Ramon Zupko, "Fixations" & "Fluxus I"

RAMON ZUPKO

FIXATIONS (1974)
Nancy Elan, violin; Barbara Bogatin, cello; Andrew Thomas, piano; tape; Harvey Sollberger, conductor

FLUXUS l
Electronic tape realized at the Western Michigan University Electronic Music Studio

RAMON ZUPKO (b. 1932, Pittsburgh) started learning the piano from his mother, a good pop pianist, at the age of 8, and started to compose at about the same time. His talent for composition was encouraged in high school, in Ohio, and he went on to study with Vincent Persichetti (at the Juilliard School) and later in Vienna on a Fulbright Fellowship and at Columbia University. He lived in Europe from 1962 to 1966, studying at the Darmstadt Summer Courses and taking courses in electronic music at Bilthoven, Holland. Back in the U.S.A., he lived for a year on a Ford Foundation grant and then became Director of the Electronic Music Laboratory at Roosevelt University, Chicago. Since 1971 he has held a similar position at Western Michigan University, where he also teaches composition and theory and directs the New Music Ensemble. In 1970 his work for soprano and chamber ensemble, La Guene was chosen to represent the U.S. at the festival of the ISCM in Basel, Switzerland.

He has written the following about his music on this record:
"explore obsession
"-focus (out of chaos)
"-set in time (tradition persists)
"frozen movement-change without change . . .
"fixations
"Since about 1970 1 have been concerned with four areas of expression in my music in varying degrees of emphasis: space, timbre, expanded tonality, and theatre. FIXATIONS deals in one way or another with each of these, the last one of course being apparent only in live performance. Spatial characteristics are enhanced in live pefformance through the placement of the speakers for the tape part behind the audience. The sounds of the tape part are electronically modified and de-synthesized versions of several of the live instrumental sounds, relating-to the latter as extended timbres and dimensions of them. The pitch and rhythmic structure is derived entirely from the two hexachords and rhythmic cells of the first dozen bars, and each section of the piece deals with a fixed harmonic field, which creates its own tonal hierarchy. There are ten continuous sections within the single movement, four of which are rhythmically freer cadenzas for each of the three solo instruments, as well as the tape.

"FLUXUS I for electronic sounds (1977) is in many ways an alternate solution, employing completely different materials, to the stylistic approach developed in FIXATIONS. It was realized on the Moog synthesizer of Western Michigan University, and employs as raw material four parallel seventh chords, and pitch sequences derived from them. These are subjected to a wide ,variety of controlled manipulations, creating within the basic drone character of the piece a constant state of flux between density and transparency, simple and complex timbres, foreground and background, tonal progression and stasis, rapid and slow spatial movement, regular and irregular rhythms, dramatic declamation and reverie."

JAMES DIXON, a protege of Dimitri Mitropoulos, has established a reputation as one ot the most conscientious and musical of all conductors of new music. He is in residence at the University of lowa, and makes guest appearances in major centers. He has appeared on several CRI records.

HARVEY SOLLBERGER, flutist extraordinary, is as distinguished as a composer and conductor. He is co-director of the Group for Contemporary Music at the Manhattan School of Music and a frequent participant in CRI recordings.

This recording was made possible by a grant from the American Composers Alliance.

Produced by Carter Harman
Cover by Judith Lerner
LETTERS FROM HOME: 12'35"
Recorded by Lowell Cross, April 1977
FIXATIONS: 15'30"
Recorded by David Hancock, March 1977
FlELD GUIDE: 7'55"
FLUXUS 1: 6 min.
All ACA (BMI)
LC# MATHEWS 77-750619, ZUPKO 77-750620
1977 Composers Recordings, Inc.
THIS IS A COMPOSER-SUPERVISED RECORDING
Printed in the U.S.A.

Ramon Zupko, "Masques", "Nocturnes, "Fluxus II"

MASQUES (1973-78)
Western Brass Quintet (Donald Bullock and
Stephen Jones, trumpets; Neill Sanders, horn;
Russell Brown, trombone; Robert Whaley, tuba);
Phyllis Rappeport, piano

NOCTURNES: 1-3, 4-6 (1977)
Abraham and Arlene Stokman, pianos

FLUXUS II (1978)
Abraham Stokman, piano

RAMON ZUPKO (b. 1932, Pittsburgh) is the director of the Studio for Electronic Music and the New Music Ensemble at Western Michigan University, where he also teaches composition, music theory, and acoustics. He began his musical studies at an early age, eventually receiving composition degrees from Juilliard. He studied further at Columbia, and in Europe, where he lived for several years. His principal composition teacher was Vincent Persichetti.

