 THE WHOLE SICK CREW: Fear No Music performs works by Cascadia Composers (pictured) at the Old Church. |
When composer David Bernstein retired after 28 years on the Cleveland State University music faculty and moved to Portland, he encountered three surprises: His new home boasted two veteran chamber ensembles (Third Angle and Fear No Music) devoted to contemporary music and with dedicated, enthusiastic audiences—rare for a midsized city—and a remarkable number of accomplished contemporary composers, and yet had no organization dedicated to advancing composers’ interests. “When I saw that Seattle had two composer groups, [and] San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York had them,” Bernstein recalled, “I thought, ‘There’s a lot of really fine composers here. Why can’t Portland do this?’”
Bernstein, whose own music ranged from commercials to musical theater to concert works, had seen how Cleveland’s Composers Guild had sponsored concerts, presented lectures, participated in a radio show that played local composers’ music, and provided a place where members could discuss their work, socialize and collaborate.
He approached Tomas Svoboda, probably the state’s best-known composer, who supplied him with names of colleagues throughout the region, including Jack Gabel, who runs the North Pacific record label. The National Association of Composers USA provided startup assistance to the group, named Cascadia Composers. In the past year, 14 members have signed on from Eugene to southern Washington. At an early meeting, one of the members said, “I’ve known all these names, but this is the first time I’ve ever met them.”
This Friday, Fear No Music will perform the music of the group’s founders. Gabel’s “That Old Song and Dance” and Greg Steinke’s “Expressions on the Paintings of Edvard Munch” (a world premiere) use string quartet, while Bernstein wrote “Late Autumn Moods and Images” for piano trio. Gary Noland composed “Waltz Fantasy” (a world premiere) for violin and piano, and Jeff Winslow’s “Aftermath” is for voice and piano. Sculptor and sound artist Dan Senn’s “Cartwheels” uses piccolo and orchestra bells, while Svoboda’s “Elusive Echoes” employs violin and xylophone.
SEE IT: Fear No Music plays at the Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave.,
fearnomusic.org. 8 pm Friday, March 13. $5-$20.
Anyway, thanks for the effort. Hope you can make it. As I warned you at the NW Reverb Blog, my piece has enough time behind it to get served at Kelly's Olympian. And, I trust fully that In
I assume the foto captions convey the attitude(s) of certain members of the editorial staff at WW and not that/those of the writer. Is it automatically assumed that the fifty- and sixty-somethings pictured in the foto have health issues? Or is it meant to suggest psychological ones (read: sicko = psycho)? Whatever the case, while I can accept that we as a group are not exactly GQ material, I have problems with the suggestion that we are psychologically imbalanced and/or that we dwell in nursing homes (not that the latter, were it the case, would be an issue). I don't think it serves the interest of the community to characterize serious artists in this way. This concert has been a labor of love by seven dedicated composers and by an approximately equal number of musicians who are rehearsing their asses off as I write this. As you know, we don't profit from what we do. It is an act of giving and the community benefits greatly from what we have to offer. Please forward my thoughts to the powers that be at WW. Thanks for the article.
All best,
Gary Noland
Cascadia Composers may now be tempted to make of point of using your cited literary association, as vulgar as it may at first blush appear. But alas, it's already been appropriated by an alt-grung band from St. Louis, which, by the way, is also far "geekier" in that they're very "techno." Friday night's show at The Old Church, by comparison, is entirely "unplugged," (to put it in the vernacular) though thoroughly "juiced" but without the "bling"- am I sounding less-than-sixty yet?
...ah the digressions...having too much fun...back to the tedium of the business of the art - typical contemporary non sequitur:
Respectfully, I would like to point out the omission of the time and venue for the concert. Also omitted was the photo credit, both on the web and in print. [The image is mine, with additional work by Jack Gabel.]
Best regards,
Chris Leck