancient Greek philosophers and promulgated by medieval musical authorities, links musical harmony, as reflected in the proper tuning of musical intervals, with the harmony of the universe (i.e., the proper organization and workings of the planets, stars, days, seasons, etc.). The latter, isorhythm, is a compositional technique which was used during Chaucer's lifetime. In isorhythmic structure, a repeating rhythmic pattern, the talea, is applied to a repeating pitch pattern, the color. Generally, the talea is shorter than the color.
Chaucer's roundel welcomes the return of summer and reminds us of the eternal rotation of the seasons. Early in my creative process, the poem stimulated thoughts that led to the establishment of the following goal: to express musically the unity in such seeming opposities as timelessness and flowing time, permanence and flux, and eternity and temporality. This aesthetic goal accounts for the treatment of materials in the composition. Textural, dynamic, and rhythmic changes throughout create constantly fluctuating tension levels, but tonally, the composition is completely static.
The text of Chaucer's poem provides the main timbral resources of this work. Eleven vowels and 21 consonants have been isolated from the roundel and arranged into two ordered sets; these sets, comparable to the talea and color respectively, are linked in a manner analogous to isorhythm. Furthermore, the movement of the soprano and alto melodic lines is governed by a contour set. This set limits the directions in which a melodic line may move from one vowel to the next. For example, in the highest soprano part, the pitch of the vowel "e" always must be approached from below.
The length of the composition is determined by the isorhythmic plan. After 21 statements of the vowel set, the work ends.
This composition is dedicated to H. Owen Reed. (1979)
Piano - Concertos
Dance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCE COMPULSIONS From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. XII
AUR CD
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano, MSU Wind Symphony, John Whitwell, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: One player per part: Picc (doubling Fl), 2 Fl, A Fl (doubling Fl), 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 3 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Sax (SATBari), 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Euph,Tuba, A Sax (Solo), Pn (Solo), 5 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Dance Compulsions - Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Piano, Winds, and Percussion (2004)
The instrumentation of the American "concert band" is not as standardized as that of the developed symphony orchestra. Rather than viewing this as a weakness, many composers and band conductors currently are enthusiastically exploring a full range of wind and percussion instrumentation possibilities. Today, a "band concert" at a major American university is likely to include music for small, uniquely configured chamber groups, works for massive symphonic ensembles, and compositions for bands that call for only one player per part. Dance Compulsions falls into the last of these three categories.
When John Whitwell, Director of Bands at Michigan State University, commissioned me to write a large work for the MSU Wind Symphony, he suggested that I write a concerto, but he gave me latitude to write for an ensemble consisting of virtually any combination of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. His only suggestion was that I consider writing for one player per part (that is, without the doubling of parts that is normal in performances of traditional band music). John Whitwell's concept of (or vision for) band literature is inclusive and adventuresome; consequently, during his tenure at Michigan State, he has commissioned a steady stream of works that runs the stylistic gamut. This concerto, Dance Compulsions, is my contribution to what might be termed the new flexible instrumentation and stylistic inclusiveness of American band music, a trend championed by conductors like John Whitwell.
My long and happy artistic association with Joseph Lulloff, who is both a friend and an MSU colleague, prompted me immediately to choose alto saxophone as one of the solo instruments for this concerto-Joe's technique, musical intelligence, and emotional depth have inspired me in the past to write some of my most successful music. When Joe and I first discussed this project, we quickly decided that the piece should feature both Joe and Jun Okada, the very talented pianist whom Joe and I have had the good fortune to work with for some two decades. John Whitwell was quick to endorse our plan.
Dance Compulsions attempts to cultivate the supercharged energy that Lulloff-Okada performances often have. It is a 14-minute, one-movement work that consists of a long chain of short dance-like episodes the duration and sequence of which are calculated to create a sense of logically increasing momentum and inevitability of form. Although there are no conscious musical quotations in Dance Compulsions, the piece borrows from a number of traditional styles of popular twentieth-century North American, South American, and Caribbean dance music. The listener might think of the solo instruments of the concerto as representing two dancers who have an insatiable appetite to dance, mostly together, but sometimes as solo dancers; their compulsion to dance being a sometimes joyous, sometimes sensual, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes calculated, and sometimes desperate affirmation of life. (January 2004)
Sax - Music for Solo Saxophone
Tenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES - for Tenor Saxophone and Piano (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions)
The Modular Form of this Work:
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself, or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version):
1. Disciples
1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts"):
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations:
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
xTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesxTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation:T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
Modular Form
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version)
1. Disciples 1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts")
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
SizzleSax, for tenor saxophone and five cymbals played by the saxophonist, 2000
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax, for tenor saxophone and five cymbals played by the saxophonist, 2000
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SizzleSax - for Tenor Saxophone and Five Cymbals (2000)
During my long musical association with Joseph Lulloff, I've been fascinated with and inspired by many aspects of his performer's talents, his musical personality, and his on-stage mannerisms. One of Joe's signatures as a saxophone soloist is his proclivity to move around while playing. Nearly at the very inception of this compositional project, I decided to write SizzleSax for tenor saxophone and cymbals, with the cymbals to be played by the saxophonist. The image of Joe playing the tenor saxophone, surrounded by, tapping, dodging, and sometimes colliding with cymbals of various sizes and timbres (some of which would be "sizzle" cymbals) was one of the first generating ideas of the composition.
Having a wind player play percussion instruments certainly is not a new idea, but as I began to think about writing this piece, I was excited by the possibilities of mixing the sounds of the tenor saxophone with those of cymbals. Particularly the diverse articulations, volumes, and washes of sound of a set of cymbals, combined with the many exotic timbral, articulative, and dynamic shadings of saxophone multiphonics, seemed to have much potential for the creation of quite distinctive (and even new) sax-cymbal textures, colors, rhythms, and gestures. It's my hope that the attentive listener will judge I've succeeded in realizing that potential.
SizzleSax is written in memory of John Coltrane, who, during his short but brilliant career, played many a sizzling solo. (March 2000; rev. June 2000)
Sax - Music for Saxophone and Piano
Tenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES - for Tenor Saxophone and Piano (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions)
The Modular Form of this Work:
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself, or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version):
1. Disciples
1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts"):
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations:
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
xTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesxTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Close
Instrumentation:T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
Modular Form
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version)
1. Disciples 1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts")
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Close
Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNight Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 1From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 2From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 3From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 4From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20:00 min.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy - for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2005)
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy was written for Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okada, two immensely talented performers with whom I have had the good fortune to collaborate several times during the past two decades. In the music Ive written for Joe and Jun, I have tried to exploit and enhance their unique synergy, especially the rhythmic energy and momentum that some of their best performances have.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy is inspired by four songs and short instrumental pieces from the vast repertoire of American popular music and jazz of the 1930s and 40smusic that Ive been interested in for most of my life and that continues to provide me with much enjoyment, especially when performed by masterful jazz improvisers. While the listener need not recognize hints of the four source works to comprehend and enjoy this composition, for those who are familiar with these mid twentieth-century popular songs and instrumental pieces, Nights Songs and Flights of Fancy may contain enriching associations, connections, and layers of meaning.
Each of the four movements of Night Songs and Flights of Fancy begins with more or less song-like material and is followed by freer and more complex music that develops the opening material but also introduces contrasting ideas, sometimes in ways that may seem fanciful, surprising, or even mildly perplexing.
Strayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStrayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
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Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 14:00 min.
STRAYHORN - A Concert Arrangement of Billy Strayhorn Compositions for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000)
STRAYHORN was written for my friends Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okadaduring the seven days from December 26, 1999, to New Year's Day, 2000. Although I hadn't planned on spending that week writing music, when Joe asked me (late in November) to arrange "some jazz" for his appearance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on January 26, 2000, I just couldn't say no. The sponsors of Joe's recital, the New York Pro Musicis association, had suggested that he include some jazz on his program, and when Joe contacted me I immediately proposed an extended concert arrangement based on several songs and instrumental pieces of Billy Strayhorn. The choice of Strayhorn's music was easy; it was stimulated in part by my interest in Strayhorn's compositions and in part by Joe's admiration for the distinctive alto saxophone playing of Johnny Hodges, one of Strayhorn's colleagues in the Duke Ellington enterprise. (The attentive listener may recognize a brief reference to Strayhorn's musical tribute to Hodges, "Johnny Come Lately," at the very end of the arrangement.)
Although their emotional expressiveness and melodic beauty are quite captivating, it is the harmonic sophistication of Billy Strayhorn's compositions that is most intriguing to me. As José Hosiasson states in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Strayhorn's "ballads . . . are harmonically and structurally among the most sophisticated in jazz." This sophistication is not surprising, considering the excellent early musical training that Strayhorn received, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary gift for composition.
After spending nearly three decades as Duke Ellington's closest musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn died somewhat in the shadow of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader. During his lifetime, some of Strayhorn's music, like the well-known theme song of Ellington's band, "Take the 'A' Train," was assumed by many to be Duke's work. But recently a number of performers and scholars have begun to better understand the significance of Strayhorn's contributions to Ellington's output and to reappraise Strayhorn's independent work.
This arrangement for alto saxophone and piano of Strayhorn works is intended to pay homage to Billy Strayhorn by helping to bring his music to the recital stage. It's my hope that in this piece two different performance practices (one involving improvisation, the other not) are blended effectively, resulting in a work that can be presented convincingly by musicians who are at ease with fully notated "art music" but not averse to improvisation. This approach seems appropriate, since Strayhorn was rooted in the traditions of both jazz and European "classical" music.
He was my listener, my most dependable appraiser, and as a critic he would be the most clinical, but his background--both classical and modern--was an accessory to his own good taste and understanding, so what came back to me was in perfect balance.Duke Ellington (from his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress)
STRAYHORN is based on the following compositions (listed in order of their appearance in the arrangement):
Day Dream (Ellington/Strayhorn, 1941)
Rain Check (Strayhorn, 1942)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, 1941)
Blood Count (Strayhorn, 1967)
Upper Manhattan Medical Group--also known as "U.M.M.G." (Strayhorn, 1956)
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn, 1941)
Johnny Come Lately (Strayhorn, 1942)
(December, 2000)
Interplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesInterplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's INTERPLAY, Mvt. 1, 'Octaves' From - INTERPLAY, Channel Crossing CD CCS 10497
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, Philip Hosford, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 19:00 min.
Interplay - for Soprano Saxophone and Piano (1988)
This composition for soprano saxophone and piano was written during the period of July 1987 through April 1988 and was one of three works commissioned by saxophonists Joseph Lulloff, Allen Rippe, and Cynthia Sikes as part of a 1987-89 National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commissioning Project sponsored by Tulane University. William Russo and Ralph Shapey, the two other composers who participated in the project, were commissioned to write compositions that feature the alto saxophone.
* * *
Interplay is in three movements: "Octaves," "Night Song," and "Departures." The title "Interplay" refers to the sometimes playful, sometimes combative, interactions that occur between the saxophone and piano parts throughout the composition, but especially in the work's outer movements.
In the first and second movements of Interplay two essentially distinct sets of musical materials are presented; in the third movement these two sets of materials are synthesized and transformed. The use, in the first two movements, of certain stylistic models and materials borrowed from modern jazz is confirmed in the final movement as it departs from its opening style and moves toward a blatantly boppish idiom.
"Octaves" is organized into seven main sections. Passages consisting of spun-out generative lines in octaves (i.e., with perfect octave or multiple-octave doublings between the saxophone and piano parts and between the two hands of the piano part) occur three times over the course of the movement and collectively serve as a source of materials for the movement's other sections.
Both perfect octaves and augmented octaves figure conspicuously in the melodic and harmonic palette of the first movement, and "Octaves" begins and ends with a juxtaposition of these two intervals. In the second and the sixth sections of the movement, perfect octaves are used prominently in the eighteenth-century derived accompaniment figures of the piano part. The classical keyboard style of these two sections serves as a foil to the volatile jazz "comping" that dominates the middle of the movement.
"Night Song" is an atmospheric "after-hours tune" in a harmonic style that is more explicitly tonal than that of "Octaves." Jazz-like pitch and timbre inflections, which for the most part are absent from the first movement, are introduced in "Night Song" and then are used more prominently in "Departures," the final movement of the work.
The form of "Departures" is the result of a process in which tempos, textures, repetitive figurations, harmonic progressions, etc. are established and then negated in ways so as to set up arrival points at new musical territories. "Departures" might be thought of as a voyage that ultimately takes the listener back to the two primary musical environments out of which were generated the materials of the first two movements: namely, the milieu of modern jazz (especially bop and bop-related jazz), and that of the neoclassic music of Igor Stravinsky. (June 6, 1989)
Sax - Music for Saxophone Quartet
Dig: JSB-1, for saxophone quartet (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 2003
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig: JSB-1, for saxophone quartet (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 2003
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Instrumentation: Sax Quartet (SATBari)
Duration: ca. 7:00 min.
Dig: JSB-1, A Transmogrification of the 4th Movement of J. S. Bach's Sonata in G Minor for Violin Solo - for Saxophone Quartet (2003)
Commissioned by the Capitol Quartet
David Lewis, Baritone Saxophone
Joe Lulloff, Soprano Saxophone
Anjan Shah, Alto Saxophone
David Stambler, Tenor SaxophoneDig: JSB-1 for saxophone quartet, is about confluence and transmogrification (defined in one dictionary as: a changing "into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre"). Dig plausibly could be called an arrangement of the last movement of Bach's solo violin sonata in G minor. However, instead of arrangement or transcription, I use the word transmogrification to categorize this work, because in the second half of Dig the degree to which I've changed Bach's music, and the aesthetic criteria I have employed in making those changes, transform the work, in my view. What starts as an arrangement ends as a composition. Consequently, this work explores relationships between tradition and innovation, translation and creation, presentation and origination.