Many of his works make use of the electronic medium, as well as theatrical elements. His awards include grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Ford Foundation CMP Project, the Fromm Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund. Several of his works have been published, including the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1962) which was awarded first prize in the "Premio Citta di Trieste," and FIXATIONS for Piano, Violin, Cello, and Tape (1974), which received a 1977 ACA Recording Award (CRI SD 375). His orchestral works have been performed by the Detroit, St. Louis, and Indianapolis Symphonies. He writes:

"As is the case with most of my works, those recorded here received'their initial impetus from either poetic sources or dramatic-theatrical conceptions. Each of them deals with a re-interpretation of the resources and techniques of the past, with special attention focused on the elements of timbre, space,and an expanded concept of tonality.

MASQUES
play minstrels!
begin your journey
in sound and in motion
unfold your theatre -
allow us an image
of free spirits!

"As the title implies, this is an entertainment piece which combines music with ritual and pageantry. In live performance the musicians, who are costumed uniformly, move about the stage in specified patterns, creating a constantly changing visual as well as aural perspective. The 1978 version includes a number of modifications in order to render the work more suitable as a purely audible experience on disc. This recording attempts to preserve some of the sonic spatiality which one would experience if hearing the work live. Formally, the piece is a series of static sound blocks within a single movement, each one a 'disguised' version of one or more of the others. All of the pitch material is an outgrowth of a single five-note cluster: B, C, D, E, and F, and the sound 'metamorphosis' of the piece is from pitch-oriented to noise-oriented sound, then abruptly back again for the last segment.

"MASQUES was premiered by the artists on this recording on February 15, 1974, on the campus of Western Michigan University.

"NOCTURNES was written during September and October of 1977, and received its premiere by the Stokmans at the University of Chicago on January 20, 1978. Although there are six separate pieces here they form an entity. Each of them is tied to the others through its timbral, melodic, and rhythmic materials, but especially through the harmonic elements, all of which are permutations of a polychordal structure consisting of three major triads a half-step apart. The homage to Chopin is apparent throughout, as is the tone-picture quality of each of the pieces, inspired as they were by the following Haiku:

1. (Calmato)
autumn evening;
a crow perched
on a withered bough (Basho)

2. (Bizzarramente)
the sound of dancing dies;
wind among the pine trees,
insect cries (Sogetsu)

3. (Freddamente)
icy the moonshine;
shadow of a tombstone
shadow of a pine (Shiki)

4. (Ardente)
a lightening gleam
into darkness travels
a night-heron's scream (Basho)

5. (Affabile)
the water-fowl
pecks and shivers -
the moon on the waves (Zuiryu)

6. (Lontano) the bell from far away -
how it moves along in its coming
through the spring haze! (Onitsura)

"FLUXUS II was composed between February and April, 1978, and is dedicated to Abraham Stokman, who premiered the work at Alice Tully Hall on January 20, 1979. The expressive and dramatic flow of the work was strongly influenced by a poem of Dylan Thomas entitled In the Beginning, the poet's personal expression of the story of Genesis. Musically the work is concerned with Baroque and Classical keyboard embellishment, Romantic keyboard figuration and bravura, and with the relationships among static tonal centers. The piece derives its form from the melodic growth and expansion of a three-note cell. It approaches the piano as a polyphonic 'color' instrument, with many gradations of attack and dynamic, 'orchestrated' textures with foreground accompanied by one or more layers of background, various 'echo' effects and the rapid alternation of differing textures and shapes."

ABRAHAM STOKMAN was born in Israel, where he began his piano studies at the age of six. Later he came to the Juilliard School to study with Edward Steuermann, receiving his B.S. and M.S. degrees in piano. Since taking up his residency in Chicago several years ago, he has performed often as soloist with the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in chamber music concerts, and most recently as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Bach D Minor Concerto. He has had compositions written for him by Ralph Shapey, Robert Lombardo, and John Austin. In addition to activities as performer, piano teacher, accompanist, arranger and composer, Mr. Stokman improvises in the manner of the 19th century pianists.

ARLENE GATILAO STOKMAN is a native of the Philippines. After she received her B.S. degree from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, she came to the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, where she received the Rudolph Ganz Piano Award. She has performed frequently with her husband as a piano duo.

