Compositions

The image of the title comes from a recorded statement by artist, Arnie Bittleman - "I found a feather while walking down a road. The feather, if you look closely, has a landscape, a cloudscape in it" (Cambridge, NY, 1970). The piece is in one continuous movement with three main sections -- cloudscape (fast, light, woodwind-dominated), landscape (slow, string-dominated), and mountain-scape (fast, rhythmic, brass and percussion to the fore). "Walking" passages (with hints of NY folksongs) link the sections. – HT

From the Feather to the Mountain was composed in 2004 in response to a commission from the Empire State Youth Orchestra to celebrate their 25th anniversary season. The premiere took place March 20, 2005 in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with the Empire State Youth Orchestra conducted by Helen Cha-Pyo.

Performed here by the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Kirk Trevor, conductor. (Audio is the beginning.)

Recording: North/South Recordings HERE, THE CLIFFS

From the Song of Amergin, is in five sections, played without a break. Three lines from Robert Graves’ restoration of the text from an ancient Celtic calendar-alphabet, the “Song of Amergin”, directly inspired the piece: “I am a wind: on a deep lake, I am a tear: the sun lets fall, I am a hawk: above the cliff.” The three inner sections are shaped by the lines of the poem (the harp is featured in wind/lake, the viola in tear/sun, and the flute in hawk/cliff) and the piece begins and ends with an evocation of “I am.” – HT

Commissioned by the Criccieth Festival with funds provided in part by the Welsh Arts Council, From the Song of Amergin was premiered in Pwllheli, North Wales, June 26th 1995, by harpist Elinor Bennett with members of the Lontano Ensemble.

Performed here by Emily Beynon, flute; Roland Krämer, viola; Petra van der Heide, harp. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Deux-Elles SONGS OF THE COTTON GRASS; Channel Classics EMILY BEYNON FLUTE & FRIENDS

In 2003, flutist Christiane Meininger asked the composer to consider a trio inspired by the last of the Medicis, the remarkable Anna Maria Luisa (1667-1743) who left Italy for Germany for twenty-six years while married to Johann Wilhelm of Saxony. Just one facet of her colourful life influences the composition: each of the three movements reveals her love of nature under cultivation. In one of her letters home to Italy, she writes that she kept dark yellow tulips in her sleeping room, “just to see something beautiful” (in her words, “nur um etwas Schoenes zu sehen”). This quotation inspired the first movement which begins slowly, regally, and then “blossoms” at its conclusion. The second movement reflects Anna Maria Luisa’s enjoyment of the park-like grounds of Schloss Benrath. A quotation from Tagore is found at the museum there: “Narren hasten, Kluge warten, Weise gehen in den Garten” (“Fools hurry, clever ones wait, wise ones walk in the garden”). The inspiration for the final movement comes from the formal garden which Anna Maria Luisa created in a villa near Florence to console herself after the death of her father, Grand Duke Cosimo III. The “Villa La Quiete” is named after an upper floor fresco by G. da San Giovanni, “The Quiet that Calms the Wind”. – HT

Gardens of Anna Maria de Medici, completed in February 2004, was commissioned by the Meininger Trio with funds provided by the International Festival of Lake Constance (the Bodensee Festival). It received its premiere May 9, 2004, at Bad Waldsee, Germany.

Performed here by the Meininger Trio - Christiane Meininger, flute; Francoise Groben, cello; Rainier Gepp, piano. (Audio excerpt is from Mvt 3.)

Recording: Profil GARDENS OF ANNA MARIA LUISA DE MEDICI

The first ideas for Here, The Cliffs were inspired by a striking rock formation near my home in South Wales. Craig Cerrig-gleisiad is an ancient glacial basin, replete with rugged, steep walls, scree slopes, and a delicate mossy area beneath the cliff face. It seemed to me that the lone violinist in front of the orchestra was not unlike a lone traveler standing before the massiveness of such a rock formation.

