liner notes: non-poem 4 v2

non-poem 4 was commissioned by clarinetist Mark Dover in 2017. During that time, I was living in uptown Manhattan, and regularly holding discussions with the dead. I had gotten into what I later learned to be a form of psychotherapy, that of giving voice to the multiplicity within us in the form of characters; it just so happened I picked dead idols. (Consequently, this freed me from the worry that I was simply talking to people I’d never met…) The composition of the work was interwoven with a very intense sit-down with Leonard Bernstein. I love Mark Dover’s playing more than most musicians I have met, and I respect his musicianship more than any musician I have met. The piece began as a simple salute to his musical personality. Living a few floors below the room where Gershwin previewed his Rhapsody at the piano for friends, I was indeed haunted by the ghosts of old New York. I share this only to give voice to a very special time in my life, rather than to help illuminate something ‘about’ the music or its character. It is my continual hope that the music will stand on its own and need no stylistic comparison for it to exist.

Beyond writing a piece I was happy with – and one that had me trading dirty jokes with an ex-assistant conductor of the philharmonic – a greater event happened as a result: working with Jeremy Ajani Jordan. We had met briefly at a few parties but had yet to make music with one another. Mark and Jeremy gave a tremendous gift to me in taking the music so seriously and giving it life; something every composer can only humbly hope for.

non-poems are a series of chamber works that I have written that have no narrative element. They strive to be music and music alone. The works have encompassed – as of this writing there are eight of them – a variety of ensembles from duos to sixteen-piece bands, and a mixture of concert and improvised music. non-poem 4 engages the performer in both realms of exact and improvised music. The work represents a turning point in my creative life, where I began to confront the need to synthesize the musical lives I led.

The summer following the first few performances of the work, Jeremy told me about a series of concerts he was giving with violinist Kristin Lee. Of fortuitous interest, the concerts were to present music of the ‘American Journey’, featuring the voices of many of the apparitions I communed with in my uptown apartment. They – Jeremy and Kristin, the abundantly alive – asked if I would be interested in reimagining the work for solo violin and piano. I jumped at the chance. 4.1 or v2 is an extension of the work that I never could have imagined when I first began writing it. There is nothing in the way of more content, but a re-sculpting of the solo part to speak to the nature of the violin brought out a completely different energy that still surprises me. This is one of the great joys of composition: acknowledging and reveling in the complete lack of ownership, understanding, and authority of a work initially scribbled with one’s own hand. And as I bowed to the gift given me by Mark and Jeremy, I must again express my deepest thanks to the precision, skill, and love – the revelation of the mysterious thing we call ‘meaning’ in music – that Kristin and Jeremy bring to non-poem 4.

Diptych or: Yahweh

April 18, 2023 - poem
left plate (all rights reserved, Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

Sadly, it did - 22 Febbraio 2021
the final lingering anticipation
of what comes with the last breath 
Were you standing by for Chat GPT
to deliver us from evil 
sing to a scream
and with expectation 
uncover again 
the technological periphemeter; Gold. 
Does consciousness stop after lung cancer?
above flocks of winged Trumps 
spread eagle, hand grabbin themtherenots
and how ashamed you must have been…
and yet still there must be something. 
after the Period of Disquietude, a new
Decade of Upheaval, followed by an Era
Of Uncertainty - yes uncertain at best (the waiting). 
You beautiful bastard, couching optimism
within cynicism, or better stated: 
Cynoptimism. 

Program Notes: non-poem 8

Derek Granger commissioned non-poem 8 for solo alto saxophone. He premiered it in April at the Texas Regional North American Saxophone Alliance Conference. The work uses found material from my own compositions as well as a variety of themes from my forthcoming book of rhythmic etudes. It is jarring and unsettling.

non-poem 8 is the eighth piece in a collection of pieces written for ensembles and instrumentalists smaller than large ensembles. The previous statement is intended to be vague, as these limitations we have imposed upon the concept of ‘ensembles’ is false. In the case of non-poem 8 the definition is easy: it is for one individual player; specifically, Derek Granger. It is a great honor to write music for others, and with them in mind. I know Derek only superficially, but I respect him as a musician and saxophonist. Moreover I respect his commitment to that which is not commonplace, and celebrates the saxophone. The categorized title ‘non-poem’ first started as a way out of the trap of writing ‘program’ music. But again, this gets vague too quickly. At times I’ve written music about a rooster, a mouse and a little red hen, and also about jokes by George Carlin. But in each instance, the original content served a different purpose in its influence upon the resultant musical outcome. And in our fractured society, I question whether or not the real question is simply: whether or not the listener has the capacity or desire to hear absolutely, or that which is beyond the definition of ‘program’ or narrative. e.e. cummings wrotesix nonlectures, but in the end, they were still as poetic as his poetry, but they also talked about poetry. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, another person I revere, stated, all too clearly that “a poet should not discuss the craft of poetry or the process of creating it.” And he also said “If you have nothing to say, don’t say it”… and I’ve never really quite known whether or not he was intending to directly confront John Cage who said “I have nothing to say and am saying it”. In the end you’ll hear Derek play, and programmatically or not, I hope that his expression of humanity through my computerized scribblings encoded to paper, give you a moment of human contact and repose that we very sorely need to help prepare our minds and spirits to rail against the wild dreams of the unrestrained religion of language learning models, and ‘artificial intelligence’.