Guitar and Flute: A Happy Meeting Bringing You an Evening of Music

A musical duo of guitar and flute will present a concert entitled Duo Primo on February 4th at 4:00pm at O'Donnell Auditorium on the Wesleyan campus (Tickets $10, Students $5, Free up to age10). Musicians Betsy Bobenhouse and Antonio Forgione spoke with LincolnCMN about the upcoming performance. 
Forgione is excited that:

"The concert will feature some of the best composers who wrote for flute and guitar, from Mauro Giuliani, who made by far the largest 19th century contribution with 22 compositions, to Astor Piazzolla, who dedicated to this ensemble the celebrated Histoire du Tango."

The duo met, according to Bobenhouse, "last April through mutual musical friends. We had both played flute/classical guitar repertoire in the past and were excited to do so again." With Forgione having moved from Italy in 2011, he said, I missed my friends flutists in Italy, but it was only by chance that I met Betsy and the excitement about doing a duo was immediate" since he'd played guitar since the age of 11 and flute was the first instrument that "gave me the feeling of a perfect match with the guitar."

With both members of the duo having played guitar/flute music before, there are carefully selected favorites as well as some that are new to them both such as a piece by Libby Larsen.

What brought them to a love of music and a life with their instruments?

For Forgione, "The guitar happened to be my instruments just by chance, after a gift from a friend. I would say that it really chose me rather than the contrary,"and he feels that classical guitar is the "'ultimate' guitar" because while "not many big names of the history of music dedicated their efforts to this instrument, [...] still what the classical guitar repertoire can offer is extremely fulfilling and second to none especially in the 20th century. It challenges the hands and the mind in directions that every young musician can find rewarding."

Bobenhouse had an early start and exposure to music since her "father played French horn in the Omaha Symphony for over 30 years and my sister joined OSO as a 'cellist when she was 18 years-old." But Bobenhouse chose the flute for its sound, and while she's been playing and teaching the instrument for years, the thing she loves the most is "starting a rank beginner; it is so much fun introducing children to the music, in general, and the flute, in particular. It doesn't matter to me if a student intends to pursue a career in music because music is for everyone!"

Music is indeed for everyone, and this performance is a perfect way to experience music for those who've loved it for years or those who are just discovering the beauty of music--especially the classical sounds of guitar and flute duo!

2014 NMTA Conference: Kurt Knecht's colorful composition

Kurt Knecht has featured in interviews and reviews here quite often from his performances to premieres of his compositions. This year, he is the commissioned composer for the NMTA Conference. Last year, Libby Larsen’s Ghosts of Old Pianos, a solo piano piece, was the commissioned piece for the conference.

Kurt Knecht - 2014 NMTA Commissioned Composer
photo courtesy of Kurt Knecht

This year, NMTA members will be treated to a cello sonata with piano accompaniment. The title of the piece is “El café iridescente.”

“…each movement is named after a color, so:  1. Rojo 2. Azul 3. Perla 4. Morado”

As you might guess from the language of the title and movements, “the whole work is based around Latin rhythms.” Knecht chose to focus on Latin rhythms for a number of reasons:
“I think part of it might come from growing up in Tampa where I was constantly exposed to Cuban culture, so I kind of heard those rhythms growing up. Also, as an undergrad, I was enthralled with any sort of Latin rhythms. I loved Jobim and the whole bossa nova thing. I loved Ginastera. I loved those Saudades do Brasil by Milhaud, and I played in jazz bands where we would do Latin charts. So, it seemed time to concentrate all of that in one piece.”

Hopefully the audience will enjoy this “super fun music.” Knecht says, “most of it is not too heavy or serious. I think there is a problem amongst composers now with this issue. Beethoven wrote a lot of light music, but we never think of that because his ‘light’ works haven’t survived history as well.” Perhaps the music won’t “survive history” as well, but right now, it can be enjoyed and inspire musicians and students to enjoy music right now.

Knecht also described a little bit of the process that went into the creation of this piece:

“As far as the process, it’s not really standardized. When I was in school, one of my composition teachers used to say, ‘You throw more music away than any of my other students.’ He said that because I would be working on a string quartet or something and one week I would have 100 measures of a movement written, and the next week it was replaced. He would say, ‘What happened to the other movement?’ I would say, ‘I’m not using it.'