As I worked, a stronger idea took shape: that of the way in which such ice-age cirques seem to possess the sky within the amphitheater of rocks. The image is sometimes one of brightness and fragility as sunlight is captured and reflected within the curve of the rock face; at other times, the image is one of mystery and great sadness, as low, dense mists curl downwards over the uppermost rim and earth merges with sky.

Here, The Cliffs is in one movement. The soloist enters beneath the high, bright sounds of the opening and leads into a light, fast, vivace. The central adagio is developed from the falling mist idea. When the vivace returns it is transformed at its conclusion by the powerful re-emergence of the mists. – HT

Here, The Cliffs was commissioned by Corine Brouwer Cook, violinist and the North Carolina Symphony, Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony, Canton Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony and Salisbury Symphony Orchestras as part of the national series of works from the Meet The Composer/Arts endowment Commissioning Music/USA, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.

Performed here by Frantisek Novotny, violin with the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Kirk Trevor, conductor. (Audio is the beginning.)

Recording: North/South Recordings HERE, THE CLIFFS

High Rock Spring was commissioned by the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra. It is a love story with fanfare elements (commemorating the 10th anniversary of the orchestra, 2009) and echoes of an Adirondack folksong (The Maiden’s Lament as sung by Sara Cleveland). No longer flowing, High Rock Spring survives as a low, dry, dome-shaped rock close to the center of Saratoga Springs – the town it predates by hundreds of years.* The composition presents the idea of “rock” in low brass and double reeds and the idea of “water” in lyrical strings, harp, and mallet percussion. High Rock Spring celebrates the fleeting union of the rock and the water. – HT

In the First, Spinning Place was premiered by Debra Richtmeyer and the University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra at NASA 2000. After a slow introduction, each of the three interlinked movements carries a subtitle from “Fern Hill” by Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas: “Down the rivers of the windfall light,” “And the sabbath rang slowly / In the pebbles of the holy streams,” and “In the first, spinning place.”

The alto saxophone and piano version (commissioned by the Illini Saxophone Club, 2009) was premiered by Debra Richtmeyer and leng-leng Lam July 8, 2009, at the WXV World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.

Performed here by Debra Richtmeyer, alto saxophone; leng-leng Lam, piano. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recording: Mark Records WORLD WITHOUT WORDS

In The First, Spinning Place was composed during the summer months of 1999 for the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference in Tucson, Arizona, March 2000. Although the piece is in one continuous movement, it falls into three interlinked sections with a slow introduction. The concerto was inspired by the poem “Fern Hill” -- an exuberant poem about youth by Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas.

The first section, Vivace con gioja, is subtitled “Down the rivers of the windfall light”. It is a light, dancing movement which parallels Thomas’ words, “... as I was young and easy under the apple boughs”. The second section, Andante flessibile, contains echoes of Welsh hymnody and carries the subtitle “And the sabbath rang slowly / In the pebbles of the holy streams.” The subtitle of the third section also contains the title of the whole concerto, “So it must have been after the birth of the simple light / In the first, spinning place”. It is a fast, scherzando, finale where, after the cadenza, the soloist sets the whole orchestra spinning. – HT

In The First, Spinning Place was commissioned by the University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jindong Cai, for the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, hosted by Kelland Thomas. It was premiered in Crowder Hall, University of Arizona, on March 10, 2000, with Debra Richtmeyer, soloist and Jindong Cai, conductor.

Performed here by Debra Richtmeyer, alto saxophone, with the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Kirk Trevor, conductor. (Audio is the beginning.)

