For a sample, go to: http://soundcloud.com/sunny-knable/grimms-hood
The music which comprises this recording is a portion of my compositional output from the last 5 years. Listening to this album, I can hear my own voice change, from that of a recent home-town college graduate to a musician who is struggling to find his place in the “real world” of New York City. Even within one composition, American Variations, which was commissioned by pianist Richard Cionco, I can hear a composer who is experimenting, and slowly letting an increased level of dissonance into his sound world. This title work has many influences, and is meant to represent the plethora of definitions that we find in being American. That is, whether you are a farmer in South Dakota, or a business on Wall street, you are part of a Nation that is defined by its ideals as much as its borders.
The place of composition, I have found, has a large effect on my work. Bartok in Brooklyn, for example, is a piece that is inspired by my time living in Brooklyn, and is chock full of the many new dissonances in my daily life, from the squeal of the trains, to the honk of the horns, and yes, even the occasional distant gun shot. After it was done, it sounded so much like Bartok, that I renamed it "Bartok in Brooklyn," re-envisioning that his work as an ethnomusicologist and composer might have brought him to compose a piece based on the rhythm, harmony and form of the blues found in Brooklyn during his time period.
Another artist who was influenced by his surroundings is Langston Hughes, whose Harlem-based song-like poetry provided easy and ample inspiration for my first song cycle. Harlem Cycle exists in two forms, the 1st as a soprano and tuba piece commissioned by Claudia Kitka and Julian Dixon of Sacramento State University; the 2nd form is its current album-state, as a soprano and piano piece, thanks to D’Vorah Bailey’s intuition that the piece would be well suited for her talents as an African-American vocalist and actress, which she proved rightly so.
Grimm’s Hood is the product of The Iron Composers Competition run by ANALOG ARTS, for which I won the 1st Place Prize in 2009. The 5 semi-finalist composers were gathered in the morning, told what ensemble they would be writing for that day, and given the “secret ingredient” – that we each had to include the story of Little Red Riding Hood into our piece. After 6 hours of composition, pens (or computers) were laid down to let the performers have a chance to practice and rehearse our newly composed pieces. The competition was broadcast live amongst a judges panel and concert audience.
Trio is an abstract title for an abstract work. It is neoclassical in form and post-modern in style. The opening Allegro movement is a sonata form, on themes that were loosely derived from the collective instruments’ overtone series. The middle movement is one circular progression in 5 sections, with 5 phrases in each section, and each of those phrases comprised of 5 measures of 5/8. The last movement is a 12-tone inspired marriage of the fugue and the sonata, with a development section that becomes a Grand Reunion of all themes heard in Trio.
As a whole, I hear this album as having one voice, despite its many influences. I can only hope that you, the listener, might find meaning and enjoyment in part, if not all of it. No matter what “song” you like best, consider Walt Whitman’s words from Leaves of Grass:
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear
Singing with open arms, the strong melodious songs.”
