Reflecting on the recent SDG project in Sioux Falls

Piano soloist William Phemister and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra rehearse

How very thought-provoking it was for me to visit Sioux Falls last week for the premiere of Jacob Bancks‘ SDG-commissioned piano concerto. It will take me weeks to unpack the experience. In witnessing the creation of a new musical work, I found myself thinking about the dynamics of new music in general and what expectations an audience brings to the concert hall. What does the typical listener expect to hear when sitting down to a new piece of music? And to what extent is that sense of anticipation connected to what attracted audiences to new music in previous centuries?

Composer Jacob Bancks and conductor Delta David Gier examine the score of Then there were so many things to consider from the standpoint of a composer - such as noting what idioms are employed in Bancks’ new work and the expressive capabilities they offer. Bancks’ is a mature musical language, one capable of holding its own, I would say, in the challenging dialogue at the cutting edge of contemporary classical music. His piano concerto is quite complex rhythmically, quite fragmented in terms of melodic material, and mostly free of harmonic structures based on major/minor thirds and scales. But within the resulting complexity, there are unmistakable human elements. As the composer explained at the opening of the concert, the piece includes many direct references to parts of the Easter Vigil, the Roman Catholic Mass from which it draws inspiration. There are moments where the listener is meant to hear flickers of candles, a priest chanting and the congregation responding, readings from the Old Testament and the joyful return of the word “Alleluia” after a forty-day hiatus during the season of Lent.

I look forward to musing on these things further in the days ahead. Probably best to do that a little at a time.

One of the delights of my visit to Sioux Falls was an early discussion with Jacob Bancks and conductor Delta David Gier, which we filmed on the stage of the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences, the home of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Jake and David are especially friendly and easy to talk to and their presence afforded a great opportunity to explore the ideas behind Lumen de Lumine. I don’t know if it’s apparent in the video below, but I was sick at the time of filming. I had come down with a fever and total exhaustion the day before I was scheduled to fly to Sioux Falls - horrible timing. But as it would have cost another $600(!) to delay my flight by just one day, I stuck with my original travel plans and thankfully felt much better the day after I arrived.


. . .

March 20, 2008 | Filed Under Bancks: Lumen de Lumine, Commissions, Videos | Leave a Comment 

Bancks plays Bancks

Glad to have caught this on video - a few excerpts from Lumen de Lumine, as demonstrated by the composer. These passages will be presented and discussed this evening, prior to the premiere performance.


. . .

March 15, 2008 | Filed Under Bancks: Lumen de Lumine, Commissions | Leave a Comment 

Reporting from Sioux Falls - Jacob Bancks’ piano concerto, “Lumen de Lumine”

On the heels of a wonderful week in Paris celebrating a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, I find myself in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to mark the world premiere of a piano concerto jointly commissioned by Soli Deo Gloria and pianist William Phemister. Composer Jacob Bancks is an up-and-coming artists that I am very glad to have known personally for several years and more recently on a professional level through SDG. I attended a rehearsal of Lumen de Lumine, Jake’s new piece, yesterday evening - the first rehearsal with the piano soloist, William Phemister, and the orchestra. Conductor Delta David Gier and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra are no strangers to the process of piecing together new music. In fact, over the last few seasons the ensemble has delivered a series of programs that have highlighted several Pulitzer prize-winning compositions by contemporary composers. (By the way, the orchestra recently hosted Henry Fogel, President of the League of American Orchestras, who wrote an absolutely glowing review of the whole organization on his blog.)

The idea behind Lumen de Lumine is captivating. The composer has based the work on the Easter Vigil from the Roman Catholic liturgy. In the program notes, Bancks explains, “…I haven’t so much attempted to present the listener with a musical ’summary’ or ‘narrative’ of the Easter Vigil, as much as I’ve tried to compose music that captures the overall effect of the evening’s various rites.” The complete program notes are posted on the SDG news page at http://sdgmusic.org/news/?p=96

I’m impressed with Jake Bancks and his new work. Not only is Bancks a tremendous musical talent, but he strikes me as someone who doesn’t think too much of himself, as other artists of his caliber might be given to do. And his Christian faith seems to be a powerful, living source of inspiration in his life and work. As to Lumen de Lumine, I can say already that the composer’s tremendous investment in the piece is obvious. The work is written in a very harmonically and rhythmically mature idiom from which I could hardly form a broad perspective having no more than heard the work’s 20-minute canopy dissected, fragmented and polished over 150 minutes of rehearsal. So, I look forward to taking in the work from beginning to end this weekend and considering the extra-musical ideas that inspired and inform its progression. I hope to post further impressions in the days ahead.

Meanwhile (and speaking of fragments), here’s a brief video clip I caught at last night’s rehearsal. It’s hard to make heads or tails of a 40-second clip of a 20-minute work, but at least here you can see and hear how the piece ends. Really, the finale packs a greater punch than the tiny microphone on my digital camera could even begin to capture.



. . .

March 14, 2008 | Filed Under Bancks: Lumen de Lumine, Commissions | Leave a Comment 

Fed up with “Danny Boy”

Received last week from Musical America:

Irish Pub Bans “Danny Boy.” Really.

It’s depressing, it’s not usually sung in Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day, and its lyrics were written by an Englishman who never set foot on Irish soil. Those are only some of the reasons why a Manhattan pub owner is banning the song “Danny Boy” for the entire month of March.

“It’s overplayed, it’s been ranked among the 25 most depressing songs of all time and it’s more appropriate for a funeral than for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration,” said Shaun Clancy, who owns Foley’s Pub and Restaurant.

I’ve got nothing against “Danny Boy” - it’s set to a great tune, and in fact I think the lyrics are beautiful, even moving - but still I find it funny that someone was actually fed up with it enough to officially ban it!

March 10, 2008 | Filed Under Humor | Leave a Comment