The truth is, I save all of that stuff. When I get a commission, I will often look back through those old ideas and rework them. In this case, I had sketches for these movements written from 10 years ago. I completely reworked them. Tried the re-worked version with Justin Lepard who is playing them with me. I listened to the reworked versions and decided that the first three movements needed a complete overhaul again. 

So, to answer how long it takes…Every piece takes my whole life long to write, but checks and deadlines are an incredible tool for focusing years into minutes.”

Hopefully you’ll get the chance to hear this fun music, this culmination of Knecht’s whole life, from Tampa to undergrad to today, but meanwhile, enjoy some of his other works over at his youtube channel.

--
Follow LincolnCMN on facebook and twitter to catch lots of great articles and exclusive interviews on Classical music in the Lincoln area.

Libby Larsen brings the 'Ghosts of Old Pianos' to Nebraska

Thanks to the Nebraska Music Teachers’ Association and a grant from the Nebraska Arts Council, composer Libby Larsen has written a piece to be premiered in Lincoln on October 18. The world premier of Ghosts of Old Pianos will be given during the Nebraska Music Teachers’ Association Conference. The performance will be free and open to the public at 9:00am on October 18, the second day of the conference, at Wesleyan’s O’Donnell Auditorium.

Composer Libby Larsen
Photo credit: Ann Marsden

In an interview with LincolnCMN this week, Larsen explained a little about the creation of the piece, Ghosts of Old Pianos. “Valerie Cisler and Nathan Buckner,” the pianists who will perform the commissioned work, “were very trusting,” Larsen smiled. The pianists told her: “Just let your imagination take you where you need to go.” That, Larsen explained, “is a wonderful thing for a creative artist to hear.”

The idea was already in her mind from her many travels through cities and towns throughout the United States. While waiting to go on stage, Larsen has found herself spending a lot of time in “church basements and backstages of concert halls.” Over time, Larsen said, “I collected in my mind, and took photos, of abandoned pianos. Once those pianos had been put to really good use, now in a dark corner, a basement—they are still beautiful, sometimes with decayed keys, and often deeply dust-covered.”

Larsen found herself “very moved” by the old pianos:

“They’re like old servants. I spend time with a piano like this and get a very special feeling—as if tiny little fragments of music from the piano are still there, echoing in the walls or in the wood of the piano.”

Larsen has coined a new term to explain the musical motives in this work, and that is “ghosting.” In the first movement:

“You may know the tune, the piece will suggest it to you, and as you listen, you will finally piece it together. The pianists just play fragments of the melody, until you finally get a hazy image of the whole aria—as it would have been played on the Steinway Grand in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.”

A ghostly, dust covered piano
Photo credit: Steve A Johnson

She chose the 1897 Steinway Grand from the Bethlehem Hotel in Bethlehem, PA because it is claimed to be haunted. It will be heard playing by itself and sometimes the figure of the beautiful but scandalous May Yohe will be seen at it. 

Another movement is entitled “Whole World,” and it presents a “ghosting” of the traditional tune, “He’s Got the Whole World, In His Hands;” that movement is inspired by a 1907 upright in a church basement in Chicago, Illinois. “Whole World” is reworked from one of Larsen’s earlier four hand pieces, and has become the center point for Ghosts of Old Pianos.

Another piano that will be represented in the piece is the square piano from the Jinny Lind Theater, which burned down. Larsen loved this project so much that she hopes to make a series of “ghost piano” works that will include a Hammond B organ from Maine, an upright found in a dumpster in Tennessee, and a spinet discarded in the north woods of Minnesota.

“The poetry of what is in the air around a decaying instrument is quite beautiful.”

One parting word, Larsen shared her advice for young musicians, and indeed, all musicians:

“I would encourage them to think of music as their life-long journey. Encourage them to trust their own ideas when they’re studying music. Learn the technical tools they need, but then use those tools as they to trust their musical instincts when preparing, performing, or talking about a piece of music. 

Music is a life-long companion. You can bring out your emotions on it, or it may bring them out for you. Music challenges you to become better. 

Young musicians: this is not something you conquer and then put in a drawer, it’s a journey. The reward comes from staying with it and staying focused.”