Charles Norman Mason: Works
Most scores listed are available fro m Theodore Front Musical Literature, Inc Tel. (818) 994-1092, Fax (818) 994-0419, Email: music@tfront.com CHAMBER and CHAMBER WITH ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC |
Daphne at Sea:
for two sopranos, one mezzo, one tenor, and one mute female. Scored for
chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello, piano, and
percussion). Duration is 90 minutes. Libretto by Sally M. Gall. Recording
available from composer (premiered
Echo: Opera
for Youth. To Libretto by Jennifer Mason. Premiered February, 2000 for the regional conference
of Opera for Youth, Inc.
Antigone
Eight pieces chamber ensemble and male chorus: 1987.
Expressway
for full orchestra: 2003 (Commissioned by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in
honor of Elton B. Stephens).
Hradcanska for
Orchestra: 1998 (Winner, 1998 Premi
Internacional de Composició Musical Ciutat de Tarragona Orchestra Music prize).
Anthem of Despair
and Hope for Chorus: 1996 (commissioned by the Dale Warland
Singers). First Page
From Shook Foil for SATB Choir and Tape:
1992. First page
Three Hopkins Songs for High Voice and
Piano, 1986.
Fast Break (2004) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and
pre-recorded sound. (Commissioned by
Onix Ensemble and Luna Nova Ensemble
Filibuster for Guitar Quartet (2003). Commissioned by
All Four One (2002) for saxophone quartet. (Commissioned by the
Lithium Sax Quartet of
Three-Legged Race
(2000) for piano, violin, and cello. Commissioned by MTNA.
Hradcanska
for Flute, Violin, Cello and Piano: 1995. First
page
I Feel The Fell
Of Dark (1992) for Soprano, Cello, and Percussion: 1991 First page
Senderos Que se
Bifurcan (2000) for clarinet and piano. Commissioned by
Roderick Ferguson and
The Desire of the
Artist (2002) for soprano, two saxophones, and
electric guitar. (Commissioned by the West Wind Ensemble of
and
Solo Instrument with Pre-Recorded
Sound:
Thimblerigger for Double Bass and Pre-recorded Sound. 2004 Commissioned by Robert Black
Fishing Through the
Open Door 1999 for Flute and Pre-recorded Sound.
Pantograph
2000 for solo Piano Commissioned by William DeVan
Mirrors, Stones, and
Cotton for Guitar and Tape First
page
The Artist and His
Model for Cello and Tape: 1993. First page
Schism
for unaccompanied clarinet: 1992 First page
The Blazing Macaw for Piano and
Pre-recorded Sound. First page
Amalgam I for Oboe and Pre-recorded Sound:
1988
Windage for Organ: 1987. First page
Gems (electroacoustic piece): 2001
Into the Woods (electroacoustic piece): 2004
Some Find Me...
(electroacoustic piece): 1989
Program Notes
Amalgam I Audio Sample (Wav) (Real Audio)
Amalgam I is for oboe and tape. The score requires the
performer to use alternate fingers for quarter-tones and to produce
multiphonics. There is a great deal of interplay between the tape and the oboe.
SEAMUS Recordings, Volume 2
Anthem of Despair and Hope Audio Sample (Wav) (Real Audio)
Anthem of Despair and Hope was the result of a commission by the
Dale Warland Singers. The text is by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a poet and Catholic
monk, who wrote six sonnets probably around the year 1885. According to W. H.
Gardner and N. H. Mackenzie's edition of The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins,
these six sonnets are often referred to as 'The sonnets of desolation'. Hopkins
was prone to severe depressions which troubled him greatly as a religious man,
and his poetry often describes the great anxiety he suffered over his inability
to control these feelings, which we now know to be chemical imbalances. In each
of these sonnets his struggles and fears are mixed with expressions of his faith
in God. The sonnet that was selected for this piece (#6) contrasts self-pity, a
tormented mind, and an unsuccessful search for comfort with a mind full of
thoughts of hope in God brought on by casting aside terrifying thoughts (by
looking toward the "smile" of God).
In the first two stanzas, the musical
setting of the words consists largely of descending lines. The primary
descending melodic line is inverted by the end of the piece to set the words of
hope. In this particular sonnet, the term "Jackself" refers to
The long melodic lines in this work require tremendous sustained focus of
intensity and timbrel control to depict
My own heart let me more have pity on; let
Me live to my sad self hereafter kind,
Charitable; not live this tormented mind
With this tormented mind tormenting yet.
