b
In C by Terry Riley
Allan Buccola, saxophone
Sarah Coates, mezzo-soprano
Damien Grosser, baritone saxophone
Jonan Keeny, percussion
Erin Klimstra, violoncello
Ross Lafleur, electric guitar
Elizabeth Loparits, piano
Adam Murphy, B clarinet and bass clarinet
Chip Newton, guitar
Chris Ozer, keyboard
Will Postlethwait, double bass
Dan Skidmore, violin
Logan Strawn, viola
Arthur White, soprano saxophone and flute
Max Wood, percussion
Pete Zambito, percussion
Organized by Ross Lafleur in partial fulfillment of the
Honors in Music Program
Dr. Scott Rawls, advisor
Friday, November 22, 2002
7:30 PM
Organ Hall, School of Music
Terry Riley’s In C is a cornerstone in the genre of minimalism and is considered
by many to be a classic of 20th century music. It was first performed in San
Francisco in 1964 by a group of young performers and composers (some of
whom never having played the piece before the premiere) that included, among
others, Riley (b. 1935), Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, Morton
Subotnik, and Ramon Sender. Oliveros recalls, “All of us knew that Terry had
done something special with In C. Alfred Frankenstein, critic for the San
Francisco Chronicle, hailed it as a 20th century masterpiece right then and there
even though our performance was pretty bad.”
In C is a highly flexible work. Keith Potter writes, “performance practice has
evolved quite freely with respect to the written source, making In C begin to feel
like a kind of urban folk music rather than a ‘composition’ in a more conventional
sense.” Any number and combination of instruments can play the piece and they
all play from copies of the same score. The score consists of 53 repeating
modules of various durations, most very short, which are to be played in order by
each musician. Added to this raw material are some elements of improvisation:
every single musician decides on their own when to start repeating each module,
when to move on to the next module, and when to just stop and listen. The
length of the piece is also highly variable as a result. There is no rhythmic meter,
but there is an eighth-note pulse, which will be ably provided tonight by Elizabeth
Loparits on the piano. This allows the musicians to play their patterns at any
alignment with others playing the same pattern or a different one. Riley writes in
the performance instructions, “One of the joys of In C is the interaction of the
players in polyrhythmic combinations that spontaneously arise between players.
Some quite fantastic shapes will arise and disintegrate as the group moves
through the piece when it is properly played.”
In fact, there are many joys in a good performance of In C. In addition to the
spontaneous contrapuntal combinations of patterns Riley mentions, listeners can
appreciate the different combinations of timbres and the changing thickness of
texture, as well as the communal atmosphere of collective improvisation.
Virtually every aspect of the music except the written patterns is determined by
the contributions of each member of the ensemble and their interaction with each
other, so the dynamics of the group are very important. Another wonderful
feature of In C is the overall “tonal” plan that Riley wrote into the patterns; despite
the title, the piece shifts tonal emphasis multiple times over its course. Because
of the nature of the performance, these shifts are gradual color changes, rather
than dramatic gestures as in many other musical works.
In C was originally recorded in 1968 for CBS records and has been recorded
several times since. Even the Shanghai Film Orchestra did one recording
entirely with Chinese instruments. There is also a recording of the 25th
anniversary performance and a very recent one by Bang on a Can.
Thank you so much for participating in this performance, and I hope you enjoy it!
b
In C by Terry Riley
Allan Buccola, saxophone
Sarah Coates, mezzo-soprano
Damien Grosser, baritone saxophone
Jonan Keeny, percussion
Erin Klimstra, violoncello
Ross Lafleur, electric guitar
Elizabeth Loparits, piano
Adam Murphy, B clarinet and bass clarinet
Chip Newton, guitar
Chris Ozer, keyboard
Will Postlethwait, double bass
Dan Skidmore, violin
Logan Strawn, viola
Arthur White, soprano saxophone and flute
Max Wood, percussion
Pete Zambito, percussion
Organized by Ross Lafleur in partial fulfillment of the
Honors in Music Program
Dr. Scott Rawls, advisor
Friday, November 22, 2002
7:30 PM
Organ Hall, School of Music
Terry Riley’s In C is a cornerstone in the genre of minimalism and is considered
by many to be a classic of 20th century music. It was first performed in San
Francisco in 1964 by a group of young performers and composers (some of
whom never having played the piece before the premiere) that included, among
others, Riley (b. 1935), Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, Morton
Subotnik, and Ramon Sender. Oliveros recalls, “All of us knew that Terry had
done something special with In C. Alfred Frankenstein, critic for the San
Francisco Chronicle, hailed it as a 20th century masterpiece right then and there
even though our performance was pretty bad.”
In C is a highly flexible work. Keith Potter writes, “performance practice has
evolved quite freely with respect to the written source, making In C begin to feel
like a kind of urban folk music rather than a ‘composition’ in a more conventional
sense.” Any number and combination of instruments can play the piece and they
all play from copies of the same score. The score consists of 53 repeating
modules of various durations, most very short, which are to be played in order by
each musician. Added to this raw material are some elements of improvisation:
every single musician decides on their own when to start repeating each module,
when to move on to the next module, and when to just stop and listen. The
length of the piece is also highly variable as a result. There is no rhythmic meter,
but there is an eighth-note pulse, which will be ably provided tonight by Elizabeth
Loparits on the piano. This allows the musicians to play their patterns at any
alignment with others playing the same pattern or a different one. Riley writes in
the performance instructions, “One of the joys of In C is the interaction of the
players in polyrhythmic combinations that spontaneously arise between players.
Some quite fantastic shapes will arise and disintegrate as the group moves
through the piece when it is properly played.”
In fact, there are many joys in a good performance of In C. In addition to the
spontaneous contrapuntal combinations of patterns Riley mentions, listeners can
appreciate the different combinations of timbres and the changing thickness of
texture, as well as the communal atmosphere of collective improvisation.
Virtually every aspect of the music except the written patterns is determined by
the contributions of each member of the ensemble and their interaction with each
other, so the dynamics of the group are very important. Another wonderful
feature of In C is the overall “tonal” plan that Riley wrote into the patterns; despite
the title, the piece shifts tonal emphasis multiple times over its course. Because
of the nature of the performance, these shifts are gradual color changes, rather
than dramatic gestures as in many other musical works.
In C was originally recorded in 1968 for CBS records and has been recorded
several times since. Even the Shanghai Film Orchestra did one recording
entirely with Chinese instruments. There is also a recording of the 25th
anniversary performance and a very recent one by Bang on a Can.
Thank you so much for participating in this performance, and I hope you enjoy it!