Recording: North/South Recordings HERE, THE CLIFFS

In the Theater of Air was commissioned by the Marsyas Trio with funds provided by the Fidelio Charitable Trust and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. It received its premiere, May 25, 2017, at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival. Seven images of birds in flight underlie the composition. In order, these images are: Herons (in the black, polished water), Goldfinches (they swing on the thistles), Thrushes (upward like rain, rising), Wild Geese (high in the clean blue air), Hawk (eyes fastened harder than love), White Owl (a buddha with wings), and Starlings (like one stippled star). The titles and short phrases are taken from poems by Mary Oliver in her collection "Wild Geese" (Bloodaxe World Poets). Each sound-image is closely aligned with the poet's resonant word-image. – HT

Kilvert’s Hills takes its inspiration from a journal entry by the Rev. Francis Kilvert, Whitsun Monday, 29 May, Oakapple Day, 1871 when he wrote of the Black Mountains (in South Wales) -- "I made a pilgrimage to the place today ... it is a fine thing to be out on the hills alone. A man can hardly be a beast or a fool alone on a great mountain. There is no company like the grand solemn beautiful hills. They fascinate and grow upon us and one had a feeling and a love for them which one has for nothing else.” It is meditative in nature and ends with a homage to the chant “O Deus” by Hildegard von Bingen. – HT

The piece was commissioned by the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Performed here by Krassimir Ivanov, bassoon. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.) Revised for cello solo, 2012.

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; Beauport Classical METAMORPHOSIS

Light from The Cliffs was written early in 2005 in response to a request from the composer's colleague and friend, Max Lifchitz. For some time I’ve wanted to write a slow movement for piano somewhere between a Chopin Nocturne and a Schubert Impromptu and I thank Max for giving me this opportunity. Light from The Cliffs develops ideas from an earlier violin concerto, Here, The Cliffs (1997) – the cliffs in question being those of a mountain range (Craig Cerrig-gleisiad) near my first home in Wales. In the earlier program note I wrote, “the image is sometimes one of brightness and fragility as sunlight is captured and reflected within the curve of the rock face; at other times, the image is one of mystery and great sadness as low, dense mists curl downwards over the uppermost rim and earth merges with sky.” These two images alternate in an unashamedly romantic tone poem. – HT

Performed here by Max Lifchitz, piano. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; North/South Recordings AMERICAN WOMEN COMPOSERS; Albany Records ENDANGERED

Like Lightnings was composed during June 2004 in response to a request from Jinny Shaw for the Cambridge Summer Music Festival. The title is taken from the poem, “Spring”, by Gerard Manley Hopkins – “and thrush/ Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring/ The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing.” Subtitled “pastoral”, the piece moves from birdsong, to song, to birdsong. – HT

Performed here by Virginia Shaw, oboe. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recording: Beauport Classical METAMORPHOSIS

Echoes of Welsh hymns. Performed by Christianne Meininger, fl; Francoise Groben, vc. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recording: Profil GARDENS OF ANNA MARIA LUISA DE MEDICI

Look Little Low Heavens was composed during December 1992 in response to a commission from Cathy leach, to whom the work is dedicated. The title is excerpted from the poem, “Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins. The text reads, in part: “Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush/Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring/The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing.” The piece follows the arch shape suggested by “low heavens” as two flanking meditative sections surround a central, soaring fanfare. – HT

Recording: MSR Classics STORIES FOR OUR TIME

Penny Harter’s contemporary poem, “Measuring the Distance” is framed by Latin numbers (10, 20, 30, 50 …) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Concord Chamber Singers. Musicians have a complex and personal relationship to time: the practical business of notating music; the experiential time of listening; the times of one’s life. In “Measuring the Distance,” temporal matters gradually give way to an unbounded sense of loving and being loved. The composition was commissioned by the Concord Chamber Singers in celebration of their 50th Anniversary and first performed April 22, 2017, at the Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, PA, conducted by music director, Jennifer Kelly.