I cast for comfort I can no more get
By groping round my comfortless, than blind
Eyes in their dark can day or thirst can find
Thirst's all-in-all in all a world of wet.
Soul, self; come, poor Jackself, I do advise
You, jaded, let be; call off thoughts awhile
Elsewhere; leave comfort root-room; let joy size
At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile
's not wrung, see you; unforeseen times rather -- as skies
Betweenpie mountains -- lights a lovely mile.
Antigone
consists of an overture and a setting of seven choruses from the Greek tragedy
(in English). It is written for male chorus (TB) and scored for flute, oboe,
clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, cello, piano, and percussion (2). It was
originally performed as part of the production of the play, and included dance.
From Shook Foil Audio Sample (wav)
(real audio)
The poem is written by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Primarily what attracted me to
God's
Grandeur
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
The Artist and His Model Audio Sample (wav) (real audio)
As in my other works involving tape and acoustic instruments the melding of the
two disparate sound sources is an important aspect of the piece. In my earlier
works there is a dichotomy between the sequenced performance material and the
performance by the live musician. The Artist and His Model adds a
third part which is a recording of a musician performing while being guided by
a click track; thus is a compromise between the machine and the live
performance. The work was premiered by Craig Hultgren and has since been performed
throughout the world including
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works
The Blazing Macaw Audio Sample (wav) (real audio)
The Blazing Macaw is a work for piano and tape. The title alludes
to the important element of "parroting" between the piano and tape
that is heard throughout the work. It also refers to the rhythms and harmonies
that evoke a distinct Latin American flavor. In fact, the music reflects the
Latin sounds the composer heard while growing up in
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works
Daphne at Sea, with libretto by Sally M. Gall, is a story of the
power of music to produce in us recollections of the past and to bring hope and
promise to the future. Daphne's painful world is cleansed by a long-forgotten
musical memory. Jenny and Gabriel are engaged to be married; however Jenny's
mother, Daphne, is totally against the marriage for no apparent reason. Jenny
and Gabriel take her mother on a cruise to see if they can get Daphne relaxed
enough to discuss the marriage reasonably and to figure out why Daphne is
against Gabriel. During a heated argument between Daphne and Jenny, Jenny
discovers that Daphne's refusal to go along with the marriage is related to
Daphne's experience with her husband (Jenny's father). Daphne becomes so
agitated with Jenny that she literally has a stoke. Upon awakening from the
stroke, Daphne hears a melody that no one else hears. She slowly discovers that
she was mistaken in her understanding of her past and comes around to approving
of the marriage between Gabriel and Jenny. The catalyst for this understanding
is the melody that only she can hear, music of her past.
Echo, with libretto by Jennifer Mason, is a modern day
adaptation of the ancient Greek Myth. The opera is intended for youth
performance (junior to senior high school). Singing roles include Echo (girl),
Hera (girl), Zeus (boy), and a chorus. Other roles are speaking roles. Two
versions exist: One for piano accompaniment, the other for chamber ensemble
(Fl, Clar, Vln I, Vln II, Vla, Vcl, Pf).
Expressway was written in honor of Elton B.
Stephens. It is an exciting, driving type of piece that takes the listener on a
roller coaster ride through numerous orchestral textures and timbres. On one
hand, the title relates to the Elton B. Stephens Expressway, a highway that I
take each day to and from work. The EBS Expressway makes my morning commute
very easy, causing me to think fondly of Mr. Stephens every day. However, I did
not write the symphony to honor Mr. Stephens for his expressway but for his
philanthropy. So, in a more substantial way, the title Expressway comes
from the "expressway" Elton B. Stephens has provided for the
resurrection of the Alabama Symphony, the "expressway" he provided
for the sciences with the funding of the Elton B. Stephens Science center at
BSC, and the expressway he provided for Birmingham and the arts with the
funding of the Stephens Center for the Performing Arts. In a larger sense, Expressway
honors all of those people who have paved the way with their philanthropy for
future generations.
The idea for the title came
from reading a short essay by the poet Edward Hirsch writing about his poem
“Fast Break.” In that essay he writes,
“I wanted a poem that could reclaim an instant of fullness and well-being, a
moment of radiance propelled forward and given special poignance and momentum
by a sudden feeling of loss*.” Hirsch’s
desire for his poem was similar to what I was trying to achieve with my
composition. I wanted a piece that could
capture the exhilaration of many parts, man and his machines, suddenly working
together towards a common goal. Fast
Break! was commissioned by Alejandro
Escuer, the Onix Ensemble (
*Ecstatic Occasoins, Epedient Forms; 65
Leading Contemporary Poets Select and Comment on Their Poems, University of
Michigan Press, ed. David Lehman, 1996, p. 95
Filibuster
(for Guitar Quartet)
Filibuster,
written for the Corona Guitar Quartet, is a virtuosic piece for guitar quartet
with an incessant rhythmic drive.