PHYLLIS RAPPEPORT is Professor of Music and head of the piano department at Western Michigan University. She holds degrees from Queens College and the University of Illinois, where she was a member of the Contemporary Chamber Players. She has been the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, and has been active throughout the country as accompanist and ensemble performer.

THE WESTERN BRASS QUINTET was founded in 1966 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Its members are professors of music at Western Michigan University. It has performed throughout the country, including performances for the Composer's Forum on NPR, the Composer's Forum in New York, invitational performances for the Tuba Universal Brotherhood Association and the International Trumpet Guild, and at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. The ensemble has premiered numerous works which were written for it, including the work on this album, 'Nodding Music' by Elgar Howarth, and LANDSCAPES by Pulitzer composer Karel Husa, a work commissioned by the Quintet, and recorded by them on CRI 192 (78).

This record was funded in part by a grant from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, Inc.

Musical production by composer
Produced by Carter Harman
Cover art Judith Lerner 1979
FLUXUS II - ACA (BMI): 13'50"
NOCTURNES - ACA (BMI): 17'45"
MASQUES - ACA (BMI): 13 min.
LC#: 79-750595
1979 Composers Recordings, Inc.
THIS IS A COMPOSER-SUPERVISED RECORDING
Printed in the U.S.A.

Ramon Zupko, "Noosphere"

American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award Record

Ramon Zupko
Noosphere (1980)

New World Ouartet
(Curtis J. Macomber and William Patterson, violins; Robert Dan, viola; Ross T. Harbaugh, cello)

Ramon Zupko (b. 1932, Pittsburgh, PA) is Professor of Composition at Western Michigan University, where he also directs the Studio for Electronic Music. He began his musical studies at an early age, and studied at Juilliard, Columbia, and in Europe, where he lived for several years. His principal composition teacher was Vincent Persichetti.

He has composed more than 100 works, many of which include the electronic medium, as well as theatrical elements. His more than forty composition awards include a Guggenheim, a Koussevitzky Foundation Award, a Kennedy-Friedheim Award, an American Composers Alliance Recording Award, a Berkshire Music Center Commission, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was named a Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Western Michigan University for 1983-84.

Zupko's compositions have been performed in New York and at various festivals and college campuses throughout the country, as well as in Europe. His orchestral works have been performed by the Detroit, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Kalamazoo, Curtis, and Tanglewood Festival Orchestras. His compositions appear on CRI 375 and 425.

Zupko has become concerned with a more ecumenical approach to musical materials, which endeavors to synthesize the spectrum of contemporary compositional techniques with those of the past, as well as those of other, non-Western cultures. This approach is supported philosophically by the writings of various 20th century thinkers whose conclusions have to do with the essence of our survival as a species, particularly: the acceptance of the multiplicity of experience, and the evolution of the network of human consciousness. He writes:

"Noosphere is an interpretation, in musical terms, of the substantive elements of the philosophy of the Jesuit priest-paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. It was Chardin's vision that the 'Noosphere,' the network of communication, information, and personal aspiration that embraces the universe, is evolving into a collective mind and soul, in which all humans participate.

"The three movements of the quartet express this evolutionary process through the incorporation of various folk songs and chants which represent most of the major world cultures. The same material is employed in all three movements.

"In the first movement, 'Alpha,' the primordial state is represented: independent, elementary energies, in search of unification. The second movement, 'Convergence,' exoloits the effects of unification, creating an increased interaction and inter-dependence among the materials, resulting in higher and more complex levels of organization. The third movement, 'Omega,' the ultimate state of convergence, brings the total inter-meshing of the materials to the forefront. While still maintaining their identities, their main focus becomes interaction with one another, in order to achieve an intensely unified 'hyperpersonal' organization, what Chardin describes as the 'Cosmic Omega.'

"This work was written under a Faculty Research fellowship from Western Michigan University."

IN MEMORIAM R. DOUGLAS

The New World String Quartet, with a repertoire ranging from the standard quartet literature to premieres of contemporary American works, has been acclaimed as one of America's most prominent young ensembles. Formed in 1977, the quartet has appeared at major halls in major cities and universities. It is currently Ouartet-in-Residence at Harvard University. It also appears on CRI SO 497.

This recording was made possible by grants from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Each year, this organization awards four prizes to composers of outstanding accomplishment during the preceding year. The prize consists of a cash award and a recording on CRI. Thomas McKinley was a winner in 1983 and Ramon Zupko in 1982.