The Capitol Quartet's ability to play different styles of music extremely well, their capacity for making rapid yet coherent stylistic transformations during their performances, and their dedication to bringing a wide variety of rich and challenging music to their audiences, is inspiring. Shortly after the quartet's delightful performance at Michigan State University in February of 2003, Anjan Shaw, the Capitol Quartet's alto saxophonist, invited me to write a piece for the group's upcoming CD. After attending their MSU performance and discussing the commission with Anjan, it became clear to me that a serious goal of the Capitol Quartet is to enrich the repertoire of the saxophone quartet in innovative ways. Furthermore, they are committed to fashioning recital programs and recording projects that will infuse the performance of music from the baroque and classical periods of European art music with a vitality that is, in part, borrowed from jazz. In the Capitol Quartet's performances and recordings one finds an appealing convergence of classical music, popular American music, and jazz, a convergence that resonates with me.
In the fall of 2002, before hearing the Capitol Quartet's MSU performance and before Anjan raised the possibility of me writing something for the quartet, I had thought about writing a saxophone quartet based on the last movement of Bach's Sonata in G Minor for Violin Solo, a piece that I had played on marimba when I was Vic Firth's student at the New England Conservatory in the 1960s. I had enjoyed playing the piece, and neither I nor my teacher had any qualms about playing it on marimba-after all, Bach himself had arranged a number of his works, including some for solo violin, for performance on other instruments!
One November or December morning, while listening to the local PBS FM radio station, I heard a recording of the Bach G-minor sonata and decided that I would enjoy turning it into a piece for saxophone quartet. I can't explain exactly why, but as I was listening to the broadcast, the piece seemed to beg to be "translated" into a saxophone quartet piece. However, being busy with other projects, I didn't begin writing the piece until after learning from Anjan that the Capitol Quartet was interested in doing a CD focusing on classical music, particularly the music of J. S. Bach, and that they wanted me to write something for the group. What a nice confluence of interests and opportunities!
The first part of the title of this composition, Dig, is a play on words. Everything in this piece is based, more or less, on Bach's violin sonata movement. Parts of the composition are little more than arrangements of chunks of Bach's solo violin music for saxophone quartet; however, in much of the quartet, Bach's melodic lines, rhythms, and implied harmonies are rearranged, deranged, displaced, elaborated upon, etc. I've transformed Bach's music in ways, some of which I hope are pleasantly unexpected, that reflect my interests in and experiences with jazz and twentieth-century European and American composition.
This kind of "borrowing" and metamorphosing has been done by many composers (Bach himself, Ives, Stravinsky, Berio, and many others), but some distinguished musicians have frowned upon the practice. Pierre Boulez, for example, in his essay "Bach's Moment," has characterized composers who have borrowed material from other composers as "grave robbers." I prefer to think of such borrowings as musical archaeology; hence my title Dig (as in archaeological dig). But since in this piece I'm attempting to transform Bach's violin piece, using, in part, jazz harmonies, instrumental techniques, and rhythmic concepts, the title also is intended to suggest that I "dig" (i.e., admire, like, respect, etc., in jazz parlance) Bach's music and would like, through the Capitol Quartet, to bring it to the attention of many performers and listeners who otherwise might not encounter it.
Dig: JSB-1 is dedicated to the memory of Theodore O. Johnson, who was my friend and colleague at Michigan State University for more than 30 years and who wrote two books on the music of J. S. Bach. (November 2003)
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet, (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 1981 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesThree Blues for Saxophone Quartet, (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 1981 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's THREE BLUES FOR SAXOPHONE QUARTET, Mvt. 2, 'Delicately...'From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. V
AUR CD 3111
The Great Lakes Saxophone Quartet: James Forger, Donell Snyder, Joseph Lulloff, Eric Lau
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, A Sax, T Sax, Bari Sax
Duration: ca. 12:20 min.
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet (1981)
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet was composed in 1981 for James Forger and the Michigan State University Saxophone Quartet. Stylistic and formal elements from traditional jazz are pervasive in this work, but Three Blues is virtually devoid of improvisation except that the performers are expected, in much of the work, to play the given notes, rhythms, and dynamics in a style that sounds improvisational. A fine performance of Three Blues will capture the spirit of good jazz improvisation.
The structure of Three Blues is an arch form in three movements. The central movement is the longest and most complex of the three. After a brief introduction, the second movement begins with a "neo-bop" section featuring the alto and tenor saxophones. After the first statement of a short ritornello that punctuates the second movement, an extended contrapuntal passage leads to the apex of the arch for the entire composition, after which a variant of the "neo-bop" section ends the movement.
Both of the framing movements are shorter and lighter in style than the second. The first movement, marked "Charliechaplinesque," evokes the enthusiastic and lighthearted mood of some '20s and '30s jazz (although it uses the harmonic and rhythmic style of more modern jazz). Movement I is based on a repeated harmonic progression that is systematically shortened and then restored to its original length as the movement evolves. This progression is derived in part from the first two measures of the third movement (incidentally, these measures of the third movement contain the first ideas to be composed for the entire composition).
The last movement ("relaxed but not sloppy"!) caricatures, in a friendly way, some blues idioms that jazz enthusiasts will recognize easily. Two functions of this movement are to provide an architectonic balance to the first movement, and to develop some of the rhythmic ideas of the previous two movements. In this last movement, although the prevailing meter is 4/4, beats frequently get displaced, lengthened, or shortened by unexpected durations creating, it is hoped, a controlled elasticity of meter and tempo. The wellsprings of these rhythmic ideas are jazz and, to a lesser extent, the music of Igor Stravinsky. (1981; rev. in 2000)
Sax - Music for Mixed Chamber Groups that Include Saxophone
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
SizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's SIZZLESAX II From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, tenor saxophone, Jon Weber, percussion
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: T Sax, Perc
Duration: ca. 14:45 min.
SizzleSax II - for Tenor Saxophone and Percussion (2001)
SizzleSax, the original version of this composition, was given its premiere by Joseph Lulloff at the 12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal on July 8, 2000, at the University of Quebec's Salle Pierre-Mercure. In the original SizzleSax, the tenor saxophonist was called upon to play five cymbals by hand and at times to alternate rapidly between playing the saxophone and the cymbals-both of which requirements, especially the former, proved to be problematic.
While Lulloff's brilliant performance of SizzleSax was received with some enthusiasm at the Congress, several of the saxophonists who heard (and saw) the premiere commented that they wouldn't even consider trying to learn the piece because of the possible stress and even serious injury to their hands that playing the cymbals might cause. Their concerns, unfortunately, were justified.
After playing SizzleSax at the Brevard Music Center later in the summer of 2000, Joseph Lulloff (who is both a Michigan State University colleague and close friend of mine) told me that as much as he had enjoyed playing the cymbals in his two performances of SizzleSax, the toll that these performances had taken on his hands was too great for him to continue playing the composition. Joe decided to cancel the Michigan premiere of SizzleSax, and I regretfully concurred. I certainly didn't want Joe's hands to be damaged playing my music. But having invested too much time and creative energy in SizzleSax to let it die such a quick death, I was determined to come up with a benign (at least non-injurious!) transformation of the composition that retained and further developed much of its original musical content-even if some of SizzleSax's theatrics had to be sacrificed.
In July and August of 2001 SizzleSax II, the phoenix of SizzleSax, was reborn, still a work inspired by Joseph Lulloff, but now a duo for tenor saxophone and percussion. The original cymbals of SizzleSax have been augmented in SizzleSax II with other metallic instruments (triangles, sizzle-gong, and tam-tam) and various "skins" percussion instruments (bongos, tom-tom, congas, and bass drum). It is hoped that this new version may be performed without injury to either player. (August 12, 2001)
Dances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCES AND OTHER MOVEMENTS, Mvt. 9, 'Finale'From - Faculty Recital
I-Fu Wang, violin, James Forger, alto saxophone, Deborah Moriarty, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dances and Other Movements - for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano (1983)
Dances . . . is a suite of nine short movements three of which are solos: "Soliloquy" (for saxophone), "Interlude" (for piano), and "Violin Tune" (featuring, of course, violin). In several of the movements, especially in the dances, simple ostinatos and more-or-less familiar meters and rhythms are employed. In the last movement, "Finale," motives, themes, and other elements of the first eight movements are juxtaposed and further developed.
Although Dances and Other Movements is partially based on a 12-tone set, the style of this composition is indebted primarily to such diverse sources as the music of Bartok and Stravinsky, Latin-American popular music, traditional and modern jazz, and Eastern-European folk music.
The 12-tone set of Dances . . . is derived from part of the melody of a well-known jazz "standard"; this borrowing is a hidden tribute to one of the leading creative forces of modern jazz.
In Dances and Other Movements I have explored and tried to integrate contrasting rhythmic styles. Extensive portions of this composition are notated in "traditional" meters . . . , and the beat in these passages is often very easily distinguishable. In several movements, however, the beat is sometimes obscured by a variety of non-traditional rhythmic techniques and notational devices. It is hoped that the listener will hear transformations or "modulations" from one rhythmic style to another in certain passages; the most extended example of rhythmic transformation in this work can be heard in "Finale."
The basic 12-tone set of Dances and Other Movements is rotated (i.e., systematically reordered) and otherwise used rather freely throughout the composition. Less primitive than the 12-tone structure of this work is its use of registral and timbral constants as prime referential elements. Pitch classes tend to be associated with only one or two specific octave locations in each of the three instruments. It is hoped that the listener will perceive and, without much special effort, aurally remember the registral locations of pitch classes and that this will enhance the listener's understanding and enjoyment of the work. (1983)
Sax - Saxophone Concertos
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCE COMPULSIONS From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. XII
AUR CD
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano, MSU Wind Symphony, John Whitwell, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: One player per part: Picc (doubling Fl), 2 Fl, A Fl (doubling Fl), 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 3 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Sax (SATBari), 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Euph,Tuba, A Sax (Solo), Pn (Solo), 5 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Dance Compulsions - Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Piano, Winds, and Percussion (2004)
The instrumentation of the American "concert band" is not as standardized as that of the developed symphony orchestra. Rather than viewing this as a weakness, many composers and band conductors currently are enthusiastically exploring a full range of wind and percussion instrumentation possibilities. Today, a "band concert" at a major American university is likely to include music for small, uniquely configured chamber groups, works for massive symphonic ensembles, and compositions for bands that call for only one player per part. Dance Compulsions falls into the last of these three categories.
When John Whitwell, Director of Bands at Michigan State University, commissioned me to write a large work for the MSU Wind Symphony, he suggested that I write a concerto, but he gave me latitude to write for an ensemble consisting of virtually any combination of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. His only suggestion was that I consider writing for one player per part (that is, without the doubling of parts that is normal in performances of traditional band music). John Whitwell's concept of (or vision for) band literature is inclusive and adventuresome; consequently, during his tenure at Michigan State, he has commissioned a steady stream of works that runs the stylistic gamut. This concerto, Dance Compulsions, is my contribution to what might be termed the new flexible instrumentation and stylistic inclusiveness of American band music, a trend championed by conductors like John Whitwell.
My long and happy artistic association with Joseph Lulloff, who is both a friend and an MSU colleague, prompted me immediately to choose alto saxophone as one of the solo instruments for this concerto-Joe's technique, musical intelligence, and emotional depth have inspired me in the past to write some of my most successful music. When Joe and I first discussed this project, we quickly decided that the piece should feature both Joe and Jun Okada, the very talented pianist whom Joe and I have had the good fortune to work with for some two decades. John Whitwell was quick to endorse our plan.
Dance Compulsions attempts to cultivate the supercharged energy that Lulloff-Okada performances often have. It is a 14-minute, one-movement work that consists of a long chain of short dance-like episodes the duration and sequence of which are calculated to create a sense of logically increasing momentum and inevitability of form. Although there are no conscious musical quotations in Dance Compulsions, the piece borrows from a number of traditional styles of popular twentieth-century North American, South American, and Caribbean dance music. The listener might think of the solo instruments of the concerto as representing two dancers who have an insatiable appetite to dance, mostly together, but sometimes as solo dancers; their compulsion to dance being a sometimes joyous, sometimes sensual, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes calculated, and sometimes desperate affirmation of life. (January 2004)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's CONCERTO FOR SOPRANO SAXOPHONE AND ORCHESTRA, Mvt. 3, 'Time Shifts...'From - JOSEPH LULLOFF PLAYS THE SAXOPHONE MUSIC OF COLGRASS, DAHL, RUGGIERO
AUR CD 3099
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Leon Gregorian, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Picc (doubling Fl), 3 Fl, 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 2 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Hrn, C Tpt, 2 Bb Tpt, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 3 Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), S Sax, 16-18 Vln 1, 14-16 Vln 2, 10-12 Vla, 10-12 Vlc, 8-10 DB, cond
Duration: ca. 21:30 min.
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra (1995)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra is the culmination to date of my long creative association with the remarkable saxophone artist Joseph Lulloff, for whom I have written several chamber works, and with whom I have performed jazz on many occasions. It was Joe's "voice" as a saxophonist (especially the timbral qualities of his soprano saxophone playing), his prodigious technique, and his rich musicality that in no small part instigated this composition.
If a work of art cannot but reflect the time, place, and persona-not to mention the innermost self-of its creator, then what does this composition reflect? Certainly this concerto is an "American" product, not only because its composer is a native of the United States, but largely because it contains many intended stylistic references to various kinds of American music, especially to jazz. The study of this unique American musical idiom has been a preoccupation of mine for much of the past 40 years, and it is my intention to continue to try to find and develop in my compositions significant and subtle connections between jazz and other kinds of music that I am interested in.