Fishing Through the Open Door
Fishing Through the Open Door is for
Flute and Tape: The image for this piece was sparked by encountering a passage
related to metempsychosis (i.e. the transmigration of a soul into a different
body, possibly of a different species). Instead of thinking of this as simply a
sudden action or replacement, I imagined there would have to be a little more
of a courtship involved for such an inhabitation to take place. As I imagined
it, the soul that does the inhabiting would have to lure the other soul into
allowing it to join with it in the new body. In other words, a linkage would
take place rather than a replacement. Passing through the open door is
often symbolic for dying. Lines of various lengths occur throughout the
piece with similar pitch material, some of which last the entire length of the
piece, while others last only a second. The piece was written for Donnie
Ashworth.
The title refers to the concept of sonic
events that are separate from each other in the sense that one
"movement" or gem does not lead to another; yet by virtue of the
structure of each, relate to each other fundamentally. My goal was to create tiny
pieces of electronic music, electroacoustic miniatures so to speak, and to work
mostly with timbres from a non-developmental approach, in other words, gems of
sound. To achieve cohesiveness and depth I decided to structure each gem by
using its molecular structure as a guide. First I took various elements
(Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Calcium, Copper, Phosphorus, etc.) and designed a
timbre or sound that related to each of those elements in some way. Sometimes
those relations were purely unconscious associations while others were
deliberate references. For example, the sound used for Silicon was a sound
produced by hitting rocks (I purposefully avoided the obvious "computer
sounds" because the silicon used in electrical devices requires a great
deal of alteration to be useful at all in such devices; whereas silicon occurs
naturally in rocks). For Carbon, I used the sound of a pencil writing on paper.
For some of the gems that contain Carbon, I altered the sound of the pencil
writing on paper is altered to sound like wood burning when it seemed a better
timbre for the gem. Then, based on the molecular structure of each gem, I
combined various sounds/elements together. For example, to do Amber, I combined
the sounds for the elements Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. The result is that
various pieces will share many of the same sounds, but will be different from
each other in which sounds are juxtaposed or how its particular elemental
timbres are altered to fit the concept of the gem. The length of each gem is
directly related to the hardness factor of each gem (thus diamond is the
longest). Thus, while the beauty and sensuality of each sound is important for
the listening experience and for defining the structure of each movement, Gems
is more than simply ear candy. There are layers of structure imbedded in each
that run through the entire composition. Therefore, one should be able to
listen to the piece multiple times and still come away with something new.
Three-Legged Race is scored
for piano, violin, and cello. The work was commissioned jointly by the Music
Teachers National Association and the Alabama Music Teachers Association.
The title, Into the Woods refers to
two ideas with this sixty second electroacoustic piece:
1. All sounds were derived from wooden instruments (piano and cello) or
woodwind instruments (flute and clarinet).
2. The piece is meant to evoke the atmosphere of entering the woods.
I Feel the Fell of Dark
The text for I Feel the Fell of Dark is from a poem by Gerard
Manley Hopkins. I was attracted to
I wake and feel the fell
of dark, not day.
What hours, O what black hours we have spent
This night what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light's delay.
With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! Away.
I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decree
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.
Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see
The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.
Hradcanska Audio
Sample (wav) (real audio)
Hradcanska for flute, violin, cello, and piano was written in
part during a residency at the Prague/American Summer Music Institute and
completed during a residency at the Seaside Institute program "Escape to
Create." It was made possible by a composer fellowship from the National
Endowment of the Arts. While in
HRADCANSKA for orchestra was written in part during a residency
at the Prague/American Summer Music Institute and completed during a residency
at the Seaside Institute program "Escape to Create." It was made
possible by a composer fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts.
While in
Kat-e-wi-key
This piece was commissioned by the Fairbanks Symphony Association. It was premiered
in April 1997 in
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Mirrors, Stones, and Cotton Audio Sample (wav) (real audio)
Mirrors, Stones, and Cotton for guitar and tape was composed during a residency
at the
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works
Pantograph was
commissioned by Steinway artist William DeVan and was written with his
virtuosic ability in mind. The entire piece is based on the theme: Bb Eb C Bb B
A F# D E C# A G# which spells out BSCBHAMDEVAN which refers to
Schism and Variations Audio Sample (wav) (real audio)
Schism and Variations is a virtuosic piece for solo clarinet. The
title stems from the nature of the piece or the manner in which it explores the
differences in tone color that exist in the various registers of the clarinet.
