Gordon

The correspondance on Eolian is changing from mere technical questions to exchanging musical experience, feeling, character and enthusiasm about the impending performance.

30.8.2022

Hi Geoffrey,

Yes off course I am working on it intensively at the moment and I think it is really ripening in my head.

The only thing that I am struggling with is the very end. I am a bit worried that the glisses and repeated notes(repeating these notes is really a challenge in the tempo) won’t be loud enough compared to the orchestra, so I am searching a way to make a strong ending with lots of character, but not there yet 🙂

I feel it is really important for your work that the extreme differences between the Debussy tenderness and ‘wild’ passages come to expression, so I was wondering if  a dynamic amplification would work? I know that it is always a touchy issue in our classical world, but what do you think? I strongly believe that we should benefit from the technical possibilities we have today and not shun them. I already talked to Karen about it and she completely agrees, what do you think?

And another blog question:

It strikes me, now that I’m working a lot on your concerto, how you can sometimes very abruptly alternate emotions. I love that effect, can you explain the feeling behind it? Is it personal? Is it based on the poem?

Back to Eolian second movement for me!

Have a nice day! Eline’

‘Dear Eline,

Thanks so much for your message! (And your very kind birthday wishes, too!)

Of course, I completely understand the issues with the ending! This is always a concern. I did hear from Gunther that there was a plan to possibly amplify the harp. I am in favor of anything that makes you comfortable and allows us to project the proper balance with the orchestra – so no problem at all. It sounds like the plan – with a live sound engineer monitoring the balance, starting with the rehearsals – is an excellent idea. Let’s do it!

Now for the blog question: many people who know me well would tell you this is true not only of my music but … of me as well! 😉  I am glad you like it!  So I would say it is personal, in the sense that this seems to be an intrinsic aspect of my personality, but it is also informed by the poem, and by my desire to make the music vibrant and surprising and to make it breath and feel alive. Those sparks of emotion that you have identified – at least I hope this is the case! – are designed to infuse the music with life. 

I hope that makes sense, too!

Really looking forward to working with you on this premiere!

Warm regards,

Geoffrey 

Last Monday 24th October the first rehearsal with orchestra and conductor Karen Kamensek took place. I cannot describe how great it was to actually hear the concerto after months of preparation on my own! I am so much looking forward to the première on Friday the 28th October.

I would like to thank(straight from my hart(p:) all those helping me to fulfill this project; Geoffrey Gordon for writing and Karen Kamensek for taking on the challenge of conducting this new piece! Antarctica Records for the live recording and support of my GPS project!

But especially all my wonderful colleagues at Brussels Philharmonic who have been supportive in every possible way starting at the management (Gunther and Tom), the communication department(Veronique and Sonja), the library (Pieterjan) the production department (Jim, Carla, Emiel and Pol) and off course all my colleague-musicians who give me tremendous backing during the performance of Eolian!

A new harp concerto is born, those eager to attend can find all the info here!

THE END of the beginning!

If your diary tells you you have to play Debussy or Ravel, one knows what to expect; you can estimate the preparation time you need, this music is part of your standard repertoire, it rings in your ear, it’s chiselled into your memory and flows through your body.
With a new work, none of these parameters are present. The writing style is unknown to your ears and fingers, the musical comptability unknown.
Gordon’s solo work for harp, Jeux de Création, was unpublished at this time, but fortunately I was given a copy ‘for my eyes only’ so I could  get acquainted with the way he writes for harp and gain insight into how he approaches the instrument.

14.6.2021

‘Dear Geoffrey,

Apology for not reacting sooner on your score!

I immediately read it last Tuesday, but was kept away from my email duties by a lot of harping 🙂

 It is absolutely wonderful. Like you describe yourself it is such a nice combination of familiar sounds of the Debussy idiom and todays influences and you do not compromise on the possibilities of the harp in technique or sound. Looking forward to Anne-Sophie Bertrand’s recording, which will be amazing, I am sure.

And now even more eager to discover the concerto!