Composers now, at the end of the twentieth century, have a rich legacy of music that has in one way or another combined jazz elements with non-jazz elements: the music of Ellington, Still, Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Nancarrow, Schuller, Coleman, Reich, and many others. For those of us who care about the art of jazz and who are compelled to explore new territory in our compositions, it is a bit daunting to think of all that already has been accomplished by such luminaries as Ellington, and all that, with decidedly mixed results, has been attempted by others.
Some attentive listeners may hear this concerto as teetering on the brink of atonality, or, viewed from the other side of the divide, tonality. This ambiguity is intended, and in no small part, I suppose, reflects some of the ambiguities and teeterings of my culture and my particular existence. Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra might be thought of as a latter-day third-stream work (perhaps "neo-third-stream" would pigeonhole it too succinctly!), but unlike such third-stream compositions as Gunther Schuller's Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1959), which combine small-group improvisational tonal jazz with composed post-World War II atonal orchestral techniques, this concerto, in part, attempts to integrate late-'50s "free-jazz" linear harmony (anti-harmony?) with an eclectic orchestral style that references mostly pre-World War II American and European music.
It could be argued that this concerto has a fairly conventional tonal structure: namely, in the simplest of terms, that it begins in E minor and ends in G major. There's something to this analytical distillation, but not much. While I was conceiving and developing this composition, it was rhythmic matters (including large-scale temporal relationships) that dominated my musings on the structural landscape of the work.
The title "ST*IT*T" derives from "stasis-interpolation-transformation," a formulation which describes the main formal process of the first of the concerto's four movements. After a brief introduction that presents certain fundamental motivic, harmonic, and timbral materials for the concerto, two "ideas" (i.e., linear-textural-gestural-harmonic building blocks), one primarily in the bassoons, piano, and low strings, the other in a "concertino" group consisting of soprano saxophone, piccolo, flute, and marimba, are each stated several times. These iterations create stasis at one structural level, even as they create motion on the "surface" of the music. Gradually, interpolated brass interjections break down the two "stasis ideas," leading to an extended interpolation, a cadenza for saxophone, brass and percussion instruments, flute, and clarinet. After this disintegration, the two stasis ideas (i.e., the bassoon-piano-low strings and concertino materials) return but are harmonically and timbrally transformed. Much of the momentum of this movement, ironically, is created by the cumulative effect of the repeating stasis ideas; for this effect to come off as intended, the stasis ideas must be performed with graceful and elegant precision.
"ST*IT*T," of course, also pays homage to the jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who, like many bebop masters, used interpolation (quotations of popular tunes, personal motives and figures, themes from "classical" music, fragments of famous improvised solos, etc.) as a structural device in his improvisations, sometimes to break the tension, often in a humorous way, of an intense solo flight.
The second movement, "Antique Sentiments," uses suspensions, shifting and unexpected accents, and other rhythmic, textural, and harmonic devices to create a blur suggestive of the blurred emotions and memories of distant events. The harmony of this movement is highly chromatic but explicitly tonal throughout.
Perhaps the most subtle elements of classic jazz are "swing" (characteristic rhythmic inflections) and the complex layering of rhythms which occurs in almost all masterly jazz performances. All of the components, for example, of a standard jazz quartet performance (the soloist's improvised melodies, the "comping" in the piano or guitar, the "walking" bass line, and the "time" and rhythmic counterpoint expressed via the drum set), rely on the steady pulse of the composite rhythm-section part and the typically uniform meter and regular harmonic changes of the song or blues form which serves as a foundation for the music. In jazz performances at the highest level of artistry, what may at first glance seem to be a simplistic and well-worn format is actually an efficient springboard for an extremely variable and nuanced mix of improvised swing, syncopation, rubato, polyrhythm, and what might be called "time shifting"-a mix that is well perceived and fully appreciated by only the most experienced and astute listeners. Jazz rhythm, especially in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s (and much music created since the 1960s which is closely related to classic jazz styles), reflects a uniquely urban American sense of time. Much of jazz rhythm echoes the complex bustle of activity experienced in many American cities and the speech rhythms and conversational pacing of urban Americans, especially of urban African Americans.
"Time Shifts-Remembrances," the last of the concerto's movements, attempts to develop, in an orchestral setting, something like the layering of rhythms referred to above. While the score of "Time Shifts-Remembrances" calls for no improvisation and no "swing" interpretation of written melodic lines by the soloist or orchestral players, various textures in the movement are developed in which the rhythms of some melodic lines are shifted ahead of or behind the prevailing meter in a way that may sound loose or even somewhat chaotic. This time shifting has an emotional parallel in the human psyche; the multitude of memories that we accumulate during our lives, many of which refer to strongly felt experiences, are recalled from time to time, in confusing, lucid, playful, ironic, orderly, random, pleasing or painful successions. These recollections sometimes overlap with each other, and one remembrance may dissolve into another. I view this as a kind of time shifting; a human ability that, among other things, may help us to cope with lost or keenly anticipated opportunities, triumphs and defeats of the past, and uncertainties of the future. (October 28, 1995)
Sax - All Music that Features Saxophone
Tenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Close
Instrumentation: T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES - for Tenor Saxophone and Piano (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions)
The Modular Form of this Work:
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself, or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version):
1. Disciples
1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts"):
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations:
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
xTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesxTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Close
Instrumentation:T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
Modular Form
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version)
1. Disciples 1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts")
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesChobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Versions for Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon and Piano and for Flute, Bassoon and Piano, 2011, rev. 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Close
Instrumentation: S Sax (or Fl), Bsn, Pn
Duration: ca. 24 min.
Chobim - Six Jazz Compositions in Honor of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim (2011, rev. 2012)
Dedication (see program notes)
Program Notes for the Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano Version
I have enjoyed and been inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin and Antonio Carlos Jobim for more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, when I was first discovering the riches of classical music, I stumbled upon a performance of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat Major by José Iturbi that was included on an eclectic RCA Victor two-LP record album that my dad happened to bring home one day after work. In those days, it wasn't uncommon for department stores, grocery stores, and even gas stations to sell sampler albums at "giveaway prices" (for a couple of dollars, or less), presumably to get people interested in the catalogs of such leading record companies as RCA and Columbia. The RCA album containing Iturbi's "Heroic" performance, 60 Years of "Music America Loves Best," begins with Vest la giubba sung by Enrico Caruso and includes several other captivating performances, including Variations on Themes from "Carmen" played by Vladimir Horowitz, Sergei Rachmaninoff performing his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, "Take the 'A' Train" played by the Duke Ellington band, a sizzling rendition of the Ritual Fire Dance by Artur Rubinstein, Mario Lana singing "Be My Love," Benny Goodman's classic recording of "And the Angles Sing," an NBC Symphony/Toscanini performance of the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and much more! I remember playing the A-flat Polonaise over and over on my father's primitive record player, and I'm sure that Iturbi's passionate rendition of this piece, along with the other mysteriously powerful performances on the album, was an early factor that contributed to my decision to follow a career in music and to become a composer.
In the 1960s I bought and devoured an LP recording of the Chopin polonaises by Alexander Brailowsky, paying particular attention to the Polonaise in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44. And years later, as an instructor of composition and music theory at Michigan State University, I would play and study some of Chopin's smaller works, particularly the preludes, mazurkas, and nocturnes, finding much to like and learn from.
I had heard some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's music before 1964, when the hit album Getz/Gilberto, which featured Jobim playing piano, was released in the United States, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Ever since Getz/Gilberto, my knowledge of and admiration for Jobim's creations has grown steadily. When I was active as a jazz performer, from time to time I would pick a Jobim piece to study, to try to better understand the unique elements of the composer's style. After studying "Insensatez" ("How Insensitive," is the English-language title), it became clear to me that some of Jobim's music is quite similar to some of Chopin's music. I sense both a musical (melodic and harmonic) and emotional connection between the music of these two masters.
With the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth in 2010, which roughly coincided with the 50th anniversary of the "bossa nova craze" in America, I decided to write this composition in honor of these two wonderful composers, Chopin and Jobim.
In much of my music I synthesize ideas, techniques, and materials from Western classical compositions, avant-garde "art music" of the 20th century, and jazz. I've titled this work "six jazz compositions" because, more than in most of my other works from the past three decades, jazz elements are dominant in the six pieces of Chobim, making for a style that may be accurately characterized, I hope, as relatively accessible. But this is not to say that I intend for these pieces to be in a popular or "easy-listening" style. Jazz, unfortunately, is not at all a popular form of music today in any part of the world, and several of the six movements of Chobim are quite challenging for listeners (not to mention the challenges these pieces pose for performers!).
Although all six movements invoke the music of both composers, three movements (I, III, and V) are based specifically on pieces by Chopin:
Mvt. I. Dark Samba
Mvt. III. Bossa Nova Sentimental [Note: This is the Portuguese word, pronounced, approximately, sen-chee-men-tau.]
Mvt. V. Bossa à la Brubeck
The three even-numbered movements are particularly indebted to Jobim compositions:
Mvt. II. Nocturne-Etude - One Blue Note, Quietly (more or less)
Mvt. IV. Nocturne - Changing Topics: Jazz Conversations After Hours
Mvt. VI. Waltz - Three Souls in Perfect Time
Every movement of Chobim began, essentially, as an arrangement of the Chopin or Jobim composition that the movement is based upon. Each of these six "arrangements" then was used as a primary source of material (motivic ideas, rhythms, harmonies, textures, etc.) for each of the corresponding jazz compositions (i.e., movements) of Chobim. I used essentially the same compositional process for all six movements: the initial version of each movement evolved via hundreds (in several cases, thousands!) of developing drafts. In other words, I wrote at least several hundred different versions of each movement until I arrived at the fully evolved pieces included in the final score; consequently, in most (perhaps all) cases it is difficult to identify by ear (or even by studying the score) the Chopin or Jobim composition that provided the original seed of the movement. This is intended. While I hope that during performances traces of each movement's musical DNA will bubble up to the surface from time to time, I do not want the listener to hear these movements as arrangements, parodies, or variants of the Chopin and Jobim pieces, but rather as distinct and autonomous compositions with strong genetic links to the music of both composers.
Chobim, which was composed mostly during August of 2010, January and the last three months of 2011, and March of 2012, is dedicated to my very talented Michigan State University faculty colleagues, saxophonist Joseph Lulloff, bassoonist Michael Kroth, and pianist Deborah Moriarty. This work also is dedicated to my wife of 42 years, Pat, who I hope will enjoy these jazz pieces and forgive me for not always being the most enjoyable person to live with when I'm working intensely on a compositional project!
Charles Ruggiero - Mar. 16, 2012 (rev. June 1, 2012)
Additional Program Notes for the Flute, Bassoon, and Piano Version
Early on, before I had completed the first draft of any of the movements of Chobim, I decided to make two versions of the composition, the first for soprano saxophone, bassoon, and piano, and the second for flute with the same two other instruments. In these two versions of the work, the saxophone and flute parts are very similar except for a number of passages that are written an octave higher in the flute part and a few other differences intended to make each of the parts more idiomatic and effective. The bassoon and piano parts are virtually identical in both versions.
Throughout the periods when I was composing and revising this work, I kept in mind that the saxophone-flute part would have to work equally well for both instruments, and, happily, now that the composition is completed, I feel that that neither version of the part gives the impression that it has been adapted from the other. This is to say that I think of each version of Chobim as authentic and original, not as an arrangement of the other version.
The flute version of Chobim is dedicated to my son-in-law, the very talented Brazilian flutist, Danilo Mezzadri.
C. R. - Mar. 16, 2012
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Echoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesEchoes of 'Piano Red', for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and alto saxophone, 2006
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Instrumentation: Fl, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Echoes of Piano Red - Flute, Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), and Alto Saxophone
Echoes of Piano Red is a three-movement work inspired by the music of Piano Red, whom many consider to be jazz musics preeminent composer. (Piano Red is one of the less-known nicknames of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington.) While I have not tried to copy Ellingtons style in Echoes of Piano Red, listeners familiar with some of the music of the Maestrodrummer Louis Bellsons appellation for Ellingtoncertainly may hear echoes of Ellington in this composition. Echoes, of course, can distort and even obscure an original sound, as in the extreme transformation that occurs when someone sings loudly in an immense walled space.
In much of the first movement of Echoes of Piano Red, the three musical protagonists (the flute, bass clarinet, and alto saxophone), create webs of more-or-less repeating patterns that are intended to create a sense of agitated forward momentum. Imagine three hurried travelers weaving in and out of each others paths, making progress, but occasionally getting a bit entangled.
Anyones Dream, the second movement, is rather dreamlike, in that its tempo and mood change somewhat frequently and capriciously. The harmonic language of Anyones Dream is more dissonant than that of the other two movementsan anxious dream, perhaps?
The middle section of Play and Laugh, the final movement of Echoes, is intended to sound something like a joyous and at times mirthful group-improvisation with at first two, and then all three, players improvising over tonal changes (jazz harmonies); however, none of the parts call for any actual improvisationthey all are fully notated. Each of the three parts should have its own distinct, relaxed, and spontaneous sounding swing feel (nuance of rhythmic interpretation).