Each of the five movements takes as its subject material, the opening material
of Schism.
Senderos
Que
se Bifurcan
The title is a reference to Jorge Luis
Borges' The
Some Find Me... Audio Sample (wav)
(real audio)
Some Find Me... contrasts two portions of Gerard Manley Hopkins'
poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland." The poem, which actually has
thirty-five stanzas, was written in response to the sinking of the ship the
Deutschland in the mouth of the
Primarily what attracted me to
The sounds used in this piece were chosen for their emotional impact or
expressive value. And, in fact, were determined before entering the studio. One
of the primary sounds is what I refer to as a "timbre phrase" because
it links several different timbres together (in this case a sampled bell sound
is attached to a reversed sample of a bell which is attached to a sitar sound
and ends with another sampled bell sound minus it attack). As the composition
progresses, this sound, as well as the ratchet-like sound that appears in the
beginning, is developed or varied in a variety of ways (such as by focusing on
the individual parts of the timbre).
Two vertical structures dominate the harmonic structure of the piece: A
Diminished 7th chord and a mM7 chord. All melodic lines, scaler runs, and
timbre constructions derive from these two chords.
The piece was realized at the
Text: Gerard Manley Hopkins
#11
'Some find me a sword; some
The flange and the rail; flame,
Fang, or flood goes Death on drum,
And storms bugle his fame.
But we dream we are rooted in earth - Dust!
Flesh falls within sight of us, we, though our flower the same,
Wave with the meadow, forget that there must
The sour scythe cringe, and the blear share come.
#4
I am soft sift
In an hourglass - at the wall
Fast, but mined with a motion, a drift,
And it crowds and it combs to the fall;
I steady as a water in a well, to a poise, to a pane,
But roped with, always, all the way down from the tall
Fells or flanks of the voel, a vein,
Of the gospel proffer, a pressure, a principle, Christ's gift.
For
Double-Bass and pre-recorded tape
Thimblerigger was commissioned
by Robert Black (of Bang on the Can Ensemble) who premiered it March 2004. A Thimblerigger is one who moves the cups
around in a shell game.
Three
These songs are scored for tenor (or high
voice) and piano.
Lovely
Asunder Starlight
I kiss my hand
To the stars, lovely-asunder
Starlight, wafting him out of it; and
Glow, glory in thunder;
Kiss my hand to the dappled-with-damson west:
Since, tho' he is under the world's splendour
and wonder,
His mystery must be instressed, stressed;
For I greet him the days I meet him,
and bless when I understand
Thou
Art Lightning and Love
Be
adored among men,
God, three-numbered form;
Wring thy rebel, dogged in den,
Man's malice, with wrecking and storm.
Beyond saying sweet, past telling of tongue,
Thou art lightning and love, I found it,
a winter and warm;
Father and fondler of heart thou hast wrung:
Hast thy dark descending and most art merciful then.
Forge
Thy Will
With
an anvil-ding
And with fire in him forge thy will
Or rather, rather then, stealing as Spring
Through him, melt him but master him still:
Whether at once, as once at a crash Paul,
Or as Austin, a lingering-out sweet skill,
Make mercy in all of us, out of us all
Mastery, but be adored, but be adored King.
Windage Audio Sample (wav) (real audio)
Windage was commissioned by James Cook for the dedication of
the Coleman Cooper Recital Organ at
The
Desire of the Artist was written
for Anne Lavandier, Frederic Massas, Francis Lecointe, and Alain Michel Riou. The
Desire of the Artist in one sense is a song cycle consisting of seventeen
songs. However, it is not meant to be presented as seventeen separate songs but
as a continuous vocal piece. The songs follow an order related to the title of
the piece. The primary musical theme that appears in various guises throughout
the work is most fully exposed in the D. H. Lawrence song, Prophet for
the reason that this song is central to the work, both in terms of when it
occurs and by the fact that its text is the most direct in its expression of
the idea of the entire piece.
All Four
One for Saxophone Quartet was commissioned by the
Chicago Lithium Quartet and premiered in
For performance score or other inquiries, please
contact Dr. Mason at Birmingham-Southern College Music Department,
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