Melangell Variations was commissioned by Jeremy Huw Williams and the Welsh Chamber Orchestra with the assistance of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust and Ty Cerdd. It was first performed at the Beaumaris Festival, May 28, 2018, by the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, c. Anthony Hose, with soloists Karen Coker Merritt and Jeremy Huw Williams. The composer writes:
"Several years ago it was my good fortune to be introduced to the Shrine Church of Saint Melangell, at Pennant Melangell, deep in the Berwyn Mountains of Wales. While there, I purchased a book of poems about St. Melangell, “The Hare That Hides Within,” and was immediately drawn to a set of six poems by former Welsh poet laureate, Gwyneth Lewis. I subsequently met Gwyneth Lewis and she graciously gave me permission to set three of these poems (I, II, and VI) as my own work of the same name, “Melangell Variations.” The words of Gwyneth Lewis capture the ancient story of a young female hermit whose grace and piety led her to shelter a hare in her robes while keeping a hunter’s hounds at bay. Melangell would eventually become the abbess of a sanctuary, now a place of pilgrimage. The titles of the three linked movements of the piece speak for themselves: I. The Story; II. Her Silence; III. A Cloud of Witnesses. As a composer I have been inspired by poetry, nature, and spiritual values. In “Melangell Variations” all three elements find a home." – HT

Melangell Variations was commissioned by Jeremy Huw Williams and the Welsh Chamber Orchestra with the assistance of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust and Ty Cerdd. It was first performed at the Beaumaris Festival, May 28 2018, by the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, c. Anthony Hose, with soloists Karen Coker Merritt and Jeremy Huw Williams. The composer writes:
"Several years ago it was my good fortune to be introduced to the Shrine Church of Saint Melangell, at Pennant Melangell, deep in the Berwyn Mountains of Wales. While there, I purchased a book of poems about St. Melangell, “The Hare That Hides Within,” and was immediately drawn to a set of six poems by former Welsh poet laureate, Gwyneth Lewis. I subsequently met Gwyneth Lewis and she graciously gave me permission to set three of these poems (I, II, and VI) as my own work of the same name, “Melangell Variations.” The words of Gwyneth Lewis capture the ancient story of a young female hermit whose grace and piety led her to shelter a hare in her robes while keeping a hunter’s hounds at bay. Melangell would eventually become the abbess of a sanctuary, now a place of pilgrimage. The titles of the three linked movements of the piece speak for themselves: I. The Story; II. Her Silence; III. A Cloud of Witnesses. As a composer I have been inspired by poetry, nature, and spiritual values. In “Melangell Variations” all three elements find a home." – HT

Mother and Son was composed for Mary Weigold's "Songbook" and first performed by Mary Weigold with the Composers' Ensemble, July 14, 1996, at the Almeida Festival in London. Welsh poet, R. S. Thomas, writes of a young man's yearning to experience the fullness of life. The music, scored for soprano and trio, reflects the young man's panting desire. Hilary Tann

Nothing Forgotten takes its title from part of a long poem by Jordan Smith (“A Lesson from the Hudson River School: Glens Falls, New York, 1848” from An Apology for Loving the Old Hymns, Princeton University Press, 1982). The complete sentence reads: “You see, what scares me / about this landscape is that nothing is new, / nothing forgotten, nothing lost, / and nothing changes.”

The piece is in three interlinked movements, played without a break. Each movement has a subtitle, again taken from Jordan Smith’s poem:

1. Andante maestoso
“as if the granite were / some half-forgotten spirit”

2. Allegretto
“all that light caught forever in the pine boughs /
bound between the stones and current”

3. Andante recitativo - Larghetto flessibile
“the mesh of branches, root, and sky”

Windows into two traditional Adirondack songs are included in the piece: towards the beginning, “The Jam on Gerry’s Rock” as transcribed in Adirondack Voices, by Robert D. Bethke (University of Illinois Press, 1981), and, towards the end, a free version of “Miner Hill” (which itself bears close resemblance to the lumbering ballad, “Blue Mountain Lake”). – HT

Nothing Forgotten was commissioned by Adirondack Ensemble (Michael Dabroski, Lisa Spilde, Ovidiu Marinescu, and Daniel Weiser) and received its premiere by the Adirondack Ensemble, December 7, 1997, at the Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York.

Performed here by Matthew Jones, viola; Thomas Carroll, cello; Michael Hampton, piano. (Audio excerpt is the beginning.)

Recordings: Centaur Records MUSICAL LANDSCAPES OF HILARY TANN; Deux-Elles SONGS OF THE COTTON GRASS; North/South Recordings MILLENNIUM OVERTURE