Echoes of Piano Red was composed for the Eclectic Trio: Joanna White, flute, Kennen White, clarinet, and John Nichol, saxophone. Funding for this commission was provided by Central Michigan University. (July 2006)
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNight Songs and Flights of Fancy, for alto saxophone and piano, 2005
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 1From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 2From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 3From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Excerpt - Ruggiero's NIGHT SONGS AND FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Mvt. 4From - Faculty RecitalJoseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20:00 min.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy - for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2005)
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy was written for Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okada, two immensely talented performers with whom I have had the good fortune to collaborate several times during the past two decades. In the music Ive written for Joe and Jun, I have tried to exploit and enhance their unique synergy, especially the rhythmic energy and momentum that some of their best performances have.
Night Songs and Flights of Fancy is inspired by four songs and short instrumental pieces from the vast repertoire of American popular music and jazz of the 1930s and 40smusic that Ive been interested in for most of my life and that continues to provide me with much enjoyment, especially when performed by masterful jazz improvisers. While the listener need not recognize hints of the four source works to comprehend and enjoy this composition, for those who are familiar with these mid twentieth-century popular songs and instrumental pieces, Nights Songs and Flights of Fancy may contain enriching associations, connections, and layers of meaning.
Each of the four movements of Night Songs and Flights of Fancy begins with more or less song-like material and is followed by freer and more complex music that develops the opening material but also introduces contrasting ideas, sometimes in ways that may seem fanciful, surprising, or even mildly perplexing.
Dance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDance Compulsions, for alto saxophone, piano, winds, and percussion, 2004
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCE COMPULSIONS From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. XII
AUR CD
Joseph Lulloff, alto saxophone, Jun Okada, piano, MSU Wind Symphony, John Whitwell, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: One player per part: Picc (doubling Fl), 2 Fl, A Fl (doubling Fl), 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 3 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Sax (SATBari), 4 Bb Tpt, 4 Hrn, 2 Trb, B Trb, Euph,Tuba, A Sax (Solo), Pn (Solo), 5 Perc, cond
Duration: ca. 14:30 min.
Dance Compulsions - Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Piano, Winds, and Percussion (2004)
The instrumentation of the American "concert band" is not as standardized as that of the developed symphony orchestra. Rather than viewing this as a weakness, many composers and band conductors currently are enthusiastically exploring a full range of wind and percussion instrumentation possibilities. Today, a "band concert" at a major American university is likely to include music for small, uniquely configured chamber groups, works for massive symphonic ensembles, and compositions for bands that call for only one player per part. Dance Compulsions falls into the last of these three categories.
When John Whitwell, Director of Bands at Michigan State University, commissioned me to write a large work for the MSU Wind Symphony, he suggested that I write a concerto, but he gave me latitude to write for an ensemble consisting of virtually any combination of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. His only suggestion was that I consider writing for one player per part (that is, without the doubling of parts that is normal in performances of traditional band music). John Whitwell's concept of (or vision for) band literature is inclusive and adventuresome; consequently, during his tenure at Michigan State, he has commissioned a steady stream of works that runs the stylistic gamut. This concerto, Dance Compulsions, is my contribution to what might be termed the new flexible instrumentation and stylistic inclusiveness of American band music, a trend championed by conductors like John Whitwell.
My long and happy artistic association with Joseph Lulloff, who is both a friend and an MSU colleague, prompted me immediately to choose alto saxophone as one of the solo instruments for this concerto-Joe's technique, musical intelligence, and emotional depth have inspired me in the past to write some of my most successful music. When Joe and I first discussed this project, we quickly decided that the piece should feature both Joe and Jun Okada, the very talented pianist whom Joe and I have had the good fortune to work with for some two decades. John Whitwell was quick to endorse our plan.
Dance Compulsions attempts to cultivate the supercharged energy that Lulloff-Okada performances often have. It is a 14-minute, one-movement work that consists of a long chain of short dance-like episodes the duration and sequence of which are calculated to create a sense of logically increasing momentum and inevitability of form. Although there are no conscious musical quotations in Dance Compulsions, the piece borrows from a number of traditional styles of popular twentieth-century North American, South American, and Caribbean dance music. The listener might think of the solo instruments of the concerto as representing two dancers who have an insatiable appetite to dance, mostly together, but sometimes as solo dancers; their compulsion to dance being a sometimes joyous, sometimes sensual, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes calculated, and sometimes desperate affirmation of life. (January 2004)
Dig: JSB-1, for saxophone quartet (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 2003
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig: JSB-1, for saxophone quartet (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 2003
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Instrumentation: Sax Quartet (SATBari)
Duration: ca. 7:00 min.
Dig: JSB-1, A Transmogrification of the 4th Movement of J. S. Bach's Sonata in G Minor for Violin Solo - for Saxophone Quartet (2003)
Commissioned by the Capitol Quartet
David Lewis, Baritone Saxophone
Joe Lulloff, Soprano Saxophone
Anjan Shah, Alto Saxophone
David Stambler, Tenor SaxophoneDig: JSB-1 for saxophone quartet, is about confluence and transmogrification (defined in one dictionary as: a changing "into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre"). Dig plausibly could be called an arrangement of the last movement of Bach's solo violin sonata in G minor. However, instead of arrangement or transcription, I use the word transmogrification to categorize this work, because in the second half of Dig the degree to which I've changed Bach's music, and the aesthetic criteria I have employed in making those changes, transform the work, in my view. What starts as an arrangement ends as a composition. Consequently, this work explores relationships between tradition and innovation, translation and creation, presentation and origination.
The Capitol Quartet's ability to play different styles of music extremely well, their capacity for making rapid yet coherent stylistic transformations during their performances, and their dedication to bringing a wide variety of rich and challenging music to their audiences, is inspiring. Shortly after the quartet's delightful performance at Michigan State University in February of 2003, Anjan Shaw, the Capitol Quartet's alto saxophonist, invited me to write a piece for the group's upcoming CD. After attending their MSU performance and discussing the commission with Anjan, it became clear to me that a serious goal of the Capitol Quartet is to enrich the repertoire of the saxophone quartet in innovative ways. Furthermore, they are committed to fashioning recital programs and recording projects that will infuse the performance of music from the baroque and classical periods of European art music with a vitality that is, in part, borrowed from jazz. In the Capitol Quartet's performances and recordings one finds an appealing convergence of classical music, popular American music, and jazz, a convergence that resonates with me.
In the fall of 2002, before hearing the Capitol Quartet's MSU performance and before Anjan raised the possibility of me writing something for the quartet, I had thought about writing a saxophone quartet based on the last movement of Bach's Sonata in G Minor for Violin Solo, a piece that I had played on marimba when I was Vic Firth's student at the New England Conservatory in the 1960s. I had enjoyed playing the piece, and neither I nor my teacher had any qualms about playing it on marimba-after all, Bach himself had arranged a number of his works, including some for solo violin, for performance on other instruments!
One November or December morning, while listening to the local PBS FM radio station, I heard a recording of the Bach G-minor sonata and decided that I would enjoy turning it into a piece for saxophone quartet. I can't explain exactly why, but as I was listening to the broadcast, the piece seemed to beg to be "translated" into a saxophone quartet piece. However, being busy with other projects, I didn't begin writing the piece until after learning from Anjan that the Capitol Quartet was interested in doing a CD focusing on classical music, particularly the music of J. S. Bach, and that they wanted me to write something for the group. What a nice confluence of interests and opportunities!
The first part of the title of this composition, Dig, is a play on words. Everything in this piece is based, more or less, on Bach's violin sonata movement. Parts of the composition are little more than arrangements of chunks of Bach's solo violin music for saxophone quartet; however, in much of the quartet, Bach's melodic lines, rhythms, and implied harmonies are rearranged, deranged, displaced, elaborated upon, etc. I've transformed Bach's music in ways, some of which I hope are pleasantly unexpected, that reflect my interests in and experiences with jazz and twentieth-century European and American composition.
This kind of "borrowing" and metamorphosing has been done by many composers (Bach himself, Ives, Stravinsky, Berio, and many others), but some distinguished musicians have frowned upon the practice. Pierre Boulez, for example, in his essay "Bach's Moment," has characterized composers who have borrowed material from other composers as "grave robbers." I prefer to think of such borrowings as musical archaeology; hence my title Dig (as in archaeological dig). But since in this piece I'm attempting to transform Bach's violin piece, using, in part, jazz harmonies, instrumental techniques, and rhythmic concepts, the title also is intended to suggest that I "dig" (i.e., admire, like, respect, etc., in jazz parlance) Bach's music and would like, through the Capitol Quartet, to bring it to the attention of many performers and listeners who otherwise might not encounter it.
Dig: JSB-1 is dedicated to the memory of Theodore O. Johnson, who was my friend and colleague at Michigan State University for more than 30 years and who wrote two books on the music of J. S. Bach. (November 2003)
SizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax II, for tenor saxophone and percussion, 2001
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's SIZZLESAX II From - Faculty Recital
Joseph Lulloff, tenor saxophone, Jon Weber, percussion
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: T Sax, Perc
Duration: ca. 14:45 min.
SizzleSax II - for Tenor Saxophone and Percussion (2001)
SizzleSax, the original version of this composition, was given its premiere by Joseph Lulloff at the 12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal on July 8, 2000, at the University of Quebec's Salle Pierre-Mercure. In the original SizzleSax, the tenor saxophonist was called upon to play five cymbals by hand and at times to alternate rapidly between playing the saxophone and the cymbals-both of which requirements, especially the former, proved to be problematic.
While Lulloff's brilliant performance of SizzleSax was received with some enthusiasm at the Congress, several of the saxophonists who heard (and saw) the premiere commented that they wouldn't even consider trying to learn the piece because of the possible stress and even serious injury to their hands that playing the cymbals might cause. Their concerns, unfortunately, were justified.
After playing SizzleSax at the Brevard Music Center later in the summer of 2000, Joseph Lulloff (who is both a Michigan State University colleague and close friend of mine) told me that as much as he had enjoyed playing the cymbals in his two performances of SizzleSax, the toll that these performances had taken on his hands was too great for him to continue playing the composition. Joe decided to cancel the Michigan premiere of SizzleSax, and I regretfully concurred. I certainly didn't want Joe's hands to be damaged playing my music. But having invested too much time and creative energy in SizzleSax to let it die such a quick death, I was determined to come up with a benign (at least non-injurious!) transformation of the composition that retained and further developed much of its original musical content-even if some of SizzleSax's theatrics had to be sacrificed.
In July and August of 2001 SizzleSax II, the phoenix of SizzleSax, was reborn, still a work inspired by Joseph Lulloff, but now a duo for tenor saxophone and percussion. The original cymbals of SizzleSax have been augmented in SizzleSax II with other metallic instruments (triangles, sizzle-gong, and tam-tam) and various "skins" percussion instruments (bongos, tom-tom, congas, and bass drum). It is hoped that this new version may be performed without injury to either player. (August 12, 2001)
SizzleSax, for tenor saxophone and five cymbals played by the saxophonist, 2000
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSizzleSax, for tenor saxophone and five cymbals played by the saxophonist, 2000
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SizzleSax - for Tenor Saxophone and Five Cymbals (2000)
During my long musical association with Joseph Lulloff, I've been fascinated with and inspired by many aspects of his performer's talents, his musical personality, and his on-stage mannerisms. One of Joe's signatures as a saxophone soloist is his proclivity to move around while playing. Nearly at the very inception of this compositional project, I decided to write SizzleSax for tenor saxophone and cymbals, with the cymbals to be played by the saxophonist. The image of Joe playing the tenor saxophone, surrounded by, tapping, dodging, and sometimes colliding with cymbals of various sizes and timbres (some of which would be "sizzle" cymbals) was one of the first generating ideas of the composition.
Having a wind player play percussion instruments certainly is not a new idea, but as I began to think about writing this piece, I was excited by the possibilities of mixing the sounds of the tenor saxophone with those of cymbals. Particularly the diverse articulations, volumes, and washes of sound of a set of cymbals, combined with the many exotic timbral, articulative, and dynamic shadings of saxophone multiphonics, seemed to have much potential for the creation of quite distinctive (and even new) sax-cymbal textures, colors, rhythms, and gestures. It's my hope that the attentive listener will judge I've succeeded in realizing that potential.
SizzleSax is written in memory of John Coltrane, who, during his short but brilliant career, played many a sizzling solo. (March 2000; rev. June 2000)
Strayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStrayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
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Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 14:00 min.
STRAYHORN - A Concert Arrangement of Billy Strayhorn Compositions for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000)
STRAYHORN was written for my friends Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okadaduring the seven days from December 26, 1999, to New Year's Day, 2000. Although I hadn't planned on spending that week writing music, when Joe asked me (late in November) to arrange "some jazz" for his appearance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on January 26, 2000, I just couldn't say no. The sponsors of Joe's recital, the New York Pro Musicis association, had suggested that he include some jazz on his program, and when Joe contacted me I immediately proposed an extended concert arrangement based on several songs and instrumental pieces of Billy Strayhorn. The choice of Strayhorn's music was easy; it was stimulated in part by my interest in Strayhorn's compositions and in part by Joe's admiration for the distinctive alto saxophone playing of Johnny Hodges, one of Strayhorn's colleagues in the Duke Ellington enterprise. (The attentive listener may recognize a brief reference to Strayhorn's musical tribute to Hodges, "Johnny Come Lately," at the very end of the arrangement.)
Although their emotional expressiveness and melodic beauty are quite captivating, it is the harmonic sophistication of Billy Strayhorn's compositions that is most intriguing to me. As José Hosiasson states in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Strayhorn's "ballads . . . are harmonically and structurally among the most sophisticated in jazz." This sophistication is not surprising, considering the excellent early musical training that Strayhorn received, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary gift for composition.
