NEPTA SPEAKER SERIES Minutes

Speaker: John McDonald 

Date of Meeting: February 27, 2012

Submitted by Jean Alderman 

RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY WITH NEW MUSIC

John McDonald speaks from a broad, amazingly informed trans-national base. His connections with contemporary music and musicians here and abroad are numerous and varied. The modest description of himself as "a composer who tries to play the piano and a pianist who tries to compose" belies the fact that he is a highly accomplished pianist with exceptional control of tone and of volume levels. 

 

He indicated at the outset that he would mostly play, interspersing music with comments, and taking questions...a fascinating morning, but one difficult to convey by the written word.   

 

All the music we heard was composed since 2000, except the opening anonymous piece from the 16th century, which sounded surprisingly dissonant and thus, modern. Most compositions were short (under 2 or 3 minutes), spare (using few notes) and 'unistic' (the beginning indicating everything to come). Professor McDonald dislikes spectacle in music and calls himself a miniaturist. Much of his inspiration comes from events and people he knows (thus the many dedications). He "chronicles at the keyboard". About a third of the morning's compositions were his, where brevity and simplicity of pianism makes them in some way similar to Haiku. One has to pay attention; there are listening demands, e.g., employing canonic treatment, using (say) four notes but interchanging the order, shifting patterns from one hand to another, et al. 

 

It was pointed out that teaching music of brevity and technical simplicity to students whose technical prowess is meagre, rewards listening closely and can be tackled by student and teacher together, exploratively. It can also lead nicely into having the student compose, and into improvisation. 

 

Professor McDonald gave us a list of 37 contemporary composers along with the names of a few collections. He also made available manuscripts of most of the 19 pieces he played. And very generously, at the end, he announced that he had with him several CD's of his own compositions (with copious notes) which were available for the asking. Attached is his Repertory List: Piano Pieces 2000-2012 and a composition of his entitled "Reduced Circumstances for Piano". 

 

If anyone would like to borrow my disc with the accompanying notes, just let me know. Jean Alderman  

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John McDonald's Repertoire List: Piano Pieces 2000-2012

With So Many Possibilities Left Out...  

   

Adès,Thomas (U.K., born 1971); Three Mazurkas, Op. 27 (2009; Faber) Anderson, T.J. (USA, Tufts/Chapel Hill, NC, born 1928); In Memoriam Gerald Gill (2007)
Andreoni, Roberto (Italy, Milan Conservatory, unknown); Slinking Around Midnight (2001; Zerboni)
Aylward, John (USA, Clark Univ., born 1980); Deux Cartes Postales Pour Le Piano (2006)
Car, Robert (USA, Hartt; born 1954); Blues Box (2003; ACA); other miniatures Csollány, Andrea (Germany, born 1964); Short Story (2004; Furore)
Davies, Peter Maxwell (U.K., born 1934) Three Sanday Places (2007; Boosey) DeVoto, Mark (USA, Tufts, born 1940); Invention on Chopin (2006)
El-Khoury, Bechara (Lebanon, born 1957); New York Dreams, Op. 68 (2003, Leduc)
Euba, Akin (Nigeria, born 1935); Scenes from Traditional Life (1970/2007; Oxford)
Fitkin, Graham (U.K., born 1963); Fifty (2008); Old Style (2008)
Fitzgerald, Jennifer (USA, 19975-2007); Incident (2007); three lines (2003) Fox, Donal (USA, born 1953); Toccata On Bach (2001)
Gann, Kyle (USA, Bard, born 1955); Going to Bed (Homage To Phillip Glass) (2012; pdf)
Goolkasian Rahbee, Dianne (USA, born 1938); large repertory, 1980s to Present Grossmann, Jorge V. (Peru/USA, Ithaca College, born 1970s); Etudes After Mecanismos (2002)
Lin, Livia (Hong Kong/Tufts/St. Botolph; born 1985); Tales of White Flowers (2009); Conoscenza Interiore (Three Preludes, 2010-11)
List, Andrew (USA, Berklee, born 1956); Three Sketches (2006)
McDonald, John (USA, Tufts/Princeton, born 1959); Piano Albums 2000-2012 (several hundred pieces); longer works
Molk, David (USA, Tufts/Princeton, born 1984); Piano Albums (2010-12)
Olive, Vivienne (U.K., born 1950); Prometheus Meets Purcell (2004;Furore) Qualliotine, Armand (USA, Berklee, born 1954); Three Collections (Snow Quail Music Company): Counting Spring Nights (2003); Six dodecaphonic didactic Pieces For Piano (2006); Seventeen Haiku (2008)
Rihm, Wolfgang (Germany, born 1952); Auf einem anderen Blatt (2000); Zwei Kleine Schwingungen (2004-5); Wortlos (2007) (Universal Edition)
Rorem, Ned (USA, born 1923); Piano Album; Piano Album II (Boosey)
Roustom, Kareem (Syria/USA, Tufts/UMass, born 1971); Praise Names (2006) Schwartz, Elliott (USA, Bowdoin, born 1936); The Seven Seasons (2008) Shende, Vineet (India/USA, Bowdoin, born 1972); Prelude I (2001)
Skempton, Howard (U.K., born 1947); Nocturnes and Reflections (36 Pieces; Oxford); Whispers (2000; Oxford)

Stumpf, Thomas (China/Germany/USA, born 1950); dream-evolution nocturne for edie in the winter of 2011; other pieces
Tann, Hillary (U.K./Wales, Union College, born 1947); Light From The Cliffs (2005; Oxford)

Thurlow, Jeremy (U.K., born 1967); fleeting (2007)
Tower, Joan (USA, born 219348) Steps (2011; Schirmer)
Tüür, Erkki-Sven (Estonia, born 1959); Four Piano Pieces (1992-2004; Peters) Ulianova, Iana (Russia/USA, born 1984); three Etudes (2007-8)
Weston, Trevor (USA, Drew Univ., born 1967); Knell (2002); Eurythmy Variations (2007)
Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe (USA, born 1939); A Poem for Elliott (2007; Presser)   

 

A Few Collections (Some Older)

  1. Goolkasian Rahbee Collections (FJH Music):
    Modern Miniatures, Volumes 1 and 2 (J1005, J1011) Preludes, Volumes 1 and 2, (J1017, J1018)
  2. New Music For the Piano, selected by Joseph Prostakoff (Lawson-Gould/Schirmer, 1963)
  3. Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora (Oxford University Press, 2007)
  4. 25 Plus Piano Solo: 25 Years Women in Music (27 Composers; Furore Edition 4660, 2004)
  5. Pulsoptional Piano book "For John" (2009); Piano solos by Sidney Marquez Boquiren, marc faris, Todd Hershberger, Thomas Limbert, Caroline Mallonee, John Mayrose, Carrie Shull

  6. Universal Edition piano books:
    Sounds New (19 Pieces; UE 33000)
    Piano Project (Georges Aegis, Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Ivan Fedele, Cristóbal Halffter, Michaël Jarrell, György Kurtág, Luis de Pable and Salvatore Sciarrino have each contributed) (UE 33662)