Have a wonderful day, Eline’

Every composer is inspired in a different way; even if it is a commissioned composition, a source is needed. In Gordon’s case, that source is a poem: The Eolian harp by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His imagination turns it into his own story which resulted in Eolian:

1.8.2021

‘Dear Geoffrey, 

I am a little bit in holiday mode 🙂 

I ‘ve read your synopsis and like it very much!

First of all, I always find it interesting when new art is based on great works of the past. So the inspiration out of a poem will certainly evoke some inspiration for me as well!

For my blog and recordings, I did a lot of reading about the harp and Japanese composers. The fact that the harp is so close to nature and traditional instruments (probably also because we have direct contact with our strings, not like a pianist fe) is definitely one of the reasons these composers are inspired by the harp.

It makes me happy to read , that you too will search within this very heart of the instrument, exploring the richness which is naturally there.

Have you already started writing? Very curious! And eager to start reading and exploring! 

Groetjes(which is Dutch for cheers:)Eline’

‘Dear Eline,

Thanks for your message – so good to hear from you!  I am delighted that you like the brief on the concerto.

(And holiday mode is always a good thing!)

Your observations about the harp are really interesting – the idea of having direct contact with the strings is fascinating. I am very much looking forward to this experience!

I have not started writing yet…

Maybe it is holiday mode everywhere right now 😉

Cheers (this is English for Groetjes 🙂 )’

to be continued…….

25th May 2021
The Corona waves are washing in and out and, like so many others, I am searching for positive projects to stick to.
In a few days, the release of my first recording as part of my GPS is scheduled: Suite for harp by Benjamin Britten.

Three blogs online and still quite searching, I am writing my next post that will accompany the Britten recording. Suddenly a message:

‘Greetings from New York. I hope this finds you well and you are surviving these strange days.
I would welcome the chance to share some of my work with you and to discuss a collaboration of some kind, Geoffrey Gordon’

Amazement, enthusiasm, a this-can’t-be-true feeling; really? Reaction to blog? to project?  already?

Gordon’s work had caught my attention before: he likes to work with extremes, soundscapes, clusters containing slightly impressionistic flashes. ‘Bright White Smooth’ is the title of his 2005/06 work for flute, viola and harp and in September 2021 Jeux de Création, a work for solo harp will find it’s première.

After a couple of getting to know one and other messages, the following:

‘Congratulations on this fascinating project! I absolutely love the harp – including all the challenges associated with writing for the instrument! – and I will be very interested to follow your research on this subject. I do think it is daunting for anyone who does not play the harp to fully grasp the instrument’s capabilities. And of course in an environment of atonalism (or even modern chromaticism), there are, at the very least, challenges with tuning and navigating through the notational issues. I think this probably does put some composers ‘off ‘the instrument, which is a shame. I hope your research will put an end to this!’

Of course, it would be more fun to fly to New York and meet and dream about a project together, but given the pandemic conditions, only mail brought an alternative.
His repertoire includes a concerto for bass clarinet, English horn, a double concerto for trumpet and piano, it is clear that this man has an interest in the non-mainstream instruments and it soon transpires that he has been running around with the idea of writing a harp concerto. My enthusiasm is unstoppable and my dream huge, but how does one realises something like this? How do you make sure it doesn’t remain just dreams?
Fortunately, I work at a place(Brussels Philharmonic) where dreams are listened to and there is room for daring projects.

Immediately a mail correspondence between Gordon’s management and Brussels Philharmonic is started and soon the first sketches for a new harp concerto are in the draft!

1.6.2021                     

‘Dear Geoffrey, I am also very thrilled that everything falls into place so fast.It would be wonderful that once you start writing the concerto we could correspond on this. It would be great if I could captivate your working process into my blog/research about harp repertoire. I am processing now some interviews with composers and conductors, but of course it is only a reflection by them on the harp scene. It would be so much more interesting if an actual working process of a concerto is documented, don’t you think?The blog is in a very early (presenting the harp)stage, but my plan is to go much more into detail, once some interesting repertoire is coming in the picture!  All the best, Eline’

to be continued…..