After spending nearly three decades as Duke Ellington's closest musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn died somewhat in the shadow of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader. During his lifetime, some of Strayhorn's music, like the well-known theme song of Ellington's band, "Take the 'A' Train," was assumed by many to be Duke's work. But recently a number of performers and scholars have begun to better understand the significance of Strayhorn's contributions to Ellington's output and to reappraise Strayhorn's independent work.
This arrangement for alto saxophone and piano of Strayhorn works is intended to pay homage to Billy Strayhorn by helping to bring his music to the recital stage. It's my hope that in this piece two different performance practices (one involving improvisation, the other not) are blended effectively, resulting in a work that can be presented convincingly by musicians who are at ease with fully notated "art music" but not averse to improvisation. This approach seems appropriate, since Strayhorn was rooted in the traditions of both jazz and European "classical" music.
He was my listener, my most dependable appraiser, and as a critic he would be the most clinical, but his background--both classical and modern--was an accessory to his own good taste and understanding, so what came back to me was in perfect balance.Duke Ellington (from his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress)
STRAYHORN is based on the following compositions (listed in order of their appearance in the arrangement):
Day Dream (Ellington/Strayhorn, 1941)
Rain Check (Strayhorn, 1942)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, 1941)
Blood Count (Strayhorn, 1967)
Upper Manhattan Medical Group--also known as "U.M.M.G." (Strayhorn, 1956)
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn, 1941)
Johnny Come Lately (Strayhorn, 1942)
(December, 2000)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra, 1995, rev. 1999
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's CONCERTO FOR SOPRANO SAXOPHONE AND ORCHESTRA, Mvt. 3, 'Time Shifts...'From - JOSEPH LULLOFF PLAYS THE SAXOPHONE MUSIC OF COLGRASS, DAHL, RUGGIERO
AUR CD 3099
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Leon Gregorian, conductor
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Picc (doubling Fl), 3 Fl, 2 Ob, E Hrn, Eb Cl, 2 Bb Cl, B Cl, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 4 Hrn, C Tpt, 2 Bb Tpt, 2 Trb, B Trb, Tuba, Timp, 3 Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), S Sax, 16-18 Vln 1, 14-16 Vln 2, 10-12 Vla, 10-12 Vlc, 8-10 DB, cond
Duration: ca. 21:30 min.
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra (1995)
Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra is the culmination to date of my long creative association with the remarkable saxophone artist Joseph Lulloff, for whom I have written several chamber works, and with whom I have performed jazz on many occasions. It was Joe's "voice" as a saxophonist (especially the timbral qualities of his soprano saxophone playing), his prodigious technique, and his rich musicality that in no small part instigated this composition.
If a work of art cannot but reflect the time, place, and persona-not to mention the innermost self-of its creator, then what does this composition reflect? Certainly this concerto is an "American" product, not only because its composer is a native of the United States, but largely because it contains many intended stylistic references to various kinds of American music, especially to jazz. The study of this unique American musical idiom has been a preoccupation of mine for much of the past 40 years, and it is my intention to continue to try to find and develop in my compositions significant and subtle connections between jazz and other kinds of music that I am interested in.
Composers now, at the end of the twentieth century, have a rich legacy of music that has in one way or another combined jazz elements with non-jazz elements: the music of Ellington, Still, Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Nancarrow, Schuller, Coleman, Reich, and many others. For those of us who care about the art of jazz and who are compelled to explore new territory in our compositions, it is a bit daunting to think of all that already has been accomplished by such luminaries as Ellington, and all that, with decidedly mixed results, has been attempted by others.
Some attentive listeners may hear this concerto as teetering on the brink of atonality, or, viewed from the other side of the divide, tonality. This ambiguity is intended, and in no small part, I suppose, reflects some of the ambiguities and teeterings of my culture and my particular existence. Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra might be thought of as a latter-day third-stream work (perhaps "neo-third-stream" would pigeonhole it too succinctly!), but unlike such third-stream compositions as Gunther Schuller's Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1959), which combine small-group improvisational tonal jazz with composed post-World War II atonal orchestral techniques, this concerto, in part, attempts to integrate late-'50s "free-jazz" linear harmony (anti-harmony?) with an eclectic orchestral style that references mostly pre-World War II American and European music.
It could be argued that this concerto has a fairly conventional tonal structure: namely, in the simplest of terms, that it begins in E minor and ends in G major. There's something to this analytical distillation, but not much. While I was conceiving and developing this composition, it was rhythmic matters (including large-scale temporal relationships) that dominated my musings on the structural landscape of the work.
The title "ST*IT*T" derives from "stasis-interpolation-transformation," a formulation which describes the main formal process of the first of the concerto's four movements. After a brief introduction that presents certain fundamental motivic, harmonic, and timbral materials for the concerto, two "ideas" (i.e., linear-textural-gestural-harmonic building blocks), one primarily in the bassoons, piano, and low strings, the other in a "concertino" group consisting of soprano saxophone, piccolo, flute, and marimba, are each stated several times. These iterations create stasis at one structural level, even as they create motion on the "surface" of the music. Gradually, interpolated brass interjections break down the two "stasis ideas," leading to an extended interpolation, a cadenza for saxophone, brass and percussion instruments, flute, and clarinet. After this disintegration, the two stasis ideas (i.e., the bassoon-piano-low strings and concertino materials) return but are harmonically and timbrally transformed. Much of the momentum of this movement, ironically, is created by the cumulative effect of the repeating stasis ideas; for this effect to come off as intended, the stasis ideas must be performed with graceful and elegant precision.
"ST*IT*T," of course, also pays homage to the jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who, like many bebop masters, used interpolation (quotations of popular tunes, personal motives and figures, themes from "classical" music, fragments of famous improvised solos, etc.) as a structural device in his improvisations, sometimes to break the tension, often in a humorous way, of an intense solo flight.
The second movement, "Antique Sentiments," uses suspensions, shifting and unexpected accents, and other rhythmic, textural, and harmonic devices to create a blur suggestive of the blurred emotions and memories of distant events. The harmony of this movement is highly chromatic but explicitly tonal throughout.
Perhaps the most subtle elements of classic jazz are "swing" (characteristic rhythmic inflections) and the complex layering of rhythms which occurs in almost all masterly jazz performances. All of the components, for example, of a standard jazz quartet performance (the soloist's improvised melodies, the "comping" in the piano or guitar, the "walking" bass line, and the "time" and rhythmic counterpoint expressed via the drum set), rely on the steady pulse of the composite rhythm-section part and the typically uniform meter and regular harmonic changes of the song or blues form which serves as a foundation for the music. In jazz performances at the highest level of artistry, what may at first glance seem to be a simplistic and well-worn format is actually an efficient springboard for an extremely variable and nuanced mix of improvised swing, syncopation, rubato, polyrhythm, and what might be called "time shifting"-a mix that is well perceived and fully appreciated by only the most experienced and astute listeners. Jazz rhythm, especially in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s (and much music created since the 1960s which is closely related to classic jazz styles), reflects a uniquely urban American sense of time. Much of jazz rhythm echoes the complex bustle of activity experienced in many American cities and the speech rhythms and conversational pacing of urban Americans, especially of urban African Americans.
"Time Shifts-Remembrances," the last of the concerto's movements, attempts to develop, in an orchestral setting, something like the layering of rhythms referred to above. While the score of "Time Shifts-Remembrances" calls for no improvisation and no "swing" interpretation of written melodic lines by the soloist or orchestral players, various textures in the movement are developed in which the rhythms of some melodic lines are shifted ahead of or behind the prevailing meter in a way that may sound loose or even somewhat chaotic. This time shifting has an emotional parallel in the human psyche; the multitude of memories that we accumulate during our lives, many of which refer to strongly felt experiences, are recalled from time to time, in confusing, lucid, playful, ironic, orderly, random, pleasing or painful successions. These recollections sometimes overlap with each other, and one remembrance may dissolve into another. I view this as a kind of time shifting; a human ability that, among other things, may help us to cope with lost or keenly anticipated opportunities, triumphs and defeats of the past, and uncertainties of the future. (October 28, 1995)
Interplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesInterplay, for soprano saxophone and piano, 1988 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's INTERPLAY, Mvt. 1, 'Octaves' From - INTERPLAY, Channel Crossing CD CCS 10497
Joseph Lulloff, soprano saxophone, Philip Hosford, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 19:00 min.
Interplay - for Soprano Saxophone and Piano (1988)
This composition for soprano saxophone and piano was written during the period of July 1987 through April 1988 and was one of three works commissioned by saxophonists Joseph Lulloff, Allen Rippe, and Cynthia Sikes as part of a 1987-89 National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commissioning Project sponsored by Tulane University. William Russo and Ralph Shapey, the two other composers who participated in the project, were commissioned to write compositions that feature the alto saxophone.
* * *
Interplay is in three movements: "Octaves," "Night Song," and "Departures." The title "Interplay" refers to the sometimes playful, sometimes combative, interactions that occur between the saxophone and piano parts throughout the composition, but especially in the work's outer movements.
In the first and second movements of Interplay two essentially distinct sets of musical materials are presented; in the third movement these two sets of materials are synthesized and transformed. The use, in the first two movements, of certain stylistic models and materials borrowed from modern jazz is confirmed in the final movement as it departs from its opening style and moves toward a blatantly boppish idiom.
"Octaves" is organized into seven main sections. Passages consisting of spun-out generative lines in octaves (i.e., with perfect octave or multiple-octave doublings between the saxophone and piano parts and between the two hands of the piano part) occur three times over the course of the movement and collectively serve as a source of materials for the movement's other sections.
Both perfect octaves and augmented octaves figure conspicuously in the melodic and harmonic palette of the first movement, and "Octaves" begins and ends with a juxtaposition of these two intervals. In the second and the sixth sections of the movement, perfect octaves are used prominently in the eighteenth-century derived accompaniment figures of the piano part. The classical keyboard style of these two sections serves as a foil to the volatile jazz "comping" that dominates the middle of the movement.
"Night Song" is an atmospheric "after-hours tune" in a harmonic style that is more explicitly tonal than that of "Octaves." Jazz-like pitch and timbre inflections, which for the most part are absent from the first movement, are introduced in "Night Song" and then are used more prominently in "Departures," the final movement of the work.
The form of "Departures" is the result of a process in which tempos, textures, repetitive figurations, harmonic progressions, etc. are established and then negated in ways so as to set up arrival points at new musical territories. "Departures" might be thought of as a voyage that ultimately takes the listener back to the two primary musical environments out of which were generated the materials of the first two movements: namely, the milieu of modern jazz (especially bop and bop-related jazz), and that of the neoclassic music of Igor Stravinsky. (June 6, 1989)
Dances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCES AND OTHER MOVEMENTS, Mvt. 9, 'Finale'From - Faculty Recital
I-Fu Wang, violin, James Forger, alto saxophone, Deborah Moriarty, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dances and Other Movements - for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano (1983)
Dances . . . is a suite of nine short movements three of which are solos: "Soliloquy" (for saxophone), "Interlude" (for piano), and "Violin Tune" (featuring, of course, violin). In several of the movements, especially in the dances, simple ostinatos and more-or-less familiar meters and rhythms are employed. In the last movement, "Finale," motives, themes, and other elements of the first eight movements are juxtaposed and further developed.
Although Dances and Other Movements is partially based on a 12-tone set, the style of this composition is indebted primarily to such diverse sources as the music of Bartok and Stravinsky, Latin-American popular music, traditional and modern jazz, and Eastern-European folk music.
The 12-tone set of Dances . . . is derived from part of the melody of a well-known jazz "standard"; this borrowing is a hidden tribute to one of the leading creative forces of modern jazz.
In Dances and Other Movements I have explored and tried to integrate contrasting rhythmic styles. Extensive portions of this composition are notated in "traditional" meters . . . , and the beat in these passages is often very easily distinguishable. In several movements, however, the beat is sometimes obscured by a variety of non-traditional rhythmic techniques and notational devices. It is hoped that the listener will hear transformations or "modulations" from one rhythmic style to another in certain passages; the most extended example of rhythmic transformation in this work can be heard in "Finale."
The basic 12-tone set of Dances and Other Movements is rotated (i.e., systematically reordered) and otherwise used rather freely throughout the composition. Less primitive than the 12-tone structure of this work is its use of registral and timbral constants as prime referential elements. Pitch classes tend to be associated with only one or two specific octave locations in each of the three instruments. It is hoped that the listener will perceive and, without much special effort, aurally remember the registral locations of pitch classes and that this will enhance the listener's understanding and enjoyment of the work. (1983)
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet, (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 1981 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesThree Blues for Saxophone Quartet, (sop., alt., ten., bar.), 1981 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
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Excerpt - Ruggiero's THREE BLUES FOR SAXOPHONE QUARTET, Mvt. 2, 'Delicately...'From - AMERICAN'S MILLENNIUM TRIBUTE TO ADOLPHE SAX, Vol. V
AUR CD 3111
The Great Lakes Saxophone Quartet: James Forger, Donell Snyder, Joseph Lulloff, Eric Lau
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: S Sax, A Sax, T Sax, Bari Sax
Duration: ca. 12:20 min.
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet (1981)
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet was composed in 1981 for James Forger and the Michigan State University Saxophone Quartet. Stylistic and formal elements from traditional jazz are pervasive in this work, but Three Blues is virtually devoid of improvisation except that the performers are expected, in much of the work, to play the given notes, rhythms, and dynamics in a style that sounds improvisational. A fine performance of Three Blues will capture the spirit of good jazz improvisation.
The structure of Three Blues is an arch form in three movements. The central movement is the longest and most complex of the three. After a brief introduction, the second movement begins with a "neo-bop" section featuring the alto and tenor saxophones. After the first statement of a short ritornello that punctuates the second movement, an extended contrapuntal passage leads to the apex of the arch for the entire composition, after which a variant of the "neo-bop" section ends the movement.
Both of the framing movements are shorter and lighter in style than the second. The first movement, marked "Charliechaplinesque," evokes the enthusiastic and lighthearted mood of some '20s and '30s jazz (although it uses the harmonic and rhythmic style of more modern jazz). Movement I is based on a repeated harmonic progression that is systematically shortened and then restored to its original length as the movement evolves. This progression is derived in part from the first two measures of the third movement (incidentally, these measures of the third movement contain the first ideas to be composed for the entire composition).
The last movement ("relaxed but not sloppy"!) caricatures, in a friendly way, some blues idioms that jazz enthusiasts will recognize easily. Two functions of this movement are to provide an architectonic balance to the first movement, and to develop some of the rhythmic ideas of the previous two movements. In this last movement, although the prevailing meter is 4/4, beats frequently get displaced, lengthened, or shortened by unexpected durations creating, it is hoped, a controlled elasticity of meter and tempo. The wellsprings of these rhythmic ideas are jazz and, to a lesser extent, the music of Igor Stravinsky. (1981; rev. in 2000)
Jazz Compositions and Arrangements, (ca. 75 works), 1965-2006
Strings - Music for Solo Violin
Butterfly Variations, Metamorphoses of a Theme by Raymond Hubble and Motives from Giacomo Puccinis Madama Butterfly, for Solo Violin, 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesButterfly Variations, Metamorphoses of a Theme by Raymond Hubble and Motives from Giacomo Puccinis Madama Butterfly, for Solo Violin, 2012 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: Vln
Duration: ca. 12 min.
Butterfly Variations - Metamorphoses of a Theme by Raymond Hubble and Motives from Giacomo Puccinis Madama Butterfly, for Solo Violin (2012)
Program Notes
Butterfly Variations was composed in 2012 for my friend and Michigan State University colleague, Walter Verdehr. During the past four decades, Ive had the great pleasure of hearing Walter perform many times in a variety of contexts, especially as the violinist co-leader of the renowned Verdehr Trio. Walters musicality, beautiful sound, and impressive technique as a violinist have been admired by many. Those who are well acquainted with his playing know that Walter is as at home performing European chamber music of the nineteenth century as he is playing the most cutting-edge and technically demanding works of the past 50 years, many examples of which may be found among the hundreds of compositions that have been written for the Verdehr Trio. Butterfly Variations requires this kind of versatile performer, someone who isnt mired in only one performance practice.
Butterfly Variations is the latest in a series of works in which I reference popular American music and Western classical compositions of the first half of the twentieth century. Ive long been interested in this music both for its intrinsic value (i.e., I like and admire this music) and because of its continuing influences on much of the recent music performed on classical recitals and concerts in America.
The form of Butterfly Variations is unique and somewhat complicated but not particularly difficult to follow. As its subtitle (Metamorphoses of a Theme by Raymond Hubble and Motives from Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly) suggests, Butterfly Variations is based on two different sources: a complete popular song, Poor Butterfly, by Hubble* and a melodic fragment from Puccinis opera. Many components of Hubbles wonderful song (its melody, harmony, and form) are developed and transformed in Butterfly Variations, but only a short melody from Parte Seconda of the second act of Madama Butterfly (often treated as Act Three of the opera) is used in this solo violin composition.
Butterfly Variations consists of four main variations that virtually are autonomous movements based on Hubbles song. The first variation, Stéphanistically, is intended to draw not so much on the style but on the spirit of the improvisations created by the great French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908-1997), whose long and brilliant career reached its first high point in his Hot Club of Paris collaborations with guitarist Django Reinhardt. Like such jazz virtuosi as Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman, and Herbie Hancock, Grapellis early classical-music training gave him a very solid schooled technique, which Grappelli often used to fill his improvisations with a variety of seemingly effortless fast embellishments, runs, and arpeggios, suffusing much of his music with a volatile playfulness and joie de vivre that I hope to suggest in this variation.
Canzone senza parole, the second variation, pays homage to the Italian composer, Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975). Melodic material derived from Poor Butterfly is transformed in this variation and then developed using techniques associated with Dallapiccola.
The third variation, Playful Atoms, is based on small melodic cells, mostly two- or three-note motives extracted from Poor Butterfly material, that repeat, combine with other cells, break apart, and sometimes transform into longer melodic molecules. The last section of this variation is an impassioned cadenza-like passage that leads to the final variation.
In the last main variation, Poor Butterfly (embellished), much more of Hubbles poignant, nostalgic, and sorrowfully meditative song is clearly revealed; consequently, this is the one section of Butterfly Variations that most resembles part of a traditional variation form. Although each of the preceding variations could be performed and heard as an independent piece, this last variation is intended, in part, to help clarify the underlying connections among the first three variations.
Introducing, interrupting, and marking the ends of the four main variations are a prelude, several interludes, and a postlude, all of which are based on a few brief melodic figures from Madam Butterfly. So, Butterfly Variations is actually a set of two intertwined variations. Hubbles song clearly was a popular-music response to Puccinis 1904 opera, but in this twenty-first century composition, Puccinis melodic fragments may be thought of as responding to and commenting on the transformations of Hubbles song, as if to remind us of where all this music and deeply felt emotion originated.
Charles Ruggiero Oct. 3, 2012
* Hubble composed this song in 1916 for The Big Show at the New York Hippodrome.
Music for Strings - Chamber Music that Includes String Instruments
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble, Boppish Blue Tinged, 2010 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl, Ob, Bb Cl, T Sax (doubling Sop Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, A Sax, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, Cond
Duration: ca. 19-20 min.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Large Chamber Ensemble - Boppish Blue Tinged (2009)
Dedicated to Joseph Lulloff and Raphael JimenezProgram Notes
Boppish Blue Tinged
The title of this concerto, Boppish Blue Tinged, is meant to be suggestive rather than unambiguously descriptive. Tinged refers, in part, to trace influences from jazz and other twentieth-century American musical genres that may be heard throughout the concerto, but especially in the first movement. One of my goals for the chaconne-like opening movement is to create variable textures and composite rhythms that suggest some of those created by the inspired improvised interplay of the great jazz combos (like the piano-bass-drum trios lead by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, etc., and the quartets and quintets of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Gary Burton, and so many others.), but its not my intention for much of this composition to sound like traditional jazz or any other familiar style of music.
Although its not based on a blues form or harmonic progression, I hope the second movement, Blue, conveys the kinds of emotional meanings that often are such an important part of blues performances. If the attitude of the first movement morphs from something like confident energy to menacing force, then the blue mood of the second movement might be thought of as sorrowful or soulful or, perhaps more accurately, seeking solace and enlightenmentbut such linguistic translations of musical phenomena, I feel, always must be taken with a grain of salt.
Boppish, the last movement, like much of the music of the tragically self-destructive Charlie Parker and other troubled bebop masters, is intended to be infectiously animated and life affirming. Although little melodic or rhythmic material is shared among the different movements of Boppish Blue Tinged, and each movement is more-or-less complete in itself, the third movement is, nevertheless, intimately connected with the music and emotions of the previous two movements of the concerto. All three movements, in fact, are based on the same fundamental musical foundations and form a three-movement emotional arch.
To suggest some of the emotional meanings (a vague choice of words, to be sure) of this concerto, I have fashioned several questions for each movement.
Tinged: Tinged with what? Why does desire often lead to pain? Why do vitality and power sometimes overwhelm our better selves? Is the purpose of certain truth too often intolerance?
Blue: When and why do weeping for joy and weeping to wash away our pain meet?
Boppish: Why boppish? Why not the march or the hip-hop beat? Where (to what spiritual dimension or level of enlightenment) does the Parker train lead us? (March 3, 2010)
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard, for large chamber ensemble (17 players), 2009
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Instrumentation: One player per part: Fl (doubling Picc), Ob, Bb Cl (doubling B Cl), A Sax (doubling Bari Sax), Bsn, Hrn, C Tpt, Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pn (doubling Cel), Harp, Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla, Vlc, DB, cond
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dig 2: From Tunes My Grandmother Heard (2009)
Dedicated to Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972)
Program Notes
Why, you might ask, would a serious composer writing in 2008 choose to base a new composition on American popular music from the period of 1902 to 1918? There are several reasons I've done this. First, this composition, Dig 2, is part of an ongoing project that began with my trio, Collage-1912, and continued with my saxophone quartet, Dig, in which I explore the relationships between twin interests of mine, arranging and composing. Each of these three compositions (which, with equal validity, could be thought of as elaborate and fanciful arrangements) includes borrowed material that is presented in a more-or-less straightforward manner (i.e., arranged for a particular instrumental ensemble) but also transformed, in some cases so radically that connections with the source material are very much obscured. The process of moving from arrangement to composition (and back) in these works fascinates me.
Another reason Ive used popular songs and instrumental pieces from the first two decades in Dig 2 is that this music provides a means (or so I believe) to connect and explore in my work two vast bodies of musical literature that I very much admire: music of some early 20th-century avant-garde composers (Debussy, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, and others) and the jazz of the first half of the same century, much of which borrowed heavily both from early 20th-century popular music and contemporaneous European art music.
Finally, I simply like much of the American popular music of the first few decades of the 20th century, and developing compositional projects that involve this literature gives me a good excuse to study it, play it, and play with it.
The Movements
Each movement of Dig 2 is based almost entirely on two songs or instrumental pieces (Dig 2 could be described as an "entertainment in four double arrangements"), and each movement is dedicated to one or more individuals or groups. Any printed programs distributed for performances of Dig 2 should include the movement titles; the titles, dates, and composers names of the source compositions for each movement; and, the dedications for both the entire composition and each movement.
Movement 1: Afterthoughts and Reminiscences
Based on Somebody Sole My Gal (1918) by Leo Wood and After Youve Gone (1918) by (Henry) Creamer & (Turner) Layton
Dedicated to Charles Ives, Creamer & Layton, and Gil Evans
Duration: ca. 4:10
Movement 2: Set to Rag
Based on Tiger Rag (1917?) attributed to Nick La Rocca and Alexanders Ragtime Band (1911) by Irving Berlin
Dedicated to Michigan State Universitys Musique 21 Ensemble
Duration: ca. 4:40
Movement 3: Melancholia
Based on Poor Butterfly by Raymond Hubbell (1916 and My Melancholy Baby (1912) by Ernie Burnett
Dedicated to Dr. Andreas Sidiropoulos
Duration: ca. 3:50
Movement 4: Thank You, Mr. Handy
Based on The St. Louis Blues by W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1914) and The Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy (1909, 1912 & 1913)
Dedicated to Professor Raphael Jimenez
Duration: ca. 6:25
Duration of the Entire Composition: ca. 20 minutes
About Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie
Few people have had a greater influence on my development than my maternal grandmother, Susan Richardson Cook Wyllie (1893-1972). For much of my childhood, Grandma Wyllie lived with my family in Fairfield, Connecticut, near where she, my mother, and I were born and raised. For many years, while she was living with us, I thought of my grandmother as a unique combination of grandma, second mother, teacher, babysitter, playmate, and co-conspirator (when my parents werent home, we often broke the house rules together).
Grandma Wyllie was one of the sharpest persons Ive ever met; she was resourceful, energetic, quick-witted, and full of basic wisdom. Although she was forced to leave elementary school at an early age, never to return, she did eventually teach herself how to read (as an adult, reading was something she enjoyed doing), but throughout her life, Grandma Wyllie regretted her lack of formal education and was self-conscious about not being able to write much more than her name.
Both of Grandma Wyllies parents came to America from Scotland, and despite being born in Connecticut, my grandmothers speech would often slip into a distinctly Scottish brogue, especially when she would get excited about something (which was often). Her mother, Margaret Richardson, died in childbirth when my grandmother was only two years old. After that, Grandma Wyllies childhood was traumatic. Her coal-miner father, Charles Cook, apparently an alcoholic, was not able to provide for his large family, some 13 children (I dont think there ever have been any coal mines in Connecticut!), and the family decided that my grandmother would have to leave school after the third grade, to work. By the age of 10, Grandma Wyllie found herself working in a soap factory from six AM to six PM, six days a week, earning literally pennies a day. These early years certainly took their toll on her, but Grandma Wyllie wasnt a fundamentally dour or bitter person; to the contrary, she often was a fun-loving ball-of-fire, at least she seemed so to me at times.
Grandma Wyllie had no musical training, but she loved to sing, especially when she was young, and she claimed to have had a very good voice and to have performed in church-sponsored operettas when she was a young woman. At dances and parties that she attended when she was a teenager and young adult, surely she would have heard many of the pieces that this composition, Dig 2, is based on.
I think one of the reasons I fell in love with my wife, Pat, is that she got along so well with my grandmother and even shares some of her qualities and mannerisms. In honor of my grandmother, my wife and I named two of our four children after her, Charles Cook Ruggiero and Susan Elizabeth Ruggiero.
Intimate Recollections, for violin, viola, cello, and piano, 2008
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesIntimate Recollections, for violin, viola, cello, and piano, 2008
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Instrumentation: Vln, Vla, Vlc, Pn
Duration: ca. 12:00 min.
INTIMATE RECOLLECTIONS was commissioned by the Atlantic Ensemble and is dedicated to its members: Wei Tsun Chang, Violin; Seanad Dunigan Chang, Viola; Kirsten Cassel, Cello; and, Leah Bowes, Piano
* * *Intimate Recollections (2008)
Program Notes
In 2005, the Atlantic Ensembles leader, violinist Wei Tsun Chang, invited me to compose a quartet for the Ensemble. Although in 2005 I had not yet heard the Atlantic Ensemble, I was delighted to accept this commission, knowing that Wei Tsun is an exceptionally talented and accomplished performer who seems to have an ear for my music, based on his response to a work I composed for the Verdehr Trio, Collage-1912. Walter Verdehr, a co-founder of the Verdehr Trio, was Wei Tsuns violin teacher at Michigan State University.
* * *
Intimate Recollections is a very personal and intensely felt work. The title is meant to be suggestive and somewhat vague. Recollections of what? Although the music of Intimate Recollections is quite varied in mood and style, with some passages that must be performed with great emotional intensity and others that are lighter (even playful) in nature, this work is essentially serious and reflective. Parts of Intimate Recollections are meant to have qualities that might be described as nostalgic, sorrowful, and even emotionally wrenched. In experiencing a performance of this composition, I hope the listener will sense that the intimate recollections explored in this work (and which, ideally, the listener will partially construct and experience for him- or herself) are renewed and made more vivid through this music. Musical recollections (or hints of Western art music from earlier centuries) are pervasive in Intimate Recollections, but no specific composition is quoted in this quartetat least not consciously!
Charles Ruggiero September 18, 2008
Collage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesCollage-1912, for clarinet, violin, and piano, 2001 (Subito Music Corp., Verona, NJ 07044)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's COLLAGE, Mvts. at 280 and 360 From - COLLAGE, Crystal Records CD947
The Verdehre Trio: Walter Verdehr, violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet, Silvia Roederer, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, Bb Cl, Pn
Duration: ca. 9:40 min.
Collage-1912 (2001)
Several times during the 1990s Walter Verdehr, my Michigan State University colleague, invited me to write a piece for the renowned Verdehr Trio, the clarinet-violin-piano trio that he founded with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, in 1972 (just one year, coincidentally, before I joined the MSU faculty). I regret that it took me so long to compose something for the Verdehrs, but the delay wasn't due to lack of interest. I've been a great admirer of Elsa and Walter as solo performers and of their superb trio for many years, and I'm honored that they asked me to contribute to the distinctive repertoire that their talents and hard work have brought to life during the past three decades, but a variety of other exigent projects during the 1990s prevented me from working on a piece for the Verdehr Trio until the fall of 2001.
For years now both Elsa and Walter have been attracted to the paintings of my daughter Maria Fiorenza Ruggiero Sidiropoulos. Not only have the Verdehrs purchased several of Maria's paintings for their home, but they also have used a few of her images on Verdehr Trio posters and as part of their website. Every now and then, when I'd run into Walter in the halls of MSU's School of Music or chat with him after one of the trio's summer performances at MSU's Wharton Center, he would say something like, "About that piece we'd like you to write, . . . wouldn't it be wonderful if you could tie it in with some of Maria's paintings." And at one point Walter suggested that it would be delightful to have a number of Maria's paintings exhibited at the site of the premiere of my composition for the Verdehr Trio.
I liked Walter's idea that I relate my composition in some way to my daughter's work, but I did not want to write a "pictures-at-an-exhibition" type of piece. And I especially did not want to try to convey my impressions of Maria's depiction of some idyllic landscape located in a region of the world I'd never set foot in. After considerable thought I decided to try to develop a musical composition using techniques or procedures analogous to those Maria has been using in some of her recent (2000-2001) paintings.
Collage-1912 isn't based on any particular painting or paintings, nor is it intended to impart my musical impressions of, or responses to, the things and places represented in any of Maria's paintings; rather, this musical composition was created using steps analogous to those my daughter has used to transform some of her smaller still-life paintings into larger, more abstract landscapes. Maria's still-life paintings, like many traditional still-lifes, are representations of more-or-less common household objects-glasses, dishes, candlesticks, vases, pieces of fruit, etc.-arranged in a very "artificial" manner. That's to say, arranged not as they would be if someone were preparing for a dinner party, but arranged as a composition of shapes, colors, shadings, etc. Quite often in Maria's still-life paintings compositional motifs take precedence over "reality." For example, in one painting the pattern of a tablecloth is imprinted upon objects that sit on top of the cloth instead of being obscured by them. Although these small still-life paintings are already somewhat abstract, a more marked abstraction takes place in the next phase of the process, where various elements from some of these still-life paintings are used in the development of enlarged companion works.
Maria has produced a series of works in which she has attempted, quite successfully I believe, to transform original but somewhat conventional still-life paintings into bold landscapes that can (should?) be viewed in multiple ways. For example, a large piece might be perceived as an autonomous, rather loose, rhythmic, and intense post-impressionistic landscape and simultaneously seen as a radical permutation of the still-life painting with which it is paired.
How did the creation of Collage-1912 relate to the process outlined above? I started my piece for the Verdehr Trio by fashioning a musical still-life of sorts. I snipped many passages from a dozen compositions (all of which were either composed or published in 1911 or 1912-hence the title) and rather "artificially" arranged them into a musical "still-life." This part of the process took about two months-much more time than I had anticipated! In the next step of the compositional process, I modified the musical still-life by rearranging, supplementing, subtracting from, distorting, overlapping, fusing, etc. the snippets to create the final composition.
Every measure of Collage-1912 is based on one or more snippets (including a few fairly substantial excerpts) taken from one composition by each of the following twelve composers: Béla Bartók, Irving Berlin, Claude Debussy, W.C. Handy, Charles Ives, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, James Scott, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and Joaquín Turina. A diverse group of snippets, to be sure, but perhaps not as diverse as one might guess from reading any standard college textbook on the history of Western music! The use of existing music to create a new work is, of course, nothing new. Not only were numerous European medieval, renaissance, and baroque pieces constructed with borrowed materials, but many twentieth-century composers, including some of the twelve composers whose music is used in Collage-1912 (particularly Ives and Stravinsky), have quoted and parodied music from various sources extensively in certain compositions.
Collage-1912, which is approximately eleven minutes in duration, consists of two parts that are performed with no pause between them. This work is dedicated to the Verdehr Trio, to my daughter Maria, and to all twelve of the composers whose raw materials I mined for the "still-life" and consequent collage (or "abstract musical landscape") by which, I must admit, I've attempted to depict a significant chunk of the Western music world circa 1912. (November 29, 2001)
Blues, Time, Changes, for bassoon and string quartet, 1999
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesBlues, Time, Changes, for bassoon and string quartet, 1999
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Instrumentation: Bsn, 2 Vln, Vla, Vlc, cond (optional)
Duration: ca. 15:00 min.
Blues, Time, Changes - for Bassoon and String Quartet (1999)
Blues, Time, Changes is the second in a projected series of compositions based substantially on blues (more precisely, blues elements as they are manifested in jazz). The first work in this series, Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet (written in 1981), inhabits a large niche in my compositional output where stylistic labels don't stick well. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle about a 1985 performance of the quartet, Robert Commanday opined:
Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet by Charles Ruggiero was something of a misnomer; only the third piece really exploits blues ideas. No matter, it's a pleasing set, . . .Chances are that Blues, Time, Changes will be received with similar bafflement in some quarters, frustrating both blues purists and concertgoers intent upon finding apt musicological catch phrases to stick to the composition. Some may feel that Blues, Time, Changes is, like my saxophone quartet, stylistically adrift. The hard-core jazz fan might think Blues, Time, Changes is too complex, too dissonant, too diverse, too contrived, etc. to be a "true" blues or jazz composition, while the aficionado of advanced "art music" might consider Blues, Time, Changes to be too simple, too tonal, too conventionally shaped, too straightforward to be a "serious" work. To put it succinctly: Blues, Time, Changes may be too much like a simple blues for some, and not enough like an authentic blues for others.
Aware as I am of the potential pitfalls of writing a piece that might be called a "misnomer," I'm willing to risk it, especially if I can offer up a "pleasing set." Jazz and blues music, especially the latter, are pervasive in twentieth-century world culture. Few musical genres of any time have found such wide and enthusiastic acceptance around the globe as blues. Live and recorded blues performances, by such masterful artists as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and countless other talented singers and instrumentalists, as well as blues pieces by such distinctive composers as W. C. Handy, Maurice Ravel, Duke Ellington, Samuel Barber, and Thelonious Monk (not to mention the tens of thousands of blues tunes written by waves of rural blues, R&B, soul, pop, etc. writers over the decades), have had a constant presence in American culture throughout the twentieth century. One consequence of this is that probably most people raised in North America in this century (and many people from other parts of the world) have some seemingly innate feeling for blues.
I believe that nearly every American, trained in music or not (including those who are disdainful of blues styles), can hear (perceive) certain aspects of blues music. It is as a common thread in an otherwise disjointed musical culture, that blues music interests me. In Blues, Time, Changes I rely upon the listener's familiarity with blues to build moderately complex structures that, it is hoped, are subtly expressive and relatively accessible (not dirty words, in my lexicon).
The title Blues, Time, Changes is intended to be suggestive. The three words, of course, have common meanings and uses that I hope will have relevance to someone trying to develop an understanding of aspects of my composition. For instance, one connotation of the ordering of these three words is that a blues form (involving varied repetitions of a harmonic progression) might change over time during the piece. That is, certain blues materials (including rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic elements) might be transformed as the composition unfolds. Another connotation of the title suggests that listening to blues music, including this piece, might be capable of having an effect on one's perception of time in interesting ways-a matter for speculation.
In addition to their common meanings, blues, time, and changes each has a fairly well-defined technical meaning (or set of meanings) for a jazz musician. Blues (or the blues) often refers to standardized forms and harmonic progressions used by jazz musicians as bases for improvisation. And the term has other meanings-blue note, for example, is a phrase used by many jazz musicians to refer to special tones and certain pitches that fall outside the standard equal temperament of Western classical music.
Time, an elusive jazz term, refers to the unique rhythmic framework of a jazz performance, including such interrelated variables as meter, tempo, rhythmic vocabulary, swing, etc. In Blues, Time, Changes, which is in one continuous movement, each of the two main sections of the piece is delineated primarily by its distinct embodiment of time, or, in jazz parlance, by its own time feel.
To a jazz musician, changes refers to the progression of chords upon which a jazz performance or arrangement is based. These chords often are taken from a popular song and typically change at the pace of one or two chords per measure. In Blues, Time, Changes two fundamental, though often obscured, sets of changes are essential in creating the architectonics and formal processes of the composition.
Blues, Time, Changes was composed for bassoonist Barry Stees, my talented colleague at Michigan State University; it was written during the summers of 1998 and 1999. (2000)
Dances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesDances and Other Movements, for violin, alto saxophone, and piano, 1983, rev. 1984 (Dorn Publications, Inc.)
CloseSamples:
Excerpt - Ruggiero's DANCES AND OTHER MOVEMENTS, Mvt. 9, 'Finale'From - Faculty Recital
I-Fu Wang, violin, James Forger, alto saxophone, Deborah Moriarty, piano
(Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication is not permitted.)
Instrumentation: Vln, A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 25:00 min.
Dances and Other Movements - for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano (1983)
Dances . . . is a suite of nine short movements three of which are solos: "Soliloquy" (for saxophone), "Interlude" (for piano), and "Violin Tune" (featuring, of course, violin). In several of the movements, especially in the dances, simple ostinatos and more-or-less familiar meters and rhythms are employed. In the last movement, "Finale," motives, themes, and other elements of the first eight movements are juxtaposed and further developed.
Although Dances and Other Movements is partially based on a 12-tone set, the style of this composition is indebted primarily to such diverse sources as the music of Bartok and Stravinsky, Latin-American popular music, traditional and modern jazz, and Eastern-European folk music.
The 12-tone set of Dances . . . is derived from part of the melody of a well-known jazz "standard"; this borrowing is a hidden tribute to one of the leading creative forces of modern jazz.
In Dances and Other Movements I have explored and tried to integrate contrasting rhythmic styles. Extensive portions of this composition are notated in "traditional" meters . . . , and the beat in these passages is often very easily distinguishable. In several movements, however, the beat is sometimes obscured by a variety of non-traditional rhythmic techniques and notational devices. It is hoped that the listener will hear transformations or "modulations" from one rhythmic style to another in certain passages; the most extended example of rhythmic transformation in this work can be heard in "Finale."
The basic 12-tone set of Dances and Other Movements is rotated (i.e., systematically reordered) and otherwise used rather freely throughout the composition. Less primitive than the 12-tone structure of this work is its use of registral and timbral constants as prime referential elements. Pitch classes tend to be associated with only one or two specific octave locations in each of the three instruments. It is hoped that the listener will perceive and, without much special effort, aurally remember the registral locations of pitch classes and that this will enhance the listener's understanding and enjoyment of the work. (1983)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Vocal Music
Now Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesNow Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
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Instrumentation: Chorus consisting of S (I-IV, 14 singers), A (I-II, 9 singers), T (4 to 6 singers), B (6 to 10 singers), Perc (8 Chrotale parts that may be performed by percussionists or non-singing members of the chorus), Pn (2 players), cond
Duration: ca. 10:00 min.
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Softe - for Chorus, 8 Crotales, and Piano (1979)
Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Soft is a composition for chorus, percussion, and piano, based on a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer. "Roundel" is a Middle English word which identifies the poetic form often called "rondeau," one of the formes fixes.
The composition is constructed in two large sections. In both of these sections, the first 17 members of the harmonic series on G unfold.
The work is based on two medieval musical ideas: "music of the spheres" and isorhythm. The former, a philosophical concept developed by ancient Greek philosophers and promulgated by medieval musical authorities, links musical harmony, as reflected in the proper tuning of musical intervals, with the harmony of the universe (i.e., the proper organization and workings of the planets, stars, days, seasons, etc.). The latter, isorhythm, is a compositional technique which was used during Chaucer's lifetime. In isorhythmic structure, a repeating rhythmic pattern, the talea, is applied to a repeating pitch pattern, the color. Generally, the talea is shorter than the color.
Chaucer's roundel welcomes the return of summer and reminds us of the eternal rotation of the seasons. Early in my creative process, the poem stimulated thoughts that led to the establishment of the following goal: to express musically the unity in such seeming opposities as timelessness and flowing time, permanence and flux, and eternity and temporality. This aesthetic goal accounts for the treatment of materials in the composition. Textural, dynamic, and rhythmic changes throughout create constantly fluctuating tension levels, but tonally, the composition is completely static.
The text of Chaucer's poem provides the main timbral resources of this work. Eleven vowels and 21 consonants have been isolated from the roundel and arranged into two ordered sets; these sets, comparable to the talea and color respectively, are linked in a manner analogous to isorhythm. Furthermore, the movement of the soprano and alto melodic lines is governed by a contour set. This set limits the directions in which a melodic line may move from one vowel to the next. For example, in the highest soprano part, the pitch of the vowel "e" always must be approached from below.
The length of the composition is determined by the isorhythmic plan. After 21 statements of the vowel set, the work ends.
This composition is dedicated to H. Owen Reed. (1979)
Songs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesSongs from Emily Dickinson, for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974
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Instrumentation: Voice (sop), Pn, Fl (doubling Picc, Bass Fl, & Melodica), Perc, Hpsd, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc, DB (doubling bowed Vibraphone), cond
Duration: ca. 21:00 min.
Music for Jazz Ensemble - Pieces for Big Band, Small Jazz Group, Etc.
Tenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
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Instrumentation: T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES - for Tenor Saxophone and Piano (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions)
The Modular Form of this Work:
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself, or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version):
1. Disciples
1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts"):
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations:
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
xTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesxTenor Attitudes, (Standard and Expanded Concert Versions), 2014 (Ruggiero Publishing Company)
Close
Instrumentation:T Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 20 to 90 min.
Modular Form
TENOR ATTITUDES consists of one fully notated composition in three movements for tenor saxophone and piano, as well as five shorter original jazz compositions (i.e., "head charts" like those found in such publications as The New Real Book) that may be performed by a tenor saxophonist with one or more other musicians who are skilled in the art of jazz improvisation. The five short jazz pieces are all related melodically or harmonically (although rather remotely, in some cases) and they are the basis of the longer three-movement composition. A jazz quintet (for example, trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums) is one of many small traditional jazz "combos" that could be used to perform the five jazz "head charts" effectively, but no instrumentation is implied for these charts other than the use of tenor saxophone and piano (or tenor sax and some other keyboard instrument, guitar, etc.).
The "main module" (i.e., TENOR ATTITUDES, standard concert version or, simply, TENOR ATTITUDES) may be performed by itself or it may be followed by a musical response: a mostly improvised performance of any one of the five jazz pieces.
An "expanded concert" performance of TENOR ATTITUDES would consist of a performance of the "main module" followed by an intermission. In the second half of the program, a jazz group would perform all five of the shorter TENOR ATTITUDES pieces.
Another option would be for a jazz group to play one or more of the shorter jazz "head charts" but not the main TENOR ATTITUDES module.
Movement and Section Titles of TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version)
1. Disciples 1a. Disciple of Prez and Bird Stan Getz ("The Sound") 1b. Disciple of Bird, the Two Sonny's, and Ornette Joe Henderson 2. Pathfinders 2a. Michael Brecker's Time 2b. Coltrane's Vision3. Master Storytellers
3a. Blues 'n' Bop Gene Ammons ("Jug")
3b. Wit and Wisdom Dexter Gordon Jumps In
3c. Piano Interlude Get Set for Sonny
3d. Walter "Sonny" Rollins The Young Lion's Tale
3e. Reflections on Rollins with Monk
3f. The Elder Rollins Takes Charge
3g. Rollins Alone (Cadenza)
Titles of the Five Jazz Pieces (the TENOR ATTITUDES "head charts")
1. It Simply Gets Beautiful
2. Michael's Time
3. Coltrane's Vision
4. Yoddsie Groove
5. The Elder Speaks
Durations
TENOR ATTITUDES (standard concert version): ca. 20 min.
TENOR ATTITUDES (expanded concert version): ca. 60-90 min.
Program Notes
Whether you agree with Wynton Marsalis and others who have claimed that "jazz is America's classical music" or with dissenters like Jon Pareles (see New York Times, February 28, 1999) who are "skeptical" of such formulations and think jazz deserves "respect on its own very different terms," either way, you probably know or at least suspect that the language of improvised jazz, with its numerous dialects and offshoots, is richly varied with elements that are bold and forceful and others that are incredibly subtle and complex, many of which are not generally found in traditional European classical music or 21st-century avant-garde "art music" but have great potential for myriad kinds of musical expression.
Certainly not all classically trained musicians are familiar with or particularly interested in jazz, but many do have enough interest to want to perform some compositions that, to put it simply, "sound jazzy." And why not? Why should the emotionally and intellectually powerful jazz musical language be spoken exclusively by jazz specialists?
As composer who has listened to, studied, and performed jazz for much of my life, I've spent decades attempting to make some of the unique elements that are so closely associated with improvised jazz available for classically trained performers (who typically do not have the skills of even a journeyman jazz improviser) to explore in the practice room and make use of in the concert hall. I want to add some new jazz colors to the sound palettes that classically trained performers and composer may use with some degree of confidence and authenticity.
As a composer, I've been fascinated by both the opportunities and challenges of incorporating into my works jazz elements that are hard to pin down with traditional notation, and I feel that I have been successful in bringing some of these elements, particularly many subtle rhythms of improvised jazz, into my fully notated works in meaningful ways. While some of the most rhythmically complex passages in my music don't swing the way much of the jazz that I greatly admire does, these jazz-based rhythms contribute something unique to my compositions that many performers and listeners seem to find interesting and rewarding (even when they're rather challenging for both!).
In TENOR ATTITUDES I've tried to create an original composition that is inspired by and partly based on the improvisational "dialects" of seven jazz master improvisers who also were virtuoso tenor saxophonists: Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and Sonny Rollins. This wonderful music was chosen as, in a general sense, source material for this composition not only because all of these musicians made important contributions to the development of jazz but also because they had (or have, in the case of Sonny Rollins) distinctly unique sounds, musical styles, and artistic approaches or attitudes that set them apart from other players and enabled them to expand, refine, and make more powerful the language of jazz. Please note, though, that other than a few short borrowings and two more extended quotes from recorded improvised solos, the 11 sections (organized in three movements) consist of music composed not so much in the styles of these artists, but in response to their styles. I respect the contributions of these jazz masters to the development of jazz; more importantly, even after decades of listening, I still find it very rewarding, moving, inspiring, invigorating, and sometimes even startling to listen to their recordings. And the best of this music, although recorded as much as 75 years ago still sounds fresh, up-to-date, hip, sophisticated, and very "relevant" to me. Consequently, I feel justified writing music that in a sense belongs both to the seven jazz masters and to me and is both of and for their time and mine.
Why focus on the tenor saxophone? "Why not?" could be a good enough response to the question, but the saxophone is the instrument that comes closest to what I feel is potentially the most refined and expressive of all instruments, the human voice. Like the human voice, the saxophone, especially the tenor sax in jazz, seems to be infinitely variable, with virtually unlimited modes and manners of expressionat least for me, it is the ultimate composer's palette.
Charles Ruggiero Aug. 15, 2013
Strayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStrayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
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Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 14:00 min.
STRAYHORN - A Concert Arrangement of Billy Strayhorn Compositions for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000)
STRAYHORN was written for my friends Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okadaduring the seven days from December 26, 1999, to New Year's Day, 2000. Although I hadn't planned on spending that week writing music, when Joe asked me (late in November) to arrange "some jazz" for his appearance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on January 26, 2000, I just couldn't say no. The sponsors of Joe's recital, the New York Pro Musicis association, had suggested that he include some jazz on his program, and when Joe contacted me I immediately proposed an extended concert arrangement based on several songs and instrumental pieces of Billy Strayhorn. The choice of Strayhorn's music was easy; it was stimulated in part by my interest in Strayhorn's compositions and in part by Joe's admiration for the distinctive alto saxophone playing of Johnny Hodges, one of Strayhorn's colleagues in the Duke Ellington enterprise. (The attentive listener may recognize a brief reference to Strayhorn's musical tribute to Hodges, "Johnny Come Lately," at the very end of the arrangement.)
Although their emotional expressiveness and melodic beauty are quite captivating, it is the harmonic sophistication of Billy Strayhorn's compositions that is most intriguing to me. As José Hosiasson states in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Strayhorn's "ballads . . . are harmonically and structurally among the most sophisticated in jazz." This sophistication is not surprising, considering the excellent early musical training that Strayhorn received, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary gift for composition.
After spending nearly three decades as Duke Ellington's closest musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn died somewhat in the shadow of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader. During his lifetime, some of Strayhorn's music, like the well-known theme song of Ellington's band, "Take the 'A' Train," was assumed by many to be Duke's work. But recently a number of performers and scholars have begun to better understand the significance of Strayhorn's contributions to Ellington's output and to reappraise Strayhorn's independent work.
This arrangement for alto saxophone and piano of Strayhorn works is intended to pay homage to Billy Strayhorn by helping to bring his music to the recital stage. It's my hope that in this piece two different performance practices (one involving improvisation, the other not) are blended effectively, resulting in a work that can be presented convincingly by musicians who are at ease with fully notated "art music" but not averse to improvisation. This approach seems appropriate, since Strayhorn was rooted in the traditions of both jazz and European "classical" music.
He was my listener, my most dependable appraiser, and as a critic he would be the most clinical, but his background--both classical and modern--was an accessory to his own good taste and understanding, so what came back to me was in perfect balance.Duke Ellington (from his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress)
STRAYHORN is based on the following compositions (listed in order of their appearance in the arrangement):
Day Dream (Ellington/Strayhorn, 1941)
Rain Check (Strayhorn, 1942)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, 1941)
Blood Count (Strayhorn, 1967)
Upper Manhattan Medical Group--also known as "U.M.M.G." (Strayhorn, 1956)
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn, 1941)
Johnny Come Lately (Strayhorn, 1942)
(December, 2000)
Jazz Compositions and Arrangements, (ca. 75 works), 1965-2006
Arrangements
Strayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Samples, Instrumentation, Program NotesStrayhorn, for alto saxophone and piano, 1999-2000 (concert arrangement, published by RGM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
Close
Instrumentation: A Sax, Pn
Duration: ca. 14:00 min.
STRAYHORN - A Concert Arrangement of Billy Strayhorn Compositions for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000)
STRAYHORN was written for my friends Joseph Lulloff and Jun Okadaduring the seven days from December 26, 1999, to New Year's Day, 2000. Although I hadn't planned on spending that week writing music, when Joe asked me (late in November) to arrange "some jazz" for his appearance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on January 26, 2000, I just couldn't say no. The sponsors of Joe's recital, the New York Pro Musicis association, had suggested that he include some jazz on his program, and when Joe contacted me I immediately proposed an extended concert arrangement based on several songs and instrumental pieces of Billy Strayhorn. The choice of Strayhorn's music was easy; it was stimulated in part by my interest in Strayhorn's compositions and in part by Joe's admiration for the distinctive alto saxophone playing of Johnny Hodges, one of Strayhorn's colleagues in the Duke Ellington enterprise. (The attentive listener may recognize a brief reference to Strayhorn's musical tribute to Hodges, "Johnny Come Lately," at the very end of the arrangement.)
Although their emotional expressiveness and melodic beauty are quite captivating, it is the harmonic sophistication of Billy Strayhorn's compositions that is most intriguing to me. As José Hosiasson states in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Strayhorn's "ballads . . . are harmonically and structurally among the most sophisticated in jazz." This sophistication is not surprising, considering the excellent early musical training that Strayhorn received, his intellectual curiosity, and his extraordinary gift for composition.
After spending nearly three decades as Duke Ellington's closest musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn died somewhat in the shadow of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader. During his lifetime, some of Strayhorn's music, like the well-known theme song of Ellington's band, "Take the 'A' Train," was assumed by many to be Duke's work. But recently a number of performers and scholars have begun to better understand the significance of Strayhorn's contributions to Ellington's output and to reappraise Strayhorn's independent work.
This arrangement for alto saxophone and piano of Strayhorn works is intended to pay homage to Billy Strayhorn by helping to bring his music to the recital stage. It's my hope that in this piece two different performance practices (one involving improvisation, the other not) are blended effectively, resulting in a work that can be presented convincingly by musicians who are at ease with fully notated "art music" but not averse to improvisation. This approach seems appropriate, since Strayhorn was rooted in the traditions of both jazz and European "classical" music.
He was my listener, my most dependable appraiser, and as a critic he would be the most clinical, but his background--both classical and modern--was an accessory to his own good taste and understanding, so what came back to me was in perfect balance.Duke Ellington (from his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress)
STRAYHORN is based on the following compositions (listed in order of their appearance in the arrangement):
Day Dream (Ellington/Strayhorn, 1941)
Rain Check (Strayhorn, 1942)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, 1941)
Blood Count (Strayhorn, 1967)
Upper Manhattan Medical Group--also known as "U.M.M.G." (Strayhorn, 1956)
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn, 1941)
Johnny Come Lately (Strayhorn, 1942)
(December, 2000)
Jazz Compositions and Arrangements, (ca. 75 works), 1965-2006
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